THE LOST PLANET Conqueror Of Space! / Columbia Pictures - 1953

Welp, the holidays are over and we're now living in the year 2015. Things have changed a little around here, on this, my first post of the year. I've started creating my own sound clips. This gives Eegah!! a well deserved break from this time consuming routine, something he's been doing for both of us since 2007!.. FYI ~

So, here's a pretty cool sound clip from this decent super-serial for your approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over by our lost keys, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here's a taste of... THE LOST PLANET!

The story's about an evil genius, Dr. Grood, who has succeeded in winning control over the planet Ergro, the first step in his conquest of the Universe. Using hypnotism, Grood captures reporter Rex Barrow, his photographer Tim Johnson, Professor Edmund Dorn and his daughter Ella, and plans on making use of the Professor's scientific knowledge. They are all rocketed to Ergro by Grood. Then, with the aid of the professor's inventions, Rex is able to free Ergro of Grood's domination.

Here's Grood, aka the hermit of Mt. Vulcan, checking in with his Ergro pal, Reckov, played by Dungeon Hero, Gene (THE SHE-DEMONS and THE SPIDER) Roth. Have you ever noticed that the names of the bad guys in these serials always had an Eastern-European ring to them?

Grood's helper pushes buttons and turns knobs at his his command as they create havoc.

They even have these little pesky animated flying saucers, as heard in the sound clip.

On Ergro, Grood's rocket delivers canisters of hypno-gas to keep Prof. Dorn in line. Notice how courteous the helper is, when you're wearing a helmet, you're refered to as a "robot."

Proffessor Dorn, who's already on Ergro, gets a dose of gas before donning his helmet.

Back on Earth, Rex and Tim are hot on the trail of a tip on the location of Dr. Grood's hideout.

Grood catches Rex, Ella and Tim snooping around, so, gasses them, making them completely receptive to his every command.

He sticks them in his rocket and sends them off to Ergro.

At the end of the first episode, Reckov tries to send the rocket into a volcano! Will they be burned to a crisp or will Prof. Dorn foil the plan?!...... DURR!

Tune in tomorrow when Eegah!! shows up yet again with another fun post!

GUNS GIRLS AND GANGSTERS - Mamie Van Doren - "Meet Me Halfway" (1959)

Can you think of a better way to end 2014 and start 2015 than with some Guns Girls and Gangsters?

One of these days we're going to run out of monster and sci-fi movies to watch! Thank God there's plenty of cool Crime, Detective and Noir movies to keep us going for quite a while, and tonight's New Year's Eve Special Feature "Guns Girls And Gangsters" made in 1959 is certainly no exception!! It's an action packed thriller with an all-star cast?

1959 was an amazing year, especially in Las Vegas! 1959 was the year that Fidel Castro took power in Cuba! Alaska and Hawaii both became states in 1959, and the very first episode of "The Twilight Zone" aired in October of that year, and it was also the year "The Music Died," when Buddy Holley, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper died in that horrific plane crash! It was the year that "Etch-A-Sketch" and the computer modem were invented! In Vegas, business was literally booming!

Even back in 1959, 1.4 million people were unemployed, and if you did have a job, you were lucky to be making five thousand dollars a year, so the thought of pulling off a 2 million dollar heist was pretty enticing!

The Trans-Oceanic 600 series was the final incarnation of Zenith shortwave tube radios! It was produced from 1959-1962, and it  was the last portable vacuum tube radio made in the USA!

Gerald Mohr is two bit hustler ex-con Charles (Chuck) Wheeler, a man with a plan! Here's two good reasons why Gerald is in The Dungeon Hall Of Fame, "Terror In The Haunted House," and "The Angry Red Planet!!"

Welcome to the big time!!

Vi Victor is played by blonde bombshell, the magnificent Mamie Van Doren! In 1959, The San Francisco Giants had a roster of talent that included Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, and Felipe Alou! In 1959, the film world had a quartet of blonde beauty home run hitters, that would never be duplicated again, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, and Diana Dors!!!!

This was pretty darn racy for 1959! Chuck's here to tell Vi that he used to be her boyfriend's cellmate, and that he has this great plan for robbing an armored truck carrying a bunch of cash from Las Vegas to a bank in L.A., and he needs her help!

The plan consists of Chuck shooting out the tire of the armored truck so that it has to stop right here at the Stagecoach Inn and garage, and then they can take it over, and him and his buddies can drive off with the money! Chuck is a crack shot, and he's already practiced on a couple of cars, and it works perfectly! Vi needs to hang out for a few days to notate the times that cops drop by etc. It's right in between Christmas and New Years!

Everything would probably have been fine, but Vi's no good loser ex-boyfriend, and Chuckie's ex best friend Mike Bennett, busts out of jail two months before his planned release, and is somehow magically hightailing it from San Quentin Prison in California all the way to Las Vegas!

They never quite explain how Mike managed to sneak all the way from San Quentin to Vegas, but if it was one tree at a time like this, I think it would have taken more than a couple of days! Mike is played by one of Hollywood's finest, Mr. Lee Van Cleef!

Here's a colourized version of this shot from the New Year's party at the Stage Coach Inn for you!

Just like Karkoff, Vi is totally misrepresented by the outlandish poster! She has been dragged unwillingly into this whole sordid affair! Her big problem is she falls in love with really bad guys! So they're having the big New Years party at the Stage Coach, and Vi gets talked into singing a song!

Here's the stunning Vi Victor with a swingin' little number called "Meet Me Halfway!" Somebody put a dime in the jukebox!

The cops show up just when Chuck and Mike Bennett are having their big face off over the money and VI, so they decide to ditch the place, and go ahead with the robbery and deal with their relationship later, but it's pretty clear that only one is going to come out alive after it's over!

I couldn't figure out what brand of radio this was, but I like the design!

Here she comes, Big Bertha, for the final standoff! I'll let you figure out what happens! I was surprised to find "Guns Girls And Gangsters" streaming for free on Amazon Prime! If you've got an account, it's worth the effort! It was a fun year, I hope you enjoyed these movies as much as we did! 

 Happy Freakin' New Year!!

THE KARATE KILLERS / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer - 1967

We're closing in on the end of 2014, so, here's my last post of the year... It stars the Men From U.N.C.L.E. in one of their movie offshoots from their popular TV series. It also features a slew of actors in cameo roles and the sixties pop group, Every Mother's Son, doing their hit tune "Come On Down To My Boat" as heard in the sound clip.

Eegah!! sent over a little sound clip from this flick for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our killer karate chopping robot, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a taste of... THE KARATE KILLERS!

Our boys are down in the lab preparing fruit smoothies before they hit the old spy trail...

Here they are with their boss, Alexander Waverly, played Leo (TARANTULA and TOPPER) G. Carroll, they're going over the latest data on world events.

Herbert Lom is the bad guy, he wants something Joan Crawford has. Joan probably worked for half a day on this one, she turns up dead rather quickly at the beginning.

Jeez, what can you say about this guy here?! Can you believe that Telly's holding a cigarette instead a Tootsie Pop?.. Well, I can't!

You see, movies gave the guys a chance to hang out with a near nude chick while they race around, something they definitely couldn't do on the TV series!

Then, there's the club scene where Every Mother's Son is playing their hit song for the crowd.

Here's a goofy fun pic showing Illya after he gets knocked into the fountain!

Part of the Bad Guy Crew is this dressed-in-all-black motorcycle gang of maniacs.

Illya is always getting himself into some harrowing situation! Will Napoleon be able to save him before he gets one on those spikes stuck in his skull?!!.. Gee, I wonder.

I've included this still because when I was stationed at Fort Lewis in 1968 I drove one of these Ford Econoline vans around.

The dial, simple, yet efficient!.. EVERYBODY RUN!!

The plot's all about creating gold through a chemical equation, but, we all know gold can only be created by a Super Nova explosion. Besides, if we could all make gold, it'd be worthless!

Oops!!.. You know, something always goes wrong with those damn gold making machines!

Dustin Rhodes makes a cameo appearance as Gold Dust as we draw the curtain on this production...

Be back on Wednesday when Eegah!! will present our last post o' the year!