Wednesday, May 22, 2013

EOLOMEA - Günther Fischer - "Ground Control To Daniel Lagny" (1972)

"Eolomea," "Eltűnt Nyolc Űrhajó," or is it "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe?" Hell, I don't know anymore! Just lost in space, I guess!!

"Eolomea" is a very well made East European cold war flick, but there is just one overwhelming problem! There ain't no monsters! Space movies without monsters, no matter how well made they are, are going to have a tendency to be on the boring side! Period! One thing that's not boring is the exceptionally cool music in the movie that was composed by the very talented Günther Fischer of "A Terrific Scent Of Fresh Hay" fame, with an ongoing theme that has an overwhelming feel that is highly suggestive of The Beatles' "Fool On The Hill!"

There is just something about the words simple and annihilation together that doesn't work for me! In East Germany 1972, it probably made more sense!

Great spacial effects, no doubt, but if there's not an alien hiding in that spacescape somewhere, well, I rest my point!

Space dude has got a hole in his sock, and they send up the wrong kind of patch kit! Curiously comedic and interesting, yeah, enough to base a movie on, not quite!

This shot reminds me of the time I climbed to the top of Hollister Peak and lost a chess match to Ron Le Fleur!

Tequila Sunrise in space, "Inna Gadda Da Vida," or Eyi, Eyi Oh?

I must admit, that pretty much sums it up!!

The Veronica Lake look does it for me every time!!

Very interesting concept! Do you suppose that it's safe to assume that means, "You look like shit!"

But you do have to hand it to those East Germans for their concept of what it looks like on other planets, BUT, once again, where are the freakin' monsters?

This guy is as close as they get to a monster, a bad case of weasel measles!

I find this shot intriguing!

A computerized robot that doesn't know anything, well now, that's not going to be a lot of help! They might have skimped on the design of this guy just a little bit!

Maybe it's just my dirty mind, but there's something latently sexual about this scene!

They finally find all the lost crews and they all blast off together in the grand finale!

Ivan Andonov channels Mike Nesmith of The Monkees in one of the last scenes, like, "Oh, Well, what am I supposed to do about it, and I agree completely! And just in case you haven't seen it, for a real treat, go check out The Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield's version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity!" It's a kick!

Monday, May 20, 2013

PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE In Color / Reynolds Pictures - 1959

It's time for us to post this wild 'n' weird colorized flick from the mind of low/no-budget guru, Ed Wood, Jr. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE was part 2 of a trilogy, starting with BRIDE OF THE MONSTER and ending with NIGHT OF THE GHOULS. The film stock for NIGHT OF THE GHOULS was never developed during Ed's lifetime as he couldn't afford the cost of processing!..

Criswell leads the charge in the fun little soundclip Eegah!! sent over for our listening enjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button right there, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE In Color!

It all starts with our hero seeing a flying saucer near LA during a flight!

Then, he gets in a tizzy at home because he's being muzzled by the military brass! You can hear him complain in the soundclip...

Hey, it's a freakin' flying saucer over Hollywood!!

So, the military stock footage is brought in to battle the disks from outer space!

That mother ship is still one of my all-time favorite spaceships from the fifties, I've used it a few times in my artwork.

Here's a last look at the great Bela Lugosi...

And, his doctor double used to fill in for him.

That miniature caved in gravesite is sooo bad, it's very small to start with, and, those leaves!

There's Kelton, who's supposed to be in that same hole!

It's a hoot to watch Tor try and get out of the grave, he has to squirm around until he barely gets into a position to stand up! They loop it on the DVD menu page.

A comparison of military styles from two different worlds!

At one point, Bela's character attacks the gang but a ray from a saucer in the graveyard turns him into a skeleton!.. Talk about suspension of disbelief, WTF?!! And, Kelton faints!

A classic portrait of Vampira and Tor!

The Lieutenant, the Colonel and Jeff find the hidden saucer and cautiously enter...

Now, Tor has Jeff's wife!

This still shows the utter cheapness of the cruddy set, holy crap, I mean, honestly, a second grader could do just as good, maybe better!!!..

Okay, burn the saucer, cut, that's a wrap!!..

We'll end with this kitsch box art for the 8mm version of this classic fifties B-movie monster flick.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT - Various Artists - "Rock Around The Rock Pile" (1956)

I always wanted the main emphasis of this blog to be about music in the movies, and tonight's Saturday Night Spectacular is a more than a perfect example of why! In fact, I'm going to go to Amazon right now and buy the MP3 soundtrack, that's how much I liked it!

"The Girl Can't Help It" is a rockin' musical of the highest calibre imaginable with an array of incomprehensible talent from start to finish!

The basic storyline is that Tom Ewell is a drunken washed up talent agent, and Edmund O'Brien is a washed up gangster who wants to make a young lady acquaintance of his famous! Before he even casts his eyes on her, Tom is totally disinterested, but he's just about to change his mind!

For being as close to a nerd as you can get, Tom cuts a pretty mean rug!!

Indeed, the girl can't help it! It's beyond her control!

Jayne Mansfield as Jerri Jordan is really not interested in being a star at all, in fact, what she would rather do is cook! Often portrayed as merely a ditzy blond, Jayne shows that she has quite a bit more depth to her acting talents in this role!

The title song is brilliantly performed by Richard Wayne Penniman, aka Little Richard!!

"The Girl Can't Help It" is packed to the brim with talent like "The Treniers!

     The lesser well known The Chuckles and ..........

.................Abbey Lincoln!

The sultry Julie London is Tom Ewell's ex-flame and performs "Cry Me A River".............

........in a scene where she haunts him from every square inch of his pad!!

Just look at the beauty of this scene, this girl, and this car, and just try and tell me you're not interested in seeing this movie! I don't believe you!!

The talent just doesn't stop! Just who is up next? Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps!!! Now you know why they called them the Blue Caps?

The King of New Orleans piano, Fats Domino even makes an appearance!!

The Platters show up!

And if Gene Vincent wasn't enough for you, Eddie Cochran is also in this move! That's right, I said Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran were both in this film! It's like Rock and Roll heaven!!

Great composition!

I love this shot where Jayne is in the recording studio to record "Rock Around The Rock Pile" and she gets an apple out of a vending machine to gnaw on while she's waiting for her part in the song, which is one long wailing siren shriek, and that's what the one big note on the page of music represents!

Not that it really has anything to do with this movie, but I'm a big Dan Brown fan, and I just finished reading his first novel, "Deception Point," but it left me cold, and I want to tell you something, "The Girl Can't Help It" was a Helluva lot hotter, fun, and interesting!

Monster Music

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