CHAMBER OF HORRORS / John Argyle Productions - 1940

It's Edgar Wallace Friday the 13th Theatre with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots another classic tale to tell from the pen of the master of horror, our hero, Mr. Edgar Wallace, who had died 8 years earlier at the very young age of 56. To illustrate his influence in the film industry, he has 212 writing credits with a film currently in production!!.. What a man!!!

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip of the theme with an excellent mad laugh at the end for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the bloody laff box in a jar, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's an earfull from the... CHAMBER OF HORRORS!

THE DOOR WITH SEVEN LOCKS was the original title of the story and of this film version.

The story starts with this old rich dude on his death bed, his heirs are there for his final moments. Leslie Banks as Dr. Manetta, the family's doctor, is in the background there.

In one of my favorite scenes, June, played by Lilli Palmer, reads an article to her BFF, Glenda, as she takes a bubble bath. I used to watch the Mexican channel on cable in the early eighties to see the wild Puerto Rican bombshell, Iris Chacon, because she always sang a song while all bubbled up in a tub!

A secret panel in this picture frame opens up and fires a silent poison dart into the victim!

June and Glenda go to Scotland Yard after June's relative is murdered. Here's Inspector Sneed and his helper, Dick Martin, listening to June's story.

Dick joins June to go to Dr. Manetta's to claim her inheritance along with Glenda and the Inspector. They almost drive off the cliff because of the fog.

Dick gets caught in a deadly device in the doctor's horror chamber and is saved at the last second when Manetta pulls a lever.

German born Lilli Palmer looks great in that dress, she's another lady I had a crush on when I was growing up.

The doctor's mute vampire-like servant pulls a gun on Dick, so, Inspector Sneed pulls the rug out from under him!

Dick has to do battle against the evil Dr. Manetta, but, the doc gets caught up in his own death device! We remember Leslie Banks as the hunter of humans, Zaroff, in THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME with Fay Wray from 1932.

Dick saves the doc from the device, but, now everyone knows who the murderer is. Manetta asks for a drink in his special glass that releases poison with a small switch on the side, so, does not have to face execution and any time in prison!!

Here's what the whole thing was about, all seven keys are now on just one chain!

Happy Friday the 13th, Everbloody!!

DAS RÄTSEL DER ROTEN ORCHIDEE - Peter Thomas - "The Secret Of The Red Orchid" (1962)

This week I've got a mini Christopher Lee Tribute for you! Two movies where Chris Lee is not from the UK! In this one he's from the U.S. and in the other one he's from Hong Kong!  This with be the 7th movie we've listed with foliage or vegetation in the title, the other six are "Attack Of The Mushroom People," "The Beast Of Yucca Flats," "The Blue Gardenia," "The Case Of The Bloody Iris," "The Day Of The Triffids,"  and "No Orchids For Miss Blandish!"

In the "Secret Of The Red Orchid," Christopher Lee has the role of hard-nosed American FBI agent Captain Allerman! It's not the greatest movie in the world, but the music is by Dungeon top dawg,  the always interesting Peter Thomas! So what is the secret of the red orchid you ask, beats the crap outta me!

Chicago: A place that produces Presidents and more gangland crime than is even imaginable in the 1960's right up to this day! Some things change, Chicago hasn't!

There's nothing like a good old-fashioned poker match to get things started, but you know there's always interruptions at these things usually involving guns! This one would be no exception!

Klaus Kinski is once again in there as sleazy slimeball Steve this time!

Looks like you damn well better have permission to enter this joint, or at least know what the password is! Tell 'em Joe sent you, and just see if they laugh out loud!

What was I telling you about that poker game?

                                                                    Beautiful shot!!

Hard to imagine, but Christopher Lee has over 275 acting roles to his credit, and most of them are major parts, and he's still going strong with appearances in the two new Hobbit movies!

At 6' 5", Christopher Lee towers over the 5' 8" Klaus Kinski, but Klaus has got Krazy on his side!

Captain Allerman comes out guns a' blazin'! For some strange reason, in the dubbed into English version, they don't use either Chris Lee's or Klaus Kinski's real voices! That's just weird, and it really detracts from the film!

The two crime bosses discuss their options from different ends of the table! I love the whole hat and glove routine!

"Secret Of The Red Orchid" is a fairly straight ahead crime drama with lots of Knives.............

........Guns and..........

.........Dead Bodies!!!!

It's got a lot of the regular Edgar Wallace elements, but when you make as many EW movies as these people did, you're not going to knock it out of the ballpark each and every time! Sometimes there's going to be lots of walks! This is one of those one to nothing in the ninth inning kind of games!

The combined talents of Klaus Kinski and Christopher Lee are what make "Secret Of The Red Orchid" watchable, but it will never be considered to be the best thing that they, or Edgar Wallace ever did!

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if in this one case, the book was better than the movie!

Once again, like in countless other Edgar Wallace German made films, Eddi Arent provides the comedy relief, unfortunately, some movies don't need comedy relief, and if you don't think Eddi Arent is the best thing to come along since liquid soap, then you're not likely to like this film at all! The good news is that "Secret Of The Red Orchid" is on DVD as a double Feature with a better film, "Monster Of London City" so you really can't go wrong, it's just like an added bonus!

SANTO CONTRA LA MAFIA DEL VICIO / Cinematográfica Flama - 1971

It's Mexican Mafia Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. This time, our hero Santo goes to Acapulco to relax but ends up battling a dangerous mob that has targeted Mexican chemical plants for sabotage.

This flick features lots of great music, showcasing the talents of singer Jimmy Santy, it even starts with a lengthy musical number! Oh yeah, there's plenty of buxom ladies running around in bikinis, too. Hey, it's Acapulco in the good old summertime!!

Eegah!! sent over a groovy little instrumental soundclip with a sax from this flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the exploding chemicals, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... SANTO CONTRA LA MAFIA DEL VICIO!

It's all sun, fun and chicas for Santo at the beginning, he's definitely earned this vacation.

And, don't forget about the night life in Acapulco, those neon lights are pretty cool. One of my first memories as a child was looking at neon lights as we drove around at night, I also loved cobalt blue glass, I used to imagine a house made out of glass and neon.

There's lots of dance numbers with beautiful ladies in their scanty costumes!

As a bonus, we also get to spend time in the girls' bedroom while they get ready for bed, a favorite pastime of mine.

Actually, Santo's never on vacation, wherever he goes there are always brutal matches he's scheduled to wrestle in!

This is a very tense part, the mafia has sent in a Santo duplicate to kill him. Before the other mafia goons reach the place, Santo has knocked the dude out and changed clothes with him. When the goons come in, they fill their own guy full of lead, then, throw him in the incinerator!! Phew, that was a close one!

Another Mexican hero of mine is this versatile tough guy, Fernando Osés. He played the guy with the spider arm in HELLISH SPIDERS and wrote 30 scripts, mostly classic movies featuring Santo!

Santo has plenty of tricks, when he's told to take off his mask, a small exploding pellet fires, distracting the gunman who then runs away!

It's curtains for the bad guys as Santo has outdone the creeps once again... Viva el Santo!!!