D.O.A. - "Nobody Dies For Free" (1950)

Time for the Saturday Night Film Noir Super Special, tonight featuring a clever little film from 1950 starring Edmond O'Brien, "D.O.A!"

Now I'm figuring it's safe to assume that everybody knows that "D.O.A" stands for Dead on Arrival! If not, well now you do!

"D.O.A." starts off with Edmond O'Brien as Frank Bigelow walking down a long hall, but it's really going to be a short haul, because Frank Bigelow has just found out that he's been poisoned!

Because of the nature of the poison that Frank has been poisoned with, and because there's no antidote after about 5 hours, when Frank finally gets to the Homicide Division, he is literally a walking, talking dead man!

So let's go back to the beginning, Frank has been called to go to San Francisco on some business, and he has to leave his secretary/lover behind to watch over the office! Frank's Girl Paula Gibson is played by Pamela Britton! Pamela doesn't have a lot of credits, but she has some good ones!! Pamela had the role of Dagwood's wife Blondie in 27 episodes of the awesome TV series "Blondie" that was based on the Sunday morning newspaper comic! Pamela was also Mrs. Lorelei Brown in 62 episodes of  "My Favorite Martian!" In 1974 Pamela started having headaches, so she went to see a doctor, two weeks later, she was dead at the age of 51, the victim of a brain tumor! Life's not fair kids!

You might wonder what those funny swizzle stick noises are in the little sound clip I've provided you with, it's just that whenever Frank sees a hot chick, that's the noise somebody decided to add to the sound track! It's so cartoonish, it really makes you wonder WTF!

So Frank is asked to go along with some party people he met at his hotel, and they head off into the night for some music and more libations! They end up at a club called "The Fisherman" and man, the joint is jumpin'!

The band is smokin' hot, and that's an understatement! The maniacal sax player is Van Streeter! Van led a group called Von Streeter and his Wig Poppers! He's joined on stage by Cake Witchard on drums, the amazing Shifty Henry on bass, Ray Laurie on the piano and Teddy (Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte) Buckner on trumpet! Believe it or don't, the raucous music they created wasn't even good enough for the producer who overdubbed another band led by Maxwell Davis! What a krazy world!!

Here's yet another far-out fact! That krazy kat digging the music in a small bit part was none other that Hugh (Wyatt Earp) O'Brian! "The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp" was just a small footnote in Hugh's career, but it went on for 227 episodes from 1955 to 1961!  Unfreakingbelievable!

So, how's it feel? You just got into town, you're getting drunk with a bunch of strangers, and one guy's wife is hanging onto you like a starfish on a pier! The air's starting to get a little thick!

Then some super mysterious mofo shows up, and slips something weird into your glass, unbeknownst to you!

Gee, this drinks tastes kinda funny! Hey, Bartender bring me another drink, and wash the glass this time!

Frank Bigelow wakes up the next morning feeling like shit, and he's got some kind of gut feeling that this isn't your run of the mill hangover!

Frank feels bad enough that he goes to see a doctor, and that's when he finds out he's been poisoned by some luminous toxin that has no cure after a certain length of time! His library card has essentially expired!

Now he's got nothing better to do than try and find out what it's all about, and why it happened to him! I love this shot!!

The game is on, and Frank ends up going to L.A. where he starts to put all the clues together!

"D.O.A." is filled to the brim, and overflowing with talent! Here's the great Neville Brand as psycho henchman Chester! What do you think? Does he look just a little bit crazy? Neville was so talented, he could be a tough guy killer in one movie, and warm and fuzzy in another one!  His roles ranged everywhere from this film to "That Darn Cat," with stops in "The Twilight Zone" in the episode called "The Encounter," to 56 episodes of "Laredo" as Reese Bennett, to George Fromley as "The Mad Bomber!"

Time for one last good-bye! He knows it's the end, but she doesn't!

So there you go, "D.O.A." is one movie I don't mind telling you the ending, because, nothing has changed since the beginning of the film! Frank Bigelow is still a dead man, and this is one movie that doesn't have a happy ending!

"D.O.A." is a classic piece of film noir! I got my dvd copy for a dollar from Target, you are even luckier, and can watch or download it for free from The Internet Archive, and that's exactly what I suggest that you do immediately, if not sooner, before your time runs out too!

VIAJE A LA LUNA - Brooks y Enríquez - 1958

It's another Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We have a great little bizarro Mexican musical comedy with a ton of stars that also appear in many of their horror movies. The title translates to "Trip to the Moon," but, in Mexico this would actually mean "Living on the Moon," which is Mexican slang for "Being a little crazy." In this movie, two entertainers are trying to hide from their public for a short time and end up staying at a madhouse hotel(?), where they are mistaken for being crazy! After encountering all the characters that are staying there, they decide to escape.

Eegah!! sent over a nice little musical soundclip for our enjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the Moon Missile, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's an earfull of... VIAJE A LA LUNA!

The beginning is very cool, showing this great fifties Mexican art as the narrator explains how the Moon is responsible for certain behavior in human beings...

In order to get away from their adoring fans, entertainers Arau (shown at top) and Corona have a bunch of masked men show up at the end of their performance so that they can make their escape, confusing the women.

Arau and Corona end up at supposedly a 'resort' hotel. It doesn't take long before things start getting a little weird!

Then, from their bedroom window, they watch a strange dance number by the beautiful Kitty de Hoyos, who also starred in LA LOBA and ADVENTURE AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.

Capulina and Viruta show up as firemen, just in time to douse everyone with water!

I remember seeing Chabelo on Mexican TV even in the nineties, with his crazy little voice.

Here's Kitty as a blonde with glasses, promoting her new book.

Then, as Cleopatra, Kitty does another dance number.

After Kitty and her people leave the stage, Arau and Corona do a comedy dance routine with the strange looking lady, Vitola!

And, Borolas, playing a detective, finds what he was looking for the whole time! This rare movie is available at Amazon.

ONE STEP BEYOND - "Where Are They?" (1960)

Welcome to Wacky Wednesday down in The Dungeon! So just exactly what is "Beyond Step One?" Why that would be the rest of the staircase, what else could it possibly be? So I was rooting around the torture chamber, and I found this disc that I had totally forgot I had! It has four episodes of the 1950's-60's TV series  "One Step Beyond" on it, so let's get steppin' already!

Okay, so the real title was "Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond," and this was your host John Newland. John was an actor with 38 titles to his credit including "13 Lead Soldiers" in 1948! He also played Victor Frankenstein in the TV series "Tales Of Tomorrow' episode titled "Frankenstein" that we'll be bringing to you in no time at all! John also directed "One Step Beyond," along with a host of other TV shows like "Bachelor Father," "Thriller," and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents!"

"One Step Beyond" was a show based on supposed truths, not fiction like "The Twilight Zone," and each episode was composed of a couple of short vignettes!  This was from Season 3, Episode 12, and was titled "Where Are They?" This is Joan Tompkins as secretary Jenny Call! Joan was all over TV in the 60's from "Father Knows Best," to "Bonanza," "Thriller," and beyond!

This tale is set in Chico, California, and for some damn reason, big rocks are falling directly out of the sky!

They even beaned one guy who wasn't smart enough to get out of the way!

Some big city slicker newspapermen come to town to check it out, but they're obviously not the sharpest knives in the drawer!

Look in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, NO,  run like Hell, it's a bunch of rocks!! That's it, that's the whole story, that's the way "One Step Beyond" rolled! Bottom line, stay away from Chico, man,  you never know when the rocks are going to return!

The second story starred Dungeon great Richard Devon as wack job Charles Elton! Richard is no stranger to any regular readers of these pages, because he was in some classics! He was Molak in "Space Patrol," and played Satan in "The Undead," and was Detective Dunston in "Teenage Doll," and was Detective Sergeant Stewart in "Blood Of Dracula," and was Dr. Pol Van Ponder in "War Of The Satellites" etc. etc.

In this story, Richard has invented a pill like object that when dissolved in pure water, turns water into gasoline! Pretty Good trick! These scientists are drinking the water first just to prove he's not pulling a fast one!

Drop, drop, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is!! Richard's willing to sell his invention to the government for a mere 10 million bucks!

BUT....... before they can get the okay, he disappears just as quick as he showed up! Bummer!!

The biggest mystery of the whole show is how did Yvette Mimieux's name get in the credits? It even says it on the box. We can't really be expected to believe that somebody got Yvette and Joan Tompkins mixed up just because they were both blondes now. Maybe there's something to all these mysteries after all!!! Whatever, something strange was sure going on!

NURSE SHERRI / Independent International - 1978

It's time for more independent International content with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is another mind boggling venture into storytelling by the infamous Al Adamson crew... You have been warned!

Eegah!! sent over a fun lil' soundclip from the flick that sounds pretty much like a DARK SHADOWS rip off followed by some sinister belly laughs, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button across from the atomic powered pentagram, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... NURSE SHERRI!

In a confusing beginning, taking place what looks like somewhere in the hills north-east of LA, this black dude gets involved with that demented professor of the occult there, Reanhauer, who's trying to reanimate another black guy. I'm not going to try and explain much of the plot because it will give me Excederin Headache #313, so, just get a copy and watch it, you can find out all about it for yourself. They're pretty cheap on Amazon.

Before she's possessed, Nurse Sherri is a mousy little tart. Her boyfriend is poised for a false scare. See, his hand is bloody, it could be the monster you know!

What, you blind?!.. I CAN'T SEE!!.. You jive turkey!

Sherri gets a visit from Reanhauer's evil spirit after he dies and becomes possessed by him. She's his nurse at the hospital after his heart attack.

Here's an interesting looking shot of some apartments on a busy street in LA, complete with graffiti.

Classic 1970's spiritual image...

Now, Sherri's doing the devil's work, she even has her own pitchfork!

Threw this pic in just for the Hell of it!

From the grave, Reanhauer keeps screwing with the black dude!

Okay, it's confirmed, Nurse Sherri is 100% whacko.

Love this shot as one poor soul gets tossed into the incinerator!

Two nurses from the hospital save the day, they go to the graveyard and use gasoline to burn Reanhauer's soul back to Hell. This scene is totally distracted by seventies drive-in boob queen, Marilyn Joi, as she walks around without a bra. We watch, hypnotized, as the load shifts from one side to the other!

In a tricky twist on PSYCHO, Sherri comes out of the shower to scare the holy crap out of her boyfriend!

Sadly, even when Reanhauer's possession of her is gone, she remains insane at the sexy asylum with the electrified chicken wire fence.