Monday, June 16, 2014

FIVE / Arch Oboler Productions, Paramount Pictures - 1951

It's... Oh My God! Blogger seems to have fixed their shit and the black and white pictures finally look normal when uploaded Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots one of the first atomic 'end of the world' flicks from the mind of Arch Oboler, who went on to produce THE TWONKY in 1953. Arch was 5' 1½" tall.

Eegah!! sent over a little soundclip of the theme and more, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the A-Bomb Crater, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for not just THREE or FOUR, but... FIVE!

When I worked at a special effects studio in Canoga Park in the early nineties, one of the artist's name was Carter, and, earned the nick-name, "Crater."

The story goes like this... The world is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust and only five Americans survive, including a pregnant woman, a black man, a bank clerk and a neo-Nazi who goes on to create Fox News. They all wind up at a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house on a California mountaintop.

Roseanne is pregnant and was separated from her husband in the attack, she wanders aimlessly through the countryside and finally comes upon the house occupied by another survivor, Michael.

Two others show up, Charles and Mr. Barnstaple, so, they all take a trip to the beach. So far, Roseanne hasn't smiled once! The elder Mr. Barnstaple dies later that day.

Then, neo-Nazi Eric shows up, he creates problems immediately, he will do no work and wants Roseanne to leave with him and relocate in the city. Roseanne has her baby as the men fight it out and a thunderstorm blows in. Not a good omen!

Eric convinces Roseanne (she wants to try and find her husband) to leave with him, and, they take Michael's Jeep after Eric kills Charles in a scuffle.

It's a grim sight in the city, creeping out Roseanne big time!

Roseanne, carrying her baby, locates her husband in his office, now a skeleton, as Eric breaks into jewelry stores and grabs a big pile of diamonds!

Then, Eric discovers that he has radiation poisoning, freaks out, and, runs away in a panic!

Roseanne doesn't drive, so, she takes the baby and heads back towards Michael's place. On the way there, sadly, the baby dies, leaving Roseanne completely devastated. Miraculously, Michael finds her while wandering around.

It's now up to Michael and Roseanne to bring more children into the world...

Tune in Wednesday when Eegah!! will have something cool for us to check out!

Saturday, June 14, 2014

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT - Peter Yarrow - "Love Is The Answer...What Was The Question?" (1968)

Welcome to the 60's Sychedelic Saturday Night Special down in The Dungeon! Tonight's feature is titled "You Are What You Eat" and it is the perfect movie to show at your next acid dropping party, just don't take the brown stuff or you might not be able to handle this!

"You Are What You Eat" was made in 1968 by Peter Yarrow, the Peter in 'Peter, Paul, and Mary' one of the most popular folk music groups of all time behind what I would guess would be Bobby Dylan, and/or Simon and Garfunkel! Well, it seems like Peter must have had some extra money from royalties and a vision, and "You Are What You Eat" is the end result!

"You Are What You Eat" is basically a psychedelic montage or collage of inane diatribe and wild and crazy music! This bubble gum sequence is a good example! Peter liked this imagery so much, he used it again towards the end of the movie! He probably thought you'd be so stoned you wouldn't remember anyway!

This is Superspade! He's talking on the phone to somebody about something! It doesn't matter what he's saying, because it's pure concept!

Because of the montage nature of this film, there were probably literally thousands of images to choose from, so when it's a crapshoot, I'm always going to choose dancing!

If you're olde enuf, you might remember those days of yesteryear when dogs on motorcycles didn't have to wear a helmet!

Okay, this freaky character gets more than a few lines! Kinda like Cambria's Captain Nitt Witt, he's got all the answers to the questions you never asked!

This cat's (Is it Tiny Tim? I can't tell!) stunning attire is just too much! If this picture doesn't deserve a comment, I don't know what will!

There are some run of the mill concepts in this film like a nun smoking a joint! I'm starting to think that everything I've always heard about "Puff The Magic Dragon," is true!

There is without a smidgen of a doubt that there's some anti-war sentiment involved here, and why not? These days, it's not kids, but only bikers who wear Nazi helmets!

Wow! So Like What Was The Question Again??


Hair was an interesting element of the sixties that has finally been liberated some 50 years later! Here's a couple of good examples!

If you think the imagery is insane, wait til you get a load of the music! There's musical talent to burn with names like The Electric Flag, Paul Butterfield, Barry McGuire, John Simon, and members of The Band contributing, and it has, as Frank Zappa would say, No Commercial Potential!

Here's just a random sampling of all the imagery being flashed across the screen!

FREAK OUT IN THE DARKNESS!

I'd like to believe that anybody reading this would know who 60's icon Tiny Tim is, but the more I think about it, it's probably a good assumption that a lot of you don't know, so let's just fix that right now,  here is Tiny Tim in full regalia doing a duet of "I Got You Babe" with the cute singer from a 60's all girl group named CAKE, Eleanor Barooshian! You really have to see and hear it to believe it, so here's the link to a YouTube video of this performance! If the background music sounds like vintage "Blonde On Blonde" Bob Dylan, it's because the musicians were the members of The Band!

"You Are What You Eat" is filled with all kinds of music from beginning to end! Here's just a taste from the ending freakout that I would imagine was done by Electric Flag!

Frank Zappa didn't have any contributions to the music, but Peter liked flashing this archival footage of him toward the end because it was so trippy! The funny thing is, because of the nature of his music, most people back then thought Frank Zappa was a giant stoner, but in reality, he had no tolerance for drug use from anybody associated with him or his music! So there you go, You are what you eat, so have fun, but do be careful!

Friday, June 13, 2014

THE SUPER ROBOT RED BARON / Nippon Gendai, Senkousha - Series from 1973-74

It's Fightin' Giant Robot Friday the 13th with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. This series has a young man piloting the Red Baron robot, rather than a robot controlled by a small device. Here is episode 5 from the first season titled, "Smash The Mysterious Rocket Operation!" It's about the SSI (Secret Science Investigation) Team who find out the reason behind their enemy's artificial rain experiments. The 'poster' here is actually a Polydor 45 record sleeve of the theme.

Eegah!! sent over a cool lil' soundclip of the theme and more for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button next to the giant robot boot (it's all we could afford), NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's a taste of... THE SUPER ROBOT RED BARON!

Warning!!.. Don't mess with our hero, Super Robot Red Baron... Red Baron!

Here's their formidible opponents, the Iron Mask Party with its array of giant metal monsters and is led by the evil President Deviler.

This is the headquarters of the SSI Team. I swear, the head dude in the background looks like he's smoking a freakin' joint! In a closeup, it even looks like one.

There's even a good looking female SSI member! In a action filled fight, this Deviler Dude rudely grabs her boob!!

And, the result of his action!..

President Deviler sends out one of his deadly robots to tear up part of the city!

Super Robot Red Baron is called into action and our hero jumps in to man the big guy!

He looks out of one of the eyes as he focuses on the approaching enemy!

The bad guys always have something devilish up their sleeve!

When you see this on the screen, you know Red Baron is ready to throw a POWER PUNCH!!

The SSI Team finally figure out the reason behind the artificial rain experiments, it increases the Deviler robot's destructive power by drawing energy from the lightning!

Caption sez it all!

We'll end with a good look at our hero, Super Robot Red Baron! Tune in tomorrow when Eegah!! will bring us a psychedelic roller coaster ride!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??