L'UCCELLO DALLE PIUME DI CRISTALLO - Dario Argento/Ennio Morricone - "Point Of Terror" (1970)

Howdy Y'all and welcome to The Saturday Night Special down here in The Dungeon!

Any regular readers of this here blog will know that I have given up some time ago on Giallo flicks, but that I have never given up on the talents of Dario Argento, and tonight's special feature illustrates precisely why!

There's no escaping knives and violence in Giallo films, in fact those are most likely the hands of the master himself,  Dario Argento! The music in "L'uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo" was composed by another Italian master in his field, the always classic Ennio (Good, Bad, and The Ugly) Morricone! 514 title credits to his name, and Maestro Morricone is still working it today! Freakin' Incredible!! The equally amazing Bruno Nicolai is the cat in charge of the conducting! That is an incomparable combination of talent!

Italian-American actor Tony Musante had his own TV series in 1973-74 called "Toma" where he played Detective David Toma for 23 episodes! He was a school teacher before becoming an actor!

Tony has the part of  Sam Dalmas, and Sam has just witnessed a grisly murder in an art gallery behind a glass wall that he is helpless to do anything about!

Excedrin Headache # 13!

Just stare at it for a while!

The advances in computer technology today are so far beyond amazing!!!

Pretty damn sexy without showing a Helluva lot I'm sure you'll agree!

"L'uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo" was Dario Argento's premiere directorial outing.......

.....AND it is anything but a slack fest!

For my money, this is just a spectacular shot!

Sam Dalmas has finally got a lead on a strange character in a yellow slicker!

He follows him, and when he gets to the final destination and opens up the elevator door.........

............He finds himself knee deep in some kind of weird convention where everybody is dressed the same!!!

What's a guy suposed to do????

More investigation leads him to the local perv's palace!!

A great shot, so simple, but so, so very effective!!!

Italian phone booth circa 1970!

This is nothing more than an awesome composite fade shot!!

What you got going on there home boy??

Atmospheric and unpredictable,"L'Uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo" is indeed a film worth checking out, and my recommendation is that you do!!!

I WAS A TEENAGE BLOB / A Look At Blob Movies from 1955-88

This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, so, in celebration of our 1600th post, here's a look at those Blob movies from 1955 to 1988! THE BLOB was not the first Blob flick, in fact, it's number 7 on my list...

Number 1 on my list is THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT aka THE CREEPING UNKNOWN from Hammer Studios, released in 1955. Spaceman Carroon eventually turns into that mass of animals he absorbed at the zoo!

The second Blob flick, X: THE UNKNOWN in 1956, comes from Hammaer Studios again, this time a radio-active mud Blob from under the earth breaks through to feast on the supply of atomic energy in Britain.

Hammer Studio's QUATERMASS 2 aka ENEMY FROM SPACE had giant Blobs being produced in huge metal domes, Quatermass is seen looking into a dome at one of them! Saw this one at the theater in 1957, one of my very favorites.

SPACE MASTER X-7 was released in June of 1958, it's about a small hunk of flesh that gets irradiated in space, it comes back to Earth and starts growing into large flesh-eating radio-active Blobs, called 'blood rust.' The still shows a rare look at the Blobs inside glass containers!

This classic Japanese flick, THE H-MAN, was also released in June of 1958! This movie has some super creepy scenes inside the death ship, the still shows one H-Man covering and digesting another unlucky human.

Get ready!.. THE SPACE CHILDREN also came out in June 1958!! That's three freakin' Blob movies all out in the same month and year, wow! That space Blob in the still is a real work of art, saw this one at the theater too.

THE BLOB came out in September of 1958, my dad took me to see it when I was just 10 years old! This movie seriously screwed with my imaginative little mind for some time after that... The theme song is too cool, had the 45!

CALTIKI THE IMMORTAL MONSTER's an awesome little flick from 1959 that Eegah!! and I saw together at the theater. The black and white photography makes it extra creepy, love this one!

We were on a roll, here's another movie Eegah!! and I saw at the theater in 1959, THE ANGRY RED PLANET, and, loved it! Famous Monsters did a kick-ass article on it too, so many great monsters. Gerald Mohr brings some dark green slime from the giant Amoeba back to Earth on his arm!

Then, we find this rarity, MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE from 1965, this poor guy contracts a fungus disease on the Moon and threatens a space station when the disease mutates into a plant-like mass! Used to have the 1 sheet, love this whacked out low budget sci-fi flick! Hard to find.

From 1968 comes this very bizarre Asian flick, GOKE, THE BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL!.. Blue Blobs crawl into his brain through that slit in his head!! Double billed with BLOODY PIT OF HORROR!

Jack H. Harris knew a good thing he had with his Blob, so, he was back in 1972 with BEWARE! THE BLOB aka SON OF BLOB. By that time, low-budget movies had mutated into pretty much, parody. Hard to get scared by old ideas with new minimalist effects.

From 1973 Mexico comes SANTO CONTRA LOS ASESINOS DE OTROS MUNDOS, the weirdest of all Blob movies! You have to see this one to believe it, jaw dropping! That ugly skeleton on the bed was a beautiful woman before the Blob rolled over her!

THE STUFF from 1985 was a weird blend of comedy, stupidity and violence, Garrett Morris has obviously been eating The Stuff!

Jack H. Harris coined this catagory of movie monsters, at least, for me. He was not kidding around with his 1988 remake of THE BLOB...

UKRADENÀ VZDUCHOLOD - "The Stolen Airship" (1967)

As Froggy The Gremlin used to say, "Hiyah Kids, Hiyah, Hiyah!! Okay, so welcome to the Weirdsville Wednesday Kiddie Matinee deep, deep, down here in The Dungeon! Tonight's feature is one I have had sitting on the shelf for about 4 or 5 years now, because I never could quite figure out what the Hell to do with it, but now the time has come, and there's no place to run, I might get burned up by the Sun, but I'll have my fun, flying around in a "Stolen Airship!"

 "The Stolen Airship" is a film that tries to answer that age old question: Why does asparagus make my urine smell so freakin' strange, but never quite meets it's full potential!

"The Stolen Airship" was made in Czechoslovakia in 1967, and is a wild amalgam of random images, paper cutouts and green screen that makes me think it's an extended Monty Python episode gone extra weirdsville!

"The Stolen "Airship" is loosely based on two of Jules Verne's books, combined into one story, "Two Years Vacation," and "The Mysterious Island!"

It IS considered to be a movie made for kids, but.......

.......You do have scenes like this where Can-Can girls are dancing in the sky, and......

............young peepers get quite an eyeful, before being hustled off by the local morality patrol! Good thing those gals had drawers on!!

Zeppelins and Dirigibles, oh, how I long for days gone by!!

The version of "The Stolen Airship" that Tedmo rounded up for us is totally in Czechoslovakian, and even though I know a considerable amount of people of Slovenian descent, I must say, we rarely ever discuss Czechoslovakian fantasy films of the 1960's, so all I can say about this still is 'What The Fuck?!"

"Move 'em on, head 'em up, Head 'em up, move 'em out, Move 'em on, head 'em out Rawhide! Set 'em out, Ride 'em in, let 'em out, Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, Rawhide." Yeah!!!

So these kids steal this cool airship, and sail off to worlds unknown! Is that beer they are drinking? Sure as Hell looks like it!

"The Stolen Airship" is full of wondrous images that sometimes come at you in rapid fire succession!

So, if a bear farts in the woods, and there's nobody around to hear it, does it make any sound?

Here's where the "Mysterious Island" part kicks in, the kids stumble upon the secret domain of Captain Nemo!

This very cool shot reminds me of a scene from "King Kong" for some damn reason!!

I give "The Stolen Airship" a two gun salute for originality, focus and design, but...............did I enjoy it, kind of, would I recommend seeking it out, almost, but in the long run, it's just another weird movie that each individual is going to have to figure out for themselves! It's just different, and I can't do it for you!! It might be your favourite movie of all time, and then again, you might hate it, but when it's all said and done, it's up to you!