The Old West

 

 (imdb)

RAIDERS OF OLD CALIFORNIA-1957-Low budget Republic western about unscrupulous ranchers pushing Mexicans off their own land. Capt. McCain (Jim Davis) is their leader and his gang includes Ric Vallin, Lee Van Cleef and Marty Robbins! When a circuit judge (Louis Jean Heydt) and a marshal (singer Faron Young) investigate, McCain uses intimidation and violence to get his way. He also kills his ex-partner Lt. Johnson (Harry Lauter). 

McCain searches for Sebastian (Lawrence Dobkin), a Mexican who supposedly granted McCain his land and has to fight savage Indians. In a shootout of the country-western singers Young beats Robbins. Douglas Fowley is a semi-comical old sheriff. A flashback filled trial and a stampede cap the finale in which McCain is killed by his own cattle. Gerald Mohr is the narrator. 

Director Albert C. Gannaway also made DANIEL BOONE, TRAILBLAZER which also featured Faron Young.

More Interesting Links I Found on YouTube

 

Boris Karloff talks about Frankenstein: (53) Boris Karloff Discusses Frankenstein. Illustrated Interview (1963). - YouTube

Vincent Price on BBC Radio Horror Story: (53) THE PRICE OF FEAR "An Eye for an Eye" hosted by Vincent Price - YouTube

Great Funny Stop Motion Horror: (53) Assault from the Grave - Zombie Horror Stop Motion - YouTube

Boris vs. Bela: (53) Boris Karloff versus Bela Lugosi - YouTube

Boris Karloff Coffee Commercial: (53) BORIS KARLOFF COFFEE - YouTube

Alice

 

 (imdb)

COMMUNION-(aka ALICE SWEET ALICE)-1976-A weird young kid named Alice (Paula E. Sheppard) takes delight in tormenting her little sister Sally (Brooke Shields) who is getting ready for her first communion. They live with their divorced religiously devout mother Catherine (Linda Miller; Jackie Gleason's daughter) in a rooming house run by the ginormous Mr. Alphonso (Alphonso DeNoble). Alice likes to wear a yellow raincoat and a Halloween mask, so when Sally is killed right before the ceremony by someone dressed like that, it seems Alice has gone too far. Catherine's shrewish sister (Jane Lowry), who has a wimpy husband, suspects her niece. Alice's estranged father Dom (Niles McMaster) with the help of police detective Brennan (Tom Signorelli, a terrible actor), who says “people do crazy things”, snoop around. A priest, Father Tom (Rudolph Willrich) tries to help out too. Mr. Alphonso tries to put the moves on Alice (eek!) but she kills his cat to get away. Alice has a secret room in the basement where she raises cockroaches! Later someone dressed in a yellow raincoat attacks the sister. Alice is examined by Dr. Whitman (Louisa Horton) who wants to lock her up. A long scene involves dad in a warehouse where the real killer is revealed. Father Tom's grouchy housekeeper (Mildred Clinton), who's own daughter died before her first communion is jealous of mom's relationship with her boss. She kills dad while Alice is released from the mental ward. Alice puts roaches on the sleeping Alphonso who's then killed when he accidentally runs into the killer in the hall. During Alice's own communion, the housekeeper slits Father Tom's throat. In the panic everyone ignores Alice who takes the killer's bloody knife... 

This is a really wacko production that got some notice later because of the involvement of the future famous Brooke Shields. 

This movie also marked the first film for singer/actress Lillian Roth (who plays a pathologist) since her last in 1939. A popular entertainer in her time, a series of personal tragedies and alcoholism ruined her career for a while but in the fifties, she made a successful comeback in nightclubs. Her autobiography “I'll Cry Tomorrow” was made into a film starring Susan Hayward. 

Pro wrestling legend Argentina Rocca also has a cameo as an undertaker (don't blink). McMaster and Alphonso were in the notorious BLOOD SUCKING FREAKS the same year. Co-star Paula Sheppard was in one more movie, the cult film LIQUAD SKY (1981) and retired from acting. Director Alfred Sole, usually a production designer, also made the bizarre TANYA'S ISLAND.

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The Original Letter

 

 (wikipedia)

THE LETTER-1929-First version of the classic story, later filmed with Bette Davis in 1940. In Singapore, Leslie Crosbie (Jeanne Eagels) a plantation owner's wife shoots her lover (Herbert Marshall in his US film debut) in a jealous rage after being jilted. Her jolly English husband Robert (Reginald Owen) stands by her when she pleads self-defense but the Chinese assistant to the judge on the case (Peter Chong) finds a love letter in possession of the murdered man's “half caste” mistress (Lady Tsen Mei). Mr. Joyce (O.P. Heggie; later the blind hermit in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) defends her. 3 weird looking women do a kind of striptease and footage of a mongoose fighting a cobra is briefly shown (the crowd is supposed to be betting on the outcome). When Leslie goes to buy the letter back from the mistress, they exchange all sorts of hateful racist dialogue. After Leslie is acquitted, the judge spills the beans to the husband about the letter. He decides her punishment will be to remain in Singapore forever (since she wanted to go back to England). She tells her husband the truth: that she “still loves the man I killed”. The End.

THE LETTER was star Jeanne Eagels' last movie and she was Oscar nominated for her performance. Unfortunately, she died soon after completing the film at age 39 after several years of alcohol and heroin abuse. French director Jean De Limur may have also directed Eagels in a lost movie JEALOUSY the same year.

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Red Herring Bela Again

 

 (imdb)

ONE BODY TOO MANY-1944-Insurance agent Albert L. Tuttle (Jack Haley) gets involved with the reading of a millionaire's will and his greedy relatives when he visits the dead guy's home (he doesn't know about the death). The butler Merkle (Bela Lugosi) and the maid (Blanche Yurka) think about poisoning everyone. The relatives mistake Tuttle for a private investigator. The running gag is no one wants to drink their poisoned coffee. Relatives include Lyle Talbott, Douglas Fowley, Dorothy Granger and Lucien Littlefield. The one nice relative is the dead guy's niece (Jean Parker). Meanwhile, Prof. Hilton (William Edmunds) fools around with a telescope in the observatory. A clutching hand threatens Tuttle who manages to wind up in the millionaire's coffin underwater! Later he roams around in the dark with just a towel on. 

Not half bad comedy/horror/murder mystery although once again Lugosi is wasted in a red herring role. Director Frank McDonald also made another murder mystery with Haley called SCARED STIFF (1945).

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Defective Detectives

 

 (imdb)

THE GORILLA-1939-A series of murders committed by “the gorilla” plague the city. Walter Stevens (Lionel Atwill) believes he is the next victim. His niece Norma (Anita Louise) comes to visit him with her husband Jack (Edward Morris). Stevens has a suspicious looking butler (Bela Lugosi) and a loud maid (Patsy Kelly). He hires detectives Harrigan, Mulligan and Garrity (The Ritz Brothers) for protection. Stevens owes money to someone and explains how he and Norma are the sole heirs to her father's fortune. Meanwhile a mysterious figure (Joseph Calliea) prowls around the house in the rain. The brothers shout a lot, spout one-line insults at each other and fall down. A real gorilla (Art Miles) shows up (it escaped from its trainer) and Bela saves the day. 

The Ritz Brothers were kind of a combo of the 3 Stooges and The Marx Brothers. Atwill and Lugosi were in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN same year as this mildly amusing comedy was made. Prolific director Allan Dwan also made a version of THE THREE MUSKETEERS which also featured The Ritz Brothers and Atwill. THE GORILLA is based on a play by Ralph Spence.

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The First Wolf

 

 (imdb)

WEREWOLF OF LONDON-1935-An English botanist Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) is bitten by a werewolf while searching for a rare plant in Tibet. Back in London his unhappy wife Lisa (Valerie Hobson; the same year as BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) is courted by an American (Lester Matthews; in THE RAVEN the same year). Glendon is visited by Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland; well into the Charlie Chan series), who tells him of two cases of “werewolfery” in London. It seems Yogami is the werewolf that bit the Glendon in Tibet. When his hand turns hairy Glendon uses the plant, Moonlight Bloom to stop the transformation but he's warned by Yogami that the plant is not a cure but a temporary antidote. When Yogami steals another plant, the doc turns into a scary wolf man and goes hunting for the thing he loves the most. He almost kills his wife's aunt (Spring Byington) but kills a prostitute instead. Later he goes after the missus and is shot by the police inspector. 

WEREWOLF OF LONDON is a classic 1930's horror film from Universal pictures. The wolf man himself (Jack P. Pierce's make-up though he's uncredited) is quite scary even when he's wearing a hat and coat and there's a lot of spooky nighttime scenes. Director Stuart Walker only made 12 movies. Others include GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1934) (also with Henry Hull) and THE MYSTERY OF EDWARD DROOD (also 1935). He also did work on Paramount's “Bulldog Drummond” series around this time too.

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Demme's Third

 

 (imdb)

FIGHTING MAD-1976-Tom (Peter Fonda), a divorced dad returns to his rural Arkansas horse farm with his young son Dylan (Gino Franco) to help run the place with his dad (John Douchette) and brother Charlie (Scott Glenn). Meanwhile a contractor Pierre Crabtree (Phillip Carey) and a senator (Noble Willingham) plot to take over the town and close down the farm to make way for a strip-mining factory and stuff. Tom almost immediately hooks up with former flame Lorene (Lynn Lowry). Corporate thugs beat up Charlie and his wife (Kathleen Miller), then kill them in a car crash and make it look like they were drunk. 

When workers try to come in and bulldoze the farm, Tom stops them. He even drives several trucks off the road while riding a motorcycle with Dylan. When some company goons beat him up, Loraine attacks them with a hammer. After Tom blows up some equipment, the storm trooper like police throw everyone in jail. Then a judge, who might have ruled in favor of the farmers, is killed. This allows the corporation to really take over and burn down Tom's farm and causing the death of his father. Tom invades Crabtree's citadel and blows everyone away. He gets shot up but the stupid sheriff (Harry Northup) finally comes through and covers up Tom's involvement. 

This low budget action revenge drama was future Academy Award winning director Jonathan Demme's third feature after CAGED HEAT (1974) and CRAZY MAMA (1975).

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Midnight

 

 (wikipedia)

MIDNIGHT MOVIES: FROM THE MARGIN TO THE MAIN STREET-2005-Pretty great documentary about the evolution and eventual demise of "the midnight movie" using by far the most successful ones ever: Alejandro Jodorowsky's EL TOPO, George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, John Waters' PINK FLAMINGOS, Henzell & Rhone's THE HARDER THEY COME, Jim Sharman's THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW & David Lynch's ERASERHEAD. Besides scenes of the movies there are great interviews with the directors (except Lynch) and others associated with the films including Richard O'Brien, Robert Shaye, Lou Adler and Alan Douglas. Good job by director Stuart Samuels!

More Naschy

 

 (imdb)

THE DEVIL'S POSSESSED-1974-Baron Gilles de Lancre (Paul Naschy) hires Simon (Eduardo Calvo) the alchemist to teach him how to make gold from glass. At first Gilles is reluctant to help the alchemist because it requires a human sacrifice. However, with some urging from his consort Georgelle (Norma Sebre), he overcomes his misgivings, and a local cutie is killed. Later Gaston Malebranche (Guillermo Bredeston) returns from the war and has a fight with some hooligans in a bar. The Baron uses murder and torture to keep everyone in check while searching for the philosopher's stone. His Georgella says the devil will talk to him through a severed head, so he has a local boy decapitated. The head does talk to him and tells him to sacrifice some virgins but the voice is actually that of the alchemist who is obviously in cahoots with Georgelle. 

Later Gaston, who once saved the Baron's life, is more than welcomed in the Baron's castle but Georgelle doesn't like him and says he should be killed. When an assassination fails, Gaston joins the underground peasants who oppose the Baron. After losing a jousting match to Gaston and killing the alchemist because he failed to produce the philosopher's stone, the Baron and his army go on a killing spree. Later he thinks he's invulnerable, but his enemies prove him wrong. 

This great historical bloody horror film was written by star Naschy under his real name Jacinto Molina as he once again teamed the director Leon Klimovsky (THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN, DR. JEKYLL VS. THE WEREWOLF). The story is loosely an adaptation of the life of Gilles de Rais, a 15-century notorious French serial killer who had serves under Joan of Arc. Read about him here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais

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Kinski on Saturn

 

 (imdb)

CREATURE-THE TITAN FIND-1985-During a space race between the USA and W. Germany, two astronaut-scientists are killed by an "Alien" type creature. Then their spaceship crashes into a station orbiting the moon. Some genius decides to send a bunch of dorks and airheads to investigate the find on Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn. After a woman is killed and things slow down, the mysterious astronaut Hoffner (Klaus Kinski) shows up to explain what's going on. After he's killed, he comes back as a reanimated zombie. 

This turns into an ALIEN rip-off with characters being picked off one by one and bloody sfx ranging from very good to not so good. Co-writer/director William Malone later made the big-budgeted HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL remake.

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Ulmer To The End

 

 

 (imdb)

BEYOND THE TIME BARRIER-1960-Major Allison (Robert Clarke from THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON) is sent into space. He doesn't seem to be gone too long but when he returns the base is in shambles and deserted. He's taken prisoner by some people in "The Citadel". They think he's a spy and put him in a chamber with some bald-headed mutants. However, the leader of The Citadel, The Supreme (Vladimir Sokoloff) has a mute granddaughter Trirene (Darlene Tompkins) who takes a liking to Allison and saves him. (She has ESP too) He also meets 3 imprisoned scientists Kruse (Stephen Bekassy), Boardman (John Van Dreelan) and Russian Markova (Arianne Arden). From them he learns about a plague from outer space and that the year is 2024! There's one scene in front of a blackboard where it sounds like someone farts. After Markova lets the mutants out and there are a few double crosses Allison returns to 1960 to warn everyone of the plague but he's changed a bit. 

This interesting if drawn out little space drama was directed by the great Edgar Ulmer very late in his career. As usual he manages to do a few neat things with the limits put on the movie. He made it back-to-back in Texas with another Sci-Fi cheapy THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN. His wife Shirley was the story editor and their daughter Arianne plays the female cosmonaut. Star Robert Clarke was originally supposed to direct but hired Ulmer. The two had worked together a few years before on THE MAN FROM PLANET X. Screenwriter Arthur Pierce later wrote the bizarre THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS. Female lead Darlene Tompkins co-starred with Elvis in BLUE HAWAII a year later.

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Remake Mars

 

 (wikipedia)

INVADERS FROM MARS-1986-In this remake, David (Hunter Carson), a young boy sees a UFO land behind his house. When his father (Timothy Bottoms) goes to investigate he comes back acting very strange with a bruise on the back of his neck. Later his mom (Laraine Newman) and everyone else in town have become weird, possessed zombies including David's crabby teacher Mrs. McKeltch (Louise Fletcher) and the police. After he sees the teacher eat a frog, David convinces the school nurse Linda (Karen Black; Carson's real-life mom) that something is going on. Grotesque slimy aliens are planning to conquer Earth. The duo run around town being chased by the police and McKeltch in a yellow school bus. When it seems the whole town have been turned into slaves by the aliens, David and Linda convince Gen. Wilson (James Karen) of the truth and he brings in the army. One scientist (Bud Cort) tries to talk to the invaders and is killed. Eventually the invasion is crushed but….

This so-so remake of the notorious 1957 original succeeds more than it fails though pretty unnecessary as most remakes are. Original little kid star Jimmy Hunt appears as a policeman. Dan O'Bannon is one of the the credited screenwriters. Director Tobe Hooper made this the same year as the disappointing TEAXS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2.

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Mr. James

 

 (amazon.com)

THE PLEASANT TERROR: THE LIFE AND GHOSTS OF M.R. JAMES-1995-Very English documentary-biography with re-enactments about the master ghost story writer M.R. James trying to find a link as to why an Eton scholar and devout Christian wrote such eerie stories basically as a side line. On screen narrator Bob Wallis concludes he could have had a supernatural encounter when he was a boy. Authors like Ruth Rendell offer their opinions and Christopher Lee appears at the beginning. Shown in three parts. Directed by Clive Dunn.

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Bonus: John Mayall sings about another Mr. James, Elmore to be exact:

https://youtu.be/-7NnLL0v3nk

Lost Battle

 

 (imdb)

BATTLE FOR THE LOST PLANET-1986-A thief named Trent (Matt Mitler) relates the story of the invasion of Earth by some pig faced aliens. He steals a space shuttle and roams around space for 5 years and when he returns to Earth he meets Dana (Denise Coward), an English woman and they travel around and run afoul of Mad Dog (Joe Gentisis), an idiot Stallone clone who leads a motorcycle gang. Low budget nonsense from director/writer Brett Piper who later made A NYMPHOID BARBARIAN IN DINOSAUR HELL and THEY BITE.

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Bigfoot Again

 

 (imdb)

 

AMERICAN BIGFOOT-2017-A Bigfoot goes on a murderous rampage after a drunken redneck kills its offspring. A detective named Benson (Zach Galligan, who seems to be somewhere else) looks into it. A doctor (Clint Howard) calls in a Bigfoot expert (Dave Sherill) and he team's up with Benson and a ranger (Johnny Lechner). The Bigfoot is a gray hairy thing with a small face. It kidnaps a young boy. After a lot of talk, it just ends with the Bigfoot still out there. 

Writer/director Glenn Martin followed this up with another Bigfoot movie. Also known as KAMPOUT.

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