Wednesday, December 25, 2013

THE BRASS BOTTLE - "Sihirli Vazo" (1964)

HO, HO, HO, and MERRY X-MAS to you all!!!

This is as close as I could come to a Christmas movie, and it's fairly similar in a few areas, like the co-star is the folk-singer/actor, Burl, "Mr. Holly Jolly Christmas" Ives himself! Burl is also known for his classic version of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," and he kind of looks like Santa too!

Also during one it's first appearances in the movie, "The Brass Bottle" itself looks like a Christmas gift! Actually, it's a gift that Tony Randall as Harold Ventimore is bringing to the Father of his future bride, Barbara Eden as Sylvia Kenton! Of course, Tony will always be known for his role in "The Odd Couple" as will Barbara for being Jeannie in "I Dream Of Jeannie," but they were both together in another great movie too, "The 7 Faces Of Dr. Lao!" I find it hilarious that Barbara Eden is in a movie about a genie, and it's not her!!

Richard Erdman as Seymour Jenks, and Kathie Browne as Hazel Jenks are Harold's eccentric room mates! These two combined have been in literally hundreds of TV shows! Previous to this film, Richard was in the "Twilight Zone" episode known as "A Kind Of Stopwatch!" Kathie is no longer with us, but Richard has had a lengthy career and is still working today!

Sylvia's Father refuses the gift (he had a electric table lamp that looked just like it) so Harold takes it back home and pries it open! Viola, there's a genie inside and all his problems should be behind him, but instead, all his problems just get worse!

The genie's name is Fakrash, and he is capable of doing all kinds of wondrous things!

Good shot of that classic Volkwagen bus back there!

The cops get involved when Fakrash delivers a herd of camels and their trainers to Harold's home!

Sydney Jenks tries to explain a few things to Harold in his own inimitable way!

In an effort to please him, Fakrash gives Harold a trunk full of these 10 dollar bills!

Harold has Sylvia and her parents over for dinner, but Fakrash changes the whole thing into a temple with dancing girls and all means of finery, much to Harold's chagrin!

The main course is the eyes of mountain lambs cooked in honey, of course!!

And then the fun begins! Pop singer Lulu Porter is the belly dancer turning all the guy's heads!

 The perfectly stuffy Edward Andrews has the role of Sylvia's Father! Edward's familiar face was all over the TV in the 60's and the 70's and he was in, not one, but two "Twilight Zone" episodes, "You Drive," and "Third From The Sun!"

Fakrash bring his old girlfriend into the scene to help poor Harold, but when Harold says "No!" she refuses to leave, and since she has genie powers too, Fakrash can't send her back! The scrumptious Kamala Devi had the role of Tezra! Kamala had a total of 13 credits to her name and was married to "The Rifleman" Chuck Connors for 9 years!

Since Tezra doesn't seem to be going anywhere, Harold gets her some modern clothes. She doesn't know what a girdle is so he has to demonstrate how it's worn for her!

I just like this shot of Burl Ives!

No, it's not a guest appearance by Francis The Talking mule! Fakrash had tried to explain to Sylvia's Father the truth of the situation, but since he was having nothing to do with it, Fakrash turned him into the pompous ass that he really is!

Well, The End isn't quite this bad for Harold, but he does have to go through a lot to get to a different ending! I don't know why this movie is so difficult to find, but all fans of 1960's pop culture will find it worth the search, so without further adieu, "to all a good night!!!"

Monday, December 23, 2013

MUSEO DEL HORROR / Producciones Sotomayor - 1964

It's Mexican Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots another House Of Wax, this time, Mexican style, and, an above average atmospheric addition to Mexican horror cinema. It was directed by the very busy Rafael Baledón, who also directed the vintage classics ORLAK, THE HELL OF FRANKENSTEIN and LA LOBA!

Eegah!! sent over a neat little soundclip that includes some entertainment from this flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the other hot wax machine, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... MUSEO DEL HORROR!

The story starts with a splash, a beautiful woman is kidnapped by a creepy caped dude only to be covered with hot wax, hey, just like in my post last Monday!.. Woob!!

Then, we get to see the wax museum of Dr. Raúl, who gets around with the use of a cane!.. Hmmm, sound familiar?

We also get to visit the nightclub a few times, that's where we hear the song in the soundclip.

This lady of the night asks a stranger in the shadows for a light, and, when she gets a glimpse of his face, well!..

What else, the coppers are baffled by the mystifying disappearances of a number of women. There's some graverobbing going on, too!

One lady wakes up on a slab and runs out the door!..

She comes face to face with some of her new buddies in the hallway!

The doctor has a den filled with lots of stuffed animals and the like! Here, one of his patrons is visiting.

Gee, I wonder where the doc will get the head for his newest attraction?!

The girl's boyfriend shows up in the nick of time, he battles the doctor, who uses his cane just for show, and, the doc falls to his death in the old opera house... Close the curtains!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

SOME GIRLS DO - Kenrick Pitt (aka Ebony Keyes, aka Lee Vanderbilt) - "But Then Again" (1969)

Well, here's a fun end of the year romp for you, a movie I had been unsuccessfully doing some serious serarchin' for, but with a little help from Bulldog Drummond, I finally found it!!

It's called "Some Girls Do," and shouldn't get confused with a soft-core film made the same year titled "Girls That Do!" The title song was written by Don Black with lyrics by Charles Blackwell, and was sung by Lee Vanderbilt who had quite a few popuar singles in the 60's in the UK! So without further adieu, here's "Some Girls Do!"

"Some Girls Do" starts off in a hurry, and believe me, there's lots of good-lookin' girls, and they're doing lots of bad things............

.......................and a lot of the time, they seem to be really enjoying themselves!!

 Go ahead! Pick one! They're all mindless zombie robots, flesh and blood, with a switch in their neck that will turn them off or on! Every man's dream or every man's nightmare?

All these pretty women wreaking all kinds of havoc all over the place, now just what is going on here anyhow?

Enter Richard Johnson as the inimitable Bulldog Drummond!! His drink of choice is the Bullshot, which is made of vodka and beef broth, with a dash of Worchestershire, Tabasco, salt and pepper, kind of like a Bloody Mary, but you substitute a Bulldog for Mary! Richard was also Bulldog Drummond in "Deadlier Than The Male," and don't forget, he was the Doctor in "Zombi 2!" Richard is still working and was in at least 3 projects this year!

Sydne Rome is the annoying Flicky! She wants to be Bulldog Drummond's assistant, but her aim is not always true, in fact, she's just a little twisted! This was Sydne's first on screen appearance and she's kept working ever since, and this year she appeared in the TV mini-series called "Anna Karénina" as Principesse Scerbàtskaja! Wow, now that's a mouthful!

The honourable Robert (BEAT THE DEVIL, THEATRE OF BLOOD) Morley has the role of Miss Mary!

 "Some Girls Do" just go around looking for trouble!

Some beautiful girls like to get all decked out, sit in trees, and shoot at things!!

Ronnie (COCKTAILS IN THE KITCHEN, NOGGIN THE NOG) Stevens as Peregrine Carruthers, provides the mostly unneeded comedy relief!

Classic portrait of the Bulldog!!

Beba (WOMAN IS A WONDERFUL THING) Loncar as Pandora holds what might look like a transistor radio, but in reality is a sonic disruptor capable of killing!

I could have easily come up with twice as many stills from this movie, it's that much fun to look at most of the time!

The Graham sisters Doris and Dora, as the twin bartenders, were a mild distraction for about 30 seconds!

You know this shot wants to make you see this movie! Between his jump suit, and their shower shoes.....What else could you possibly want?

James (THESE ARE THE DAMNED, THE NANNY) Villiers is Carl Petesen! Yes, they had to ruin the whole thing by having a guy pulling all the strings in the background! Carl hosts a party for his new friends dressed as The Duke of Wellington! The very lovely Israeli born actress Daliah Lavi keeps the movie interesting! Daliah wasn't in all that many movies, but the ones she has been in would make a very nice collection, like THE RETURN OF DR.MABUSE, THE WHIP AND THE BODY, THE DEMON, TEN LITTLE INDIANS, THE SILENCERS, and CASINO ROYALE!

This looks like more of a cast ensemble picture, but it is actually a shot from the film!

More than anything, this movie is just eye candy for spy pervs!

That'll fix 'em, blow the sons a bitchin' bitches to Hell, and that freak leader of theirs too!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??