DOCTOR X / First National Pictures - 1932

Welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. For me, DOCTOR X is the ultimate thirties horror flick, this is the restored 2-color color version from the UCLA archives that plays on TCM a few times a year. It makes a perfect bookend with Warner Bros. other color feature from 1933, THE MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM. Both star Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray.

The story's about a series of nighttime murders in New York in which the victims are strangled and cannibalized with the use of surgical tools. Newspaperman Lee Taylor investigates one of the murders and the trail leads to the cliffside mansion of Dr. Xavier. There, he witnesses the doctor and his colleagues conducting very strange experiments...

Eegah!! sent over a creepy lil' soundclip for our inspection, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located directly under the atomic stairwell, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our synthetic audio offering for... DOCTOR X!

At the morgue, the police are baffled by the recent series of gruesome murders executed with the precision of a master surgeon!

That leads detectives to this place, where Dr. Xavier and four of his colleagues are working on the latest advances in medical super science. They are all under suspicion for the murders.

Fay Wray plays Dr. Xavier's daughter, Joanne. Fay and Lionel were together again a year later in THE VAMPIRE BAT. Lionel lived to the age of 61, Canadian born Fay lived to be 96!

I'd be a dummkoph swinehund if I didn't show this classic French Art magazine cover, the detectives found it in a doctor's lab!

Preston Foster plays colleague, Dr. Wells, since his left hand was amputated, the police assume he's incapable of carrying out any of the crimes.

John Wray plays weirdo, Dr. Haines.

Arthur Edmund Carewe plays the creepy scarface, Dr. Rowitz. He enjoys his work.

Harry Beresford is wheelchair bound, Dr. Duke

Lee Tracy plays hard-nosed wise-cracking reporter, Lee Taylor. He sneaks into Dr. Xavier's mansion and starts snooping around and finds a room full of skeletons!

Dr. Xavier tries to help the police out, using super science to solve the crime!

We finally learn the horrible truth, Dr. Wells replaces his prostetic hand with one from a nightmare!! What's going on around here?!

Using this electro magnetic generator, he grafts the hand onto his body! Seriously, this kind of perverted science had to blow a few minds back in 1932.

But wait, there's much more!!..

As you can hear in the soundclip, Dr. Wells is totally insane as he relishes using his synthetic flesh to make himself into a terrifying horror from Hell!!

This suspense filled scene where everyone is helpless to save Joanne from the hideous monster is a real nail biter, talk about good writing and directing, it just doesn't get any better!

But, just as great is how pugnacious reporter Lee Taylor attacks and has to fight off the super strong Dr. Wells, in order to save Joanne from being strangled. Lee gets pummeled from pillar to post before he charges the monster, knocking it back through a window! He watches as Dr. Wells plummets, burning in flames, to the distant beach below! Lee is one Hell of a man, and, he gets the girl! My last post ended with a similar shot.

L'ISOLA DEGLI UOMINI PESCE - Luciano Michelini - "Island Of The Fishmen" (1979)

Here's the thing I like about "Island Of The Fishmen," it's a genuine monster movie!! Is it the best movie ever made? Hell no, but since when did that bother anybody around here?

Claudio (The Mountain of the Cannibal God) Cassinelli is Dr. Lt. Claude de Ross! He was in charge of a bunch of prisoners, but after a storm, he ended up on this beautiful beach in Cala Luna, Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy, I mean on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere! Doesn't really seem like such a bad deal!

Claude soon meets back up with the surviving prisoners and they have a run-in with the locals, Richard ('Bulldog' Drummond) Johnson as the island Boss Edmond Rackham, Beryl (VOODOO BLOOD DEATH) Cunningham as Shakira (That's right, Sharika!), and the quite lovely Barbara (Ringo Starr's wife) Bach as Amanda Marvin, even though she's introduced here in a bit of deceit as Edmond Rackham's wife!

The rest of the local populace is fleshed out by this group of guys and their women, and they are over the top loyal to all of Edmond Rackham's wishes and desires!

Well, after almost all of his men disappear, it doesn't take Dr. Claude very long at all to figure out there's something fishy going on around here!

For a quarter, the Boss takes Dr. Claude on a little underwater tour, and shows him the lost city of Atlantis, and explains to him that the fish people are the citizens of Atlantis who have evolved over the years, and now he has them working for him gathering up lost treasure before the island, just like almost all islands in the movies, explodes in one last fiery outburst of volcanic fury!

"The Island Of The Fishmen" was directed by Sergio (ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK, THE MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD) Martino! You've got to admit it's good to see some rubber suits being put to good use again!! The creator of the Fishmen monsters was Massimo Antonello (CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, CONTAMINATION, EATEN ALIVE, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST) Geleng!!

Dr. Claude then discovers the truth when he finds one of his prisoner buddies, Franco (BEWARE OF A HOLY WHORE) Iavarone as Jose, being transmuted into one the fish guys! Pretty grisly! It's not evolution, it's mad science!!

Veteran actor Joseph (CITIZEN KANE, FROM EARTH TO THE MOON) Cotton has the role of mad doctor professor Ernest Marvin, the poor misunderstood bastard who thinks he's going save mankind! Indeed Barbara Bach's character is actually his daughter, not the Boss's wife, and also the only one who can really communicate with the fish fellows!

The wild music throughout this film was created by Luciano (The Black Decameron, The Suspicious Death Of A Minor) Michelini! During one of the chase scenes, it sounds like the guitarist's distortion pedal is totally out of control and might have a mind of it's own!

I thought this was going to be the turning point in the movie, when the Boss shoots Shakira and a couple of the other gals, but the native guys stand by their Boss no matter what, and their allegiance is steadfast even if there are no more women on the island!

In this claustrophobic scene towards the end, the Boss seals up Dr. Claude in this tank, turns the water on, and leaves him to die! I won't bother telling you how he escapes, because I found it exceptionally stoopid! Sadly, in 1985, Claudio Cassinelli died at the age of 46 during the filming of another Sergio Martino film, "Hands Of Steel" when a helicopter he was riding in crashed!

The Boss takes a second kick to the nuts, but keeps on ticking! Richard Johnson had an obvious stand in for some of the fight scenes, but it looks like Barbara did most of her own stunts! These cave scenes were shot in the Bronson Caves in Griffith Park in Los Angeles! The Bronson Caves have been used in almost 150 movies dating all the way back to the 1930's that include many titles featured here like "The Monster And The Ape," "Man Beast," "The Cape Canaveral Monsters," "The Madmen of Mandoras," "Dimension 5," "The Cyclops" etc etc.

Just when you thought it was over, The Boss makes one last effort to even the odds in his favor, but fails miserably once again, gets tossed overboard, and meets the "Fish Man Labor Union" headfirst! Unfortunately for him, they still had quite a few unresolved issues!

Will Dr. Claude and Amanda make it to dry land, or will they be the last victims of those murdering creatures? Try Netflix if you want to find out!!

This splash page has absolutely nothing to do with this film at all, but it makes great wallpaper!

Ay Yi Yi!!! "L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce" was also released under the title of "Screamers" which also makes no apparent sense at all!

I'll leave you with this cool production still of Barbara with a couple of the creatures! It would have been a lot more fun if she was smiling, but oh well! See you on Wednesday with more weirdness!!

CAPTAIN SINBAD / King Brothers Productions - 1963

It's Friday Night with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. I'm finishing the month with another Arabian adventure with our favorite Zorro, Guy Williams, as Sinbad the Sailor! Directed by Byron (THE WAR OF THE WORLDS) Haskin. I recently recorded THE GOLDEN SWORD with Tab Hunter off TCM, so, that one will be coming up in a future post...

Eegah!! sent over a nice lil' soundclip which sets the mood for this very cool flick! King Brothers produced GORGO two years earlier. Sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there adjacent from the giant motorized bowling ball, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our audio offering for... CAPTAIN SINBAD!

The tale begins in the mad lab of the crazy old wizard, Galgo. He's just conjured up a storm cloud to water his plant!

Princess Jana wants to visit her husband-to-be, Sinbad, who's at sea. She has to completely undress before becoming a 'firebird' so that she can fly out and visit him! Galdo tells her... There are three men before whom a woman need have no shame: her husband, her doctor and her magician.

She makes it all the way to Sinbad's boat, but, attracts some unwanted attention...

A flock of giant Rocs attack from nowhere, and, sink Sinbad's boat by dropping boulders on it!

Pedro Armendáriz plays the evil, El Kerim!.. He's just captured a small naked Princess Jana and reveals who was behind the giant bird attack... Pedro died that same year at the age of 51, his last credit was for FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.

Sinbad gets rescued by some fishermen and is taken ashore to recover. Filmed in Germany.

In the meantime, El Kerim celebrates his recent victories by throwing a lavish party that includes strange dance performances!

Portrait of a damn good looking guy, no pun intended! Sinbad has just rejoined his men, who also made it to safety after the attack. He thought they were all dead, and, they thought that he had been killed!

El Kerim has unearthly powers due to a magic ring and crystal he possesses. Here, he hands Sinbad back his sword after he pulls it out himself, smiling the whole time!.. Game over, man!!

El Kerim orders an event for everyone to attend where Sinbad must fight to the death with various conjured up opponents! There's an invisible dragon with shades of the Id Creature in FORBIDDEN PLANET, but, unfortunately, the huge thing knocks over an immense torch and it literally torches the whole place, making for Sinbad's escape!

Princess Jana is then hidden away in a distant giant tower.

Sinbad and his men have to cross a desert and then trek through this swamp from Hell to get to the tower.

However, they have to get past this freaky looking dragon first!

Sinbad's men come up with a plan to push a large block of stone off a ledge and it clocks the thing squarely, knocking it into a fiery abyss, love it!!

When they get to the tower, the only way to reach the top is to climb a gigantic rope!!

It doesn't end there, Sinbad has to then take care of this deadly giant hand... What a man!!

The last thing Sinbad must do to bring peace and happiness back to his land is defeat El Kerim. Galgo throws Kerim's animated heart off the tower as Sinbad runs his sword through him again, this time, finishing the job! Watch that first step, it's a real doozy!