ULTRAMAN - Mystery Comet Tsuiphon / Toho Company - 1966

Welp, the world's supposed to end today, and, I swear, there was a small earthquake here yesterday afternoon!.. Big deal, the world's not ending today, relax and spend some time with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a wild 'n' weird episode from this great series where our hero has to fight off three monsters, not just one!

Eegah!! sent us over a soundclip for our enjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located directly across from the glowing towel rack, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our audio offering for... ULTRAMAN!

The story's about a comet that comes dangerously close to the Earth, and, the heat and radiation may cause unexploded nuclear warheads to detonate. When The Science Patrol search for a bomb they can't locate it, then, find out that a monster has it stuck in its throat! The Science Patrol and Ultraman end up facing off against three monsters that are in the midst of a Royal Rumble battle.

The Science Patrol, with the help of their super computer, detect that Comet 24 will miss the Earth by only 22,000 miles and may cause some unforeseen problems...

So, the Science Patrol go out patrolling in their famous rocket plane.

Luckily, the comet passes by Earth without any loss of human life, everyone's relieved, they thought it'd be a lot worse!

The Science Patrol encounter a giant snow monster while searching for a lost bomb. I love this monster, it's a real crack up!

All monsters were produced by Toho artists, so, I can tell you that this flying monster here is a remodelled version of Gigan.

And, this thing is a version of, obviously, Godzilla!

I dig shots like this!..

Ultraman gets big and battles the bunch of brawling, bullying brutes!

Hiroko Sakurai plays Space Patrol member Akiko Fuji, she was also in five other Ultraman series.

But!.. Comet 24 will appear again in the year 3122 on July 2nd at 8:00 am, so beware!!

ANÓNIMA DE ASESINOS - Piero Umilani - "Man On The Spying Trapeze" (1966)

                                     

Nothing sez Christmas like a good old-fashioned Euro-Spy flick, so tonight's feature is "Anónima De Asesinos" or auf Englisch, "Man On The Spying Trapeze," interestingly enough, a title that has absolutely nothing to do with the movie at all, but it is a pretty good play on words just the same!

The music in "Man On The Spying Trapeze" was written by the outstanding composer Piero Umilani who passed away back in 2001. Besides having 147 credits for movies and TV, Piero will live forever in the hearts and minds of people everywhere because he was the man who composed the wildly popular ditty "Mah Nà Mah Nà" for the 1968 documentary "Svezia, Inferno E Paradiso" (Sweden: Heaven And Hell). Just in case you think you don't know what I'm talking about, then check out this Muppets video, and you will never wonder again! What a phenomena !!!

"Man On The Spying Trapeze" stars Wayde Preston as super spy Jerry Land, whose own story just might be more interesting than the movie itself! Before he ever spoke a line in a movie or on TV, the 6'4" Wayde played string bass with numerous bands, fought in the Korean War, was a park ranger, a rodeo cowboy and an airline pilot! From 1957 to 1960 he was the star of a popular western TV series called "Colt .45" that ran for 67 episodes, and after this movie was made, he starred in a bunch of spaghetti westerns with titles like "Vivo Per La Tua Morte" (A Long Ride From Hell) and "Dio Perdoni La Mia Pistola" (God Will Forgive My Pistol)!

I love this shot of half Mexican, half Japanese, Noé Murayama as Mr. Wong, a man always on the wong side of the law! Because of his look, Noé was in over 150 movies, almost exclusively as a villain in titles like "Dr. Satán Y La Magia Negra, "Blue Demon Contra Cerebros Infernales," and "Víbora Caliente!" (Hot Snake)

The nightlife in Beirut is swinging to say the least!!

Mr. Wong is still hiding in the shadows, and taking it all in!!

Just like all good spies, Jerry Land is quite the ladies man!!

On the plane flight to Beirut, Jerry Land met this hot rich gal who invites him to her yacht for a party, but when he arrives, he finds out these are the friends she was talking about that she wanted him to meet!

One of those good friends just also happens to be Mr. Wong!!

Mr. Wong also happens to be quite the inventor!! And you thought waterboarding was bad??

To make his escape, Jerry slips into the only clothes available. Unfortunately it was all just a setup, and Mr. Wong and his cronies are all waiting for him when he arrives back at his apartment!!

Jerry is not without some special spy tools like this powder he puts on the floor that can only be seen with some special glasses, so that he can tell if any new intruders are lurking about!

The streets of Beirut are also not safe at all, but Jerry is quite adroit at kicking ass!

Now he's getting blackmailed because he was set up to look like a murderer!!

Ah So, Chop Chop!! Jerry finds out his boss is a two faced conniving lying bastard!!

The military wraps it all up in the end, but it's pretty hard to be very effective when you literally have two left feet!! Mah Nà Mah Nà!!!

INVADERS FROM SPACE / Walter Manley Enterprises - 1965

It's... Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Eegah!! gave us frog faces last post, so, I'm bringing in the salamander men from the planet Kulimon as a follow up, and, Starman is back!..

We have a soundclip that gives the story set-up with a wild musical performance by an unusual dance troupe, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the glowing atomic powered coffee grinder, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... INVADERS FROM SPACE!

Like I said, Starman. Here he is on the Emerald Planet getting his orders to save the Earth from a horde of Salamander Men that plan on taking over by unleashing a lethal plague on mankind.

The Salamander Men are a mysterious lot, when they remove their mask you see why they wear the damn thing in the first place!!

After Starman arrives on Earth, he's singled out for attack by Kulimon salamander fighting fiends! Starman has little concern and kicks the thing's ass post-haste!

You hear some of this bizarre dance number in the soundclip... Packed audience!

Kids are part of the mix this time, they're targeted by the Salamander Men while out catching butterflies. Of course, there's another freakin' dance number!

Head scientists are captured and coerced into helping by threatening to dump a kid into a huge volcanic cauldron!

Shades of the TWILIGHT ZONE episode "Eye Of The Beholder!"

More action with kids, this time at home, the mean old Kulimon witch gets melted!

A shot of their flying saucer firing on the city below!

Looks like Starman is mocking them with his insulting salamander walk!

'Nuf said?!..