Wednesday, December 8, 2010

BEES IN PARADISE - Guest/Sherwin/Busby - "Buzzin" (1944)

In Issue #20 of "SCREEM Magazine", there was an interesting article about matriarchal societies written by David Wilt called "Women Rule, Men Drool," and it featured some of our favorite films like "Cat-Women Of The Moon," "Queen Of Outer Space," and "Missile To The Moon," and among the other films mentioned was one I wasn't really familiar with, but was found to be readily available via Netflix, the 1944 UK musical comedy production "Bees In Paradise." It's a fantasy film about a society governed by women and yet, it stars a guy, go figure!!

"Bees In Paradise" was written and directed by Mr. Valmond Guest, who directed the major classic films "The Quatermass Xperiment" in 1955, and "Quatermass II: Enemy from Space" in 1957! He also co-wrote the music for "Bees In Paradise!" It's no wonder he also wrote a movie in 1960, called "Life Is A Circus!" I guess so!! Val lived to be 94 years old!!!

There are lots of songs, and the music and lyrics were written by Manning Sherwin & Val Guest, with help from Musical Director Louis Levy, and Special Orchestrations by Bob Busby to flesh out the whole thing! None of them are slackers!

Tote that barge, lift that bale, there's still lots of hard work to be done in this woman run world, they just get to dress sexier!! The singing Queen Bee was Anne Shelton as Rouana! Anne was good enough to have her own TV show from 1958 to 1959!

That's a whole lot of estrogen in one room!!

The Bee girls have got some terrific costumes, and all of the song and dance numbers will keep your interest if you have any buzz left at all!

The girls are on the lookout, just in case anybody comes near their island paradise!

There's a plane flying by, and they are having problems, so these fellows are going to have to jump!!

WhooHoo, the girls spotted them, and send out the signal on the old tribal drum! MEN!!!! It's MEN!!!

Yessireebob, one of them dudes in that plane was none other than that suave heart throbber, Arthur Askey, as Arthur Tucker! Arthur started his professional career as, what else would you expect, a music hall musician in 1924, and was only 5 foot and 2 inches tall!

Well, I'll be damned, I was just searching around gathering up some info on this film, and what do I just discover right now, even though I've been there a 100 times before, "Bees In Paradise" streams for free over at The Internet Archive so now there's no excuse for not watching this flick? What a world!! Amazing!!

Just to give you some idea of the rules, watch out if she sends you a chair!!

Arthur has an encounter with The Crocodile Charmer played by the oh so mysterious Koringa in her only film role!

The three main song and dance numbers are "I'm A Wolf On My Mother's Side," "Don't Ever Leave Me," and "Keep A Sunbeam In Your Pocket!"

Of course Arthur has to do some good natured cross dressing!

Arthur has to spend some time in the pokey! If for no other reason, the Bee sets, like this jail, are worth taking the time to watch this film!

At least Arthur and his cohorts are able to escape from the island with their dignity intact!!

Monday, December 6, 2010

THINGS TO COME in Colour / London Film Productions - 1936

Welcome everbloody, Tabonga here with Mondo Monday, here at The Dungeon! Tonight's flick is a redo of a previous post, this time in colour!!

If you're not familiar with this H. G. Wells tale, then, shame on you, go to IMDb and read about it there! Wells wrote both the story and screenplay. The music's by Mr. Arthur Bliss, he had a total of 7 composing credits, this film was his first...

It's time to bring in our lil' Dungeon helper and button pusher, Rufus The Gnat! Rufus is here every Monday to make sure we all get to hear our Eariffic Earring... THINGS TO COME!

The world seems happy and productive after the big war, and man has finally learned his lessons...

The amount of planes shown at times is overwelming, great special effects and miniatures!

War is just a carnal delight of man, especially for little yellow chicken shit hawks with 7 defermits to keep out of the military!!!!..

Yeah, I'm headed over to Carol's, then we're going to the malt shop for a burger... Hey, where's your rod?

It looks like some bizarre giant metal insect with it's human master! The backdrop looks very interesting, obviously real ruins somewhere in England!

By 2036, modern man had moved underground and created his Utopia there.

With a shopping mall...

...And, justice for all!

Grandpaw, could you put it on something good?.. I wanna watch Gumby!

Weird place to have a toilet!

Futuristic architecture and costumes were well thought out for the time, but them boney knees, Raymond!

Tabonga's just not buying that helicopter 'steering device' design, looks like it's made out of some crap we used to sell at Daco Farm Supply!

The estimated budget for this futuristic flick was £300,000, or $700,000 in US dollars. One Fleischer Superman cartoon cost $100,000! Big bucks back then!!

Here's the new rollie coaster ride at Six Flags, the Rocket Roller, you actually get shot into space! Coming down's the really scary part... Look at that freakin' line!!

Look there, you idiot!! You blind?!..

I'm not crazy!.. You're crazy!!

Ghoulnight Everbloody!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

CORRIDORS OF BLOOD - Buxton Orr - "We're Gonna Get High High High" (1958)

I was in a crappy mood when I recently sat down to watch Boris Karloff in "Corridors Of Blood", and it didn't hit me right, from the get go, so I put it off for a day, but then I found out that it was Mrs. Grewbeard's favourite Karloff film, so I decided I better give it another try, and boy, was I glad I did, because "Corridors Of Blood" is a real dandy of a film that should be on everybody's list, not just Santa's!

I'd had a bad day at work, and when "Corridors Of Blood" started, there was a lot of screaming going on from people getting operated on without anesthetic. It was pretty gruesome, and I just wasn't ready for that whole concept, but from there on this movie is very intelligent, but also pretty brutal for 1958!

It's a lurid tale of addiction, scamming con artists, and murder!

Boris Karloff is Dr. Thomas Bolton, a good, honest man dedicated to freeing the world of pain and suffering, who, by using himself as a guinea pig, has become a victim of his own science, because the narco based anesthetic he developed, has turned out to be quite addictive! What was he supposed to do, he had to try it on someone!!

Boris becomes such a loadie, and then he has to make an appeal to this crew, that kinda reminded me of Hunter Thompson in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," when he is stoned out of his gourd and has to go to the law enforcement convention on narcotics!! Tough crowd!!

What an awesome backdrop!! The music for "Corridors Of Blood" was created by Mr. Buxton Orr, who only composed the music for 9 movies, but out of those nine, you've got "The Haunted Strangler," "Fiend Without A Face," "First Man Into Space," "Dr. Blood's Coffin," and "The Snake Woman!" Nice run!

Here's the scam! Black Ben, and his best gal pal, Rachel, have people killed, then they get the good Dr. Bolton (who doesn't know anything about the scam) to sign the death certificate as accidental, and then they sell the bodies for pure profit! Adrienne Corri as Rachel has had a magnificent career, from Doris in "Devil Girl From Mars," to the lady that gets raped, Mrs Alexander, in Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange," with stops at "Vampire Circus," and "Moon Zero Two" in between! Francis De Wolff was in everything from "Moby Dick" to "From Russia With Love!"

They cut Boris off at the dispensary.......

.....so he is forced to turn to the underworld to enlist some help in getting his drugs some other way besides legal!

This is a killer portrait of the genius Boris Karloff!

How can you go wrong with Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff in a scene together, between the two of them they have 465 titles under their belt!!

Jiggers!! The Cops!!

Black Ben steals the Doctor's notebook, and now they know what he's up too!

Christopher Lee does a grand job as the quite despicable Resurrection Joe, Black Ben's hitman!! Chris Lee had already been acting for 10 years at this point in his career!

In a situation like this, there is no real opportunity for all to end well........

........and it doesn't!!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??