Friday, July 27, 2012

METROPOLIS / Universum Film - 1927

It's Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our super classic silent film was directed by the masterful Fritz Lang who utilized many talented craftsmen to help create this awesome spectacle. The budget was 1,300,000 DM, has runtimes from 80-210 minutes and was released on March 13th. For years, all that survived of the METROPOLIS prints were incomplete original negatives and copies of shortened, re-edited prints. Over a quarter of the film was believed totally lost, but, in July 2008 Germany's 'ZEITmagazin' reported the discovery at the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken of a 16mm dupicate negative copy of the original full-length 35mm print, which had been sent to Argentina in 1928!

Lil' Rufus The Gnat has the night off because the music from this copy was so pedestrian that we have no soundclip for it! So, enjoy your time off Rufus, we'll see you back here next Friday! And, buzz-a-buzz buzz to you, too!!

So then, the story goes like this... In the futuristic city of Metropolis, which is divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior that will finally bring all the people together.

The class distinctions are shown in sharp contrast, the working class live underground in an oppressive atmosphere, while the affluent live above ground and frolick in their pleasure gardens, and, who have nothing else to do except chase half naked chicks around a water fountain all day...

The high pressure job of keeping the power running smoothly throughout the city is placed squarely on the shoulders of the workers!

During a tense moment at the power station, the leader's son, Freder, hallucinates this vision of the furnace becoming a giant demon eating the workers!

Joh Fredersen meets with the inventor, Rotwang, who shows him his newest creation, a robot.

I just really love this shot!

The city planners have access to some pretty cool software!

This is an awesome shot of the workers all marching in huge columns!

The robot is changed into an evil living person whose ultimate job is to go underground and divide the workers.

Evil Maria becomes an oversexed icon!

Brigitte Helm plays Death in these great scenes!

Love this, check out evil Maria's posture!

Telephone communication with visual imagery was an idea that was meant to become reality, seemed obvious even in 1927.

Evil Maria causes the entire undergound to flood, forcing all the workers above ground!

This is a photo Eegah!! took of Forry's robot at his place around the turn of the century.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

TIME OUT FOR REFRESHMENT TIME!!

Hey! Anybody who has ever done it, will surely fondly remember a hot Summer night at the Drive-In, and all that jazzy super bad food that nobody should eat, but somehow we all lived through it, so take that speaker off the window, and head on over to the refreshment stand and grab yourself something to chow on, and in the meantime, here's a leftover Summer Classic from "Catalina Caper" by Little Richard, called "Scuba Party!!Turn It Up!!

It didn't even matter if you had your pajamas on! Uumm! Pizza!!

Prior to tacos, sammich's were all the rage!

Don't forget to get yer big dill pickle or maybe a pickled pig's foot!

Take that burger, and go sit on the hood of the car, and lean up against the windshield! You probably always thought windshields were curved for wind resistance, no way, that's an angle for a perfect back support!

Don't forget the fries!!! Hey mister, how much do I owe you? One pizza, one sammich, a pickle, burger and fries, with 4 soda pops, that'll be a dollar three eighty, kid! Better get going or you'll miss the cartoon!!

"The Pig Keeper's Daughter" rated X, SOOIEE!!! This was probably the last time the words Del and Mac were ever hyphenated together!!

Monday, July 23, 2012

THE H-MAN / Toho Company - 1958

It's another Maniacal Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is a redo of some older posts, time for an update with this puppy! The weird story goes like this... When a narcotics deal goes wrong and the suspect mysteriously disappears, Tokyo police question his wife because they believe that she's also involved, then, stake out the nightclub where she works. Lots of cool music at the club! His disappearance stumps the police until a young scientist comes forward and claims that H-Bomb tests in the Pacific have created radioactive creatures he calls "H-Men," they ooze like slime and can dissolve anyone they touch!! This flick came out the same year as THE BLOB...

The music in this film is some of our favorite from the Monster Movies, but, why yak about it when we can just play our soundclip for you! Push the big red 'GO' button there next to the portable reactor, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's some auditory assimilation from... THE H-MAN!

This is where some of the slimy H-Men come from, the sewers!

And, here's where we all come from! Nuf' said?..

The young scientist interviews a man in the hospital, who, along with others of his crew, had come across a 'ghost ship' and encountered fantastic creatures while searching for survivors on the eerie vessel!

They saw lots of weird stuff, like, clothes laying around but without the people inside them! Then, one of the monsters pops up and absorbs a crew member!!

As Lobo would say... Time for go to rubber room!

The scientist shows off his 'hydrogenator' ray machine. He makes a toad bubble like a crazy monkey when he turns his unearthly device on the poor thing!

What else, it's all about pretty women at the club!

I think this photo perfectly captures the fever pitch of the wild music at the nightclub!

This H-Man shows up at an apartment in the middle of a heist!

This little yellow creep gets jus' what he diserves... The Suds!!

These two people have refused to ever go back on any freakin' Nickelodeon game shows!! Quote ~ "There's something wrong with that Jeff whatzhizname!!"

Anybloody who grew up with Famous Monsters will never forget this incredible melting man!

The police and military finally pinpoint the location of the slimy creatures, the smelly old sewer! A group of men go down there and search for the stealthy things, and, when they do find them, they know what to do!..

They literally set all of Tokyo Bay on fire to make absolute sure that the H-Men are completely eradicated! Spectacular effects, this is a great movie.

Monster Music

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