~ 13 OF TABONGA'S FAVORITE FIFTIES MONSTER FLICKS ~

It's my birthday today, so, I wanted to do this post for a change of pace, here at The Dungeon!.. Here are 13 of my favorite monster flicks from the fabulous fifties, it was even greater if you were lucky enough to grow up at that time and got to see some of them at the theater when they originally came out, like Eegah!! and I did! They are listed in alphabetical order.

THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE - 1959 / I love this one and watch it quite a bit, lots of twisted science and horror! Pictured is a close up of the tentacled cyclops alien in it's living flying saucer.

THE BLACK SCORPION - 1957 / Saw this one at the theater, if you haven't noticed, when they show this close up, they turn the sound up real loud! It made the experience pretty damn wild for us kids! This close up model was made from actual crab parts.

THE BLOB - 1958 / My dad took me to see this when I was 10 years old, theme kills, the rest of it freaked me out but good, had nightmares years later!! Photo shows the old man's hand after Steve and Jane get him to the doctor!

CALTIKI, THE UNDYING MONSTER - 1959 / Another blob flick, love blob flicks, Eegah!! and I saw this one in the theater. Photo shows Max getting what he deserves, a tasty morsel for Caltiki!!

CURSE OF THE DEMON - 1957 / Saw this one too, wow, what a wild ride! The Demon puppet is teriffic, the part where Dana Andrews is walking through the woods in the dark is still creepy!

ENEMY FROM SPACE - 1957 / Gawd, I love this freakin' movie, also got to see it at the theater. Photo shows super rare shot of one of the blob monsters after it breaks out of its dome!

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE - 1958 / Now, here's a movie that would creep you out seeing it for the first time, decent animation of those freaky brain sucking fiends!!

THE FLY - 1958 / Another freaky flick my dad took me to see when I was 10! The Fly makeup in the still remains one of Hollywood's greatest creations!!!

FORBIDDEN PLANET - 1956 / Here's another one I saw with my dad, I was 8. There is no way to describe seeing this fantastic movie back then, and, remains my very favorite fifties movie... The music, Robby The Robot and the ID Monster, wow!!!

I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE - 1958 / 1958 was a great year for monsters, this movie is an offbeat example with a sexual theme and fantastic, creepy space aliens!

THIS ISLAND EARTH - 1955 / The Metaluna Mutants in this one are the best, one of the first paintings I did in high school was a portrait of one, I still have it. I had a huge crush on Faith Domergue.

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS - 1953 / Another amazing fifties monster movie, great war machines and Martians!

I came across this while I was looking for TWOTW pictures, this is a still from WAR OF THE WORLDS THE TRUE STORY from 2012, a documentary style movie using WW I and WWII footage to make it seem real, KILLER!! I could only find a download on Amazon!

X: THE UNKNOWN - 1956 / Another great British blob flick, it's extremely radio-active and can melt people! Some tense scenes penned by my hero, Jimmy Sangster!

KILLERS THREE - "This Ain't No Picnic" (1968)

I love discovering movies that were completely off my radar, and tonight's Saturday Night Special is one of those indeed! "Killers Three" is another one of those "Gun Crazy" "Bonnie And Clyde" type of movies, but this one's just a little bit different, and this Spanish poster is freakin' classic!!

The title of the film is "Killers Three," and that is a real misnomer fer shure, but one thing that is a fact, and that is this movie is a real sixties cultural iconic treasure trove!

This loving couple is Robert (THE SAVAGE SEVEN, THE MAN FROM O.R.G.Y, BEWARE! THE BLOB) Walker Jr. as poor boy Johnny Warder, and his lovely wife Carol as played by Diane (PEYTON PLACE, WILD IN THE STREETS, JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN) Varsi!

"Killers Three" is a movie about moonshiners.............

..........And the guys watching them, and as a matter of fact, a guvment agent just like this is probably looking through your window right now too!

Here he is, Mr. American Bandstand himself, a 39 year old Dick Clark as Roger C. Kirk! When I think 'actor', Dick Clark is not the first person that comes to mind, but he turns in quite a credible performance here! Dick Clark also produced "Killers Three!"  Roger is coming to visit his old Army buddy Johnny, and he's brought a present for him and his wife, an "Ant Farm!"

Roger is a little slow, and a little shy but Maureen (HOT ROD GANG, THUNDER ALLEY, A MAN CALLED DAGGER) Arthur as Elvira Sweeney gets him to break out of his shell a little bit!

Lucky for Roger, Elvira doesn't have any inhibitions at all!!

Roger has a bit of a drinking problem!

Still kickin' ass today, here's Bakersfield country music icon Merle Haggard as Carol Warder's Sheriff brother Charlie! Merle also sings a running documentary of all the events in the movie! Here's just a little taste!

Well, it's once again time for the annual Ramseur N.C. Centennial Picnic and Country Dance with entertainment brought to you by Merle's band The Strangers!

And fronting the band is the amazing Bonnie Owens, a woman so fascinating she won the heart of, and was at one time married to both Buck Owens AND Merle Haggard! Now that's a Queen of Country Music for you!

Without a doubt, these people know how to party!

Talk about an all-star affair, in the background there on the left, I'm sure that's Barack Obama, and Maggie from "The Walking Dead" dancing together!

So here's what's happening, while the big dance is going on outside of town, Johnny and Roger have this plan to use the dance as a diversion while they're in town robbing the safe of the local payroll office! They disappear from the festivities to disable all the cars by cutting spark plug wires etc, but Elvira comes looking for Roger, so for lack of a better excuse for what they are doing, Johnny explains to Elvira that him and Roger got a little bit closer than just buddies when they were in the service, and that they needed some time alone together! Needless to say, she's a little more than incensed by the whole affair and storms off!!

The safe was a little bit bigger than Roger had anticipated, so he didn't really know how much of his nitro/oatmeal mix to use on the door! Turns out it was a bit too much!

Everything was fine until something went horribly wrong! Now people are dead, and there's no turning back!

Carol's only crime was that she was madly in love with her man Johnny, but now she, along with Johnny and Roger are all wanted for murder!

The trio is on the run and hungry, so they stop in a local dive to get some chow, and who should walk in but Carol's brother Charlie! Well, Charlie's one Helluva nice guy, and he tells Johnny and Carol, that for at least 10 minutes, he's going to just go on and pretend like he never saw them, opening up an opportunity for them to escape!

Unfortunately, Roger was out of the room and didn't get the message, so an unprecedented event happens, and the King of 60's pop music promotion shoots and kills one of the biggest stars of the 60's country music scene! I find it culturally ironic!

Well, it doesn't take much imagination to figure out this movie's not going to have a happy ending!

They can try as they may, like with this poster, to make this look like a gruesome story about bloodthirsty killers, but the reality is that it's about a couple of nice naive young people who make a couple of bad decisions, and end up paying the ultimate price for it!  So, there you go! "Killers Three" is an obscure little movie worth seeking out, and you won't have to look far if you have a Netflix streaming account!

MISS ROBIN CRUSOE / Eastern Productions (II) - 1954

It's Friday the 14th with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We have a flick starring Amanda Blake (Miss Kitty from GUNSMOKE) playing the title character in a low-budget, female version of the Daniel Defoe classic. Robin is the survivor of a shipwreck whose lifeboat beaches on an island. Also starring are George Nader (who was in the awesome ROBOT MONSTER a year earlier) as Jonathan and Rosalind (SERPENT ISLAND) Hayes as Friday. One tagline reads... In the annals of strange adventure none more astounding...more amazing!!!

Eegah!! sent over a lil' soundclip with some narration and jungle drums from this movie for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the atomic shrunken head, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's a taste of... MISS ROBIN CRUSOE!

The story begins with the narrator giving a rundown of the events leading to the capsize of the ship at sea.

A pirate dude finds Robin washed up on the shore. When he tries to take advantage of her, she runs to the top of a cliff and kicks him over the edge when he grabs her!!

Robin has to do everything it takes to survive on the island, including hunting for food and constructing her own treehouse!

She hears jungle drums in the distance and finds some natives ready to sacrifice a girl, who she saves and names, what else... Friday!

Friday shows Robin how to milk a goat (something Eegah!! knows a little about) and helps her make some more appropriate jungle attire.

Handsone hunk, Jonathan, washes up on shore, another victim of a shipwreck. Robin immediately lets him know who the boss of the island is by binding his hands!

On a moonlit night, Friday jealously watches as Robin and Jonathan sit together in a romantic setting.

The spell is broken when Jonathan kisses Robin, she gets furious, so, he has to pick up his marbles and goes back to his place.

Jonathan gets back to the island after he went out in the lifeboat and flagged down a passing ship, then, it's an all out attack from the hostile natives!

The ship saves the day with cannon balls fired at the natives, and, the three are safely rescued from the island! Tune in tomorrow, I think Eegah!! has something up his sleeve...