TOM AND JERRY - "Dr Jekyll and Mr. Mouse" (1947)

 

Tom and Jerry cartoons have covered every possible genre imaginable at one time or another from The Invisible Man to The Abominable Snowman.

 

So it's no wonder they did their version of Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," and it's also no wonder that somehow I missed this little jewel in my list of Jekyll and Hyde variations of the last 100 years!

This story starts off with Tom snatching a quart of milk when it gets delivered to the house.

Tom's just getting ready to really enjoy himself when he has an unwanted breakfast guest named Jerry.

After numerous attempts at thwarting his unwanted guest, Tom decides to poison the little mouse.

He throws everything and anything he can find into the mix!

The combination of ingredients causes all kinds of strange reactions!

Now the question is whether he can control it or not!

Tom gets ready to serve it up to Jerry!

After Jerry drinks his fill, he doesn't die as Tom had hoped for, but instead, he turns into Mr. Muscle Mouse Hyde.

Tom tries everything within his means to stop Mr. Mouse from kicking his ass, but it's all to no avail.

It looks like it's curtains for Tom when Mr. Mouse finally gets his grubby little mitts on him!

Then the potion that Tom created starts wearing off..................

 

......................And the tables are turned back into Tom's favor again!

Jerry escapes and makes his own version of the potion and gives it to Tom!

That didn't work out for Jerry at all when Tom turns into a gigantic monster cat!

The final straw is when the potion has a decreasing effect, and Tom is just a pipsqueak that Jerry can easily pummel.

THE BAT In Color - 1959

Here's another recently colorized horror thriller movie, THE BAT, which stars Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Gavin Gordon, John Sutton, Lenita Lane, Elaine Edwards, Darla Hood, John Bryant and more...

In this story, mystery writer Cornelia Van Gorder has rented a country house called 'The Oaks' which not long ago had been the scene of some murders committed by a criminal named The Bat. Meanwhile, the house's owner, bank president John Fleming, has embezzled one million dollars and has hidden the money in the house, but he's killed before he can retrieve it. This story is complicated as Hell, so, you'll have to watch it to get all the details.

We might as well kick things off with this warning: So like, Beware Of Bats! They could be rabid to boot.

So, embezzler John Fleming (hiding out) goes to see his physician Dr. Wells at his cabin located near his place. He has a wild story to tell him, all about how he has embezzled a million dollars and has it hidden. All he needs now is body to replace his to fake his death, mutilated. unrecognizable, and wants to use the doctor's friend and guide! Wells says he doesn't want anything to do with the plan, so, Fleming grabs a gun and threatens the doctor.

But as Fleming is leaving, there's a fire raging outside and he gets distracted.

That gives Wells a chance to grab his rifle, and he shoots Fleming dead!

At 'The Oaks' that night, Cornelia is playing solitaire when her girl Friday, Lizzie, comes in and reads her a newspaper article declaring that The Bat is back! They get a little spooked.

We find the doctor in his lab, he's seeing if the bat he has could have rabies. He gets a call and leaves to go see Cornelia and Lizzie, Lizzie was just bitten by a... BAT!

On top of that, police Lt. Anderson is on the case and has been snooping around Wells' home. After the doctor leaves, Lt. Anderson goes into the lab and finds some suspicious experiments. He sees a curtain on the wall and opens it up, revealing a glowing bat model. This is a point where a pile of red herrings take place, in this case, red bats!

The son of John Fleming goes to the house to look for the floor plans to the house, they may have a clue as to where the money has been hidden. But The Bat has different plans!

The girls get a good look at the slain Mark Fleming.

Lt. Anderson joins the women to try and get a handle on the situation, which ain't easy!

The girls go looking for The Bat, and strike out.

Then it happens, The Bat gets his claws on Judy, played by Darla (OUR GANG) Hood, and she dies!! Now he's killed a woman! What's next?

The Bat shows up at the doctor's place, and the doc has the upper hand, until The Bat causes a distraction and Wells ends up dead. So much for him being The Bat, the doctor was a pretty bad guy, so, he got what he deserved.

Back at The Oaks, the girls and Detective Davenport set a trap to catch The Bat, but it fails. The Bat draws his pistol and is ready to kill them all, when, a figure in the background fires first and The Bat gets his just desserts! He deserved to get shot in the back, little bitch!

Our gals can't believe what just happened!

Low and behold, our hero is Cornelia's faithful chauffeur Warner, who was also a suspect. He's my favorite character.

And wouldn't you know it, The Bat was police Lt. Anderson! Well, they found the money and things turned out okay, except for the dead bodies along the way.

TOPPER - "Second Honeymoon" (1954)

This week's Saturday Night Special is a TV show from 1953-54 called "Topper," that I loved as a kid. The idea of benevolent ghosts always appealed to me. I really wanted to tell you about the first episode, but it wasn't on one of these three DVD's I found in a dumpster. I'm not kidding!

 

 

"Topper" was a TV series based on the "Topper" characters written about by Thorne Smith in his novel "Topper." I liked the original 1936 movie so much, I had to read the book, and I was not disappointed.

So, instead of episode 01, we've got episode 014 called "Second Honeymoon," and here's the beautiful Black Swan Inn where Mr. and Mrs. Topper spent their first honeymoon!

 

Here are Mr. and Mrs. Topper on that fateful night 25 years earlier.

Topper's wife Henrietta is showing her friend Thelma Gibney the pictures from her and Cosmo's honeymoon. Thelma was played by Mary (Mighty Joe Young, To Hell And Back) Field. The Kerby ghosts are just hanging out, and observing.

Henrietta and Cosmo Topper, what a great couple. Henrietta was played by Lee (The Maltese Falcon, Vertigo) Patrick, and Cosmo was played by Dungeon Super Hero Leo G. Carroll. As a kid, it was tough to go from watching Leo as Cosmo Topper to having his face melted in "Tarantuala."

Even dead, the Kerby couple are also just great in this series.

Anne (Tess Trueheart) Jeffreys was the delightful Marion Kerby, and Robert (Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea) Sterling had the role of George Kerby. The ever-present Saint Bernard ghost Neil was played by Buck. Robert Sterling was also in "The Twilight Episode" titled "Printer's Devil."

Guy (The Haunted Palace) Wilkerson plays Luke, the odd character working the counter at the The Black Swan.

Things have changed in the 25 years since the last time the Toppers were here. Guy was 6'2" and towers over Cosmo after he stands up. Guy (Panhandle Perkins) Wilkerson was also in "The Twilight Zone" episode "Nick Of Time."

 

Juney (The Magnetic Monster) Ellis is Miss Loomis, the creepy and current proprietor of The Black Swan. Juney has that rare distinction of being in two episodes of "The Twilight Zone," "What You Need," and "The Midnight Sun!"

There's a whole lot of noise keeping Cosmo and Henrietta from getting any sleep, but Miss Loomis assures Cosmo that everything is all right, and even though they'd like to leave, there's no trains running!

Despite Cosmo telling George and Marion to leave him alone for this special trip, they still show up when they sense something is wrong.

 

Well here's what all the racket was about!

It's not ghosts or goblins, it's just Luke down in the basement enjoying his record collection!

Being as "Sh Boom" by The Crew Cuts was probably the rockinest hit on the charts in 1954, you can't really blame Luke for digging his Sound Effects records!