CHINATOWN AT MIDNIGHT - "Caught Like A Rat In A Police Trap" (1949)

 

This Wednesday's Wild and Wacky feature is a short flick from 1949 titled "Chinatown At Midnight," starring "Hurd (Picture Of Dorian Gray) Hatfield as creepy killer Clifford Ward.

 

The story takes place in San Francisco, so naturally they shot the film in Los Angeles!

Then they insert stock footage of the city by the bay, and a tour guide informs us that San Francisco's Chinatown is only 20 square blocks, but is the most densely populated area in the entire United States.

Clifford Ward is a Class A jerk. He has a demanding girlfriend named Lisa Marcel who doesn't seem to care for him at all, and tells him what to do. She told him she needs a specific vase that can be found in a shop in Chinatown. This young man tells him that the vase is not for sale, but that's okay with Clifford because, he didn't plan to buy it anyway, and shoots and kills the guy instead.

The proprietor's girlfriend was in the next room, and she's next. She tries to call the police, but Clifford takes the phone and tells the cops in Chinese that there has been a robbery, after he shoots her too.

Back in the good old days, the call was actually listened to by one of the operators.

 

Clifford brings Lisa Marcel back the vase, and she's so happy! Lisa was played by Jacqueline deWit who can also be seen in "The Twilight Zone" episode titled "Time Enough At Last."

The rest of the movie is all about the police trying to find out who and where Clifford is, but they are off to a bad start thinking he is Cantonese because of the dialect of the voice on the phone.

The police publish a photo of the stolen vase and Lisa Marcel freaks out when she sees it, because she didn't know the whole back story on how the vase was obtained by Clifford.

The lady who bought the vase from Lisa is equally appalled that the vase is stolen, and tells Lisa she is going to call the police, which causes Lisa to decide to get out of Dodge, or San Francisco, as it were.

 

This film has a narrator that I can not find credits for, but his narration gives a lot of details that the film can leave out, and make it a much faster production, so this movie is only a little over an hour long. What they failed to do is make even a vague attempt at explaining Clifford and Lisa's relationship. They seem to be a couple, but she just bosses him around mostly, so I guess it should be no surprise when she tells him that she needs to get out of town, he does her a favor, and puts a slug in her!

They almost catch Clifford a number of times, but since they don't know who he is, or what he looks like yet, he is sometimes right under their nose and they don't even know it. Here, he disposes of his overcoat and gun in an incinerator in an alley, then gets in line with guys in a line for food handouts.

Meanwhile, at the "Technical Research Laboratory" they have matched up the bullet from the gun found in the incinerator with the one that killed the girl.

Investigative police work back in the forties was intense. They find a laundry tag inside the overcoat, then they figure out who the manufacturer is, contact them, and get a list of all the laundromats in town that use this particular tag. At that point one of the officers is assigned to visit each one and see if anybody recognizes the coat.

The owner of one of the laundromats recognized the coat, but says the guy paid cash, but he was pretty sure the customer lived within a two block radius of the laundromat, because he walked there. They find his apartment, and while he's nowhere to be found, they find some sound recordings of his voice from when he was practicing languages. 

They take one of the recordings, and send it to Los Angeles, and have a couple hundred records made, and delivered back first class.

The records are then distributed to a group of officers with instructions to deliver them to anybody in town who might be able to recognize the voice of the killer, waitresses, stewardesses etc. 

And, of course, all the telephone operators in town.

Clifford takes prescription medicine for malaria that he has had for seven years, and since he's on the run, he is desperately in need for some more, so when the pharmacist won't give him any, he goes to a phone booth and calls the pharmacy acting like he's the Doctor. That was all it took, and this gal recognizes his voice immediately.

 

He goes back to his room to rest, and lay low for a while.

Since they now have his position narrowed down, the cops come up with a plan. They will go to each and every door in the area, and act as census takers, and it doesn't take long for them to locate Clifford!

From there, it's only one last chase scene to finally pin the bastard down!

And you can check it out for yourself right HERE!

THE HOUSE OF GHOSTS - 1906

Okay, here we go... Today we have a European horror production from 116 years ago!! The short is also considered to be one of the first 'haunted house' films, and boy, have there been a lot! And I swear, it's much more fun to watch than most of the stuff today.

The movie was distributed in the US in 1906 under the title, THE HOUSE OF GHOSTS.

It starts with three weary travelers, a woman and two men, looking for a spot to rest and get out of the incoming storm.

Out of nowhere, an old house appears, and the storm is coming fast. They all rush inside the house just as the storm hits... What luck!

After they're inside, the front of the house changes into a monster with googlie eyes! Like, what in the Hell's going on here! It even has a top hat.

Once the group is inside, one guy opens the front door to see how bad the storm is and a lightning bolt hits right in front them. They ain't going nowhere!

They are straightening the place up after the hectic entrance when a spook appears in the painting. One of the guys sees it, and tells the others to look at the thing in the painting, but it's gone when they turn around, a great gag!

Then their clothes pick themselves up and wander out the front door!

Next on the list of spooks is this ghostly bed sheet that does a devilish dance for them.

Finally, they find some food for dinner and prepare the table for the meal.

As they watch, the knife cuts the salami into pieces and places them neatly on a plate. The knife then slices the bread and stacks them on another plate.

The tea or coffee pot rises up and pours a cup full for each of the visitors.

They used a set that could be tilted from side to side, making for this hilarious scene.

The fun just never ends, now a bunch of little ghosties attack them and they all pile onto the bed to escape the mayhem.

The spook in the painting, now a giant, has returned and finds the three travelers in the bed with the covers over their heads. He grabs the three with the sheets around them, and...

The house is gone now, and the monster holds the sheets up and starts shaking and the three travelers tumble out...

The weirded out threesome find themselves in the forest, where they collect their senses and make a bee-line outta there! Well, hope you enjoyed this blast from the past, we did!

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - "The Contender Part 2" (1968)

 

I wasn't originally going to do this write up on Part 2 of "The Contender," but I still wanted to watch it, and when I did, I felt like I had no choice for a couple of reasons, so that's why this Saturday Night Special is what it is!

 

Barney, doing his best impersonation of the boxer Richy Lemoine is finally ready to show off his skills!

 

Sugar Ray Robinson as henchman Wesley is enjoying the demonstration quite a bit!

 

The team has secretly installed a device that will guarantee Barney's victory. This is the control panel!

 

And this baby is full of something that will bring his opponent literally to his knees.

 

When the fighter goes to use the spit bowl, he gets a big hit of whatever was in that vial.

 

Barney's opponent is quickly disposed of and then the chump of a champ Ernie Staczek sucker punches Barney outside the ring! Robert (The Silencers, Dimension 5, The Dirty Dozen) Phillips plays Staczek!

 

 

Charles Buckman has a pretty cool ride.

 

Here's where they started to lose me. How is it that Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter is able to get close to big shot Buckman without him ever trying to get her into bed. Something tells me that's what he would have done on the very first day he met her, but somehow weeks go by, and he's satisfied with just her companionship. It just doesn't work that way.

 

Wesley puts the squeeze on Rollin Hand!

 

And here's when space and time get scrambled to unbelievable proportions. Barney wins one fight after another which appears to happen in a matter of days. Sure, back in the day, fighters fought a lot more often than they do today, but still, five bouts is going to at least have to span a few months or even a few years time.

 

Barney as Richy Lemoine moves up through the ranks at an incredible pace!

 

Barney wins one fight after another and now it's time for his big pay day!

 

The time has come for Staczek and Barney as Lemoine to duke it out once and for all.

 

Now is when the real trouble begins! Buckman tells Barney that he needs to throw the upcoming championship match with Staczek, something that Barney is not real comfortable with, but the reason they've gone to all this trouble in the first place.

 

Great shot of the action through the eyes of the real Richy Lemoine.

 

In this great shot of a clinch, Staczek asks Barney what the Hell he's doing. How come he's fighting back so hard, and not going down!

 

Buckman tells Wesley that he's pretty sure they have a problem that he's going to need to deal with! He then gives Wesley a thumbtack, and Wesley is able to get it into Staczek's glove. It does cut Barney, but not badly enough to stop the fight!

 

Despite all that, Barney closes the deal, and Buckman and his associates are not happy!

 

Sweet dreams Staczek!

 

After the fight, and back in the locker room, they switch Barney and Richy back out, and nobody notices it's not quite the same guy! That's really expecting a lot out of the gullible audience, but then it was an impossible mission, so what else is new?