CHARLIE CHAN AT THE RACE TRACK - "13 To 1 Odds" (1936)

 And The Stuff it is!
 Tonight's totally Whacked-Out Wednesday feature titled "Charlie Chan At The Race Track" is just exactly that, and I ain't kidding!

 Sometime in the last thirty years, my interest in boxing waned and an interest in horse racing got started! I think the two of them are the strangest sports around for various reasons, so when I get a chance to watch a vintage film about horse racing, I'm all over it, and "Charlie Chan At The Race Track" didn't disappoint me at all!

 It's just that some aspects of society have changed so dramatically over the last 80 years, well, I just find it fascinating! Like here, these guys are literally glued to the radio to listen to a horse race. As a kid, I'll always remember my Dad laying in bed, smoking a cigarette, and listening to boxing matches and baseball games on the radio. Might not sound like a role model, but it worked for me! But we didn't have enough money for my Dad to be interested in the horse races, so that wouldn't happen for me until many, many years later!

 I just dig this shot way too much!

He got kicked in the head by a horse that he loved. Strange and unusual circumstances to be sure!

 I grew up listening to my parent's 78's, and one of my favorite songs that I still have to this day was titled "Horses Don't Bet On People," and the refrain went like this, "Horses don't bet on people, horses have too much sense!" Truer words have never been spoken! (And don't forget, "Horses ain't got no remorses!)

I'm searchin' around but I'm not finding out much about the black actor John Henry Allen who played Streamline Jones! He had 10 roles in 11 years from 1935 to 1946, and most all of them were minor or uncredited! It's hard to imagine the kind of dedication it took for a black man to pursue an acting career back in those days just to get a demeaning role like this!

Charlie say something like "Look like man get kick in head by horse, but fork from ship transmission make similar hoof print mark if hit on head!" Charlie's son Lee is eating it up! Lee Chan was played by Keye Luke who was actually Chinese, and Keye contuned to work steadily until 1991! What an amazing character actor!

Warner Oland was Charlie Chan in 16 different movies. They were making three a year at one point! Is it any wonder he drank himself into lunacy? Charlie Chan was calm and knew everything, but the man inside was headed the complete opposite direction, and the popularity of Charlie Chan was the only thing that was keeping the Fox Studios alive. Warner Oland was Swedish, but they say the only makeup he had to do was to turn his mustache down, and curl his eyebrows up!

Matching up the typewriter with the defective 'e' key to find out who is sending out these threatening letters!

 This guy doesn't look the least bit suspicious!!

 This shot just got to me because the horse is looking straight into the camera! Probably never went to acting school!

 Hey Boss, I gave up everything to make this deal happen, can I get a little help?

 Sure! Don't worry, we'll take care of you! How about a nice pair of concrete shoes!

 The advent of the photo finish!

What a mass of humanity! Like the Woodstock of the 30's!

 If you think any of these names are weird, it's gotten completely out of hand by 2018, and there are horse's with names like Lagoon Macaroon, Shake N Fries, Buckstopper Kit, Stroll Action, Where You Was, The Pooch, and Klaatu, just to name a couple! (Sorry but Klaatu did not end up in the money today!) It cracks me up that they couldn't, or didn't want to use the real name of the Santa Anita racetrack!

 Another clever ruse of a distraction!

Dadda dum dum da dum!

THE LEOPARD MAN / Strange Savage Murder... Striking At Women Only! - 1943

Here we go with another week, here, at The Dungeon!.. This time, at the encouragement of her manager, a nightclub performer in New Mexico takes a leashed leopard into the club as a publicity stunt. Her rival, angered by the attempt to upstage, scares the animal, it bolts and runs out the door. In the days that follow, victims are being mauled and the countryside is combed for the loose creature. But, people begin to wonder if maybe the leopard is not responsible for the killings!

This one stars Dennis (TOPPER RETURNS) O'Keefe, Margo (LOST HORIZON), Jean (THE SEVENTH VICTIM) Brooks, Isabel (MAD LOVE) Jewell and James (i WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE) Bell.

Here's Kiki Walker with her leashed leopard making a splash at the club where she performs. It was the idea of her agent, Jerry Manning, there in the background.

But, the performer, Clo-Clo, is pissed at Kiki for the stunt, so, she clacks her castanets together loudly and scares the crap out of the big cat and it bolts out an open door!!

The first victim is a young woman out wandering by a train trestle where she hears the cat.

The next victim is found in a garden. The authorities have to use a ladder to get into the yard because the entrance door has been locked.

Jerry talks with his pal, Charlie How-Come, an expert on large cats. After the second death, something doesn't add up, is it possible that a person is killing the women?..

Clo-Clo is getting the creeps, so, she goes to a fortune teller to see what's up with her fate.

Clo-Clo draws an ace, which means she hasn't got much time to live! Then, this freakin' Texan runs over a cat in front of Clo-Clo after she exits the fortune teller's building. She asks the dumb ass what color the cat was, and, he says... BLACK! It's not long before she becomes another victim.

Love this shot, reminds me of when I was just a little guy, this was a normal scene in just about any city in the fifties. My cousin made lots of spending money shining shoes back then!

The beans get spilled when Dr. Galbraith, the zoo curator, thinks he has his next victim, Kiki...

Well, it was a set up, Jerry and his pal Dwight are on the other side of the door. When Kiki screams her head off, the guys chase Galbraith outside. The murderer hides in a crowd of mourners but the good guys catch his sorry ass anyway.

Jerry listens to Galbraith's twisted explanation of why he killed the women... But, when it comes to describing Dwight's girlfriend's death...

Dwight pulls his rod out and puts a bullet in the sicko's gut!.. Case Closed!!

Jerry and Kiki leave Dwight to explain to the cops why he shot Galbraith, he'll have to go to trial of course, but, you know, he'll probably get off... And, you can get off on another wild post on Wednesday when Eegah!! brings on the stuff!

IF.... - "When Do We Live?" (1968)

"If...." I wasn't haven't having so many computer problems right now, everything might be a touch better. In the meantime, in between time, Welcome to the Saturday Night Special version of The Dungeon!

"If...." is art! "If...." is dark! "If...." is stylish, but morose and full of despair! It's a fairly simple tale! If you kick a dog every day, some day it's going to bite you! But, if the dog is a bunch of rich kids, do you, or should we, even care?

"If...." is a highly acclaimed product from the mind of the great Lindsay Anderson in 1968, but I'll take his 1973 masterpiece "O Lucky Man!" that also starred Malcolm McDowell over this film any day of the week!

In Britain, they call them public schools which actually means private school. That's a good place to start!

Nothing that happens in this school would be allowed today! It's difficult for me to identify these days with a bunch of disenfranchised rich kids abused in a private school system! The school, and everybody involved with the school is gross, and you never see even one parent. The only thing I can think is that I guess this is where the whole British music scene got it's cajones! If this is the best world that the 60's British uppercrust could provide for their kids, then they damn well deserved Johnny Rotten!

The song that plays over and over that Mick is listening to on his record player is from the album entitled "Missa Luba" sung by Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin and conducted by Fr. Guido Haazen, which I just happen to have a copy for sale in my new Discogs store! If you have an eclectic taste in music like me, then you really should check it out! 

They taught fencing where I went to school too. When I was done, I knew all the ins and outs of chain link, wood, and cinder blocks!

Yummy! 

Maybe the problem is that there are basically no vegetables in these people's diets! 

Great shot of these vintage motorcycles! In fact, the whole movie is filled with great shots, but that just wasn't enough for me,

This girl (Christine Noonan) is obviously nothing but trouble! Christine also had two roles in "O Lucky Man," as the coffee trainee, and the girl at the stag party!

For a better take on rebellion, go listen to the late Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised!"

Bored boys will go to any length to entertain themselves! Of course, Malcolm McDowell is great, no matter what the role is!

Excessive corporal punishment is going to lead to some serious backlash!

 I just like all the details included in this shot!

This is a perfect example of a Pompous Self-Righteous Jackass! Unfortunately, this is not a species that has gone extinct yet!

 I would have loved to have the job of putting these collages together as long as they would have paid me!

 Some things are not so much different from mine or your youthful adventures! One day a bunch of teenagers were headed into the mountains for a day of fun and adventure. The only problem was they had got somebody to buy them some bottles of blackberry flavored sloe gin. Gulping that shit, just like Mick here, Tabonga was puking before we got 20 miles outside of town! What fun!!

This reminds me so much of me and my wife! I can't tell you how many endless nights before bed, I'd sing, and she would play the recorder!

Teenagers probably really shouldn't have access to stuff like this!

In light of the mass shootings that seem to becoming commonplace in modern society, do you really want to watch a satire about that type of killing? I wasn't in the mood! It did make me want to go back and watch "O Lucky Man" again though!