HOUSE OF MYSTERY - "The Curse Of Kai" (1934)

Welcome to O.G. Wednesday down in The Dungeon, and tonight's classic big monkey horror show, "House Of Mystery!" This movie is so mysterious, even the title is a mystery; is it "House of," or "The House of"......?  Only The Gorilla knows, and he ain't talking!

 

 Okay, "House Of Mystery" may not be the best movie ever made, but it sure has one of the most classic titles of all times! Made some freakin' 80 years ago in 1934, this version wasn't even the first movie ever made with this title! There were also two "The House Of Mystery" movies made before this, one in 1901, and one made in 1921! After this film, there were even more movies titled "House Of Mystery," one in 1940, and one in 1961!  None of these movies are about the same thing! To top it all off, there was a movie made in 1938 titled "Mystery House!"

I'm not quite sure about the time and place of this film, but I think it might be Asia - 1913!

The guy on the left with what looks like a golf club, but is really a riding crop, is a big jerk, drunken lout named John Prendergast! He's played by Clay(Don't Bet On Blondes)Clement! He's quite the ass, maybe he wasn't acting!

This hot dancing girl is Joyzelle Joyner as Chanda! If she looks kind of exotic, it's probably because she was born in Alabama! Here's a monkey biscuit's worth of the theme song, and the wild music that Chanda is twirling to!

These 1913 Asian people are simian worshipers! Take note of the big guy in the background! The high priest is Brandon (Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, White Zombie, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame) Hurst!

When John Prendergast was drunk, he hurt an innocent little monkey, and now he's cursed for life to death!

Chanda helps John Predergast escape, and they head for higher ground to live happily ever after! (Take note of how normal she looks!)

There was a reason that John Prendergast was acting like such an ass, he is one!

John is tracked down some time into the future by the investors of the original expedition, and he tells them to all come to his creepy olde house, and he will explain the whole situation! Two of the investors can't make it, because they were recently murdered in England! John explains to the group that he didn't tell them, because he didn't want to pass the curse onto them, and that he had tried to give the treasure back to the natives, but they wouldn't accept it!

These two are quite the couple! On the left is the chocolate-gobblin' hypochondriac Mrs. Geraldine Carfax as played by Dale(House Of Horror)Fuller, and on the right is Fritzi(Red Hot Speed)Ridgeway as Stella Walker, her keeper! Chanda off in the background makes it a perfect threesome!

Sometimes you can't tell whether this movie is a comedy or if it's the fact that the characters are just stupid! I think it's the latter! The plumber who also turns out to be the undercover guy from Scotland Yard is played by John(Swing Time Johnny)Sheehan! Chanda is everywhere, always watching, but not saying much, and the same thing is true for the plumber!

John's an olde horndog, and crippled or not, he's hot for his nurse Ella Browning, and wants her to marry him! Note Chanda is in the back watching just like the big gorillas used to do! Ella Browning is played by cutie pie Verna(Duck Soup)Hillie!!

Time for the big seance scene, so Stella can conjure up the spirit of Pocahontas and get answers to all these crazy question!

Again, is this a comedy or not? I'm confused! These three are a cross between The Three Stooges, and The Keystone Kops! Two words come to mind, blundering idiots!

"I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee!" No credit for who was loping around in the hairy suit! People keep getting killed, and every time, strangely there has been some kind of exotic incense burning in their room!

Chanda has been in the dark about John's trend towards infidelity, but now she has caught him red-handed! He has even told Ella that Chanda is nothing more than merely his housekeeper! Bad move jerk-off!

Almost all the investors are dead by the time that John reveals that he is not crippled at all, and is just a dirty, nasty scalliwag! Here's a final toast, and a suggestion that Chanda should go back to her native country for a while and chill! Maybe he'll call her later!!

Chanda exits the room, and locks the door before John sees or smells the incense burning! He's seen it before and he knows what's coming next, and you don't need a lot of imagination to figure it out either!

Here's four examples of how Director William Nigh packed as much as he could into each and every shot! I'm sure if he thought he could have got the entire cast into every shot, he sure as Hell would have done it!

I made you this wallpaper from a random sample of what you get if you do a Google search for House of Mystery poster! I thought it was pretty cool! Just for the record, if you're in the market to see a 1930's big monkey movie for free, you can find "House Of Mystery" to stream or download over at the always utterly amazing, and always free, Internet Archive!!  Fuckin' A!!

THE BRUTE MAN / Universal Pictures - 1946

The Dungeon Express continues delivering the goods, here's the last movie Rondo Hatton appeared in after he died of a heart attack at age 51 in early 1946, a result of contracting the horrible disease, acromegaly, from a poison gas attack in WWI. Rondo had 22 acting credits, mostly bit parts in movies like HELL HARBOR, SAFE IN HELL, CAPTAIN FURY, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, SIN TOWN, SLEEPY LAGOON and eventually had starring roles in THE PEARL OF DEATH and HOUSE OF HORRORS.

Here's a fun little sound clip from this flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our creeper vine, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's... THE BRUTE MAN!

Here's Rondo in his most famous role... THE CREEPER! Universal ended up selling this movie to PRC because of a clamor over exploiting Rondo's condition.

This is a weird part, when Hal Moffat, aka The Creeper, stares back through the restaurant window at all the frightened people inside.

He makes friends with blind piano teacher Helen and wants to help her get an eye operation so that she can regain her sight. Although, she'd probably scream real loud if she saw his face!!

The Creeper hides and hangs out out at the docks. He ends up killing the delivery boy because the guy got a little too nosey!

Back in his college days, Hal was a popular football player and was involved in a love triangle with two of his friends, Tom and Virginia.

Hal's pal Tom causes him to fail a chemistry test by giving him the wrong answers and Hall tosses his experiment on the floor in anger, it explodes in his face. And, it triggers his present medical condition, he soon drops out of sight.

Hal shows up uninvited at Tom and Virginia's house, who are now married. He wants extortion money to help Helen get her eye operation, blaming Tom and her for the injustice.

Tom comes in and shoots Hal in his package, but, Tom gets too close and Hal chokes him to death because the bullet only grazed him!

The police find out that Helen has befriended The Creeper, so, they set up a trap for him!

The big guy comes in to pay his respects to Helen but the coppers are hiding in the next room and they move in before he can do his thang!!

Check in again on Wednesday when we will have another treat for you!

ROCK ROCK ROCK! - Alan Freed and his Rock 'n Roll Band - "Rock 'n Roll Boogie" (1956)

Dwrayger Dungeon was originally conceived as a showcase to salute the cool music in the horror and science fiction movies of the 50's and 60's! Well, we ran out of those a long time ago, but there's still some pretty cool rockin' features out there, and tonight's Saturday Special is just that!!

"ROCK ROCK ROCK!" You can't get much more definitive than that!

Leave it to Rock and Roll DJ extraordinaire Alan Freed to put together a show this varied and power packed! Alan Freed coined the phrase "Rock 'n Roll!" Yes, he was one of the coolest guys to ever walk the planet! Alan Freed liked to use the name Moondog until he was sued by wild man blind composer/musician Moondog, and he had to stop using the name! Out of all the outstanding and historical music in this movie, I chose a song that's not on any soundtrack, nor did it ever have any commercial potential, but it's one rockin' number featuring Alan Freed and his Rock 'n Roll Band, with Freddie Mitchell blowing the Hell out of the sax, and Alan Freed himself throwing in shouts, hollers, and vocals, if you want to call them that! Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present: "Rock 'n Roll Boogie!"

In the 50's and 60's, it might have been Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield that had all the men standing at attention, but it was Tuesday Weld who was driving all the teenage boys crazy! Who needs the other days of the week? Just like Dobie, I fell in love with Tuesday Weld on the "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis" show as Thalia Menniger! Tuesday's still around today, and there's something that tells me she probably still looks fantastic! This was her first role ever, she was just 13!

The songs that Tuesday Weld performs are actually sung by Connie Francis!

Born as Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, Connie had some big hits, and later in life, had some major issues! In 1957, Connie had a # 4 hit with "Who's Sorry Now," in 1958, "Stupid Cupid" (Stupid Cupid, stop picking on me!) made it to number 14, also in 1958, she had a # 2 single called "My Happiness," that I can't even remember for some reason, "Lipstick On Your Collar" hit # 5 in 1959, in 1960 she had a # 1 single with "My Heart Has A Mind Of It's Own," in 1961, "Where The Boys Are" went to # 4, and in 1962, she had another # 1 hit with "Don't Break The Heart That Loves You!" In the next four years, she had 20 songs that cracked the top 100, and mostly in the top 50! You would think Connie Francis would have been on top of the world forever, but in 1974, she was raped and almost suffocated by a still unknown assailant, then in 1977, she had nasal surgery, and completely lost her voice and had to take vocal lessons, and in the 1980's she was diagnosed with manic depression, and shuffled around some 17 different hospitals over the course of four years! After all of that, Connie managed to pull her life back together, and has been performing off and on ever since! Here's the link to her official website and the whole story! What a gal!!

Much bigger than being in the "Three Chuckles," Teddy Randazzo wrote the everlasting classic song "Goin' Out Of My Head" recorded by Little Anthony and the Imperials! The talent in this film is literally off the charts, and the amazing thing is that ain't the half of it!

It's hard to find out whatever happened to Ivy Schulman, because this was her only film appearance, but I guess it's okay because her song here is a bit beyond novelty!

The Moonglows biggest hit was in 1955 called "Sincerely!" It made it to # 20, but it was also # 1 on the R&B charts!

Chess Records new star Chuck Berry performs the classic "You Can't Catch Me!"

A lot of people consider this compilation LP "Rock Rock Rock" to be Chuck Berry's first album!

The Flamingos hit "I Only Have Eyes For You" was # 11 on the charts in 1956, but the song has lived on much longer than that!!

Jimmy Cavallo and His House Rockers were the first all white band to play at The Apollo Theater in Harlem when they celebrated the release of "Rock Rock Rock!"

Johnny Burnette is one of my favourite musicians of all time! His biggest chart hit was in 1960 with "You're Sixteen," but he was so much more than that! Johnny's brother Dorsey had quit the Trio a week before this movie was made and was replaced by Elvis' bass player's brother, Johnny Black!

Lavern Baker's biggest hit was a # 6 smash in 1958 called "I Cried A Tear," but from the years of 1955 to 1965 she had 20 other songs that hit the top 100!

Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers hit the top with their # 6 chart busting hit "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" in 1956 before disintegrating!! In this movie they perform the killer 'I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent!"

For some artists, "Rock Rock Rock" was probably the highlight of their career, like Cirino and the Bowties! They have one song that's on a couple of compilation albums called "My Baby's In Love With Me!"

The last two main cast members are Fran Manfred (not to get confused with Manfred Mann), and Jacqueline Kerr. Fran had a 7" single release that Alan Freed used to play on his radio show called ("Oh My Darling) Don't You Know), and this was about it for Jacqueline!

The kids at home are digging the crap out of the show on the TV, and after feigning agony and despair, the music is so contagious that even Pops is getting into it!

"We want Rock 'n Roll, we want Rock 'n Roll, we want Rock 'n Roll, all night long!"

And what's the best thing about "Rock Rock Rock?" You can download or stream it for free any time you want at the Internet Archive, and that's a genuine steal of a deal!