SANTO CONTRA LOS SECUESTRADORES / Oro Films, Producciones Puerto Mex Films - 1973

It's time to bring in Santo for a south of the border stomp romp in Ecuador! The story involves our hero getting the call from Interpol to investigate the kidnapping of Pedro Miller, a former counterfeiter. Interpol believes that Miller is being forced to work for a counterfeiting ring, so, Santo tracks down the bad guys and puts them out of business. Alternate title is SANTO vs. THE KIDNAPPERS.

Before the credits roll, Santo is seen fending off about 25 tough dudes at the pier, seriously!

We've got a little sound clip from this flick for your approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over by our pile of Monopoly money, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here's a taste of... SANTO CONTRA LOS SECUESTRADORES!

I suppose if I wore a silver mask around town I'd get a bunch of rubberneckers too!

Santo goes to the club in Ecuador to see the voluptuous Rossy Mendoza do her thing!

Santo and his girlfriend are being followed by a black Plymouth and Santo has to fight the goons inside after being cut off. This time though, the cops have to save Santo!

The bad guys escape wearing their cool monster masks... Being incognito is a freakin' blast!

Santo's pal checks out Rossy's chichis!..

The announcer introduces Rossy one more time as she dances to the tunes in the sound clip...

I love this shot of Santo just lounging on his bed in the hotel room with hot pink walls.

Of course there's plenty of wrasslin' with Santo's hand being raised in victory once again!

The leader of the counterfeit ring finally shows his mask. Jeez, if I were a villain, I wouldn't be caught dead riding around in that super girlie helicopter, especially in the middle of the day!!

I'm showing this scene because of those wild 'n' weird walls, man, I love Ecuador!

This a fitting shot to end with, and, that's my favorite guy on the left, Mr. Spider Arm, Fernando Osés. We'll be back tomorrow with another offering from the Dungeon Gang!

SÓCIO DE ALCOVA - Luiz Bonfá - "Carnival Of Crime" (1962)

Howdy Ya'll, it's April Fools Day down in The Dungeon, but wouldn't you know it, tonight I'm actually not kidding around! I was really looking forward to seeing "Sócio de Alcova!" Great title, cool poster, it sounded like a party I didn't want to miss, but you know what the bottom line is, life is just too short, and I don't have time to sit through movies like this any more! Maybe it's a great movie, but I doubt I'll ever be desperate enough to try and find out, and I'll tell you why!

From The Dungeon Of Doom to the Carnival Of Crime! "No, No, No, I really don't care!"

 

 I seriously think that if I hadn't of sat through this agonizingly long scene of absolute bullshit that I swear it seemed like it went on for 10 or 15 minutes that I might have had a different opinion of this film, but if this is any indication of what the rest of the film is like then you can count me out! Besides the ultra dull and tedious conversation about nothing between two utterly uninteresting characters, they didn't even take the time to get a decent shot!! I'd watch "Manos: Hands Of Time" for the 10th time before I'd try and sit through this again!

 Personally, I just think this movie was made to try and take advantage of the location of the newly built city and capital of Brazil, Brasília!

 

Today, a mere 55 years later, Brasília is the home to a population of almost three million!

 Being a fan of Brazilian music, I was excited to learn that the soundtrack for "Carnival Of Crime" consisted of music by the brilliant Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfá who also wrote some of the music for"Orfeu Negro!
Here's the theme that is not disappointing at all! I'm sure it's the most exciting part of the movie!

 If you think I'm just all sour grapes, and you have an Amazon Prime account, you can go and see for yourself, and please be sure and get back to me! The good news is that you won't waste any money, bad news is that in my humble opinion, you will probably end up wasting some time! Ball's in your court!

JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS / Columbia Pictures Corporation - 1963

Here's our last post for March, it's another Ray Harryhausen animated mythological adventure about the search for the Golden Fleece by our hero Jason and his gang of Argonauts. The budget was $1,000,000 for this movie, a few years earlier Ray was doing his thing for around $60,000 a production!

We gots a sound clip of the theme and more from this tale, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our golden brown fleas, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's... JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS!

The story starts with baby Jason saved from being killed by a rival to the throne of Thessaly.

Years later, Jason assembles a sailing crew of the finest men in Greece to search for the legendary Golden Fleece, Hercules shows up to join the quest.

The adventurers are under the protection of Hera, queen of the gods. Here, the gods watch over the events as they unfold.

Jason and his gang set off in their paddle boat protected by this good looking masthead.

They come across this huge room full of unimaginable treasures, but...

They awaken the giant bronze statue of Talos, who wants to stomp 'em a goodern!

It's Jason to the rescue as he lets all the steam out of the big guy's deadly assault!

They come across some Harpies attacking a man so Jason and his men take care of business.

Then, Neptune hisself comes to the aid of the crew as they traverse a narrow inlet as the walls come tumbling down, what a pal!!

Jason eventually locates the Golden Fleece but has to slay the Hydra before he can claim his trophy. It looks like gold Xmas tinsel was used in the making of some of the fleece.

And, in a really terrific scene, Jason and his pals have to fend off a small army of skeleton warriors! Tune in Wednesday when we're back to start off a new month of Dungeon reviews!

SECRET AGENT - Alfred Hitchcock - "Burns A Flaming Trail Among The Gay Capitals Of Europe" (1936)

Saturday Night Special? Hell Yeah! "Secret Agent" 1936!!

 What's really scary is to think that enough time has passed that some people today don't even know who Alfred Hitchcock is, and that some day in the not too distant future, only historians will know the name! I daresay that if it wasn't for "Psycho," 97% of people 30 and under today wouldn't know who he was!

"The films of Alfred Hitchcock" should be a mandatory course in educational institutions the world over! It's that fucking simple! 

 In between World Wars, Mother Earth was a pretty tense place, and it doesn't seem to be getting much better lately!

 How in the Hell is it possible that with over 30 gazillion people in the world, Peter Lorre is a character that has not, and possibly will not ever be created again?

That's "Father Knows Best's" Robert Young as Robert Marvin in the middle! One good rule, never trust a guy with two first names! On the left is Madeleine (The 39 Steps) Carroll as Elsa Carrington, and on the right is her husband Richard Ashenden as played by John (The Elephant Man) Gielgud. She's been given to him as a wife in a secret government plot to track down and kill a German agent. Basically a stranger, horndog Robert Marvin has picked up on the fact that they are not real close, and is doing everything humanly possible to get into Elsa's pants!

Elsa and Richard are having to get to know each other really quick!

Richard Ashenden is actually a novelist named Edgar Brodie who was publically killed off, but the bad guys are on to their little ruse!

Ashenden's partner on this job is yet another horny little character, Peter Lorre as a hired killer known as only "The General!" When he introduces himself to people he rattles off his full name, but I'm not sure if anybody really knows what he's saying! The two here have gone to this church to meet another operative, but what they find is the guy playing a solemn chord on the organ because somebody else already got to him. The only clue is that he's clutching a button in his hand. Here's a short little sound clip of "The General's" introduction, and the droning organ!

At a casino, an unfortunate fellow loses a button that falls onto the roulette table. Of course, it's the exact same kind of button that was found in the clutching hand!

They now have their man, now it just comes down to how will they dispose of him?

The man is an avid hiker, so the threesome plan a nice day outing together!

Not knowing the full depth of the mission, Elsa is almost catatonic when she finds out what they did!

It gets worse when they find out they got the wrong guy!! Only "The General" is non-repentant, Elsa and Richard have decided they've had enough of this job!

So Richard and Elsa find themselves falling in love for real, and decide to run off together and put all this nasty sordid business behind them!

I'm going to end this with these three awesome shots! For the rest of the story, you're just gonna have to go watch it yourself!

How about this shot? Sends shivers up my spine!!

I got my copy of "Secret Agent" at Big Lots for $3.99!  It's a two DVD set called "Alfred Hitchcock, Master Of Suspense," and not only includes "Secret Agent," but also nine other Hitchcock features including "The Lady Vanishes," and "The 39 Steps" and is definitely one of the deals of the century! Have a good weekend, take your vitamins, and don't text and drive!