JACK THE GIANT KILLER - THE MUSICAL (1962)

Sometimes when you think it just can't get any weirder, all of a sudden it does, and just like going to dinner after a funeral, and everybody gets food poisoning, tonight's Super Duper Saturday Night Special is a number one candidate in the 'Who'd of Thunk?' Department, and to be honest with you, I still haven't quite figured it out, but it does exist, so here you go! Brought to you once again via "The Trash Palace" it's my honor to present to you "Jack The Giant Killer - The Musical!"

This was the original title card, and as you can well see, it was changed, so as not to be so austere, and to make the whole thing look a lot brighter and happier! If you would like to see Tabonga's review from a couple of months ago of the original "Jack The Giant Killer," you can find it right HERE!!!

So just what the F is "Jack The Giant Killer - The Musical?" Well, it's the same movie as the 1962 feature "Jack The Giant Killer," except with one difference, in a minimum of six key places, the dialogue and whatever original music there was, has been mixed in or replaced with real Broadway musical style songs by the producer Edward Small. Here, let me give you an example!

In the original movie, it's the Princess's birthday, and THIS is how the local denizens react!

BUT, in the musical version, The People Are Quite A Bit More Festive, much more on the scale of a Disney cartoon!

It's a great scene when Walter Burke as Garna comes flying into the room to tell Torin Thatcher as Pendragon that the monster has been defeated by the young farmer named Jack as you will hear in this short Audio Clip! Suddenly a great film seems almost stagnant when you compare that scene to.....

.......how it all goes down in the musical version with "We Have Failed, Master, We have Failed!"

There's so much more, but I can't do it all in one setting by any means, so I'll leave you with this little ditty from the final climactic fight scene between Jack and the dragon himself! Here's just a small taste of what it sounds like the regular super melodramatic way!!

And here's what the souped up version  sounds like with the Leprechaun cheering Jack on to victory with "C'mon Jack,You Can Do It"

Maybe if enough people ask I'll do a sequel someday that will include the theme song, the love song, and a number I call "The Spectacular Spectacle!" All in all, it's pretty much just the way Brian Horrorwitz described it to me, the original is a right fine film, but it just seems flat after you've seen and heard the musical version! I could think of a lot more movies that could use a treatment like this!!!

JACK THE GIANT KILLER / Edward Small Productions - 1962

It's Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. This movie plays on TCM regularly, so, check it out when it comes around, or, like our monster movie buff, Exeter, you can find it on VHS archive tape #203. Eegah!! has always said that this is a great flick, and, it is! Stars Dungeon fave, Kerwin Mathews, who also starred in Harryhausen's THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD and began his career in 1954 on TV's SPACE PATROL. Nathan (THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) Juran directs...

We have a nice lil' soundclip fer yer ohren, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the atomic rubber tree, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... JACK THE GIANT KILLER!

Lots of nice photos were omitted from the post because there were just way too many of them!

Super evil villain, Pendragon, accompanied by his assistant, Garna, gives Princess Elaine a special gift, an animated little doll. She's thrilled, but, it changes into a giant creature that night and kidnaps her!

As the monster makes it's way across the countryside, it encounters farm boy, Jack the Giant Killer! First off, Jack gets Elaine away from it, then, smashes it's hand when it tries to grab him in the stone mill. Jack even manages to kill it by hanging and so becomes a King's Knight for his bravery!

Judi Meredith plays Princess Elaine, Judi was also in THE NIGHT WALKER, DARK INTRUDER and QUEEN OF BLOOD. Torin Thatcher is awesome as Pendragon, he had a great run with 143 acting credits from 1927 to 1976, working mostly in television. The familiar looking Walter Burke plays Garna, Pendragon's twisted little assistant. Here, Jack and Elaine approach Pendragon's realm, but, the evil one conjers up a special surprise for the meddling pests! He's always surrounded by his monster horde!

One thing that makes this movie great is this scene where a number of phantom demons attack Jack's crew at sea. The special effects are by Augie (THE MAZE and THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD) Lohman and the visual effects were created by 11 other artists!

Pendragon captures Elaine and uses his magic mirror to change her into an evil sorceress!

A crusty old Viking rescues Jack and his companion, Peter, from the sea. He gives Jack a glass jar with a leprechaun inside that can grant him wishes, to aid in his fight against Pendragon.

After a dizzying climb up this steep cliff face, Jack has to figure out how to get inside Pendragon's heavily fortified castle.

Plus, you gots Pendragon screwing with him at every turn!

The head?.. Yeah, sure pal, you jus' go through that big door there and take a left when you get to the end of the hall, then, take the elevator to floor 13, you can't miss it!..

Why, that dirty rotten skeleton!.. What the eff, man!!

Jack finds Elaine and breaks the magic mirror, releasing her from it's evil spell!

Pendragon sends this two-headed monster out to stop Jack and Elaine's escape, so, Jack asks the leprechaun to conjer up a lil' playmate for the big creep to play with! The sea monster ends up strangling Pendragon's pet.

Pendragon figures he has to handle the situation himself and turns into his dreaded alter ego, a giant dragon! He grabs a large boulder off the seashore to drop on Jack's ship...

The great effects just don't let up, even til the very end when Pendragon definitely gets what's coming to him!

Tune in Friday when Tabonga'll bring you another special effect giganza from the following year... CAPTAIN SINBAD!

UN KILLER PER SUA MAESTÀ - Gianni Marchetti - "The Killer Likes Candy" (1968)

Sometimes after a steady diet of monsters, giallo slashers, and ghostly comedies, it's time for a break, so that brings us to tonight's feature, as they say in France, "Le Tueur Aime Les Bonbons", a movie with the basic theme of Spy Vs. Assassin, or Assassin Vs. Spy, depending on how you want to look at it!

Skewed, Shrewd, and Screwed, there will be dues to pay!!

Bruno Cremer is Oscar Snell, the assassin in a mission on a mission, and a taste for sweets! Bruno had quite an illustrious career, and was Commissaire Jules Maigret in the French TV series "Maigret" from 1991 to 2005! Unfortunately, Bruno just passed away this last August!

WTF?! Is it possible that assassin is the only word in the English language with ass in it twice?

Most of Composer Gianni Marchetti's 35 credits are in Italian, but he also did the scores for "Kill Me Quick, I'm Cold," "The Last Desperate Hours," and "Ready For Anything!" His last film was the 1991 feature "Strepitosamente... flop!"

"The Killer Likes Candy" has it's sexy bits, 1968 Euro style!

Great shot of the star of the film, Kerwin Mathews as CIA Agent Mark Stone!

Veteran Werner Peters is the slimeball Guardino! Werner is a familiar face around here, having been in a bunch of Dr. Mabuse flicks, and other killer German films like "The Phantom of Soho," and "The White Spider" just to name a few!

The killer is smart enough to wear gloves, but dumb enough to litter!!

It's not like I have time to sit around wondering what people's sexual preferences are, because I could really care less, but I'm surprised sometimes by how little I know on any given subject, like the fact that the star of "The Killer Likes Candy," the swash-bucklin' monster killin' Captain Sinbad himself, Kerwin Mathews, was gay! In retrospect, it makes good sense, I just never thought it about before!

Kerwin Mathews passed away at 81 years of age in 2007, he had been living with his partner Tom Nicoll for 46 years, so that means they had already been living together for 7 years when this movie was made!

Give directors Federico Chentrens and Maurice Cloche some credit for coming up with some clever locations!

The bad boys move in for the kill led by Gordon "Sword & Sandal-Frankenstein 80" Mitchell!

Kerwin Mathews had himself one fantastic career by Dungeon standards! Captain Sinbad in the unforgettable "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad" would be more than enough by itself, as it was basically the "King Kong" of it's era, but there was also "The 3 Worlds of Gulliver," "Jack The Giant Killer," "Octaman," and last Saturday's stinker, "Battle Beneath The Earth," proving that Kerwin could do it all, good and bad!

Kerwin's first recorded performance was on the TV classic "Space Patrol" in 1954! It was episode #142, titled "The Escape of Mr. Proteus" and he played Major Caldwell! Kerwin might also be in the running for being in the most movies with numbers in the title. Besides the aforementioned "7th Voyage" and "3 Worlds," Kerwin also had these titles notched in his belt: "Cell 2455 Death Row," "5 Against the House," "The Devil at 4 O'Clock," and "OSS 117 Se Déchaîne," oh, and don't forget the TV show, "Playhouse 90."

Sorry, Ladies!!

I hope I didn't give away too much of the story!!