The SCI-FI And HORROR MOVIES Of MORRIS ANKRUM 1950-63

 Here's a post I've wanted to do for a long time. As far as I can tell, Morris Ankrum gets the medal for being in the most sci-fi and horror movies in the fifties! Check out this lineup, I've also included the three movies he did in the early sixties. Morris died in 1964 at age 67.

First off, ROCKETSHIP X-M from 1950 was the first sci-fi movie Morris appeared in, he was part of the team on Earth supporting the crew on their ill-fated journey to the Red Planet.

Then, in 1951, Morris stars as the Martian, Ikron, in FLIGHT TO MARS. Those brightly colored suits the Martians wore always tripped me out, what the Hell?!

Morris plays the Secretary of Defense in RED PLANET MARS from 1952. If you haven't seen this strange little flick, check it out when you get the chance.

Morris plays the Army Colonel in INVADERS FROM MARS in 1953, his fourth movie in a row dealing with the deadly red planet. Damn, Mars was a popular subject in the movies of the early fifties!

Then, in 1956, Morris appears as Brig. Gen. Hanley in EARTH vs. THE FLYING SAUCERS, another movie with invaders from Mars. I think Morris was always perfect as a military officer!

In 1957, Morris appears in his first horror movie of the fifties, ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU.

Morris is back to sci-fi in 1957 with KRONOS. He plays Dr. Stern and gets electrocuted big time after discovering the secrets of the possessed Dr. Eliot!

In THE GIANT CLAW from 1957, he plays Lt. Gen. Considine, and helps Jeff Morrow shoot the big old ugly space bird out of the sky!

Also in 1957, Morris appears in Mr. BIG's THE BEGINNING OF THE END as who else, General Hanson. Peter Graves works with him to stop the mutant locusts from taking over the world!

He appeared as Dr. Cleveland in GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN, also from 1958. He gets to try and solve the mystery of why there's a giant roaming the mountains, killing people!

He then has the part of Police Capt. Hancock in the very fun HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER in 1958! I watched this Herman Cohen classic again over the weekend, a great little movie!

  In CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN from 1958, Morris is the narrator for this little low-budget thriller. Saw this one with my neighbors back in the day.

Morris has the role of President Ulysses S. Grant in FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON in 1958.

He also had the role of Dr. Jordan in the Americanized version of the wild and weird HALF HUMAN in 1958, which also stars Dungeon Hero, John Carradine.

Then, in 1961, Morris has the role of police Capt. Davis in MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE.

In 1962, he appears as The Archbishop in TOWER OF LONDON with Vincent Price.

Our last movie on the list is X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES from 1963, Morris plays the uncredited Mr. Bowhead. Wow, what a monstrous list of great sci-fi and horror movies. My man, Morris Ankrum!!

F FOR FAKE - Orson Welles - "Truth And Lies" (1973)

Tonight's Super Saturday Night Special is Orson Welle's "F For Fake!" It's the best documentary made since Fellini's "Clowns!"..and possibly the best documentary ever made!

You will have to wonder, is this movie even real? And you might be right and you might be wrong, because the man behind the curtain pulling all the strings is the notorious.....

..................Orson Welles, the Joker, the Jester, and one of the best Prestidigitationers of all time!

"F For Fake" is a movie about fakes, forgers, hoaxes, and more, and because he's a freakin' genius, Orson ties all the stories together almost seamlessly!

World famous forger Elmyr de Hory explains that if you see a beautiful painting in a museum, why does it matter if Matisse painted it or if Elmyr painted it posing as Matisse, because the end result is the same, the viewer gets to see a great piece of art! Elmyr has a cool way of legitimizing everything he has ever done!

Elmyr is being interviewed for a book by the writer Clifford Irving, who is also known as a world famous faker because he was the author of a biography about Howard Hughes. The only problem was he never spoke to Howard Hughes once. Howard Hughes was such a recluse, Irving thought he'd never find out or notice!

So Orson is filming the faker and the forger, and mixing it all up with other freakin' fantastic phony stuff! Why is there a monkey in Clifford Irving's shoulder? Because the whole thing is happening on the island of Ibiza off the coast of Spain! (Although the IMDB says it was shot in France! Why would you expect anything to be what it is supposed to be?)

Elmyr quickly whips out a fake Matisse, claims it would be worth thousands of dollars, and then burns it!

There are so many great shots of Orson, I thought about just using the pictures of him, but this movie is too picturesque to do that!

I'm pretty sure it was Orson himself who drew this portrait of Howard Hughes!

Every night at some oddball hour in the dead of night, a courier leaves a small but perfectly wrapped package in a designated tree outside the Los Angeles home of Howard Hughes! What was in the bag? A ham sandwich that very rarely got consumed! That's right, WTF!?

I just love these shots of vintage Las Vegas!

While incinerating, I  mean iterating his own hoax on the world, Orson used footage from the movie "Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers" instead of "War Of The Worlds," contractual problems, or just more deliberate confusion? The latter I'm sure!

"F For Fake" is credited as Orson Welle's last full length film, but he continued to act etc. until his death in 1985! Orson was looking good! Compare this picture to the way he looked in "Touch Of Evil" some 15 years earlier! It doesn't even look like the same guy!

Clifford Irving ended up spending 17 months behind bars for his little escapade into deceit!

"F For Fake" has more than it's share of eye candy footage, you might get a sugar spike watching it, like here's one sample, and......

........Here's another!

And then there's the story about the trombone player...........

.....................Oja Kodar, The mysterious girl.......................

.................and Picasso!

Orson Welles is, was, and will always simply be one of the best!

Fake, real, or just tomfoolery?  It doesn't really matter because Orson is entertaining, no matter what!
"F For Fake" is a Fabulist, Faburden, Facinorous, Factious, Fadoodle, Fain, Falsidical Farrago! Fuckin' A!

GODZILLA FINAL WARS / Toho Company - 2004

Today we gots giant monster mayhem in a story that goes like this... When the aliens Xilians invade Earth, they release their monsters to destroy the big cities in Japan. The Earth Defense Force formed by mutants is incapable to defeat the creatures, so, Commander Gordon decides to unleash Godzilla what has been trapped for many years, to fight against the aliens' monsters. Godzilla becomes the last hope on Earth to vanquish the evil aliens and the powerful Gigan!!

I'll start with this shot of a pimp confronting the police over a traffic stop. This is a fun scene that literally has nothing to do with the plot... Hey, nice Caddy!!

Then, Earth is suddenly invaded by the Xilians. Their huge mother ship hovers over the city before a hostile meeting with the Earthlings.

To show they mean business, the Xilians bring in the mighty Gigan! The thing stars tearing the crap out of the city just before...

A ton of fighters are released from the Xilians' mother ship! Again, the beauty of destruction.

A shot of another battle at an icy location... The rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air!

This is one wild and weird shot, three monsters in a dog pile on the monkey. Funny stuff!

The Earth Defense Force brings in an updated version of their original ATRAGON flying war machine. It gets through the Xilians' defenses and crashes into the mother ship!

Our hero finds the Xilians' leader and puts the hurt on him! It's pretty funny to watch him pounding away on the leader as we see Godzilla beating the stuffing out of the monster he's fighting on the screen!!.

Our heroes get away just before the Xilians' mother ship blow itself to Hell and back!!

Then, an upgraded version of Monster X appears and the battle's on!!!... The battle has Godzilla in a bad way until the table gets turned and the three headed monster goes down for the final count...

And, wouldn't you know, THE SON OF GODZILLA is back, this time he shows off his fiery breath, but, dad has his back turned! Tune in tomorrow when Eegah!! will have something special for us all...