FAITH DOMERGUE - Her Horror & Sci-Fi Movies From 1955-74

Here's a nice Friday post, I've always had a huge crush on Faith Domergue! Here are some things you probably never knew about her... Enjoy!

Faith Domergue was born in New Orleans, she was part Creole but primarily of Irish and English decent and was adopted when she was six weeks old! In 1927 her adoptive parents took her to live in Santa Monica, California, where she had her first experience with acting. Just after graduation from school, she suffered a disfiguring injury during a car accident when she was thrown into the windshield and spent 18 months undergoing intensive plastic surgery!! Still in her teens, she was briefly married to a night club owner and bandleader.

In 1941 she was discovered by a Warner Brothers talent scout and was signed to a contract. Then, she found herself at a studio party on a yacht owned by billionaire Howard Hughes. Hughes became quickly infatuated with Faith and bought out her contract from Warner Brothers for $50,000, then signed her to the studio he owned, RKO Pictures. The romantic affair continued until mid-1943 and was ended by Hughes' various indiscretions with stars Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth!

Faith never quite made it as a major star, but, she did acquire something of a cult following because of her involvement in THIS ISLAND EARTH, as well as her other sci-fi films from that period.

Universal's CULT OF THE COBRA from 1955 was her first horror film, her sultry looks made her a perfect snake girl for this role.

Faith will be forever known for her role as Dr. Ruth Adams in Universal's super sci-fi extravaganza, THIS ISLAND EARTH, also in 1955.

Again in 1955, she went to Columbia Studios to star in Ray Harryhausen tentacled terror classic, IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA.

Then, she was at Merton Park Studios to star in THE ATOMIC MAN, another movie from 1955! Boy, she was a busy girl that year!!

Ten years later, in 1965, she was in the oddball sci-fi flick, VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, produced by none other the the king of B-movies, Roger Corman! I'm pretty sure this one was made for TV, since there's no actual poster to be found.

Filmed in Burbank in 1974, Faith is one of the PSYCHO SISTERS, here she is in the shower being threatened by a hatchet wielding psycho!

Again in 1974, she was in the over the hill gang of actors in THE HOUSE OF SEVEN CORPSES, for me, a real yawner. Not because of Faith, though! Filmed in Salt Lake City.

So then, here are some very nice photos of Faith... Sultry and Sexy!!

We're back tomorrow with more, from... The Dungeon!!

THE THIRD ALIBI - Cleo Laine - "Now And Then" (1961)

"The Third Alibi" is one of the few movies I couldn't find a poster for. They must be either really rare or completely non-existent, one or the other, but no matter, this Grand National Pictures logo is pretty cool too!

"The Third Alibi" was released in 1961, but it looks a lot more like a 40's or 50's movie!

It's a simple but very effective film that has enough worthwhile moments to make it worth checking out!

 What a splendid and happy couple! Too bad that's his wife's half sister, not his wife!

Time to get this story rolling!

"The Third Alibi" is a cheeky little affair about a composer working on a new stage show, which allows it to share some nice musical moments! The composer is named Norman Martell and is played by the fine actor Laurence (The Crawling Eye, The Tell-Tale Heart, Vampire Circus) Payne!!

It's kind of strange that the music producer of this film is a real-life Martell, the prolific Phillip Martell! Here's just a taste of the swingin' scene!

Cleo Laine performing "Now And Then"  as written by Don Banks and David Dearlove is the frosting on the cake, because besides Cleo, that's the amazing Dudley (Bedazzled) Moore tinkling the keys!

Patricia Dainton is the neglected wife with a bad heart! After 22 credits, Patricia permanently retired to be with her family! "The Third Alibi" was her last film.

 This is what it looks like when you overhear your husband and your sister planning your murder!

 Here's a couple of 1961 Brit hotties for you!!

I'll bet good money that this phone was difficult to keep clean, and you sure wouldn't want to splatter any blood on it!

What the Heck? How can I kill her if she's not here?

This is really messing up the whole plan!!

 Tell me you don't think Lucy Griffiths wouldn't have made the perfect Olive Oyl! 

Ironically enough, the woman she is talking to is an actress named Olive Milbourne!

 "Here, have a drink, honey!"

No Shit?!? WTF?!? Are you kidding???

I'll leave you with this amazing picture I got when I did a Google image search for Lucy Griffiths. No kidding, those were two pictures that showed up side by side, and all I did was just crop it!

I don't know about you, but it cracks me up!!

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE / Vortex - 1974

Here's a wild one I've waited til now to post, one of my very favorite seventies flicks! Tobe Hooper at his best!! The story's based on events of Texan Cannibal, Ed Gein, and goes like this... On the way to visit their grandfather's grave (which has been desecrated), five teenagers drive past a slaughterhouse and pick up a sinister looking hitch-hiker before ending up at the old family home where they're plunged into a never-ending nightmare! They meet a family of flesh eaters who use power tools to make up for what they lack in social skills...

What's extra cool is that there were no big named actors in the movie. It gives it a more realistic feel as the terror mounts, love this damn thing!

On the way to the cemetery, the teens pick up a grimy, freaky looking hitch-hiker. After the guy pulls out his knife and starts carving on his arm, they kick him out of the van...

But, they make a stop near an old house and go to the door, a very bad choice indeed!

Inside the place, the teens are shocked at what they see, like, this couch decorated with bones, possibly human!!

Then, the terror begins!!!..

Marilyn Burns plays Sally, she gets the special treatment at the dinner table. She's strapped to a human chair and gets to experience the insanity of the family first hand!

Here's a creepy portrait of gramps, truly a ghoul and a half!!

Back at the dinner table, gramps gets to suck on Sally's fingers!! I'm pretty sure this is referred to as good old southern, red state hospitality! Yee-haw, ya'll...

JFC dude!!.. All the teens are being horribly slaughtered and there isn't much they can do about it, the family is just too insane to deal with!

Leather Face is another iconic seventies maniac along with Michael Myers from HALLOWEEN. This guy is a truly terrifying figure!

But, throw in a chain saw and watch the Hell out, you'd better run like a freakin' jack wabbit! So, there you have it, we're back Wednesday with more mayhem, here, at The Dungeon!!

BLOW OUT - Brian De Palma - "The Sound Of Murder" (1981)

Blast-Off, Black-Out, Blow-Up, Blow-Out, there are plenty of ways to go!

Welcome to the Saturday Night Special version of The Dungeon!
That's a pretty cool poster!!

Tonight's feature is a 1981 Brian De Palma film titled "Blow Out!"
Here's 44.8 seconds of sound to get you in the right frame of mind!

Most everything is an illusion! "Blow Out" starts out as a horror movie within a movie!

The basic premise is that there is a movie sound man out capturing sounds one night when a fast moving car careens wildly off the road and into the river! The sound man jumps in to save a beautiful drowning woman!

The sound man is none other than John Travolta. Now I didn't used to be a big John Travolta fan because just like how "Major Tom" ruined David Bowie for me for years, "Grease," "Saturday Night Fever" and "Urban Cowboy" killed John Travolta to me, but in retrospect, I think he's a pretty good actor, and does a great job in this movie!

The sound man has some very sophisticated equipment!

The woman he saves from drowning is Nancy (Carrie, RoboCop) Allen! Nancy was married to Brian De Palma when "Blow Out" was made! They stayed together for five years!

When John Listens back to the recording he made, he realizes that it wasn't just the sound of a tire blowing out, but there was also a barely discernible gunshot at the same time, and that makes him realize that something fishy is going on around here!

Crab Salad!!

The always entertaining John Lithgow has the role of the creeper dude!

Nancy is not nearly as innocent as she makes herself out to be, and she has quite a bit of history she is going to need to explain!

What a terrific mess!

Watch "Blow Out" and you just might want to reconsider that whole gender neutral bathroom concept!

"Blow Out" is really quite a production! If I was making this movie, I would have just found a parade somewhere to use, but not Brian De Palma! No way!

"Blow Out"is pretty ominous, and the world hasn't exactly become a safer place to live since 1981!
Life is like one big boxing match kids, so protect yourself at all times!!