CARNIVAL OF SINNERS / La Main Du Diable - 1943

Here we go with another week of new posts, we'll begin with this very interesting movie from France made during WWII. It goes like this... Roland Brissot pays a nickel for a talisman that will give him love, fame and wealth. The talisman is a freaking left hand, and, it does change his life as an artist, bringing him everything he desired. But of course, nothing is free in this world, and after one year, the devil shows up and asks for his due...

It stars Pierre Fresnay as Roland, Josseline Gaël, Noël Roquevert, Guillaume de Sax and Palau as the Devil.

It starts with Roland, disheveled and missing his left hand, appearing at an inn in the mountains. The people there are all staring at him, he seems a bit insane to them. Annoyed, Roland has a few choice words!

He sits down with the guests and starts telling the story of what has happened to him...

He tells of buying a talisman that was supposed to bring him fame and fortune. But on the way to his friend's room to see the talisman, an unknown person tells him not to buy the thing!

After paying his successful friend a nickel for a box with a left hand in in it, his luck changes. But he's warned, he must sell the hand within one year or face the consequences.

Everything's falling into place, now, his dream girl Irene wants to marry him!

Well, time flies when you're rolling in the dough. Buyers are lining up to buy his paintings now, instead of painting dogs, his left hand is magically turning out dark visions of Hell, intriguing the public!

Then it happens, a year passes and who shows up? Right, the Devil, aka The Small Man...

Roland didn't sell the hand, so, he's required to pay a fee the next day of 200,000 francs. The Devil speeds up time and Roland is 8 francs short. So, he will owe 400,000 the following day as it doubles every day! Roland's an idiot!

Roland goes to a casino and has amassed a tidy sum only to lose it all on one bet...

Roland's life is surreal, he pays a visit to these costumed people only to find out that they have also possessed the hand and they are all part of a chain of cursed souls...

In performances that made him rich, he realizes that he was delving into unnatural acts.

The curse of the Devil hangs over him...

Then as the Devil is closing in on Roland, the spirit of the actual owner of the hand gives our poor Roland a way out of his predicament, return the hand to the owner's grave!

Everyone is enthralled by Roland's story. He has saved his soul, but is afraid the Devil is plotting to kill him for revenge. There's a sound outside and they find the Devil's hand print burned into the door! Roland runs out of the inn and chases his nemesis...

You can see Roland at the top there, beating the crap out of the Devil... He tries to descend the hill and falls to the ground when he slips!

Roland is dead, the people from the inn have come to see if they can help. They find the box, but, the hand is not in it! Then, they find the grave of the man Roland says he needed to return it to, breaking the chain. Yes, a very complicated story, definitely a film you need to see if you haven't! Tune in Wednesday as we keep on trucking down that stormy old Dungeon trail...

AMAZING STORIES - "Secret Cinema" (1986)

 Okay, tonight's Saturday Night Special is just what you'd expect it to be, a follow up to last Wednesday's "Secret Cinema," show and the remake they did in 1986 for the "Amazing Stories" TV show, Season one, Episode number 20.

 IF I ever had a chance to plan something, I would have done this one first and saved the original for the "Saturday Night Special," because as KD so succinctly commented:

"While the re-do was very slick thanks to the big Universal TV budget, alas, it lost most of its charm in the process." 

And that pretty much sums it up, except it lost it's darkness too!

 

 Paul Bartel still gets credit for the story, but the changes were written by other people. Paul also direceted this episode. Here's the new 1980's Jane, as portrayed by Penny Peyser! At the same time, she was one of the stars of an ongoing TV show called "Crazy Like A Fox."

 This Dick was played by Griffin (An American Werewolf In London) Dunne!

 The setup for this story is not nearly as dark and mysterious as the original, instead, Jane's life is more like one big "live" sit-com, with real Three Stooges action like an overflowing refrigerator, and lots of pies to the face!

 The adorable Eve Arden gets the role of Jane's Mother. Eve was Connie Brooks on the very popular 1950's TV show, "Our Miss Brooks," that ran for two years, and 130 episodes, and that was followed by "The Eve Arden Show," for the next two years and 26 more episodes!

 I love Mary Woronov!
She was in ten movies with Paul Bartel, and my favorite of them all is "Get Crazy!"
For some unexplainable reason, IMDB only credits Mary Woronov with being the nurse in this show!

 But just like Mimi Randolph, Mary not only plays the nurse, she plays the waiter who was a waitress in the original........

.......And the cashier..........

 .......And Dick's lover!!

 

 Jane once again makes her way to the theatre that doesn't exist!

 Do you ever feel like you're living your life one episode to the next? 

Well, for Jane, it was true!

 Who knew Executive Producer Steven Spielberg liked pie so much?

Certainly not Sweet Jane!

 It's fascinating how they decide to use the exact same shot, but reverse it for some reason!

 In this version, Jane's show has a real producer, and he's ready for it to be over, and he wants blood, so Jane's Doctor tells her she needs to act out on her anger and shoot Dick, and so she does!

 Here's an extra role for Mary Woronov that Mimi Randolph didn't have, she and Paul show up at the crime scene as cops!

 All right everybody, that's a wrap, and they start taking down and changing out the set immediately, and Jane is like just WTF!? is going on around here. In a matter of seconds she's shot her ex but he's okay, and finds out that the last six months of her life was all fake, and filmed!

 Since this is a big and bright 1986 success story instead of a 1968 cheapass indie production, it was deemed that there should be a happy ending I guess!

 Paul and Mary end up with a Caddy full of garbage!

You know if I didn't know the 1968 version existed, I would probably have been perfectly fine with this version, just because it's Paul and Mary, but really, this version is lacking Peter and balls by comparison!
The original "Secret Cinema" kind of reminded me of "Daughter Of Horror" the movie onscreen in "The Blob," and the difference between this one and the 60's version, is kind of like comparing "The Blob," to the 1972 version "Beware! The Blob." It doesn't work, so just enjoy them each for what they are, and you'll have a good time!

CAVEMAN COMEDY / Richard Olson: Monster Kid Home Movies - 1962

Welp, today we gots another installment of Monster Kid Home Movies, this time it's a 3 minute flick from 1962. What could be more fun than to dress up as cave kids and run around like maniacs on a warm summer afternoon, with your 8mm camera in tow...

I had to make these little knuckle draggers a title card for this one.

Here we come.. Walking down the street.. We wanna stomp.. Every monster we meet!.. Hey, hey, were The Cavies!

This little buck toothed guy has a freakin' sledge hammer!! That looks like Fred Flintstone there in the background.

Anyway, they love to jump around in the tall grass and pound dinosaurs!!

OH NO!.. It's the dreaded Tiger Kid!

So, they beat the crap outta Tiger Kid and drag him away! In the top photo, it looks like some neighbor kid got in the shot by mistake because that's definitely not official cave kid attire.

I guess Tiger Kid ist kaput? But, a cute lil' kitty makes a cameo appearance!

Now get ready for this!.. There's a kid inside that box, making for the weirdest dinosaur I've seen in quite a while! What a hoot!..

Wow, what a mess this shot is!

So, the big cave kid goes up against the little cave kid and knocks him on his keister! I just cannot stop laughing at that second photo!

OOPSIES!!..

Poor little guy never even got to see a dentist before he died in the line of cave duty!

So, a real snake makes its way onto the set, and like a bunch of stupid kids, they just head for the hills! After all, this is supposed to be a comedy!

At least I didn't have to make this for them!.. Tune in tomorrow for something Eegah!! will have for us, here, at The Dungeon!..