So many places to get lost, so many side streets, and dark alleys full of rappin' rats and other nefarious creatures of prey and play, yeah, that's what we're talkin' about here, one sleazy flick, "The Leech Woman" is a
very special movie for a gigantic host of reasons, and now she has finally arrived to get her unfair share of your attention!!! Hell, you could have a blog and have it only be about this one movie, it's got that many different elements to explore! This movie is inherently evil leaving the viewer with no choices between evil, eviler, or evilest!
So, let's get started with the basic appetizers!! Phillip Terry as Dr. Paul Talbot hates his bitchy alcoholic wife June, played by Coleen Gray!
The oldest woman in the world shows up at his office, so, it's off to Africa in search of something akin to the fountain of youth, well, not so much fountain of youth, you get old, you just don't die!!! Small detail! You do get real leathery, that's for sure!!
So June goes along to the jungle as disgruntled as can be, but when she gets a chance to pick a volunteer to donate blood to her youth project, to his surprise, she picks her husband Paul!!
Then the local chapter of The Beatles Fan Club shows up to make the festivities complete!! Beatles more popular than Tabonga, that's why he doesn't like this movie!!
Good-bye Paul the jerk husband, Hello youth and beauty! That's a fair tradeoff in anybody's world, isn't it?
Oh, Man, the effects don't last that long, now she's got to just keep on killing if she wants to stay young!
Needless to say, June makes it back to the states, and with her ever increasing need for blood, she heads on down to the local dive, and that's when the jazz stylings of Irving Gertz with the assist of Hans J. Salter and Henry Vars kicks into high gear with some of the best!! Sadly, Irving Gertz just passed away last month, but what a legacy of music he left behind!!!
Enter cheap con man Jerry Lando, always on the lookout for an easy prey! And speaking of cheap cons, it's time for a slight diversion because the uber sleazy Jerry Lando was played by none other than Arthur Batanides, a class actor who's credits go all the way back to his role in 58 episodes of the obscure early 1950's TV space opera "Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers!"
And as Dungeon fate would have it, you got it, Arthur was the 5th guy, so he didn't make the cover, but this did, here's the
"Rocket Ranger Song"!! I think I know where the space guys in "Gorath" got their inspiration now!! Like Boy Scouts in space!! Just for kicks, here's their credo!!
I shall always chart my course according to the Constitution of the U. S. of A.
I shall never cross orbits with the Rights and Beliefs of others.
I shall blast at full space-speed to protect the Weak and Innocent.
I shall stay out of collision orbit with the laws of my State and Community.
I shall cruise in parallel orbit with my Parents and Teachers.
I shall not roar my rockets unwisely, and shall be Courteous at all times.
I shall keep my gyros steady and reactors burning by being Industrious and Thrifty.
I shall keep my scanner tuned to Learning and remain coupled to my Studies.
I shall keep my mind out of free-fall by being mentally alert.
I shall blast the meteors from the paths of other people by being Kind and Considerate.
Meanwhile, Arthur's taken Colleen out to park and the music keeps on swingin'!! Can you say sooiiee??
You gotta love it, he wants to kill her for her jewelry and she wants to kill him for his blood!! No offense kids, but this is some extra sleazy stuff!!
Classic performances by Monster Movie stalwarts, Grant Williams, and Gloria Talbot! To this day, totally recognizable people!!
So when Collen's young, she's putting the squeeze on Grant, which is making Gloria wanting to squeeze the trigger!!
Collen beats Gloria to death to obtain more blood!!
Bummer!! There's a hitch in the didgiwidget! A
woman's blood doesn't work!!!
French journalist and detective story author extradordinaire Gaston Leroux wrote "Le Fantôme de l'Opéra" in 1910, and it has enjoyed many incarnations since then, starting with the Lon Chaney film version in 1925, followed by the Claude Rains version in 1943, and then remade again in 1963 with Herbert Lom in the lead role! We used to sit around and argue the merits of each film, since they are all classics, but then in 1986, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version rendered all the classics to an almost invisible state to all, except for people like all you fine folks reading this blog!! Personally, I'll stick with the classics, so without further adieu, here's the theme from the 1963 Hammer version, "The Phantom Of The Opera"!!! WHO guitarist Pete Townshend's father-in-law Edwin Astley is once again the guy to thank for the quality music!!
It's understood that Herbert Lom as The Phantom, Director Terrence Fisher, and the whole film was not that much appreciated by Hammer Studios!
Besides The Phantom, the three other main characters were Heather Sears as Christine Charles, Michael Gough as Lord Ambrose d'Arcy and Edward de Souza as Harry Hunter! You didn't often see Michael with cool sideburns like that!! 
Man, this is just a great shot with that cool painted backdrop that looks like some fantastic golf course, and her shadow on the back of that canvas!! 
Looks like that crazy cat in the middle has got fire blowing out of the top of his hat!! Nice effect!!!
Wow!!! I'm just glad this version wasn't a musical!!!
That's all folks!! Netflix doesn't pay me, but I don't mind telling you they got this great flick available if yer up for something classy for a change!! Let's just hope Gaston's family is doing quite well!!!
