FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON / RKO - 1958

Hello everbloody, welcome to Mondo Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon! Tonite we have another flick that's not that well remembered, and, pretty much for good reasons... I actually saw this one when it came out, but, it didn't have any rubber monsters, so, it totally bored me.

Based on the Jules Verne novel, this 101 minute story goes... After the Civil War ended, American businessman and inventor, Victor Barbicane, invents a new force called Power X. To prove its potential, he plans a trip to the moon in a special projectile he's designed. Joining him for the expedition are his assistant Ben Sharpe and Barbicane's arch-rival, Stuyvesant Nicholl. Nicholl believes that Power X goes against the will of God and he sabotages their voyage so that they cannot return to Earth.

Three uncredited performances are Morris Ankrum as President Ulysses S. Grant, Robert Clarke as narrator and Les Tremayne as the countdown announcer! It was RKO Picture's very last production...

The music is by Louis Forbes, Louis only had 24 composing credits, but, wrote music for these films... LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE, THE FABULOUS DORSEYS, THE MAN WHO CHEATED HIMSELF, PASSION, CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA, ESCAPE TO BURMA, THE BAT and THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE. You will also hear borrowed music effects from FORBIDDEN PLANET in the soundclip, used for the 'space' sounds!

Okay then, lettuce bring in that littlest of all Dungeon helpers, right, Rufus The Gnat, and get this show on the road! Push that big red 'GO' button, Rufus, and start our Eariffic Earclip for... FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON!

At a scientific convention, Victor Barbicane (Joseph Cotton) unveils his plans to build a manned projectile and go to the Moon. Of course, it creates some controversy.

At the test site, to evaluate the potential of Power X, Barbicane's assistant prepares a small cannon with the experimental substance.

And, the test is more successful than ever imagined!!

There's lots of dangerous work to be done at the foundry as they incorporate... Power X.

This is one of my very favorite stills, jus' sez it all for me!..

Later, Barbicane meets with President Grant to discuss the implications of possessing such a powerful element. Yes, that's our friend Morris Ankrum as the prez.

Debra Paget plays Virginia, daughter of Stuyvesant Nicholl. She has fallen in love with Ben, but, Ben has to leave tomorrow, you know... for the Moon!

Great model work!

Virginia slips onboard while no one's looking and goes below to hide, she wants to be with Ben. Later, she has to climb into a spacesuit to survive the violent takeoff!

Barbicane bids adieu to the puny Earthlings.

Don't ask me, looks like it came from the THE FLY set! Hey, did Mel Tillis write that line?..

The blast from the takeoff devastates the area around it as the projectile's hurled toward space!

It doesn't take long before things start going south, and, Nicholl (George Sanders) even admits his sabotage efforts, he works for God. Wait til he finds out that his daughter's onboard!

If electrical cables aren't needing to be reattached...

Then, Roman candle meteors come whizzing dangerously by!

It's always something!!

Barbicane and Nicholl finally work together and plan a landing for their part of the spacecraft on the Moon.

Ben and Virginia watch from their capsule as her dad and Barbicane touch down on the Moon. Speaking of the Moon, check how great this last photo looks, those RKO guys really knew their stuff when it came to miniatures!

Ghoulnight Everbloody!!..

THE HAUNTED STRANGLER - Buxton Orr - Jean Kent - "Enjoy The View" (1958)

Not to toot my own horn, but Beep, Beep!! Has this not been a great month of titles or what? I learn things daily around here, and sometimes I have to admit it's truly amazing, and speaking of amazing, tonight we've got another delight from the crown prince of the double entendre, probably one of the nicest guys who ever inhabited this planet, and also a master of the macabre, Boris Karloff, in the 1958 feature "The Haunted Strangler"!!!

Originally released as "Grip of the Strangler," it all starts with a murderer's execution!

The lovely Yvonne Buckingham is the uncredited whore in attendance, and what a dance it would be to attend to!! Yvonne was one of the many class acts who appeared in the early 60's "Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre" TV show that I forget to mention half the time! Cue the wolf whistle!!

With an exuberant crowd like this, it really makes a guy kind of nostalgic for a good old fashioned public execution!! Yeehaw!!!

Oh, Shit!! What if he wasn't guilty of the crime!!!

I defy you to tell me this isn't in tribute to "La Mort de Marat," the classic 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David!!

Cut to 20 years later, and our hero Boris at the age of 71, still looking great, and all prepared for what would be his first shot at the role of what is basically the "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" storyline! Boris is an author who thinks the hanged man was possibly innocent, and is bent on proving it!

So freakin' Boris goes and digs up the guy's grave, and finds this knife, and............

.....the next damn thing you know, well, I guess he wasn't so innocent after all, because his spirit has overtaken the kindly Boris and turned him into a hideous and ruthless killing machine!!

Meanwhile back at Boris's favorite hangout, "The Judas Hole," there's a party going on, and the wine is flowing like water!!

Hey, what kind of movie is this, anyway? How many degrees? Vera Day as Pearl gets doused with wine by this drunken fool, months earlier she was Sally Norton in "The Womaneater!"

Now that's what I call entertainment!!!

Meanwhile backstage, all the girls are talking about the killer on the loose!!

All right, now it's time for the headliner, Jean Kent as the marvelous Cora Seth to come out and do her song and dance schtick! "Cora, Cora, all the boys adore A," Man, that thing will get embedded in your mind as bad as "Hey Mickey!" The musical credits go out to Buxton Orr who we've raved about before for his work on "Corridors Of Blood," First Man Into Space," Dr. Blood's Coffins" and "Fiend Without A Face" but Jean Kent gets the award for her Coraformance!

For a minute there, I almost forgot this was a horror movie, Boris's personality swings are just getting worse, and he literally crashes the party, and the show at "The Hole!"

They were trying to figure out how to do Boris's makeup cheaply when he himself came up with the idea of simply removing his dentures! What a sport!!

Going from having a pretty good time to no fun at all, Boris takes the most extreme turn for the worst and even kills his own loving wife!!

Pretty bawdy and wild for 1958, and further proof positive that Boris Karloff, despite any present day claptrap, will always be known as one of the best actors of any era, period!! Great movie!!