ONE STEP BEYOND - "Where Are They?" (1960)

Welcome to Wacky Wednesday down in The Dungeon! So just exactly what is "Beyond Step One?" Why that would be the rest of the staircase, what else could it possibly be? So I was rooting around the torture chamber, and I found this disc that I had totally forgot I had! It has four episodes of the 1950's-60's TV series  "One Step Beyond" on it, so let's get steppin' already!

Okay, so the real title was "Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond," and this was your host John Newland. John was an actor with 38 titles to his credit including "13 Lead Soldiers" in 1948! He also played Victor Frankenstein in the TV series "Tales Of Tomorrow' episode titled "Frankenstein" that we'll be bringing to you in no time at all! John also directed "One Step Beyond," along with a host of other TV shows like "Bachelor Father," "Thriller," and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents!"

"One Step Beyond" was a show based on supposed truths, not fiction like "The Twilight Zone," and each episode was composed of a couple of short vignettes!  This was from Season 3, Episode 12, and was titled "Where Are They?" This is Joan Tompkins as secretary Jenny Call! Joan was all over TV in the 60's from "Father Knows Best," to "Bonanza," "Thriller," and beyond!

This tale is set in Chico, California, and for some damn reason, big rocks are falling directly out of the sky!

They even beaned one guy who wasn't smart enough to get out of the way!

Some big city slicker newspapermen come to town to check it out, but they're obviously not the sharpest knives in the drawer!

Look in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, NO,  run like Hell, it's a bunch of rocks!! That's it, that's the whole story, that's the way "One Step Beyond" rolled! Bottom line, stay away from Chico, man,  you never know when the rocks are going to return!

The second story starred Dungeon great Richard Devon as wack job Charles Elton! Richard is no stranger to any regular readers of these pages, because he was in some classics! He was Molak in "Space Patrol," and played Satan in "The Undead," and was Detective Dunston in "Teenage Doll," and was Detective Sergeant Stewart in "Blood Of Dracula," and was Dr. Pol Van Ponder in "War Of The Satellites" etc. etc.

In this story, Richard has invented a pill like object that when dissolved in pure water, turns water into gasoline! Pretty Good trick! These scientists are drinking the water first just to prove he's not pulling a fast one!

Drop, drop, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is!! Richard's willing to sell his invention to the government for a mere 10 million bucks!

BUT....... before they can get the okay, he disappears just as quick as he showed up! Bummer!!

The biggest mystery of the whole show is how did Yvette Mimieux's name get in the credits? It even says it on the box. We can't really be expected to believe that somebody got Yvette and Joan Tompkins mixed up just because they were both blondes now. Maybe there's something to all these mysteries after all!!! Whatever, something strange was sure going on!

1970's QUASI-SCARY TV MOVIES!

Here's a list of 13 TV movies made in the 1970's that either I, or Lord Litter, have found on the Internet Archive (And you could too for free) that I'm almost sure I'm never going to get around to watching, but should somehow be included here at least for historical significance! With that said........

....Here we go! In chronological order starting with...

"Weekend Of Terror" from 1970 with Robert Conrad, Carol Lynley, and Lee Majors!

"Three nuns on a weekend trip are held hostage by escaped convicts."

Sounds like a good time, how could you go wrong there?!?

 From 1971, "A Howling In The Woods" starring Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden who were both not only in "I Dream Of Jeannie," but also on "Dallas!!"

 The 1972 ghost story "The Stone Tape!"

 Barbara Eden is back in the 1972 movie, "The Woman Hunter" with two other Dungeon notables, Robert Vaughn and Stuart Whitman!
 "There's A Killer In Paradise!"

 Also in 1972 was "Night Of Terror" with Martin Balsam, Chuck Connors, Donna Mills, and Agnes Moorehead!
"He's Out There!"

 1973 delivered "A Cold Night's Death" with Robert Culp and Eli Wallach!

 Also in 1973 came "The Norliss Tapes" with Roy Thinnes and Angie Dickinson!!

"Once the demon is awakened he will be granted immortality!" 

 The cast of the 1974 movie "Scream Of The Werewolf" was a fairly all-star affair that included Peter Graves, Clint Walker, Jo Ann Pflug, and Don Megowan, who ironically enough or not, was the Sheriff in the 1956 classic, "The Werewolf!"

The 1974 movie "The Day The Earth Moved" also had a cast of immense pop culture proportions, that included Jackie Cooper, Clevon Little, Stella Stevens, and Beverly Garland, but I still doubt I'll ever watch it!

 "Curse Of The Black Widow" from 1977 also had a fairly all-star cast that included
Anthony Franciosa, Donna Mills, Patty Duke, June Lockhart and Sid Caesar!
Big Girl!!

"Night Terror" aka "Night Drive" also came out in 1977 with Valerie Harper! 

Housewife vs. Psycho!

By 1978, it was time for "Devil Dog:Hound Of Hell," with a killer cast that included Richard Crenna, Yvette Mimieux, and Martine Beswick! (Okay, I might have to watch it some day just for those two!)
"A Halloween Howler!"

"A teenage girl is harassed by a stalker" in another 1978 movie called "Are You In The House Alone?"
So, there you go! IF I've slighted your favourite movie, then by all means leave a comment, and I'll make sure and give it the treatment it deserves, but until then, Aloha, Auf Wiedersehen, & Buenos Noches!

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM / Cinerama Productions Corp., MGM - 1962

Here's an early sixties movie we haven't done yet, so... Here we go!! It's all about the fictionalized lives of the Bavarian story tellers, the Grimm Brothers. In the early nineteenth century, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm are commissioned to write a family history for a local Duke, the reenactments of three of their stories, "The Dancing Princess", "The Cobbler and the Elves" and "The Singing Bone" are showcased.

It's an all-star cast, including Laurence Harvey, Karlheinz Böhm, Claire Bloom, Walter Slezak, Barbara Eden, Oskar Homolka, Arnold Stang, Yvette Mimieux, Russ Tamblyn, Jim Backus, Terry-Thomas, Buddy Hackett, Otto Kruger, Billy Barty, Angelo Rossitto, Gene Roth and many more, wow!! Directed by Henry Levin and George Pal.

We're introduced to the Grimm Bros and the story starts to unfold. This is a 135 minute Cinerama production with an intermission...

In "The Dancing Princess" the King, Jim Backus, wants a handsome young man to follow his daughter and find out where she goes after she disappears in the middle of the night. Russ Tamblyn plays The Woodsman, who takes on the assignment.

He follows her and discovers she wants to dance with the gypsies, Russ shows off his dancing chops and the two fall in love! He must get back to the castle before the Princess is caught, he has a cloak of invisibility and catches a ride on the Princess's carriage to save time.

In "The Cobbler and the Elves" the cobbler is threatened to get his client's shoes finished in a timely manner for a change!

George Pal directed all the animated scenes in the movie, here, he puts his magic to work on the very cute elves scenes.

"The Singing Bone" has Terry-Thomas and Buddy Hackett as Ludwig and Hans, they are searching for the legendary Singing Bone. They find the entrance to a cave where the thing is supposedly hidden.

Once inside the cave, Hans discovers that the Singing Bone is guarded by a big old dragon!!

Ludwig is a big chicken and tries to elude the reptile, but, the mean old dragon uses its fiery breath to send a message to the guy hiding behind a rock!

Anyway, Hans takes on the dragon and kills it after sticking a long sword in to the monster. After the stabbing, it leaks out a ton of pink smoke... Go figure!

The end finds the brothers signing a contract for their book of fairy tales, making them very popular with the children, besides making some big bucks! Join us again Wednesday when Eegah!! haunts this space!!

25 GOOD REASONS TO WATCH OLDE MOVIES Part 03

  #51 - Britt Ekland - "The Wicker Man" "The Man With The Golden Gun"

 #52 - Diana Dors - The Siren of Swindon, The English Marilyn Monroe!

 #53 - Elizabeth Campbell - "El Planeta De Las Mujeres Invasoras" "Las Luchadoras Contra El Médico Asesino" etc.

#54 - Gianna Maria Canale - "Lust Of The Vampire" "Colossus And The Amazon Queen"

 #55 - Jane Birkin - "Blow-up"

 #56 - Joi Lansing - She probably should have been the first one on the first list! Just because!!

#57 - Julie Adams - "Creature From The Black Lagoon"

#58 - Kathryn Grant - "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad"

#59 - Martha "Two Guns For" Hyer"

#60 - Milicent Patrick was not only a beautiful actress, she also gets the mind-blowing credits for creating "The Creature From The Black Lagoon" mask, the Mr. Hyde mask in "Abbott And Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde," the mutant mask in "This Island Earth," and the Xenomorph in "It Came From Outer Space!" Now that's sexy!!!!

#61 - Mylène Demongeot is just too cute!

She was Hélène in the three "Fantomas" films!

#62 - Nancy Kwan - The World of Suzie Wong" "The Wrecking Crew"

#63 - Patti Chandler - "Ski Party" "Bikini Beach" "Dr. Goldfoot"

#64 - Peggy Cummins - "Gun Crazy" "Curse Of The Demon"

#65 - Raquel Welch - "Fathom" "Bedazzled" "Bluebeard"

#66 - Sherry Jackson - "Make Room For Daddy" "Star Trek" "The Monitors"

#67 - Veronica Lake - Been in love with that coif since I was a little boy!

#68 - Yvette Mimieux - "The Time Machine" "Three In The Attic"

#69 - Martine Beswick - "From Russia With Love" "Thunderball"
 

#70 -  Jennifer Jayne - "The Crawling Eye" "Hysteria" "They Came From Beyond Space"

#71 - Marie-Pierre Castel - "La Vampire Nue"

72 - Sheila Carol (Sheila Noonan) - "Beast From Haunted Cave" "Bucket Of Blood"

#73 - Mary Ann Mobley - Miss Mississippi 1958 and Miss America 1959.
She was originally cast as "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E." and Batgirl too, but was replaced both times!

#74 - Leigh Christian - "Beyond Atlantis" "The Doll Squad"
 

#75 - Jill St John - "The Lost World" "Diamonds Are Forever" "Batman"
So that's it for this go round, I think there will still be at least 25 more which will make it an even hundred! We've all been blessed for years! Thank-you to them all!!