TENEBRE - "Darkness" (1982)

 The Saturday Night Special this week is another one of those non-stop laugh fests from the twisted mind of the Maestro Dario Argento!

 The original title was "Tenebre" but they changed it over to "Tenebrae" so you English speaking peoples could understand it better!

"Tenebrae" has a religious connotation but is also Latin for 'Darkness.'

"Tenebrae" has quite a cast that includes Anthony Franciosa as famed author Peter Neal. Over the course of his fine career, Anthony, also known as Tony, starred in at least five different TV shows from the 60's to the 80's including ""Valentine's Day," "The Name Of The Game," "Search," "Matt Helm," and "Finder Of Lost Loves."

Peter Neal has gone to Rome to promote his new novel called "Tenebrae."

There are so many pretty girls in this film that's it's hard to keep up with them!

Usually by about the time you get acquainted with a character, they get murdered in some grisly fashion usually including a straight razor or an axe!

John (The Evil Eye, Queen Of Blood) Saxon has the role of Peter Neal's agent!
With 198 credits under his belt, John is still working today, and has two new films in pre or post production!

The stories about the filming of "Tenebrae" could be made into a movie themselves, like the one about why Daria Nicolodi had the role of Anne, and how her new found relationship with her co-star Anthony Franciosa irritated the Hell out of her main squeeze Dario Argento!

 

Lara (Satan's Wife) Wendel is lovely as ever in the role of Maria Alboretto, an innocent young lady extremely persecuted!

Movies like this drive me crazy because the subject matter is so ugly, but the filming of it is so beautiful! There's one incredibly amazing 2 1/2 minute crane shot from the outside of a building that took three days to shoot! That's how meticulous Argento is!

"Tenebrae" crosses enough lines and is so grisly that it was banned in England until 1999, and was also banned in Germany for at least 25 years!

The hand of the killer in a black leather glove that is seen in a number of scenes, is the hand of Dario Argento himself!

Poor Maria is not only murdered!

She is persued first by a relentless Doberman Pinscher that can seemingly jump over, or scale every fence known to man! You really want her to get away, but you just know it's not going to happen!

Flanked by Daria Nicolodi as Anne, and Christiab Borromeo as Gianni, Peter Neal thinks he's got the whole thing figured out!

Just waiting even takes on whole new meaning when Dario Argento is running the show, and only Argento can make something as boring as just sitting around into something interesting!

The music is performed once again by Goblin, as they did in "Deep Red" and "Suspiria," but this time they are credited as the individual players Massimo Morante, Fabio Pignatelli, and Claudio Simonetti, instead of Goblin, because the drummer was no longer with them and owned the rights to the name Goblin!

 

 Daria Nicolodi is the reason I watched "Tenebre," and this last scene will show you why!

Despite all the horror films I've watched, I'm still not a big fan of stilettos, axes and straight razors, but Dario Argento always takes it to another level, and that's all I'm gonna say!

You can read all about it in this very extensive Wikipedia article!

ULTRAMAN / "The Mysterious Dinosaur Base" - 1966

So, what's going on at The Dungeon on a Friday you's ax? We'll, turn around and take a look you silly!.. Yay, Ultraman! And the story goes like this... A dinosaur-like monster emerges from the depths of Lake Kitayama. The Science Patrol uncovers a mysterious connection between it and the legend of Loch Ness while investigating the mystery. When they find the giant creature too powerful to subdue by normal means, Ultraman steps in to deal with the unruly hulk.

Here's the cool headquarters building of the Science Patrol, what wild adventure lies ahead?

That gizmo looks like some kinda futuristic disco ball! Wonder what it actually does?

In your face Gerry Anderson! We gots cool models just like you! In fact, we think some of our stuff is better, check out that swingin' sub there for example!!

A nosy news lady and an off duty Science Patrol guy visit a local mad scientist to see if he knows anything about a big monster that lives in the lake.

These two pics are for me and Eegah!!

Oops!! The mad scientist, with pistol in hand, has revealed his dirty little secret, he's been nurturing the beast and there's nothing anybody can do to stop it now.

Now get ready, remember, Toho studios produced Ultraman.

I'll give you one guess as to who the monster is...

Can you tell from this shot? Damn, one of the SP dudes keeps shooting the thing in the face and eyes, this one gets him right on the nose!! Yow, that smaaarts!!

Oh, Mr. Robinson!..

In order to turn into Ultraman, Shin has to have this crazy cork screw shit going on!

Hey maw!.. Somebody took all the money outta my piggy bank!!.. Dammit!!

Come at me bro!..

I pity da' foo.

Look how they changed the big guy, a silly, floppy dinosaur neck piece, to disguise the Godzilla suit! An embarrassing move to save some bucks I suppose.

Well son of a bitch, man!!.. I keep falling for them sucker punches!!..

Then (cringe!), Ultraman rips the monster's 'mate magnet' off from around its neck!! Our hero uses it to mimic a toreador at a bull fight as he laughs away. Look at that wound, yow!

The monster's had a few too many Whoppers, and...

Well, he bites the dust...

I pity da' foo...

Join us tomorrow for something special on a Saturday, here at The Dungeon!!..

THE FALCON TAKES OVER - "The Moose & Velma Show Part 04" (1942)

Tonight's Wednesday Weirdness is the fourth and what should be the final segment of shows based on Raymond Chandler's novel, "Farewell, My Lovely." I guess if I ever planned anything I would have done them in chronological order, but that's a different story!

Proving to be a very versatile story, "Farewell, My Lovely" is able to change lead characters at will. "The Falcon Takes Over" from 1942 was actually the first film version. Like the other three versions I've shown you, they take the basic story and cherry pick what details they choose to use!

I guess when you consider Raymond Chandler's methodology, it all makes great sense, since according to Wikipedia, Mr. Chandler liked to  cannibalize his own stories and "Farewell, My Lovely" was actually a combination of three of his other stories, "Try The Girl," "Mandarin's Jade", and "The Man Who Liked Dogs". 

 

It kind of all makes sense to me now how the filmmakers were able to pick and choose what parts of the story seemed pertinent to them in each case.

In the book, the story takes place is Los Angeles, but this version is set in New York instead!

It's a little ritzy for my tastes, but this looks like my kind of place!

Big mean Moose Malloy is played by Ward (Wagon Train) Bond in this version! 

Moose looks even bigger when you shoot from the ground up

The character of Moose is one of the few things that is a constant in all these films, but completely different in Chandler's novel. In the movies, Moose is a fairly dapper dresser, but in the book, he's described thusly!

"He wore a shaggy borsalino hat, a rough gray sports coat with white golf balls on it for buttons, a brown shirt, a yellow tie, pleated gray flannel slacks and alligator shoes with white explosions on the toes. From his outer breast pocket cascaded a show handkerchief of the same brilliant yellow as his tie. There were a couple of colored feathers tucked into the band of his hat, but
he didn’t really need them."

"Even on Central Avenue, not the quietest dressed street in the world, he
looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food." - Raymond Chandler

And even though this Moose isn't dressed as flamboyantly as that description, he's still not dressed well enough to fit in with the crowd in this upper-crust club!

Moose picks The Falcon's unwilling buddy Goldy Locke to be his getaway driver!

Goldy is played by Allen (Singin' In The Corn) Jenkins. Allen was also Officer Dibble's voice in the "Top Cat" cartoon TV series!

First I read that Ward Bond was 6'6", but Google has him at 6'1" and IMDB says he was 6'2".

George Sanders was almost 6'3" himself!

The "lady with a face like a bucket of mud" is played this time by Anne (The Devil Commands) Revere.

A very young Ringo Starr makes an appearance as Marriot. Actually, of course, this is everybody's favorite piano teacher, Hans (Fractured Flickers) Conried!

Looks like you could expect Dracula to show up any second!

Lovely Lynn (The Amazing Mr. X) Bari has the role of Ann Riordan.

At least being a ravishing blonde was an accurate portray from the book for the role by Helen (Girls In Prison) Gilbert! Being beautiful wasn't enough for Helen, she was also a performing cellist!

The always mysterious Turhan Bey is the phony psychic Jule Amthor.

I couldn't find Allen Jenkins' height anywhere, but he looks like he was at least a foot shorter than Ward Bond!

Velma, Velma, Velma!

This gal has caused more problems lately!

George Sanders is always great as The Falcon Gay Lawrence, but he's not so good as filling Philip Marlowe's shoes. George Sanders is so proper and debonair, I don't think they were able to use even one line of Philip Marlowe's. Forgetting all that, and adding the fact that it's a comedy of sorts, it's still a fun movie to watch on it's own. Just don't try comparing it to the other versions!