Saturday, February 4, 2012

SHIRLEY THOMPSON VS THE ALIENS - Ralph Tyrell-Jean Lewis-Johnny O'Keefe - "Space Jubilee" (1972)

Saturday night's supposed to be Special, right, so Let's Rock with this all but forgotten little jewel from down under, it's my plowed pressure to bring you a story like no other, from 1972, "Shirley Thompson versus The Aliens!" Three years later, director Jim Sharman would bring us "The Rocky Horror Picture Show!"

Jane Harders is Shirley Thompson, and you're probably wondering how she's going to take on those aliens while in the nut house, well, it's just a little bit more complicated than that!

Here's the deal! This is the present, the encounters with the aliens were in the past, and Shirley's current condition is because of what happened!

It goes on for awhile, and gets pretty gnarly in the institution!

After the setup, Shirley finally gets to tell her story.......

Personally I find Jane Harders fascinating, the gal has a look! "Shirley Thompson" was her first role, and she has been working steady ever since! Currently, she has a recurring role as a character called Rita on an Australian TV show called "Spirited," a ghost story about a dentist and a dead 80's rock star!

Even if she didn't have an alien encounter, the fact that these are Shirley's obnoxious parents, probably would have pushed her over the edge anyway!!

The original music score is attributed to Ralph Tyrell, and the haunting opening vocal theme was performed by the dynamic Australian musician and stage performer Jean Lewis and Gypsy Train, but now the joint is jumpin' and the music is hot! After 20 minutes or so of that other stuff, it suddenly all makes sense when the club music kicks in!

It's balls to the Coke lined walls and the rockin' sounds of Johnny O'Keefe and the Dee Jays blasting from the jukebox. The "Wild Child" Johnny O'Keefe is a story unto himself! Johnny O'Keefe was the first Australian rock performer to tour the United States, and to this day still holds the record in Australia for top 40 hits with 29 between the years of 1959 and 1974! He died at the age of 43 in 1978 from a heart attack largely brought on by his copious appetite for various pharmaceuticals!

This is a great "Biker" shot!

The sign says it all, "Have Fun!"

This is the part where Shirley makes contact with the aliens!!

The aliens explain to Shirley what's going to happen to the Earth....

......and she takes it all in!

Shirley comes back and tells all her friends about everything she learned from the aliens!

Some of Shirley's wild tales are not accepted so well, and that's when her downward spiral starts to accelerate!

It gets a little hard to explain, but......

....the aliens with the help of Shirley and her boyfriend, animate this wax figure of H.R.H Prince Phillip, in order that he can deliver their message to the world!!!

Shirley tries to escape........

.....But ends up happily married....

...A Go-Go!!

....NOT!!!!!

Tonight's feature was sponsored by "The Web of Mystery," do them, and yourself a favor, and go HERE, and show 'em some love!

Friday, February 3, 2012

LET'S KILL UNCLE / William Castle Productions - 1966

Welcome to Friday Night Drive-In with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. William Castle gets plain weird in the sixties, this, SHANKS and PROJECT X are good examples of that weirdness. Based on a novel by Rohan O'Grady, the story's about a 12-year-old boy who has just inherited his father's fortune and is trapped on an island with his famous uncle, a former British intelligence commander who intends to kill him in order to get his hands on the inheritance himself...

William Castle gives himself a choice cameo as the accident victim at the beginning of the movie, the dead millionaire industrialist, Russell Harrison.

The music is by the great Herman Stein, who had 101 composing credits that includes film titles like SON OF ALI BABA, CITY BENEATH THE SEA, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THIS ISLAND EARTH, TARANTULA, THE MOLE PEOPLE, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, THE LAND UNKNOWN and THE MONOLITH MONSTERS!

Lettuce bring in our littlest Dungeon helper and Friday Night button pusher, Rufus The Gnat!.. Howdy dort, Rufus! Let's get the ball rolling, so, push the big red 'GO' button, now, Rufus! Here's our Eariffic Soundclip for... LET'S KILL UNCLE, BEFORE UNCLE KILLS US!

From left to right... Pat Cardi as heir Barnaby Harrison, Robert Pickering as Sgt. Frank Travis, Mary Badham as Chrissie and the familiar Nestor Paiva as the ship's steward. They're on the way to the island.

Linda Lawson plays Justine, here, she tries to explain boys to Chrissie.

Bill would be remiss if he didn't add one of his extra strange characters to a production, this time it's Ref Sanchez as the creepy dude on a creeper, Ketchman! Ref also played Igor in EVERY THING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX * BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK.

We like showing book covers, here at The Dungeon.

Chrissie and Barnaby go exploring the island. Mary was in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and a classic episode of TWILIGHT ZONE. Pat went on to be in BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES and HORROR HIGH.

Well, if it isn't one hole, it's another!

I chose this still because I'm super alergic to bananas.

Chrissie runs out the door and falls directly into that mucked up pool, which is infested by sharks!! This mismatch of reality and images is like having someone spin you around and then sucker punch you right in the nose.

Ketchman is mysteriously there to help pull her out of the pool, just before a shark sinks it's teeth in!

Uncle finally joins the fun, flying in with his plane. Sadly, Nigel Green died at age 47 in 1972 from an overdose of sleeping pills. Go figure.

Anyway, before long, the real fun begins!

Uncle pretends to be poisoned, just for fun!

He also has a fun assortment of deadly weapons in his cabinet!

Ralphie The Tarantula even shows up for a fun little role as the spider!

This is how you milk an airplane!

And, we all know what happens when you run out of milk!

Got blood?!..

Uncle is also a master hypnotist and commands Barnaby to do some pretty weird things.

You'll have to see for yourself how it all ends, got this nice print off TCM!

Monster Music

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