Here you go, here's what's brewing, my first entry into 2012 fulfills the personification of the duality of my multiple personalities, and then some!!! Here's Dolly Dagger's half brother,
"A Man Called Dagger!" "It'll make you stagger!" "He's got a jagged edge!"
Let's just get one thing straight, "A Man Called Dagger" is a WEIRD movie, with moments of near brilliance, and also some of the most horrid film making you've ever seen in your life, and sometimes all at the same time! Great shot right out of the box!! It's not the best print, but good luck finding a better one! Want a copy? Go to the "Green Door" and tell 'em Joe sent you!!
A chick sitting in the airport reading a "Batman" comic.........
......Okay, she's got Eegah!!'s, I mean Richard Kiel's attention!!
One of my favourite TV game shows from the 50's was called "Treasure Hunt," and the host was a Jewish comedian named Murray Janofsky, or Jan Murray! I never really thought of Jan as an actor, and I'm still not too sure, but one thing, he was game! In "A Man Called Dagger" Jan has the role of the evil Nazi mad scientist Rudolph Koffman!
Paul Mantee has the role of, are you ready, DICK DAGGER!! Say it any way you want, it still comes out DICK DAGGER! Paul was only in two handfuls of movies, but you can't hardly name a 60's TV show, excluding the comedies, that he wasn't in, "Dragnet," "Hawaiian Eye," "77 Sunset Strip," "The Rifleman," "I Spy," "Time Tunnel," and "Batman" just to name a few, but of course down here in The Dungeon, Paul will always be remembered for his starring role in "Robinson Crusoe On Mars!" Too bad back in the day, nobody thought of pairing Paul Mantee with Buddy Hackett, they could have given Abbott and Costello some competition peforming as Cloak and Dagger!!
The very cute Terry Moore was Jill Young in "Mighty Joe Young" in 1949! What else do you need to know? Terry's got a film in post-production set for release in 2012 called "Mansion Of Blood!" I'll bet they have a cool dungeon in that pad!! Maybe not, it stars Gary Busey!
Terry's character is Harper Davis, another spy and Dick Dagger's ex-lover, watching Rudolph Koffman's meat packing operation, so she can make enough money so her and Dick can make love in the Sewers of Paris again!
Rudolph Koffman's former self was Kapitan Hans Leitel! I'm willing to bet having a Jew play a deranged Nazi is not something that just happened by chance, and that's the whole deal with this flick, just what the heck were they up to?? Director Richard Rush's two previous ventures before this film were "Hells Angels On Wheels," and "Psych-Out!"
Interesting way to prune a bush! There's no way "A Man Called Dagger" can be seen as a bad movie, the cinematography was done by the genius of the eye, László Kovács! László's work bounced around all the time from titles like 'A Man Called Dagger" and "Blood Of Dracula's Castle" to "Easy Rider" and "Five Easy Pieces!"
Dagger has a lot of love interests, Maureen Arthur is aptly named Joy! Maureen was also a singer, and in the 1958 film "Hot Rod Gang," Maureen performed "Choo Choo Cha Poochie"
Dagger turns up the heat to get some information out of Sue Ane Langdon as bad girl Ingrid! Sue Ane was also all over the TV, and had reoccurring characters in quite a few shows like Kitty Marsh in 16 episodes of "Bachelor Father," or as Lillian Nuvo in 48 episodes of the 70's show "Arnie."
The 7' 2" Richard Kiel puts in another Oscar deserving performance as Otto! I didn't do the math, but I'm sure over 50% of Richard's credits are for a character with one name, like Irving, Norman, Laszlo, Animal, Eddie, Jaws, Golob, Duke, Drazak, Grimm, Reace, Malak, Iggy, Loach, Tiny, Cracks, Beany, and let's not forget Eegah!!!
Another reason why "A Man Called Dagger" can't be considered a bad film is that the music is by another 60's fave that we've never had the opportunity to write about before, Mr. Steve Allen! The extremely multi-talented Mr. Allen was not only a serious jazz musican, he was also an amazing comic, who surrounded himself with the talents of Louis Nye, Don Knotts, and Tom Poston on his TV show! It was hilarious!!
As Richard Kiel reconfigures Dick Dagger's face I'd like to mention the fact that it's possible that the producers of this film had access to the fountain of youth! Every actor and actress I've spoke of so far, except for Jan Murray who lived to be 89, is still alive!! They should have a big "Dick Dagger" convention!!! I can just see it!!
This could have easily happened on "Treasure Hunt" or "The Steve Allen Show!"
The "Trilogy Of Trippy," left to right Bruno VeSota, Jan Murray, and Richard Kiel! What a party of talent!!
How important is Bruno VeSota? Let me just put it to you this way, without Bruno, this blog wouldn't exist! He only lived to be 54, but in those 54 years Bruno was in "The Wild One, "Dementia," "Carnival Rock," "The Undead," "Daddy-O," "A Bucket Of Blood," "The Wasp Woman," "Attack Of The Giant Leeches," "The Devil's Hand," "Invasion Of The Star Creatures," "The Wild World Of Bat Woman," AND he was the bartender in freakin' 21 episodes of "Bonanza" to boot!
They're just about ready to pop Dick Dagger's mind,........
........ but I forgot to tell you he has a bunch of gadgets at his disposal, and so somehow he miraculously escapes!
Dick Dagger turns the tables on Rudolph Koffman! Jan Murray kind of looks like a cross between Jerry Lewis and George Bush Jr. when he is at his manic frantic best!
It wasn't easy by no means, but Dagger takes the BIG man down!
Just in time to save yet another one of the beautiful women in the movie, Eileen O'Neill as Erica! Eileen was Millie Second in two episodes of "Batman" and was on all the best shows, "Bewitched," "My Favorite Martian," "The Munsters," "Get Smart," and "I Dream Of Jeannie," and she also had a regular gig as Sgt. Gloria Ames in 33 episodes of "Burke's Law! with Gene Barry!
The big meat locker showdown at the end leaves Rudolph Koffman hanging high and dry! Now you tell me this is a comedy!
Small minded people might think "A Man Called Dagger" is just another crappy James Bond ripoff, but open minded people will do whatever is humanly possible to seek the real truth!
It's the beginning of a new year, but without a doubt, this is "The End" of all time!!
The uncredited stock music is by Cliff Hess, the end theme is by Bernhard Kaun. Hess was a composer, songwriter, author, publisher, pianist and Irving Berlin's secretary between 1913 and 1918. Kaun had 224 music department credits and worked on PLATINUM BLONDE, THE MIDNIGHT SUN, THE HATCHET MAN, DOCTOR X, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, THE OLD DARK HOUSE, KING KONG, HAUNTED GOLD, THE MAYOR OF HELL, THE SON OF KONG, THE WALKING DEAD, FLASH GORDON, SECRET AGENT X-9 and THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X. 
Here's the great Lionel Atwill as Ivan Igor, master sculptor, in London. It doesn't take long to see where HOUSE OF WAX came from, which is also a WB production... 
Ivan's damn good at his work, his pieces are stunning! 
Bad news comes via his business partner... Here's $50 for your crap, I'm going to burn the place down and get all that insurance money! 
It only takes a few minutes to set the place completely ablaze with just one match! Which reminds me, I'll never forgive AIP for what they did to Paul Blaisdell in HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER! 
It's now New Year's in New York, Ivan has moved to the United States to continue his work... 
And then, bodies start disappearing from the morgue! I smell A BUCKET OF BLOOD!!
This is Glenda Farrell as fiesty girl reporter, Florence Dempsey. She tells the editor and boyfriend that she's getting creepy vibes from Mr. Igor. 
There was no way in Hell that I wasn't going to show this great pulp magazine cover! 
Ahhh, the artist's studio! 
When I see shots like this, it makes me want to spit on modern movies, no offense. 
Fay Wray plays Charlotte Duncan. Ivan imagines her as his Marie Antoinette figure. 
It doesn't get much more atmospheric than this! 
Florence gets a good scare in the basement as she tries to find some clues to the mystery. 
Love this part where one of the sculptors rises up, looking like his was a wax head. 
Ivan surprises Charlotte when he springs up from his wheelchair and grabs her in an embrace! 
She accidently cracks off his mask, revealing a twisted monster! 
The police finally break Ivan's helper and he spills the beans about what his boss is up to. 
It's time to dip Charlotte in the wax, to become his next exquisite creation! 
Ivan notices that the police have discovered his hidden lair and have him surrounded. 
After some terrific fight scenes, the coppers shoot Ivan on the cat walk, and, of course, he falls head first into the hot wax! It's always a sad story, genius turned madman due to circumstances out of his control, in this case, greed was the culprit...
