KILLER DILLER - "Kickeroonie" (1948)

 I've got a real killer Saturday Night Special for you this week!

It's an "All-American" film from 1948!

 "Killer Diller" is actually the most exciting film I'm seen lately, and right up there with "Hellzapoppin" in the sheer entertainment category!

 "Killer Diller" is an amazing musical variety show wrapped around a small unnecessary story line to try and make it cohesive! I'm not going to explain the short story line, but instead I'll just tell you that it was written by Hal Seeger, who went on to produce and direct hundreds of cartoons starring characters like Milton the Monster, Batfink, etc.

It's all happening at The Lincoln Theater in Los Angeles. The Lincoln was built in 1926, and was sometimes referred to as the "West Coast Apollo" because it featured popular African-American acts, many of whom also played at The Apollo in Harlem.

 Andy Kirk and his Orchestra are the house band on this fine night!

The first performance is by Andy's Orchestra and is called "Gator Serenade." It features saxophone solos by two killer players, Hank Abrams playing tenor sax on the left, and Shirley Green playing alto sax on the right.

"Gator Serenade" seriously rocks, and Hank Abrams delivers an awesome solo, so much, that he just doesn't want to quit!

When it's Shirley Greene's time to solo, Hank gets so excited that he tries three or four times to get involved again and Andy Kirk has to run him off each time. It's really quite funny!

I just love this shot of the Andy Kirk horn section!

Next up, Beverlee White serves up a couple of  tastee dishes, "It Ain't Nobody's Business What I Do," and "I Don't Want To Get Married."

Then it's "Two tons of Melody and Mirth" with Patterson and Jackson with "If I Didn't Care,"  "I Believe," and "Ain't Misbvehavin.'" Don't be fooled by these guys girth, because they've got some moves!

 A very young Moms Mabley was known as Jackie Mabley back then.

The phenomenal James and Steve Clark, performing as the tap dancing Clark Brothers are nothing but fun to watch. This was their first recorded performance, and they went to to be on all kinds of TV shows, like The Ed Sullivan's.

Most people only know Nat King Cole as being a soulful crooner, but he was a very talented jazz pianist. The other two members of the King Cole Trio are guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Prince. It's cool that Nat sits side saddle when he plays. The Trio performs three songs, "Breezy and the Bass," "Now He Tells Me," and  "Ooh, Kickeroonie." There's another funny sequence in this set when Nat and Wesley and playing notes together like crazy, and Nat stops, but Wesley just keeps on going.

This is a high energy show, and it doesn't stop here. The Congaroos do a couple of numbers where I'm not sure how nobody gets hurt. These folks are crazy, slinging each other around to a point that I can't even describe! This is a truly Mind boggling performance, it wore me out just watching so bad that I had to take a nap afterwards!

And as the man says himself, you can't have a show like this without some beautiful dancing girls, and they are lovely, no doubt

The Lincoln sat 2,100 people, and I'll tell you what, this crowd sure got their money's worth!

Today, the Lincoln Theater is the home of Iglesia de Jesucristo Ministerios Juda, a Spanish-speaking church.

Here's a Killer Diller early X-Mas present for you, Enjoy!

STOLEN FACE - Sir Malcolm Arnold - "A Stolen Heart" (1952)

"Stolen Face" was produced by Hammer Studios the year before "Four Sided Triangle," a movie with a similar motive! In "Four Sided Triangle" a scientist duplicates his best friend's girl who he also loves, in "Stolen Face" a Doctor duplicates just the face of the woman he has been denied! Ironically, Sir Malcolm Arnold composed the music for both films!

Here's the Doctor driven mad with love, Paul Henreid as plastic surgeon Dr. Philip Ritter. Of course Paul will always be remembered for his role as Victor Laszlo in "Casablanca!" Paul also directed a lot of TV westerns in the 60's, and sometimes looks a lot like Richard Crenna!

This would be Mary Mackenzie as petty thief Lily Conover, a self-pitying convict in need of a boost of self-confidence only a plastic surgeon could bring her! Mary's career was cut short by a car accident at the age of 44!

Speakin' of freakin' car accidents, the Doc falls asleep at the wheel on the way back from the prison, and it's determined he needs a break!

So he heads off to the country for a few nights stay at the world famous "Dog And Duck!"

So's how's a Doctor supposed to relax in 1952? Well, with a cigarette and a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, what else? Smoking was so common back in the day, people would even be smoking at breakfast!

When the Doctor hears the person in the next room coughing, he decides he had better go check it out. Too bad, he doesn't have his stethoscope handy, he'll just have to listen to her chest the good olde-fashioned way!! Her name is Alice Brent, and she's played by Lizabeth Scott!

The British Doctor and the American concert pianist hit it off pretty good, both stay a couple of extra days, and since it's 1952, you can only assume they would, as T-Rex would sing years later, "go all the way!" They even go to a local pub, where she gets to show off her vast array of "musical skills", but then suddenly she leaves his life just as fast as she entered it, because it seems she's already engaged to be married! Okay, so it's not really that exciting yet, but...

Lost and alone again, the Doctor decides he can kill two birds with one stone, when he makes the decision to give Lily Conover the face of Alice Brent!

To make things right Dr. Ritter marries Lily after all the surgeries are completed, and he is one happy camper, except at this point, a minion of olde adages apply, like beauty is only skin deep, or you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink, or as Bo Diddley would so succinctly announce, you can't judge a book by lookin' at the cover!!!

Lizabeth Scott does a fantastic job in both roles, taking on two personalities with ease! There were no real monsters in Lizzie's career, but she was in "Scared Stiff" with Martin and Lewis, and co-starred with Elvis in the 1957 feature "Loving You!" Also before Hollywood she toured with the "Hellzapoppin'" road show! Born Emma Matso, Lizabeth will turn 90 this year!

Lily talks the Doc out of watching the boring opera, and they head on over to one of her old hangouts, and the joint is jumpin'! Two thirds of his time on screen, the Doctor is smoking!

The one downturn in the whole film is that this is the worst shot I've ever seen of any band ever, but the good thing is, Sir Malcolm's music is swinging! It's funny to me that when Hammer went from film noir to horror, the music went from swingin' to very serious and orchestrated. It's hard to imagine what the soundtrack from "Horror Of Dracula" or "Curse Of Frankenstein" would have sounded like if the music had been created by somebody like Peter Thomas!

Lily has no wants, but she has needs! The Doctor would buy her anything she wants, but just like any addict, she can't stop stealing! She didn't exactly buy that broach on her throat, and she's proud of it!

Alice, in the meantime, has been on the road, wowing the public, and coming to the conclusion that she doesn't love her devoted traveling partner, and fiancee any longer, and seeks out Dr. Ritter. When she sees the picture of who looks like her on his desk, he spills the beans on the whole lowdown of what he's done, and what a loser he is, and what a loser his wife is too!

Doing his best impersonation of Godzilla, the good Doctor takes crap from Lily one last time!

Let's just say the two women finally meet face to face on a train, there's a catfight, and in film noir terms, there is a happy ending for some of the characters, almost, kind of, depending on how you look at it!

THE SPY IN THE GREEN HAT - "The Concrete Overcoat Affair Redux" (1967)

This week's Saturday Night Special is the "Man From U.N.C.L.E." movie called "The Spy In The Green Hat" from 1967, that was originally two episodes from season three of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." TV series called "The Concrete Overcoat Affair" Parts One and Two that aired the previous year!

"The Spy In The Green Hat" is a nice distraction from the current events of the day! It's silly, but not stupid, it's sexy, but not dirty, and it's got a stellar cast and a swinging soundtrack by Nelson Riddle! The theme song was written by Jerry Goldsmith!

What else can you ask for?

"The Spy In The Green Hat" starts off with our heroes Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo, and David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin in pursuit of a Nazi scientist with an evil plan to turn Greenland into Freshland, and the Northern hemisphere into a frozen wasteland!

They don't get too far!

The always amazing Leo G. Carroll reprises his role as Alexander Waverly, the man in charge of  U.N.C.L.E.

Just in case you don't know, U.N.C.L.E. is an acroynm for "United Network Command for Law and Enforcement!"

Jack Palance is absolutely charismatic as the top bad dog Louis Strago. Here he's joined by Ludwig Donath as Dr. Heinrich von Kronen. Ludwig Donath was also in "The Twilight Zone" episode titled "He's Alive."

I thought Janet Leigh of "Psycho" fame was excellent as Miss Diketon!

She's gorgeous, smart yet dingy, sexy, and very dangerous!

There are actually a couple of stories going on here. While in Sicily working on this case, Solo gets caught up in an Italian family affair. He needed to hide, so he hid under the bed in a young lady's room. When Strago's men find him, they think he's the wrong guy, so they let him go, but now he's in big trouble, because this incident will ruin the girl's reputation! That's when her Uncles, The Stiletto Brothers get brought into the story!

Hey, this doesn't look like something that should be on TV in 1967! 

The dishonored gal with the beautiful back is Letícia (The Evil Eye) Román as Pia Monter!

Talk about a shotgun wedding! 

Solo is about to get hitched, but lucky for him the ceremony gets broken up, and he can get back to the States!

The always fabulous Joan Blondell has a very small part as the wife of one the Stilletto Brothers named Fingers, and they do an homage to James Cagney in "White Heat!"

Joan acted from 1930 to 1981 and she was in "The Twilight Zone" episode titled "What's In The Box?"

Almost every scene that Jack Palance is in is a crack up! He's freakin' hilarious!

You can't go wrong with some of Hollywood's finest character actors in bit roles! Here's Elijah Cook, as Stilletto henchman Arnold! Elisha Cook Jr. might have just been on the set in more cool movies than anybody, like "The Killing," "House On Haunted Jill," Black Zoo," "Blacula," "Voodoo Island," "Hellzapoppin'," "The Maltese Falcon," "The Haunted Palace," and "Messiah Of Evil," just to name a few!

Another member of the gang is another Dungeon fave, and former professional boxer, Slapsy Maxie Rossenbloom as Crunch Battaglia!

Solo is caught by the Stilletto Brothers and another wedding ceremony is planned for him and Pia, this time at the klassy Kit Kat Klub!

Janet Leigh seems like she must have been a good sport.......

....And she looks great in electric blue!

Finally, the head of T.H.R.U.S.H., the man in the green hat shows up!

Why this movie is called "The Spy In The Green Hat," I'll never know. "The Man In The Green Hat" sounds so much better, and is actually what he's called in the movie!

Will Kuluva has the distinction of being in two of "The Twilight Zone" episodes, "The Mirror," and "The New Exhibit!"

They throw a party for the boss, and he seems much more interested in drinking and dancing than he does in taking over the world!

There's a funny scene toward the end when the T.H.R.U.S.H. chief asks an uncomfortable Illya, who is pretending to be one of Strago's men, for a tour!

When it's all over, Solo asks Illya how he's doing, and he says "I'm pooped!"