THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH - Richard Rodney Bennett - "Cheaters Never Win" (1959)

"The Man Who Could Cheat Death" is a pretty damn good movie by Dungeon standards, and it stars another one of our all-time faves, Anton Diffring!

Just in case you ever wondered why we call this blog "13," well, now you know, it's because of bamboozling concepts, and scenes like this!

"How was I to know there was a party going on? They were a splishin' and a splashin" that French bubbly wine all around the room! It's a top drawer bash to showcase the new work by famed artiste Dr. Georges Bonnet, "and the name of the place is, I like it like that!"

What makes someone a fave around these parts? It's very simple, something special, and Anton's got that down!! Anton Diffring was a brilliant actor who got typecast most of his career as a Nazi, because of his cold blue eyes and heavy accent! Sometimes though, he got roles like in "Circus Of Horrors" or this film, and he really got a chance to shine! "The Man Who Cheated Death" is so beautiful to look at, it's very hard to believe it was made in 1959!

Enter all horror fan's everywhere favorite, the ravishing Hazel Court, as the divine Miss Janine Dubois!

Dr. Bonnet and Janine used to be on a more personal level, and didn't exactly have a clean breakup, if you get my drift!!

Janine's close associate is Mr. Christopher Lee as Dr. Pierre Gerard, what a great pair!!

So just what the Hell is going on here anyway?

Dr. Georges has got a medical problem that requires a very special drug and secret treatment, that he is required to guard with his life, or he won't have one!!

Some nice 'before and after' shots to give you an idea of what happens when he waits too long to take his medicine!

Dr. Bonnet's current model and girlfriend mysteriously disappears, and he entices Janine Dubois to sit for him again!!

For the tamest photo in the world, it sure is pretty dang sexy! Hazel Court started her career in 1944, and ended up being in quite a few of the most classy classic horror films the 50's and 60's had to offer, and she looked good in all of them! Titles like "Devil Girl From Mars," "The Curse Of Frankenstein," "Dr. Blood's Coffin," "Premature Burial," "The Raven," and The Masque Of The Red Death!"

Literally, very old friends, Dr. Georges Bonnet and Arnold Marlé as Professor Ludwig Weiss, are reunited. As it turns out, the Professor is actually the younger of the two! Arnold had been acting since 1920 and played many different Professors over the years. In 1934, he was in a film called "Dood Water!"

The Doctor wants the Professor help him make some more of the crazy juice that keeps the fountain of youth running!

The disagreement gets ugly and Ludwig goes deep, in an effort to end the madness!

The music for "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" was written by Richard Rodney Bennett, a fantastic composer with a wide array of credits stretching from "The Safecracker" in 1958, to "The Billion Dollar Brain" in 1967, and all the way into the late 90's!

Dr. Georges is on a major bummer, but manages to save a couple of drops of the formula from a broken shard of glass. Just enough to enable him to go on a bit further!

Everything pretty much goes to Hell at that point, and we get to see a bit of what he looks like when he doesn't take his meds! It's a sad tale, but one that needed to be told! I give this movie 11 thumbs up!! There's nothing stopping you!

LA RESIDENCIA / Spain - 1969

Hello everbloody, here you are at The Dungeon for our Friday Night Drive-In, and tonight we have another movie all about women in charge! This particular flick has the alternate titles of THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED, HOUSE OF EVIL, THE BOARDING SCHOOL and THE FINISHING SCHOOL!

It's about a French boarding school for wayward girls. The owner and mistress is the unforgiving and sadistic Senora Fourneau, played by Lilli Palmer, and enforces a strict discipline over her girls. There's also an air of mystery that surrounds the place. This movie gets high marks for sets, photography, directing and acting, and is considered a precursor to many of the Euro Gothic films to come.

Argentina born Waldo de los Ríos composed the music for this classy horror story. Unfortunately, Waldo took his own life in 1977 at age 42.

Alright!.. Here's Ralphie The Tarantula to start the show for you's. All he has to do is push that there big red 'GO' button right over there, and the soundclip will transfer itself directly into yer waiting earifice! Sooooo, Hit it Ralphie!!.. THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED!

...GURLZ!!!

But, there's also the darker side of Gurlz.

Then, it's off to ballet class!.. Women in a natural habitat!!

Hey, look!!.. A guy!!!

One by one, girls are starting to disappear. There's a murderer afoot at the estate, but who could it be?!

John (VAMPIRE CIRCUS) Moulder-Brown plays Luis, Senora Fourneau's son. Here, he sneaks a peek at the gurlz as they take their showers.

And, that would be the gurlz there!.. There is no nudity in this flick, not even in the uncut version!!

There are some lesbian overtones, of course. Hey, nice painting!

Senora Fourneau finally gets to see some of the results of her oppressive practices.

Luis totally enjoys hearing his mom cry out in horror inside the locked room at the end of the movie and the soundclip! After all, mom made him crazy!!

Ghoulnight Everbloody!

THE SEVEN SECRETS OF SUMURU - Daniel White - "The Girl From Rio" (1969)

To take "The Girl From Rio" seriously would be to fall into that "surely, you jest?" category, but it's a good, fun, and loose Jesus Franco excursion into the wild and weird....

....and if you had a chance to go film a movie in Rio de Janeiro, what would you do?

"Future Women" as this film is also known, is essentially a sequel to that 1967 classic, "The Million Eyes Of Sumuru" which is like almost impossible to find, reprising Shirley Eaton's role as Sumuru and a civilization dominated by the female species, Hell bent on taking over the whole world, and then some!

"The Girl From Rio" predates "Girls Gone Wild" and Action Girls" by a good 30 years!

This movie is nothing but high camp exotic pop prefect for a Saturday morning viewing of a intentionally wasted day, or if you don't have a anything better to do, any day of the week!

Oh, just shoot me and get it over with, cause you're killing me already!!

We've written about the gifted composer Daniel White many times before for his countless soundtrack work, but Daniel was such a prolific musician that he also actually released record albums under various pseudonyms like Emile Doryphore on a comedy album, Virginie Morgane on a record of organ music, and rock records as Guy Forlane.

Richard Wyler is secret agent/detective Jeff Sutton, a role he should be plenty prepared for after starring in 39 episodes of the TV show "Man from Interpol" as Interpol Agent Anthony Smith in the early 60's! For the first 10 years of his career, he used the name Richard Stapley! Richard just passed away earlier this year!!

If for nothing else, Shirley Eaton will always be remembered in Pop Culture History for her iconic role as Jill Masterson, the "Golden Girl" in the James Bond classic, "Goldfinger!"

You know that feeling you get when you know you're not in the right place?

Elisa Montés is stunning and fascinating, as The Boss's girl, Irene!

What a cool pad, and what a shot!!!

If you can't get enough of Elisa Montés, try checking out some of these 60's flicks, "Island Of The Doomed," "The Cobra," or "Island Of Despair!"

Anybody else but George Sanders would have to pay to get a role like this, go to Rio, and hang out with beautiful women like Elisa, tough gig!!

It's amazing how many movies have been made about a female dominated society like "Queen Of Outer Space," and the one thing the women never forget, even after they are in charge, is to dress in skimpy little outfits, which means one of two things, they either dress like that for themselves, or there is actually a man in charge, calling all the shots behind the scenes, like Jesus Franco!!

There is a also a bunch of stock like footage of the carnival in Rio, but it's really good footage!!

Jess Franco's finest hour? Lighten up, it's Rio, and if it looks good and tastes good, it must be candy! These days, I understand, just like a lot of the rest of the world, it's not near as much fun as it was back then, and if you're going to Rio, remember this: Don't Drive, You're just asking for trouble!!