DEVIL'S CARGO - "The Unwritten Law" - Falcon Pictures Corp. (1948)

Saturday the 13th, what does it mean? 

Time to get back to the basics!

"Devil's Cargo" was made in 1948, and lasts just a little over an hour, so they don't have a lot of time to waste! What the F it has to do with the devil's cargo is your guess is as good as mine!

Here's just a taste of the action to get you in the mood!

I'm pretty sure this was meant as a joke, and if it wasn't, then it sure should have been, because I mean, like, how lucky can you get?

This dude watches another guy go from the bank to a bowling alley!

"Devil's Cargo" stars John Calvert as 'The Falcon!' 

The Falcon's dog is named 'Brain Trust!'

John Calvert was not only a good actor but he was also a great magician, and he's able to showcase his magical talents in this role! He's in the Magician's Hall Of Fame, and pulled off one of the biggest tricks of all, living to the age of 102, and performing almost all the way to the end! He just passed away in 2013!

This is an interesting scene where The Falcon explains his uncanny resemblance to real-life magician John Calvert!

Location, location, location!

Rochelle Hudson sure as Hell had an interesting career! She was the voice of Honey, the cartoon character Bosko's girlfriend in the 30's, she was in the classic "Rebel Without A Cause," and in the 60's, she was in "Straight-Jacket," The Night Walker," and "Gallery Of Horror!"

Time for a night out on the town at the Flamingo Club!

I just dig the gal who is sitting at the table's two-tone outfit!

"Devil's Cargo" is a fairly simple tale, but it has a few twists!

It gets pretty exciting after a bomb goes off in a bowling alley locker!

Like what the Hell happened!

The Falcon's landlady has got a crush on him!

The Falcon like a lot of other celluloid heroes has been played by a number of different actors. I've read quite a lot of negative stuff about John Calvert's version, but since I'm not a Falcon purist, I had no problem at all with his portrayal of the character, in fact, I actually liked it!

The magician angle also provides some good clean comedy!

How cool is this? The Falcon drives a classic 1947 Studebaker!

Oh, how I yearn for the good olde days, when there were drivers licenses, not driver licenses, and Pluto was still a planet!

The jig is up!

Over the next couple of years, John Calvert was in two more 'Falcon' movies with pretty exciting titles, "Appointment With Murder," and "Search For Danger!"

It all ends right where it started, with The Falcon in the bathtub smoking a cigarette, but this time he's entertaining a cop instead of a killer!

FELIX THE CAT / Venus And The Master Cylinder - 1959

It's Friday and time for some laffs... Here's a classic Felix The Cat cartoon from 1959, Eegah!! and I grew up watching the many adventures of our little hero. The story's simple, this time the Professor sends Poindexter to help the Master Cylinder with an experiment on Venus. Felix flies Poindexter's saucer to the planet to save him.

Jack Mercer was amazing! We know him as Popeye's voice, but, in this cartoon, he does all the voices.. Felix, The Professor, Poindexter and Master Cylinder!!!

I have a fun sound clip for your approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our Felix The Cat coin bank, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here's... VENUS AND THE MASTER CYLINDER!

It's a quiet night at the Professor's lab, Felix is ready to babysit Poindexter when the Professor gets a message on his interplanetary teletype. It's Master Cylinder.

After the Professor blasts off for Venus with Poindexter, Felix decides to follow them in Poindexter's saucer, just in case there's a problem. I love the simplicity of the top still.

The Professor's spaceship is a funny looking thing and was used in a number of other adventures. Poindexter is a busy little navigator.

Wouldn't you know it, Master Cylinder has no intentions of paying the Professor any money!

Instead, he straps him to a rocket and shoots him into space. Luckily, Felix happens by and saves the Professor from a horrible fate.

Poindexter is forced (with a ball and chain) to work on a rocket fuel for Master Cylinder, but, as always, he blows the place sky high.

The chain breaks, the ball comes down and hits the Professor in the head, knocking him out.

You'll notice that Felix doesn't have his magic bag of tricks, so, he grabs the ball, swings it over his head and knocks the crap out of Master Cylinder, bringing the episode to its end.

The gang heads back to Earth, all is well except for the Professor's head injury from the ball.

Now, all that's left for us is to wonder what Eegah!! will have for us tomorrow... Be there, or we'll stick you in a beehive!

A SWINGIN' SUMMER - Gary Lewis And The Playboys - "Chicken Kicks And Water Slicks" (1965)

What better to follow "Wild Wild Winter" than "A Swingin' Summer," which is right around the corner, and will be here before you know it!

Just like "Wild Wild Winter," "A Swingin' Summer " doesn't really have much reason to exist except as a showcase for some of the musical groups of the day! The story isn't even worth going into!
The theme song was recorded by Jody "Queen Of The House" Miller, but this Wipe Out style instrumental by Gary Lewis And The Playboys is a lot more interesting! I love all the whooping and a hollerin'! "C'mon Baby!"

What's more interesting is that Oops, somebody forgot to spellcheck the names of the bands! The name of the band was The Rip Chords, not The Rip-Cords!

Although this wasn't Raquel Welch's first movie, it was her first credited role on the big screen! She had small bit parts before this, and had done some TV like "Bewitched," and "McHale's Navy!"

This is a great publicity still of Raquel!

This is probably my favourite shot from the film!

I'm seeing a pattern here! As you will see, somebody involved with this film had a penchant for the female posterior!

How to make a beach movie! Step one, get some bands, step two, get some girls and have them dance, step three, everything else will most likely fall into place somehow!

Gary Lewis acts as MC, and his band The Playboys are the back up band for all the other groups! I was kind of surprised to see Gary in such a backup role because he and his band had already had their smash hit "This Diamond Ring" a couple of months earlier! Maybe it was a chance to let the actual band play, because on the recording of "This Diamond Ring" the band had been replaced with music by the now notorious Wrecking Crew! Even Gary's vocals on that record were supplemented by another guy!

The big joke of the film is this scene where the guys spot this topless chick on the beach!

They get pretty excited until..........

..........They discover it's really a guy named Gypsy Boots, the bohemian "Clown Prince Of Health!"

Chop! Chop, Chop! Chop, Chop, Chop!

Trust me, this is just a small sample of the derrieres the cinematographer took advantage of!

Rockabilly Hall Of Famer Donnie Brooks performs "Pennie The Poo!"

Hot Rod Surfin' band "The Rip Chords" were at the tail end of their career! They look a lot older than I'm sure they were!

The Rip Chords biggest hit was "Hey Little Cobra"
Here they perform "Hot Rod Roadster!"

Out of 80 minutes, I'm sure 20 minutes or more is nothing but dancing!

Raquel's role was that of an intelligent nerdy kind of girl, so of course she finally strips down to her bathing suit and performs a song called "I'm Ready To Groove!" I actually have a copy of the soundtrack of this movie on vinyl, I guess it's time to break it out again!

Without much fanfare, the final band is Bill Medley and Bobby Hattfield better known as "The Righteous Brothers! The Righteous Brothers biggest hit that still gets played today was "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" which reached number four on the charts in 1965! They've played that song so much on the radio, but I really prefer their more rockin' tunes like "My Babe," and "Little Latin Lupe Lu!" Here they perform an upbeat number called "Justine!"
So that's it for me and rock and roll in the movies for a while, I hope you liked the show!
Now it's time to get back to some more spy and secret agent movies etc.
Your guess is as good as mine what Tabonga will come up with on Friday!