THE MALTESE FALCON - "Cut 'Em Off At The Past" (1941)

Tonight's Wednesday Classic is the 1941 film "The Maltese Falcon" starring the always fun to watch Humphrey Bogart!

"The Maltese Falcon" is a krazy movie with an amazing cast of characters! I feel stupid even writing about it, because I just feel like everybody should already know everything about a movie like this, but then, maybe not considering the school system these days!

I'm not exactly sure where this movie takes place......

......Maybe in California if I had to guess!

Probably my favorite comedy bit is The Firesign Theatre's "The Further Adventures of Nick Danger," from their album "How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All," which is an insane story about a private detective named Nick Danger that is totally based on "The Maltese Falcon."

One of the very first audio gags at the start of the story has Nick Danger introducing himself as Regnad Kcin because he's reading his name backwards from the writing on the glass door just like this!

Humphrey Bogart is Detective Sam Spade, and his partner is Jerome (Black Zoo) Cowan as Miles Archer!
 In the middle is their new client, an absolutely insane woman in my opinion named Brigid O'Shaughnessy, posing as a Miss Wonderly, as played by Mary (Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte) Astor!
Jerome Cowan was also in the "Twilight Zone" episode titled "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine."

Right out of the box, Miles Archer is shot and killed!

Sam Spade can only get so upset by the death of his partner since he was having an affair with his wife!

This is a great shot of Sam visiting the scene of the crime!

Here's an amazing pair of Detectives as played by Barton MacLane and Ward Bond!!
Barton MacLane had 182 tough guy credits including "Nabonga," "The Mummy's Ghost," "Cry Of The Werewolf," and "Unknown Island."
It's hard to see Ward Bond as anybody else except Major Seth Adams after watching over 100 episodes of "Wagon Train" as a kid!

Sam Spade and Miss Wonderly develop a very strange relationship!

Bogie must roll and smoke at least five cigarettes during the course of the film!

And...Of course, Peter Lorre is in there as the sleazy weasel Joe Cairo!
In the Nick Danger episode, the Joe Cairo character is named Rocky Rococo, because The Firesign Theatre recording is a combination of "The Maltese Falcon," and The Beatles' song "Rocky Raccoon!"

I could watch the scenes with Bogie and Peter Lorre all night long!

Let's not forget the masterful weirdo Elisha Cook Jr. is also in there as hit man Wilmer Cook!
Just some of Elisha's freakin' 219 credits are "House On Haunted Hill," "Black Zoo," "The Haunted Palace," "Blacula," "Messiah Of Evil," etc. etc., and you could usually count on him to have a name like Ice Pick, Mousy, Sweeper, Inky, Banjo, or Spinks!

It's cool to see Bogie smile!

Finally, the package containing the famous bird arrives!

And there it is, in all it's glory, "The Maltese Falcon;
Too bad it's a fake!!

If you've never done it before, now's the time to spend that extra 28 minutes and eleven seconds you've got to listen to
"The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger!"
It's a guaranteed good time!

I'm just going to leave you with this!

 I honestly believe this is one of the most remarkably odd posters I've ever seen!

CRIME AGAINST JOE - "That's him....that's the man who attacked me!" (1956)

Tonight's Wild Wednesday feature is a 1956 film directed by Lee "Rollem" Sholem entitled "Crime Against Joe." Lee Sholem had a reputation for having a no nonsense, let's just get this done, attitude! For example, "Crime Against Joe" was scheduled to be shot over the course of seven days. Lee Sholem finished the shoot in five days, hence the nickname "Rollem."
This poster is an amazing piece of exploitation art, and has almost nothing at all to do with the picture. To me the poster projects Julie London as the victim, when she is really the hero, and is just wrong in it's entirety!

One of the greatest things about watching movies from the 50's is you get killer shots like this!

Manly man John Bromfield is Joe Manning. If you like jungle horror films, then John is the man. He starred in "Manfish," "Revenge Of The Creature" and "Curucu, Beast Of The Amazon." Like cowboy TV shows? John was also the star in 78 episodes of "The Man From Cochise."

A depressed Korean war veteran, and wannabe artiste, Joe Manning lives at his Mom's house!

Out of frustration  he just tossed some red paint on this painting!

Joe's Mom supports him, and he calls her by her first name Nora, not Mother or Mom. 

Nora Manning is played by Frances (The Lost Missile, The Night Of The Hunter) Morris.

Joe just might have a bit of a drinking problem!

Filmed entirely in Tucson, Arizona, this was Duke's Drive-In circa 1956!

This is Duke's Drive-In today!

Joe really shouldn't be driving!

A couple of months ago, I told you all about Julie London, and her role in "Nabonga!"

In "Crime Against Joe," Julie plays a carhop named Frances "Slacks" Bennett! It's kind of surprising that they didn't film another Jungle movie with John and Julie instead!

Welcome to the world famous Pago-Pago Lounge, a tiki bar in a Tucson, Arizona.

 In this movie it's called the Pango-Pango Club, because that is the proper pronunciation of Pago-Pago.

The Pago-Pago is no longer open, and at one point turned into the Aku-Aku, and then the Ports O Call. No longer a lounge or restaurant, I read that it is scheduled for restoration!

The singer in the bar is Alika Louis as Irene Crescent in her sole acting performance! She performs  the cool tune "Looking For A Man."

There are a lot of jealous people in this story! The barkeep doesn't like Joe hitting on Irene so he punches his lights out in front of the bar. This cowboy, an old schoolmate of Joe's, witnesses the whole thing!

Joe is wandering around in the middle of the night in a drunken stupor when he stumbles on this pretty gal out sleepwalking. Joe tells the concerned Father, and is given a cordial but brisk thank-you!

So while Joe's out stumbling around town, somebody murders Irene Crescent, and she was found with this high school pin clutched in her hand that Joe and all his classmates received upon graduating.

All Joe has to do is produce his own, and he's in the clear, but who knows where it might be? It's been a few years since he's seen his, and isn't real clear where it's at.

Besides Slacks, Joe's only got one friend who believes in him, Henry Calvin as the cab driver Red Teller! There's only one problem, even though Joe and Slacks aren't an item, Red's still a little jealous just because he's been in love with her for years.

For all you "Zorro" fans, Henry was Sgt. Demetrio Lopez Garcia in 81 episodes of that show!

Looking through the high school yearbook for clues! At this point, almost any of these guys seem like they might be murderers!  Besides the cowboy, there's a politician named Ralph Corey, and a lawyer who are also possible suspects.

George Niles seems like a good candidate, especially after he tries to run Slacks over with his car!

The Father of the sleepwalking girl will not substantiate Joe's story because he thinks it would be too embarrassing for his daughter. She's tired of his overbearing jealousy, and gives him both barrels!

The daughter was played by Patricia (The Black Sleep) Blair. Patricia was also Rebecca Boone in 118 episodes of  the "Daniel Boone" TV series!

Slacks and Joe go to the high school reunion dance for the class of 1945, and while they are at the school, they sneak off to the records office to see if the records show any aberrant anti-social behavior in any of Joe's classmates. 

Uh, Oh, the jig is up, and not only are Joe and Slacks going to finally find out who the killer is, the viewer is about to find out at the same time, but........

.......I think this movie is short enough,

 and good enough, that you should just find out on your own!

Moral of the story....Don't drink and drive!!!

NABONGA - "Weird Loves" (1944)

I think it's about time for another Gorilla Suit Saturday Night Special in The Dungeon, so tonight I've got one of the true classic gorilla suit movies, from 1944, it's Tabonga's third cousin on the primate side......

......"NABONGA" also known as "GORILLA."

An  African Airways plane full of stolen Jewelry has gone down in the jungle! The only passengers are a man and his young daughter.

After the plane crashes, the devious man shoots the pilot, and the girl is whisked off into the deep dark depths of the jungle by a large gorilla!

 The next thing you know it must be about eight years later, and all the local people know about the white witch of the jungle who has powers over some of the animals, especially one gorilla in particular!

A few days ago he was drinking martinis with Ray Danton, and now he's back in the jungle where he belongs! Barton MacLane is Carl Hurst, but he reminds me a lot of George Bush!

Buster (Flash Gordon) Crabbe as Ray Gorman needs to find that treasure, and Prince (South of Suez) Modupe as Tobo is more than happy to help him, since Ray just stopped another man from stabbing him.

Fifi D'Orsay as Marie was actually Canadian but you'd never guess it from the her accent or this outfit!

She's Carl's little henchwoman!

Tobo draws this very detailed map that shows how to get to the downed plane wreckage!

Ray Gorman has no idea what he's getting himself into!

Julie London was only 18 when this film was made!

If you spent as much time in thrift stores as I have looking at records, you would have seen Julie London's whole catalogue of music at some point. The smokey, sultry, sexy singer was probably only outdone by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in the 'donated to charity' department!

Buster does a good job of looking genuinely terrified by Ray Corrigan, the man inside the gorilla suit!

Ray Gorman and the white witch have a tentative relationship. He kind of likes her, but he really only wants the jewels, and she kind of likes him, but she's not giving them up because they're hers!

Somebody should have remade this film a few years ago, and used Drew Barrymore as the white witch! Asking who does her hair or where she gets her clothes would almost make as much sense as asking.......

......How Ray and Marie put this gorilla trap together in about 15 minutes!

Carl and Marie end up getting their just rewards!

Dig deep folks! We still needs it!!

More not truth in advertising! Her picture isn't even in this one, and in all the other posters Julie London has the smallest credits, but then Ray Corrigan has no poster credits, and is known only as Nbonga, so I guess it all works out!!