BEFORE I HANG / BEWARE! WHEN KARLOFF STOPS THE CLOCK YOUR HOUR HAS COME! - 1940

Back on fifties TV, there were movies like this being played on weekend late night creature feature shows. They were mixed in with the monster movies like FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA and THE WOLF MAN, so, I thought ones like this were boring compared to ones with actual monsters. But, this one is pretty damn good. The story goes like this... A kindly physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminals' blood, but secretly tests it on himself! He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-Hyde killer.

It stars Boris (VOODOO ISLAND) Karloff, Evelyn (AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS) Keyes, Bruce (THE COSMIC MAN) Bennett, Edward (DRACULA / FRANKENSTEIN) Van Sloan, Ben (MAN MADE MONSTER) Taggart, Pedro (THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS) de Cordoba and Wright (MISTER SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON) Kramer.

Following a botched mercy killing, Dr. John Garth is sentenced to be hanged for his part in the experiment, even after explaining that he was trying to help the victim...

The warden now thinks that the doctor's experiments may have a benefit for mankind, and allows him to work in the lab there. He gets an assistant and they get to work on the puzzle.

In the meantime, Dr. Garth has access to prisoner blood, so uses some on himself. It has side effects and the doctor is sent to the medical ward. After some time there, everyone notices that the doc now has the body of a very fit 40 year old!

But, other side effects are now in play. He has the blood of a killer in his veins and that starts bringing out his dark side!

The doctor kills his assistant and a guard, then passes out and cannot remember anything about the incident. The warden thinks the murders were done by an inmate, so...

The warden pardons the doctor and sends him home to his daughter. She's glad to see him, but, he seems distant and a little rough around the edges.

Then at a gathering of his friends, he tells them about the experiment and that he can reverse their aging, but, they want no part of it. The doctor gets pissed and the men leave after a verbal confrontation...

The doctor cannot help himself and goes to one friend's home and urges him to let him inject him with the serum. His friend finally agrees to the injection, but something goes wrong...

You can read all about it in the newspaper the next day!

Then, the doctor goes to another friend's house and tells him that he has murdered a number of people and wants to confess to him for the crimes... Well, it doesn't take long before his dark side takes over, and...

You can see that his friend George Wharton has also been murdered!

Back at home, the doc's daughter confronts him about the murders and he pulls a scarf out of a pocket and tightens it up...

The daughter faints from fright and the doctor clears his head, he leaves his home to wander around on a foggy night.

He goes back to the prison and demands to see the warden. The guard lets him in but the doctor pulls out his scarf and comes at the guard. Well, he's shot and when the warden gets there, the doctor tells him that he cane back because he wanted to be hanged for the murders, but a bullet will do... Join us again on Wednesday for more cool stuff, here at The Dungeon!!..

SCREAMING MIMI - "The Ballet Of Desire" (1958)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is an odd movie from 1958 titled "Screaming Mimi."

You can hardly make it out, but the object behind the title is a small sculpture you could hold in your hand called the "Screaming Mimi."

Miss Sweden 1950, Anita Ekberg is Virginia Wilson, aka Yolanda Lange, and she's taking an outdoor shower after swimming in the Pacific Ocean!

She hears her dog whimpering and........

.......The next thing she sees is some madman coming her way!

The man had escaped from the Highland Sanitarium, and viciously attacks her with a knife. Her step brother shoots the fool right in the nick of time, but Virginia is damaged goods after the event, and ends up in the same hospital that the guy escaped from!

Her VERY caring healthcare provider is Doctor Greenwood, who is played by Harry Townes! Out of Harry's amazing 185 mostly television credits are two episodes of "The Twilight Zone," "The Four Of Us Are Dying," and "Shadow Play."

Time passes and Virginia seems to be doing a lot better when her and Dr. Greenwood disappear, and she starts working as an exotic dancer. I think they are supposed to have moved to L.A. but I'm pretty sure this is North Beach in San Francisco!

Her name is now just Yolanda, and the place she's working in is called "El Madhouse" and is run by Joann 'Gypsy' Masters, who is played by real life striptease artist turned actress, Gypsy Rose Lee.

Vibes player Red Norvo and his trio are the house band!

In 1938 Red Norvo had two number one hit songs, "Please Be Kind," and "Says My Heart."

At "El Madhouse" the bartender sings, and ..........

.......The waiters dance!

And Yolanda does her thing. She's not a stripper, just a dancer!

It's really kind of hard to believe this actually was passed off as entertainment back in 1958!

Yolanda is out walking around with her Great Dane called Devil when she is attacked and stabbed in the stomach!

Some time earlier, another girl named Lola Lake had been stabbed to death, and the funny little "Screaming Mimi" statue was found at the crime scene!

Phillip Carey plays Sweeney, an investigative reporter who has an interest in Yolanda on more than one level. Seeing the photo of Lola Lake makes him try and track down the "Screaming Mimi," because when he visited Yolanda's dressing room, she also had one of the little sculptures!

In 1959-1960, Phillip Carey played the lead in 26 episodes of the TV show "Phillip Marlowe," and from 1965 to 1967 he was Capt. Edward A. Parmalee in 56 episodes of "Laredo."

Pretty risque for 1958, Linda Cherney is Gypsy's best friend Ketti. I don't remember her ever speaking, but they cut to her a multitude of times, just to show you that Gypsy wasn't interested in men!

Linda only had one other role besides this one where she played an uncredited car hop!

After taking a few days off, Whoa! Big News! Yolanda Returns!! Yippee!!

But her act didn't change any!

They all missed her so much they had a party and made her a "Welcome Back" cake!

In the end, Virginia/Yolanda gets a free ride back to the nut house, where she never should have got out of to begin with!

The book was written by Fredric Brown in 1949, and was also made into another movie in 1970 that was Dario Argento's Directorial debut,  "L'uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo" or "The Bird With The Crystal Plumage!"

LOONEY TUNES / Bugs Bunny In "Hyde And Hare" - 1955

Welp, we end another month here at The Dungeon. Today's post is a cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, another genius making awesome cartoons for Warner Bros.

Love this one starring our favorite guy, Bugs Bunny, in a little horror tale from 1955. So, sit back and enjoy the laffs, you know, as much as you can in this nutso America we call home.

Dr. Jekyll takes Bugs to his place where our little pal will be well fed and taken care of...

Bugs checks out the home while the doctor goes into the lab to get some carrots. But, the doc sees his special formula just sitting there, and cannot fight the urge to drink it. He apologizes to the audience, then slams it down!

Bugs sees a piano and sits down to play a tune. He pretends to be Liberace, he makes a face and says.. I wish my brother George were here.

In the meantime, the doctor has changed into Mr. Hyde. He walks up behind Bugs, and without even turning around, the little guy senses danger!

And, this is what he sees when he does turn around!! YOW!!

The maniac chases Bugs (who's calling for the doctor's assistance) around the house, until, it changes back into the doctor.

Bugs takes the doc's hand to find what he thinks in a mentally disturbed patient... After a walk down the hall, well, you know what happens next.

The doctor is back so him and Bugs go into the storage room. Bugs nails up some boards and hands the doctor a rifle in case the creep shows up! You can see where this plan goes, to Hell.

Bugs and the doctor hide in a closet. It's amazing what such a simple image can convey!

Finally, Dr. Jekyll decides to pour the formula down the drain because of the mayhem it causes. But, the bottle's empty! He asks Bugs if he drank it, and our little bunny gets all insulted and tells the doctor that he's outta there!..

Bugs goes back to his home in the park. When he arrives, the regulars there see him and head for the hills! Including the birds...

Bugs is baffled!.. What's wrong with those people?! Haven't they ever seen a rabbit before?!!.. Hope you enjoyed this post, check in again tomorrow when we hear back from Eegah!!..

I want to thank our pals that left comments on how much we love our pets ~ So, Thank You ~