FLASH GORDON / "The Lure Of Light" - 1955

Here's another wild adventure starring Steve Holland, Irene Chapman and Joseph Nash as Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov. Back in the day, this was my favorite show and I watched it every day after school, laying on the couch. Filmed in Berlin.

In this story, the Galactic Counsel has released Queen Tridentia from prison, she's the person that started the last galactic war. The president of the counsel believes that the Queen is no longer a threat, not realizing that she wants to steal the plans for a rocket ship that can travel faster than the speed of light, to go back in time and alter the course of the last war!

Here's the gang talking to a scientist that claims he has invented a device that will make a spaceship travel faster that the speed of light, enabling the pilots to go back in time!

He says that he wants Flash to be the one to test the theory in his ship, but Dr. Zarkov and the Commissioner are against the plan, it's just too crazy of an idea...

Then, just released from prison, Queen Tridentia comes into the room. It doesn't really look like she learned her lesson.

Before they test the theory though, Flash gets the job of returning the Queen back to her own planet, ready, set...GO! Love Flash's long sleeved shirt with that lightning bolt on it.

Back on her planet, the Queen makes plans to get her hands on the secret rocket plans!

Two hooded figures knock Flash out and kidnap Dale. Flash blames himself because he told Queen Tricentia about the plans when he took her back to her planet, and, Dale knows the details!

On the way back to their planet, the Queen's henchwomen interrogate Dale. And when Dale would not answer a question, she slaps her HARD, for REAL!

Then Dale's put in a chamber with hardly any oxygen in it, the Queen wants to get the plan by torturing Dale into submission.

Back at the ranch, the scientist programs Flash's ship to be capable of faster than light speed if activated, then Flash and Dr. Zarkov head out to the Queen's planet.

The Queen is now teasing Dale through a speaker, reminding her of how great oxygen is. And finally, Dale says that she'll tell them what they want to know...

But, Dale changes her mind, says she's rather die than give her the plans... OOPS!

Flash and the Doc show up, and...

They find Dale, DEAD!!.. There's only one thing to do.

Flash orders the scientist to activate the faster than light speed device!

After they reach 186,700 miles per second, the ship changes configuration and our heroes go back in time. Now, this is science FICTION after all.

They get back to the situation before the chamber incident. Dale is fine, the Queen and her henchwomen are going to prison. This was a fear-fraught episode!

THE SET-UP - "This Human Punching Bag Has Moxie" (1949)

 

It's a Wow Wednesday down in The Dungeon, like Wow, I didn't see that coming! "The Set-Up" is a movie made in 1949 that I didn't know anything about until just a couple of days ago.

 Before that I only knew "The Set-Up" to be what you ordered at the basque restaurant if you didn't want an entree. "The Set-Up" consists of  French bread, pickled tongue, green salad, cabbage soup, salsa, marinated tomatoes, spaghetti, French fries, and bleu cheese if you ask for it, so why would you need more?

 

Although I don't watch it much any more, I was a huge boxing and kick boxing fan for a couple of decades back in the 80's and 90's. I don't watch MMA because I don't think it's right to hit a guy when he's down, so that's never clicked with me!

"The Set-Up" is 100% a boxing movie, and quite possibly even though many people like don't even know about it any more, it just might be the best boxing movie ever made!

I've never been much of a Robert Ryan fan, but that has changed dramatically after watching "The Set-Up," and now I'm gonna tell you why!

George Tobias is a trainer named Tiny, he's going to a meeting to sell out his boy. He trains a journeyman boxer name Stoker Thompson. He doesn't feel a need to tell Stoker to take a fall, he just figures it will happen anyway, so why complicate things? Besides so much more, George will always be remembered as Abner Kravitz in "Bewitched."

When was the last time you saw a couple making out in a cafe?

 

Tiny tells this sleazeball guy named Danny not to worry about it, it's a sure thing. Danny wants to make sure, or his Boss, a tough guy known as 'Little Boy' will be mad, and is likely to throw a tantrum!

Danny was played by Edwin (The Incredible Melting Man) Max.

Robert Ryan is the washed up, over the hill, down on his luck boxer known as Stoker Thompson. All Stoker wants is a chance. If he could just throw the perfect punch one time, then he'd have an opportunity to have a bigger match, and maybe he could earn $500, and he and his wife Julie could settle down and get a little place somewhere.

Julie's just afraid that some day Stoker will get knocked down, and never get back up! Julie was played by Audrey (Tension) Totter, who usually was a bad girl in the movies, quite unlike Julie.

It's showtime, and Stoker is off to work.

Two of the boxers sharing Stoker's dressing room are young men with stellar careers, Darryl (The Tingler) Hickman as Shanley, a boxer in his debut match, and the black guy is James Edwards in his first on screen appearance. James is the man who broke the mold of the shiftless black man, and brought dignity to the characters he portrayed like this boxer Luther Hawkins.

It's a greasy, gritty life, but somehow there's still time for "Thrilling Love."

Stoker is ready to go!

And so is his opponent, the up and coming Tiger Nelson!

Hal (Tobor The Great) Baylor is Tiger Nelson. 

Hal was also 'Mercury' on the "Batman" TV series!

'Little Boy' and his girlfriend Bunny can't wait to collect all the free money they know they're going to get! Lynn (Canon City) Millan is Bunny and, Alan Baxter is 'Little Boy.' Alan was in "The Outer Limits" episode titled "O.B.I.T."

A round in a boxing match is three minutes long, and this was a four round fight. According to his trainer, Stoker will go down and not get back up in the third round even if he can.

What happens next is just crazy amazing. The rounds are almost all in real time, and it was at this point I thought, gee, these two fellows really look like they know how to box!

After the third round, and Stoker's not going down, Tiny and his cut man Red decide they better evacuate the building before the fight is over, and 'Little Boy' and his crew get their hands on them.

Red was played by the always entertaining Percy Helton who had a phenomenal career that spanned seven freakin' decades, and he had 237 titles to his name that included "Spook Chasers," "Head," and "Kiss Me Deadly." He was also in two episodes of "The Twilight Zone," "Mr. Garrity And The Graves," and "Mute."

As it turns out, I wasn't far from wrong. Robert Ryan boxed in college and was 5-0, with three knockouts. He also boxed during the three years he was in the Marines and won a championship.

Hal Baylor had an amateur boxing record of  52-5, and went on to fight as a professional with a record of 15-8, so these two knew exactly what they were doing, and put on one Helluva show!

Stoker goes down once!

He goes down twice!

 

But he keeps getting back up, and the next thing you know is that Tiger is spread out on the mat, and Stoker wins the fight. That all would have been fantastic, except for the fact he was supposed to lose again.

It's all about timing! Bad timing in Stoker's case!

After the fight, Stoker meets up with "Little Boy,' Tiger and Danny. He tries to explain to them that he was never told that he was supposed to take a fall, but they don't care, and beat the crap out of him.

Dreamland? Dreams crushed or Dreams come true, either way,

Stoker still believes there's a place for him and Julie somewhere, and I hope he is right!

TALES OF TOMORROW / "Blunder" - 1951

I have a new-found respect for these early episodes from this seminal sci-fi series, this one in particular. It stars Robert Allen and Ann Loring with nine other actors, for a total of eleven cast members for this one, wow! Charles O'Neil wrote the teleplay from a story by Philip Wylie, directed by Leonard Valenta.

In the story, a scientist is working on a new kind of nuclear reactor that he hopes will provide unlimited energy for all people in the future. Or, it could destroy the world since no one before him has ever been able to create a detonation with the element he's about to use. Scientists around the world are concerned that he has made a flaw in his calculations and they all try to contact him before he proceeds with his plan... Will he?.. Or, won't he? That is the question!!

Except for in some of the early episodes, I don't remember seeing this card for The Science-Fiction League Of America. Forry's probably in there somewhere.

It starts with this observatory lecturer talking about what the Earth would look like from Venus if it blew up in some kind of 'what if'' scenario?! Get ready for a rocky ride!

Don't make me say it!

Carl Everson, with the help from his wife Ann, is just hours away from starting up his new nuclear reactor built over a deposit of an atomic element that has never been used, but he's convinced that it will work and he'll create free energy for the world.

When a friend tries to contact him on the radio to tell him about his miscalculations brought to attention by other scientists, Carl just hangs up on him, he doesn't want to hear it! 

In fact, one scientist wrote an article about the danger and had it published in Carl's favorite journal, but Carl refuses to read the article, why should he, it will change nothing, he's going through with the plan...

When these two scientists in England read to article in the journal, they board a flight to the arctic, because they have to stop Carl from proceeding with his potential world disaster.

Even the scientist in New Jersey that wrote the article tries to get through to Carl, and of course, to no avail.

The two guys from England get to the radio operator's shack but he doesn't want to bother Carl again. But at gunpoint, one of the men forces him to try again. There's no answer so the guy on the right boards an airplane to parachute in on Carl. He must be stopped!

Back at the ranch, Carl and Ann are celebrating the event that's about to happen...

But Ann is scared to death about the fact that Carl holds the world hostage with his new energy producing device, there's a chance that a disaster like no other could happen.

From the airplane, the guy tries to get ahold of Carl, no dice, so he gets ready to parachute out of the plane over Carl's place.

The message is even being spread over the radio but Ann turns it off because she heard a sad song, there's one minute left before...

Carl pushes the switch up...

And pushes the plunger down!!..

OH... MY... EFFING... GOD!!!..

Then, all other places feel the tremble just before...

The world blows itself sky high!! It was nice knowing you..

The observatory lecturer says that this could not happen in real life, you know, the people in charge would never be so derelict in their duties! Great episode!!