NIGHT GALLERY / "Certain Shadows On The Wall" - 1970

Here's a strange little tale about a brother and three sisters, they live in luxury but the eldest sister in charge of the estate is an invalid and must be taken care of by the others. Makes you wonder... What would happen if she died?!

This story stars Louis (TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM) Hayward as Stephen, Agnes (HUSH.. HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE) Moorehead as Emma, Grayson (HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS) Hall as Ann and Rachel (CHARLIE CHAN AND THE CURSE OF THE DRAGON QUEEN) Roberts as Rebecca Brigham.

Hey, check it out, we begin with some certain shadows on the wall...

Brother Stephen is reading to bed ridden Emma, it's her favorite book, Bleak House by Charles Dickens. He seems like a good guy, doing special favors for his sister and all. If that lamp is casting the shadow there, well, the perspective is a little goofy to say the least.

Years ago, Stephen failed in his career as a doctor, and now prescribes medication for Emma. He dissolves some tablets in a glass of water and has her drink it down...

Emma tells Stephen that she knows she doesn't have much time left, and the one thing she wants, she cannot have.. Life! Boy, Agnes looks like Hell, thanks to Bud Westmore.

Here are Rebecca, Stephen and Ann discussing their situation with Emma. They are all spoiled brats and enjoy their life of luxury because of Emma's health. A small price to pay for just taking care of the place.

Then it happens, Emma kicks the bucket so Stephen calls the authorities to tell them they can pick up the body any time...

Now this?!!.. Holy crap, there's Emma's shadow on the wall. Now wait a minute, what the?!

The next day, Rebecca takes Stephen some tea. She asks him what he's doing, and he tells her that he's cataloging the items in the house, and thinks he can get a fortune for them...

Rebecca's against the idea but Stephen gets up and and says that he's in control of the place, he's the eldest Brigham now, and, what are you gonna do about it?!

Then Rebecca shows Stephen the bottle of pills he gave Emma before she died. The brother gets a little panicked and asks her where she got them. She says, 'on the stairs' and hands them back to him, and reminds him, drink your tea!

Rebecca tells Ann what she did, she put some pills in his tea, he'll be with Emma soon...

The girls get to keep the place and brother gets to entertain Emma , forever!.. A really silly story. Join us again tomorrow when we keep on trucking down the old dusty trail, here at The Dungeon!!..

I LIKE MOUNTAIN MUSIC - Friz Freleng (1933)

"I Like Mountain Music" was a 1933 cartoon that flowed from the pen of the Maestro Friz Freleng, this time using his God-given name Isadore Freleng. Besides Friz, there was only one other animator named Larry Martin. That's right, two guys!
 I read on IMDB that Friz Freleng was only 5'4" tall and was prone to vocal outbursts, and because of it, he was the basis for the cartoon character Yosemite Sam!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, how come two people could accomplish something like this when today, even with computers, it takes 200 people to do a simple cartoon?

Welcome to another Weird Wednesday in The Dungeon!

I always loved these types of cartoons, where some place closes for the night, and the whole joint comes to life. This time it's the magazine rack in a drug store!

Look at some of the titles of the magazines! You've got "Hooey," and "Physical Culture," "Blah," "Ballyhoo," "Whiz Bang,"and "Prison Prattle" just for starters!

The first magazine to have it's characters come to life is "Western" and a cowboy blasts a hole in the cover to get out!

He's soon joined by his buddies and together they do a rousing version of "I Like Mountain Music," which was written by Frank Marsales.

The other magazine characters dance and applaud the song! Everybody's having a swell time!

There were always caricatures of famous people of the time in cartoons like this. This is Will Rogers who just put a 'No Sale" tag on a copy of "American Business" magazine.

It might have been 87 years ago, but the sentiment is sure the same as today!

I love the fact that there is a cute puppy on the cover of "The Literary Digest" magazine!

This title "Bigger and Better Babies" cracks me up!

This gal comes off the cover of "Dance" magazine, and..............

............Puts in an Olympic grade performance skating on this vanity mirror in a snow storm of talcum powder!

The goober looking yodeler on the cover of "Travel" magazine has got the hots for the woman on the cover of  "College Rumor" magazine.

And why shouldn't he since it appears that she's wearing a completely see-through dress!

Pretty racy for a cartoon!

But if it was all fun and games, it wouldn't be interesting enough, so a criminal element is introduced from the pages of  "Crime Stories!"

This shady character is joined by his two henchmen!

Pretty ingenious!  Fill up a seltzer bottle full of lighter fluid, light it and use it as a torch!

What these guys think they're going to do with all that money, I have no idea!

Another famous caricature, Edward G. Robinson, walks out of "Movie" magazine!

"Radio" magazine does the calling all cops routine, and out they come from the "Police Gazette!"

The crook thinks he's going to be able to hide out in an issue of "Screen Play," which turns out to be a very bad idea!

He takes off running as soon as he realizes the mistake he's made!

The wide-open mouth effect was usually reserved for comedian Joe E. Brown who was known for having his mouth agape, but in this case it works for giant ape Ping Pong too!

BEFORE I HANG / BEWARE! WHEN KARLOFF STOPS THE CLOCK YOUR HOUR HAS COME! - 1940

Back on fifties TV, there were movies like this being played on weekend late night creature feature shows. They were mixed in with the monster movies like FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA and THE WOLF MAN, so, I thought ones like this were boring compared to ones with actual monsters. But, this one is pretty damn good. The story goes like this... A kindly physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminals' blood, but secretly tests it on himself! He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-Hyde killer.

It stars Boris (VOODOO ISLAND) Karloff, Evelyn (AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS) Keyes, Bruce (THE COSMIC MAN) Bennett, Edward (DRACULA / FRANKENSTEIN) Van Sloan, Ben (MAN MADE MONSTER) Taggart, Pedro (THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS) de Cordoba and Wright (MISTER SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON) Kramer.

Following a botched mercy killing, Dr. John Garth is sentenced to be hanged for his part in the experiment, even after explaining that he was trying to help the victim...

The warden now thinks that the doctor's experiments may have a benefit for mankind, and allows him to work in the lab there. He gets an assistant and they get to work on the puzzle.

In the meantime, Dr. Garth has access to prisoner blood, so uses some on himself. It has side effects and the doctor is sent to the medical ward. After some time there, everyone notices that the doc now has the body of a very fit 40 year old!

But, other side effects are now in play. He has the blood of a killer in his veins and that starts bringing out his dark side!

The doctor kills his assistant and a guard, then passes out and cannot remember anything about the incident. The warden thinks the murders were done by an inmate, so...

The warden pardons the doctor and sends him home to his daughter. She's glad to see him, but, he seems distant and a little rough around the edges.

Then at a gathering of his friends, he tells them about the experiment and that he can reverse their aging, but, they want no part of it. The doctor gets pissed and the men leave after a verbal confrontation...

The doctor cannot help himself and goes to one friend's home and urges him to let him inject him with the serum. His friend finally agrees to the injection, but something goes wrong...

You can read all about it in the newspaper the next day!

Then, the doctor goes to another friend's house and tells him that he has murdered a number of people and wants to confess to him for the crimes... Well, it doesn't take long before his dark side takes over, and...

You can see that his friend George Wharton has also been murdered!

Back at home, the doc's daughter confronts him about the murders and he pulls a scarf out of a pocket and tightens it up...

The daughter faints from fright and the doctor clears his head, he leaves his home to wander around on a foggy night.

He goes back to the prison and demands to see the warden. The guard lets him in but the doctor pulls out his scarf and comes at the guard. Well, he's shot and when the warden gets there, the doctor tells him that he cane back because he wanted to be hanged for the murders, but a bullet will do... Join us again on Wednesday for more cool stuff, here at The Dungeon!!..