I'm a monster Abbott and Costello fan, but in comparison to some of their other "Meets" flicks, I have to say that "Abbott And Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" is kind of weak, but it's still probably better than 90% of the other dreck out there, and would make a great addition to any Halloween party!!
London, Wow! What a sight at night!
Surely I don't have to explain the story of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" to you!! It's really a moot point as this is a very loose interpretation anyway, and, I know, don't call you Shirley!
The uncredited stock music was literally created by composers from A to B, starting with Daniele Amfitheatrof and going all the way to Eric Zeisl, with Joseph Dubin, Johnny Green, Henry Mancini, Hans J. Salter, Walter Scharf, Walter Schumann, Frank Skinner, Herman Stein, and Leith Stevens in between! What an amazing array of talent!!
For some stupid reason, women want to be able to vote!! It's not like the men are making any reasonable decisions anyway!! Welcome to the Universal version of Suffragette City!
So they've got to do whatever they can to get through to this group of dunderheads! Looks like drinkin' on the streets was legal back then just like Las Vegas today!!
So how do you get a bunch of drunk guy's attention?? Show 'em some leg!!
A small riot breaks out, and the ladies really show everybody why they deserve the right to vote!
Boris Karloff looks fantastic in the role of Dr. Jekyll!
The transformation to Mr. Hyde mask (Eddie Parker, not Boris) was created by the genius of Milicent Patrick, the woman who was also responsible for the actual creation of the "Creature From The Black Lagoon" mask! Her boss was one of the busiest guys in Hollywood, with 533 titles to his credit, Mr. Bud Westmore! There's not too many people you can tie in with a group of above and beyond classic characters like "Monster On The Campus," "Creature From The Black Lagoon," "The Mole People," and "The Munsters," but the name Bud Westmore brings them all together in a big way, and Oh, did I forget "This Island Earth," "Tarantula," and "The Leech Woman" etc. etc. etc???
All the action is down at the Jubilee Music Hall, where the same gal who was leading the charge in the Suffrage Movement was also the star of the show as Vicky Edwards and the Jubilee Dancing Girls! Vicky, of course, is also the ward of the kindly gentleman Dr. Jekyll!!
Vicky was played by the mesmerizing Helen Westcott, whose first movie was at the age of 6, and when she was about 20, she was in a movie called "13 Lead Soldiers," then after quite a few westerns etc, she went on to be in classics "The Invisible Avenger," and "Monster On The Campus," and she was Lillian Pope in the 1964 "Twilight Zone" episode "You Drive!"
Vicky and the dancers weren't the only act on the bill, there's sure no way to forget about Carmen De Lavallade as the Javanese Actress! Carmen was still working up til about two years ago!
Another monster super genius, not always credited, and working more in the background most of the time, Jack Kevan had a whole lot to do with creating the look of many of them monsters, sometimes even more than Bud Westmore himself! It's just that Bud Westmore was the top guy, so he always got credit!!
Introducing our heroes, detectives Slim and Tubby, aka Abbott and Costello!
They know there are monstrous murders going on, so Tubby accidently gets the bejeezus scared out of him by the masked Henry Corden as the male Javanese actor! Henry went on to do a buttload of cartoon voices in shows like "Johnny Quest," "Atom Ant," and "Josie and the Pussycats," and after the original voice of Fred Flintstone, Alan Reed died in 1977, Henry did Fred Flintstone's voice in all the cartoons and specials that came after, all the way until 2000!
Quite an impressive mask!!
The Wax Museum scenes are pretty cool!
It's the old cat in the hat trick, but in this case, it's a cat in a wax head!!
After a long chase, Tubby finally traps Mr. Hyde in this cell right as he is converting back to Dr. Jekyll!
Of course Slim can't believe that his partner would accuse the kindly doctor of such devious behaviour, and Tubby is beside himself in disbelief!!
6'6" John Dierkes is Batley, Dr. Jekyll's assistant! Besides tons of westerns and TV, spooky looking John had a nice run in the mid-60's in "Premature Burial, "The Raven," "The Haunted Palace," and "X:The Man With The X-Ray Eyes!"
Tubby gets a shot of serum and turns into a giant mouse!!
Nobody seems to notice except these two drunks at the bar!!
Classic shot of Tubby and Mr. Hyde!!
Tubby gets it in The End!!
And before the serum wears off, Tubby bites four more police officers and turns them all into Hyde Monsters!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
- 3 SCENES FROM X-VILLE -
Here are 3 cool paintings by Tabonga from the nineties. They're all from a little world he created called... X-VILLE!
Mr. Zombie Head gives a political speech in the sand pits.
The Martian Mummy pays a visit to a small rural area in South America.
Here's the Bat Family's place, dad thought he heard someone creeping around on their property.
Mr. Zombie Head gives a political speech in the sand pits.
The Martian Mummy pays a visit to a small rural area in South America.
Here's the Bat Family's place, dad thought he heard someone creeping around on their property.
Monday, October 3, 2011
THE ANGRY RED PLANET / AIP - 1959
Welcome to Monster Monday Halloween Countdown with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite's feature is a classic that Eegah!! and I saw together back in 1959, we gave it a thumbs up... We were very analytical little kedsos when it came to our favorite subject, monster movies!!
The title card belongs at the end, but, I like it here!
The great music is by one of our favorite composers, Mr. Paul Dunlap. Paul contributed his talents to other films like I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, BLOOD OF DRACULA, HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER, FRANKENSTEIN 1970, INVISIBLE INVADERS, THE THREE STOOGES IN ORBIT, BLACK ZOO and more! Paul just passed away this last March at age 90.
Lettuce bring in our fuzziest little Dungeon helper and button pusher, sure 'nuf, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Ralphie's here to start our Eariffic Soundclip for everbloody's listening pleasure, so, push the big red 'GO' button there in front of your nose, now, Ralphie! Here's the ending credits music for... THE ANGRY RED PLANET!
Did ya hear about this?!..
Naura Hayden plays Dr. Iris Ryan, her and Colonel O'Bannion are the only persons to make it back from their journey to Mars. She can't remember what exactly happened, so, she's given a dose of sodium pentothal to help out. She starts her tale at the beginning...
Gerald (TERROR IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE) Mohr plays Col. O'Bannion, then, there's Les (WAR OF THE WORLDS/THE SLIME PEOPLE) Tremayne as Professor Gettell and Jack (THE BELLBOY) Kruschen as CWO Sam Jacobs.
Sam reads about monsters on Mars from this doctored up Fantastic pulp magazine, story to be continued next issue!
Ahh, the fifties... Things were so simple!
After a safe landing, they go expolring the strange looking place. Kick in the Cinemagic!..
Iris screams like a little girl when she gets all tangled up in this wicked carnivorous monstrosity! It's Sam to the rescue with his freeze gun.
I love this shot with the Atlas rocket.
I'm pretty sure that a version of Sam's freeze gun ended up as the sonic gun in INVISIBLE INVADERS, or, visa versa.
On their second outing, they encounter the dreaded Bat Rat Spider nightmare! Sam tries the freeze gun, but it has no effect on the thing...
The Colonel tells him to aim for it's eyes!
The blinded creature runs off aimlessly into the landscape.
This is a drawing I did in high school, I loved that monster a lot.
When they go out on a raft to investigate a city in the oily sea, this giant amoeba surfaces and begins to go after them!
The producers almost fainted when they discovered (on the day of filming) that the prop department had taken it upon themselves to give the amoeba monster a rotating eyeball! In a few moments, the thing will absorb poor Sam!
Another ultra classic fifties creature, the Martian!
Only when they electrify the ship's outer hull does the blob remove itself from around the rocket. Now, they can finally blast off and leave the deadly planet.
All the excitement causes professor Gettell to have a heart attack, and, he dies!
The Colonel got some of the ameoba on his arm while trying to help Sam and is immobilized for the trip back to Earth. Iris is the only one in charge now!..
The warning from the Martian on the tape seems pretty clear... EARTHLINGS, DO NOT RETURN TO MARS!!
Let's end the show with this weird Euro poster, it shows a land rover falling into a crevasse!.. What the Hell!!
The title card belongs at the end, but, I like it here!
The great music is by one of our favorite composers, Mr. Paul Dunlap. Paul contributed his talents to other films like I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, BLOOD OF DRACULA, HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER, FRANKENSTEIN 1970, INVISIBLE INVADERS, THE THREE STOOGES IN ORBIT, BLACK ZOO and more! Paul just passed away this last March at age 90.
Lettuce bring in our fuzziest little Dungeon helper and button pusher, sure 'nuf, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Ralphie's here to start our Eariffic Soundclip for everbloody's listening pleasure, so, push the big red 'GO' button there in front of your nose, now, Ralphie! Here's the ending credits music for... THE ANGRY RED PLANET!
Did ya hear about this?!..
Naura Hayden plays Dr. Iris Ryan, her and Colonel O'Bannion are the only persons to make it back from their journey to Mars. She can't remember what exactly happened, so, she's given a dose of sodium pentothal to help out. She starts her tale at the beginning...
Gerald (TERROR IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE) Mohr plays Col. O'Bannion, then, there's Les (WAR OF THE WORLDS/THE SLIME PEOPLE) Tremayne as Professor Gettell and Jack (THE BELLBOY) Kruschen as CWO Sam Jacobs.
Sam reads about monsters on Mars from this doctored up Fantastic pulp magazine, story to be continued next issue!
Ahh, the fifties... Things were so simple!
After a safe landing, they go expolring the strange looking place. Kick in the Cinemagic!..
Iris screams like a little girl when she gets all tangled up in this wicked carnivorous monstrosity! It's Sam to the rescue with his freeze gun.
I love this shot with the Atlas rocket.
I'm pretty sure that a version of Sam's freeze gun ended up as the sonic gun in INVISIBLE INVADERS, or, visa versa.
On their second outing, they encounter the dreaded Bat Rat Spider nightmare! Sam tries the freeze gun, but it has no effect on the thing...
The Colonel tells him to aim for it's eyes!
The blinded creature runs off aimlessly into the landscape.
This is a drawing I did in high school, I loved that monster a lot.
When they go out on a raft to investigate a city in the oily sea, this giant amoeba surfaces and begins to go after them!
The producers almost fainted when they discovered (on the day of filming) that the prop department had taken it upon themselves to give the amoeba monster a rotating eyeball! In a few moments, the thing will absorb poor Sam!
Another ultra classic fifties creature, the Martian!
Only when they electrify the ship's outer hull does the blob remove itself from around the rocket. Now, they can finally blast off and leave the deadly planet.
All the excitement causes professor Gettell to have a heart attack, and, he dies!
The Colonel got some of the ameoba on his arm while trying to help Sam and is immobilized for the trip back to Earth. Iris is the only one in charge now!..
The warning from the Martian on the tape seems pretty clear... EARTHLINGS, DO NOT RETURN TO MARS!!
Let's end the show with this weird Euro poster, it shows a land rover falling into a crevasse!.. What the Hell!!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND!
Here's "Insult Postcard" #29 - A Much better cover of "I Wanna Hold Yer Hand" than The Standells did! If you like postcards and paper crap, be sure to check out one of my other blogs - "Ephemeral Indulgences"!!
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