WOODY WOODPECKER / Woodpecker From Mars - 1956

Heute wir gots a cool little cartoon I used to watch on The Woody Woodpecker Show back in the day, when Eegah!! and I were just little guys in the third grade! Load that one in your pipe!! Anyway, Woody's a guest on the Captain Zoom Show, where he walks off with a space helmet and space gun as souvenirs. He pretends to be from Mars which causes a pile of trouble, and is then captured by the military. He's sent to an atomic laboratory for testing and convinces the scientists that he's a real Martian, so they put him in a rocket and send him 'back' to Mars!!

On the set, Captain Zoom shows Woody all of the interesting things about his space ship and the groovy things it can do. After the Captain let's Woody put on a space helmet and use his space gun, well...

Woody takes off on a scooter, shooting sparks from his gun!

After he causes a taxi to crash, the hub cap pops off of the tire and it spins away, scooping Woody up and into the air!

Well, the citizens are in a panic and something has to be done!!..

The Mayor goes on TV to tell the people... Whatever you do, DON'T PANIC!!

After Woody lands, the crowd surrounds him. He shoots some sparks from his gun and the people scatter like flies.

And of course, the military shows up and they take him away.

Woody's taken to the atomic science lab, where, he goes through some medical tests.

While a doctor views one of Woody's feathers, the little prankster puts a water hose on the viewer and turns it on full blast!

The doc gets an atomic shock and then Woody pulls the lever when he's in the Atom Smasher!

There's only one solution to the problem and they put him in an express rocket to Mars!

Woody crash lands on the red planet where he's surrounded by green Martians, and wouldn't you know it...

He's swept away by Martian military police and taken to their atomic lab for more tests!.. Okay, tune in tomorrow where we'll bring you more, from, The Dungeon!!..

JOHN KLINGS ABENTEUER - "Nachtexpress" (1965)

Back in April I was introduced to the German TV show "John Klings's Abenteuer" but there wasn't really any way to watch one of the shows only a few months ago!

So, pull up a seat, cause it's time for Wünderbar Wednesday in The Dungeon!

Shhh..........

Don't tell anybody but now there are a bunch of high quality episodes streaming on YouTube, and even though they are in German with no sub-titles, I can enjoy them with my limited knowledge of the German language, and the help of Lord Litter in Berlin, who was able to supply me with a enough of a synopsis that I could kinda know what the Hell is going on!

 I'm telling you, somebody's going to make a fortune some day, and all they have to do is provide voice overs or sub-titles, because there are shows like this that people in the U.S. know nothing about, but I'm sure they'd like to if they just knew!

 "Nachtexpress" was episode one of the "John Klings's Abenteuer"show.

John Kling and Jones Burthe have got this very important package to deliver from Turkey to Udine in Northern Italy, and they're going to have to get on the night train to get it there safely, hence the title "Nachtexpress!"

"All aboard, all aboard for the Night Train!"

 This punk has got a camera that looks like a camera but is actually a high powered gun!

Lore Calvies is Daniela! 

Daniela is in every third or fourth scene, and she's always checking her makeup!

Lore was Frau Kling in the German TV series "Die Pulvermänner" which roughly translates to "The Powder People." I don't know about you, but I think there's something fishy going on here!

The bad guys want the soil sample in that package really bad, and it seems like everybody on the train is against John and Jones. Knockout drops is one way to get things started!

 He should be asleep by now, so we'll just quietly drill a hole in the door without anybody noticing as long as you don't look too crazy back there!

 I will now just insert this piece of 5/16" clear vinyl tubing into the hole, and fill the compartment with lethal gas of unknown origin!

That package is as good as ours!

 Hey man, WTF!?

 Jeez, John, are you all right??

 Dieser scheiss ist vermasselt!

I think I'll just smoke my 19th cigarette in this 30 minute episode!

 When Daniela isn't checking her makeup, she's making krazy eyes at somebody!

 John and Jones have just about had it with these bozos!

 It's pretty much non-stop excitement!

 Dammit, I forgot the punchline!

 Daniela, looking good as ever, has one more chance to check her makeup!

 The trick was all those jerks spent all that time trying to get the package, when John Kling had sent the one real one through the good old fashioned mail system, so all that poisoning, hole drilling, gassing, and knife throwing was for naught!

This isn't the book about the "Nightexpress" but it does have a train on the cover!

             

Anyway, if you don't believe me, go check it out for yourself!

ZERO HOUR! / Reckless, Breathless Adventure! - 1957

As promised, my posts this month are going to be all over the place! So today, we're going back to 1957 for a camp cult classic starring Dana Andrews... During a commercial flight, both pilots and a number of passengers suffer food poisoning, thus forcing an ex-WWII fighter pilot to try and land the airliner in bad weather and heavy fog, with the assistance of his brave wife and a Captain he knew from his past!

This one stars Dana (made this movie directly after CURSE OF THE DEMON) Andrews, Linda (CLIMAX!) Darnell, Sterling (THE ASPHALT JUNGLE) Hayden, Elroy (CRAZYLEGS) 'Crazylegs' Hirsch, Geoffrey (DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS) Toone, Jerry (THE NAKED AND THE DEAD) Paris and Peggy (ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY) King.

Just days before the war ended, Lt. Ted Stryker led a fighter unit where six of his pilots lost their lives. He blames himself and cannot get over it...

His trepidation bleeds over into his post war life with his wife and son. He gets home to find a note that says she and the kid have taken a flight to visit her sister...

Whoa!!.. Check it out, there I am on a flight back to the fifties, in order to get the Hell out of the present! I'm the guy at the top of the stairs.

Anyway, back to the show... Ted just makes the flight and his son gets to visit the cockpit as dad accompanies him. That's Crazylegs there on the right. A waitress comes in and asks everyone if they want meat or fish for dinner...

All seems great so far, so, Tony pulls out his 'Mike Meadows' sock puppet and asks the stewardess for a kiss!.. Just watch the movie, you'll see what happens!

Okay ever'bloody, fasten those seat belts and lean forward!.......

Suddenly, a woman is very sick and a doctor on the flight attends to her. Then, Ted's son becomes ill. Both have terrible stomach aches!

They hit some turbulence and the co-pilot smashes his face on the controls, knocking him out cold... Hmmm, a pattern is starting to appear!

At this point, the doctor has determined that the fish was bad and was the cause of the sickness. Crazylegs then remembers, he had fish too!! Seconds later, he collapses.

Old coot has the solution to all those problems!!

Guess who's flying the ding-danged airplane now! It's either the Invisible Man, or, no one, and I'm putting my money on the latter!

Ted has no choice, no one else knows anything about flying an airplane, only him. Reluctantly, he agrees, and his wife Ellen joins in to assist.

Break time, here's a cool shot as this gal watches some rock and roll on her TV set.

Then, Capt. Treleaven is brought in to help Ted (who's having flashbacks from the war) land the plane. The Captain still has a beef with Stryker over the incident with his lost crew members. But, he agrees and asks for a cigarette. He then mutters, what a lousy time to quit smoking!

Sterling is a ton of fun to watch here, my favorite character in the movie!

Guess what goes wrong now! Right, good guess, yeah, the freakin' radio goes dead!! After some tense moments though, Ted is able to tune in to the the ground crew again.

Mom comes back to check on the kid. Looks like he's turning into a zombie! Makes you wonder why all the people who had fish thought it tasted just fine!! I mean, like... ZOMBIES?!

Okay, we're getting close to the runway, and the Captain is yelling his head off, saying... You're coming in too fast, you're coming in too fast, slow down!!

So, Ted does everything in his power to slow the plane down!..

He finally brings the plane in safely (just the landing gear were damaged) and all the sick people are rushed to the hospital, saving the day! Well, there you go, another post bites the dust, here, at The Dungeon!!