FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE / Criterion Films - 1956

It's jus' another Friday Night Drive-In with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is a strange little UK flick I saw on TV after school one afternoon in 1957 where a lot of the neighborhood kids met at Principal Carona's house to watch it, it was a big deal at the time. I had a crush on his daughter, Marilyn. They lived next door to my best friend at the time, Larry, who's father happened to be the local mortician! Pretty weird, huh?

I always thought that 'from' outer space was wrong, but, FIRE MAIDENS FROM OUTER SPACE is actually an alternate American title!

Eegah!! sent over a very spacey soundclip for us to check out, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to Mr. Hellface, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's sum sound from... FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE!

After landing on the 13th moon of Jupiter, this crew of astronauts from Earth discover a forested area containing the last remnant of lost Atlantis! Here's some interesting trivia - the 13th moon of Jupiter was only discovered in 1974! Also, at this time, Jupiter officially has 50 moons and 14 smaller 'provisional' moons!

They come across the beautiful scantily clad nymph greeting babe, Hestia!

Then they have to meet an' greet the supreme (pizza) ruler of Atlantis, this old weirdo, Prasus! We seem to suffer from the same affliction.

And, don't ever forget about the bevy o' bodacious babes, all looking for... Husbands!!

There's plenty of sexy dancin' goin' on, too!

Here, things are in reverse, women drug the men with 'Venus Fly Trap!'

Prasus tells the space adventurers this about the monster... "The beast with the head of a man, it must be destroyed.. Yet, it is indestructible!"

WTF!!.. Just shoot at it and it runs away, yowling like a little baby!

It's sacrifice night at the girls' club.

This little lady turns the heat up even higher!

If you don't believe me, just ask this guy!

Holy crap!! It's the beast with the head of a man!! Actually, it looks like a man with the head of a beast!

The guys finally get wise and toss a grenade at him, knocking him into the eternal fire pit, he's kaput now!

All the girls wave goodbye to the brave men from Earth as they depart Moon 13 and head back home in their rocket!

Wait til you see whut Eegah!! has planned for tomorrow's post!!

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND - Bernard Herrmann - "Deep Regrets" (1961)

Wow! How's that for a trilogy of heavyweight champions? Well, that's the amazing array of talent that this 1961 version of "Mysterious Island" brings to the table, so you know there's going to be a great story, grandiose music, and killer special effects!

The balloon prison escape that starts the film will well make you wonder if anybody got hurt during the filming, it's that wild!

These paintings might look fake as Hell to the discerning eye, but no matter what, they sure are visually stunning! Whenever I see a scene like this, I'm always expecting a very large monkey to show up sometime soon!

You've got five guys stranded on a deserted island, so what could be better than having a couple of good lookin' women wash up on the beach, and one's a seamstress!! Joan Greenwood and Beth Rogan are Lady Mary and Elena Fairchild!

All the Harryhausen creations are awesome as always, but "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad" will always remain my favourite Harryhausen film!

I'm pretty sure this was the most exciting film that Joan or Beth ever appeared in, although Beth did make one more small appearance in "Salt and Pepper!"

The best thing about having to deal with extra large species of animals, is that after you kill them, there's a bountiful harvest of food to go around! Too bad they didn't have a freezer, because that looks like a bunch of cooked crab that's going to go to waste!

What a great way to get all five guys in one shot! Left to right, here's Percy (Enemy From Space) Herbert as Sergeant Pencroft, Dan (Exorcism At Midnight) Jackson as Corporal Neb Nugent, Gary (Destination Inner Space) Merrill as Gideon Spilitt (what a handle), Michael (13 West Street) Callan as Herbert Brown, and last but not least, Michael (Elephant Gun) Craig as Captain Cyrus Harding! What a crew!

It's pretty obvious I had problems picking out pictures on this film, there was just so much eye candy to choose from!

Herbert (Phantom Of The Opera) Lom as the extraordinary Captain Nemo, shows off his best side on more than one of the sets!

Break out the wine, and everything starts getting kinky, and this is supposed to be 1865, shouldn't Elena have some bloomers on?

The soundtrack was written and conducted by Bernard Herrmann, and performed by the London Symphonic Orchestra, and like everything else in this film, is bigger than life itself! Here's just a taste to whet your appetites, and make you thirsty for what's left to come!

This version of "Mysterious Island" has some of the best underwater footage I've ever seen, and as you can well see, is truly fantastic!

This reminds me of a shot from our "Silver Angel" movie, only underwater, maybe it's because I worked about a week to create a few seconds of ray gun flash!

There's something you don't see much any more, all seven of the cast members made it, but I will bet they all felt pretty silly getting into costume for this final shot!

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND / MGM - 1929

It's another Monsterous Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our classic feature took 3 years to complete with a budget of $1,130,000, and, was a silent film with sound segments added before it's release. It only grossed $55,000, but, the studio was saved by the box office hits BEN-HUR and THE BIG PARADE. Get this... Although fimed in 2-color technicolor, no color prints survive, only one reel exists tinted with Technicolor sequences and is held at the UCLA Film Archive.

Eegah!! has sent over a soundclip for our approval, sooooo, you can go ahead and push the big red 'GO' button there next to the petrified shrub, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's some oldtime sound from... THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND!

The complicated story goes like this... On a volcanic island near the kingdom of Hetvia lives the benevolent leader and scientist, Count Dakkar. Him and engineer Nicolai Roget have designed a submarine which Roget pilots on its initial voyage just before the island is overrun by Baron Falon, despotic ruler of Hetvia. Falon sets out after Roget in a second submarine, they dive to the ocean's floor and discover a strange land populated by dragons, a giant octopus and an undiscovered humanoid race.

Lionel Barrymore plays Dakkar, here, he explains to his old pal Baron Falon his plans to launch his new submarine. Of course, Falon betrays him.

The Count's sub is launched and the crewmen explore the mysterious ocean depths surrounding Hetvia.

But, devious Baron Falon and his men follow in close pursuit in sub 2!

The men in the main sub encounter this very weird looking sea creature! Reminds me of that honking spider that chased little Juanito in the cave in THE BLACK SCORPION.

Once the are on the bottom of the ocean, they encounter a strange undersea civilization and a dressed up alligator filling in for a giant sea dragon!

The main crew try and use their diving suits to move through the little sea people.

Falon's crew gets a gander at some of the creepy things just waiting for them outside their ship!

The giant octopus barely misses grabing the sub as the crew make their escape from the ocean floor!

Baron Falon's port is blown the Hell up with torpedos, putting an end to its evil enterprise.

At the end, Dakkar is put inside his second sub only to submerge under the waves, never to be seen again...

Tune in Wednesday for another mysterious treat from Eegah!!