Saturday, February 18, 2012

LUCKY, EL INTRÉPIDO - Bruno Nicolai - "Lucky The Inscrutable" (1967)

Following hot on the heels of "Flashman," Tonight's feature presentation is another fantastic Italian superhero flick called "Lucky The Inscrutable", and is brought to you courtesy of The Trash Palace!

"Flashman" was released in April of 1967, and "Lucky The Inscrutable" came out two months later in June of the same year!!

Well, if the title alone wasn't enough to make you think this is a weird flick, then the fact that Jesus Franco, working as Jess Frank, was the director should help easily convince you, and you wouldn't be wrong there!

And indeed there is a comic book, Mardi Gras feel to the whole affair! And it's right on time considering Mardi Gras fires up next Tuesday! You gotta love a holiday that starts on a Tuesday!

Ray Danton is "Lucky The Inscrutable!" Here he's at a costume party explaining to this woman that he's not in costume, he dresses like this all the time, because he IS "Lucky The Inscrutable!" I can only say that Lucky would be best described as a horny Dudley Do-Right in a mask without a Mountie outfit!

Okay! Moving right along, kinda reminds you of a "Doors" song, doesn't it? Speaking of "The Doors," they had nothing to do with this movie, but the killer music was composed by the always cool, and always amazing Bruno Nicolai. We've written about Bruno many times before, and will again, because I just watched "Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna" this week, and when Bruno wasn't writing he was conducting the orchestra or working in the music department with other geniuses like Ennio Morricone!

The action gets started with a couple of murders and the introduction of a character named Cleopatra, who was played by Teresa Gimpera, who went on to fame and fortune in "Love Brides Of The Blood Mummy," and "Hannah, Queen Of The Vampires!"

Lucky appears to be totally devoid of any super powers besides his keen wit, and some decent fighting skills!

In this fight scene, the woman in the bathtub rooting them on becomes so annoying, the two combatants agree to move the action to another room!

Lucky has been instructed to go talk to the man in white, so he goes to this place where all these spies hang out and exchange secrets!

Next stop, Albania.........and a woman in charge named Yaka!

Lucky and the guy who flew him there, Dante Posani as Michele, hang around waiting to find out what happens next! Dante was in a couple of other similar films, "Kriminal," and "Mister X!"

When Lucky was being interrogated by Yaka, who was played by Rosalba Neri, he frustrated her to no end by challenging her femininity, so she releases him long enough to prove that he is wrong!! Rosalba is always stunning, no matter what the role, whether it be as Lady Frankenstein, or in Hercules and Fu Manchu movies, "Amuck" or "The Devil's Wedding Night!"

While Yaka recovers, Lucky and Michele escape!

Yaka calls the troops together so fast, that it's not until she steps out from behind her desk, that she realizes she forgot to put her pants back on! That's the kind of effect Lucky has on women!!

Michele has to dress up as an Albanian grua to get the guard's attention because Lucky decided that he's the prettier of the two of them!

A midst all the craziness, you get a beautiful shot like this, that looks like a classic oil painting!

Next stop, an island in the Caribbean, where they speak Spanish, so Lucky can show off the fact that he speaks fluent Spanish with a slight Peruvian accent......

.......to a hotel that is still under construction! Ay Yi Yi!!!

Inside the Hotel, Lucky is asked to spell his name at the check in, to which he has an extreme amount of difficulty!!!

Lucky is a master of disguise, and dons this outfit for his encounter with Miss Linda!

The fact that the review copy I received had Danish sub-titles attests to the difficulty of finding this film these days!

Despite the insanity, Lucky retains his cool the whole time! Ray Danton was a staple of 50's, 60's and 70's TV and went on to direct some telelvision shows and whack flicks in the 70's, like "Deathmaster," and "Psychic Killer!" Ray checked out in 1992 at the age of 60!

It's not all fun and games!!

There's so much more that goes on, counterfeiting, betrayal, deceit, and treachery, and the story never does have an ending, it just stops! Translated into Danish, it's "Lucky The Completely Unfathomable," what the Hell more would you expect?

Friday, February 17, 2012

FLASHMAN / Zenith Cinematografica - 1967

It's Friday at The Dungeon and time to feature this Italian super hero flick starring Paul Stevens, the American acting name for Italian actor, Paolo Gozlino. Another title for this thing would be Flashman vs The Invisible Man... KRIMINAL and DIABOLIK are titles in the same genre.

The very cool music is by Franco Tamponi, he had 11 composing credits including the titles MONDO SEXUALITY, WOMEN BY NIGHT, SUPERSEXY '64 and FORBIDDEN BEAUTIES.

Lettuce bring our littlest Dungeon helper and button pusher, our pal, Rufus The Gnat!.. Rufus joins us every Friday to fulfill his contract signed in gnat blood, to start our Eariffic Soundclip for your listening enjoyment! So, push the big red 'GO' button there next to the candy machine, now, Rufus! Here's some sounds from... FLASHMAN!

The story's about an invisibility serum that's stolen by a criminal mastermind. Here, the doctor who created the formula is shot in the back of the head!

Then, the lab is blown up by remote control as the thieves drive away!

This is the criminal mastermind, a dude named Kid, played by Ivano Staccioli. He likes to smoke with his shirt off...

It's an Italian flick, so, you have a bunch of beautiful women just sitting around, you know, looking beautiful. The way we like 'em!

Kid goes on a robbery spree using the stolen invisibility formula.

And, so, our superhero Flashman gets involved. To me, his costume looks more Mexican than Italian!

One of Flashman's pieces of crime fighting equipment is a speedboat he can put on auto pilot!

Caped Flashman is actually Lord Alexei Burman in real life. He drives around in a Thunderbird convertible and has his butler help him with his dinner jacket when he arrives home.

Without his mask, the Lord is a very handsome crime fighter, and, probably has no problem getting chicks.

There's plenty of silly characters including a bumbling Inspector, there, under the Derby.

Flashman visits another crime scene and collects some valuable clues...

He has a nice red Olds convertible for this gig!

What the Hell's he doing there?!

Dude even has a remote control helicopter!!

He uses it to drop him on this train, where, he jumps off in front of it to save a damsel in distress. Whotta man! There are even times when they speed up the frames to make him move more quickly!

It's back to the ocean for the final scenes, and, the action does not let up!

Kid takes his '62 Chevy onto the beach.

He turns invisible to fight Flashman...

But, Flashman wins the day and takes Kid in, tied to his sky chute being pulled by his speedboat!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??