Secret Whistler

 

 (imdb)

THE SECRET OF THE WHISTLER-1946-After the usual intro, a woman (Mary Currier) buys a headstone for herself (from Byron Foulger). Her husband Ralph Harrison (Richard Dix) is called away from a party he's throwing because his wife, Edith has a heart attack. He meets a model Kay (Leslie Brooks) and begins to romance her while waiting for his wife to die. Somehow, his wife gets better and overhears Harrison telling Kay how much he loves her. Edith throws him out but he returns at night and switches her meds with poison. She dies and he marries Kay. Everyone suspects him of murder but Kay finds the old wife's diary that has an entry that seems to clear Ralph. Both wind up dead and the Whistler keeps whistling. John Hamilton and Arthur Space have uncredited roles. 

This is another weird entry into the series (the sixth installment), this time directed by George Sherman (THE LADY AND THE MONSTER (1944)). Star Dix would make one more film in the series, which be his last film appearance as he died in 1949 at age 56. His death may have been hastened by alcoholism.

Thanks for reading!

Friend of the Devil?

 

 (imdb)

THE DEVIL'S PARTNER-1960-An old man is killed when sacrificing a goat in a supernatural ritual. Then Nick Richards (Ed Nelson) comes to a small town looking for his uncle Pete. He's informed by the sheriff (Spencer Carlisle) that his uncle is dead and it could be murder. Local girl Nell (Jean Allison) befriends him. Her boyfriend David (Richard Crane) owns a gas station and her father (Edgar Buchanan) is the town doctor. Later Frank, another local drinks goat's milk and dies. Nick seems nice but he obviously has a sinister ulterior motive. At night Nick, using a pentagram his uncle made, makes David's dog turn on him. He survives by killing the dog and hires Nick to run the station while he recovers. Later Nick kills the plastic surgeon who's coming to check out David's scars by making his car crash. For some reason Nick pays the town drunk Papers (Byron Foulger) to help him in another ritual where Nick transforms into his uncle Pete! Papers runs away and is trampled by a mysterious black horse. Later Nick turns into a snake and tries to kill David but is shot. He turns into the black horse but is shot and killed by the Sheriff. The horse turns into Nick who turns into Uncle Pete. 

There seems to be a few holes in this story or the version I saw was edited. This is only one of two feature length films made by busy TV director Charles Rondeau and both in 1960 (the other was the dreary THE GIRL IN LOVER'S LANE). The screenplay was co-written by ex-Bowery Boys actor Stanley Clements.

Thanks for reading!

Karloff

 

THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES-1940-Dr. Mason (Roger Pryor) demonstrates his "frozen therapy" which he says can cure cancer by freezing the patient. All the doctors there agree. Dr. Harvey (Charles Trowbridge), head of the hospital is pissed at the publicity and takes the project away from Mason sending him on vacation. He and his nurse Judith (Jo Ann Sayers) decide to investigate the home of Dr. Kravaal, a scientist who disappeared 10 years before and had also been doing experiments with frozen therapy too.. After being warned to stay away from Kravaal's house, the duo find the doc's secret lab and the doc himself (Boris Karloff) frozen in a chamber. They revive him and in a flashback he relates how some locals wanted him arrested and how he, a coroner (Byron Foulger), DA Hawthorne (John Dilson), a sheriff and the nephew of Kravaal's patient became frozen. Later he revives them but when the nephew destroys his formula Kravaal kills him. He then holds everyone prisoner until he can replicate the lost formula. He wants to experiment on his hostages with most of the story taking place in the underground lab. 

Far fetched but enjoyable little mad scientist tale. One of several Karloff made for Universal in the early '40's. Fast worker Nick Grinde directed Karloff in THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG before this and BEFORE I HANG later the same year.

Thanks for reading!

Alcatraz!

EXPERIMENT ALCATRAZ-1950-Four inmates on “The Rock” are promised freedom if they agree to allow an experimental drug be injected into them. One of the bunch Barry Morgan (Robert Shayne) kills his friend Eddie (Sam Scar) after procuring a pair of scissors. Chief doctor Lt. McKenna (Joan Dixon) is kicked out and Dr. Williams (John Howard), head of the project sees it closed down against his will. Later Williams investigates Morgan and his auction house which is really a front for illegal gambling. After he gets beat up Williams and McKenna learn more about the relationship of Morgan and Eddie (they were suppose to be good friends but actually Morgan wanted him out of the way). Along the way they meet Max Henry (Frank Cady) a convict who collects postcards, Byron Foulger as a relator and Myron Healy as a reporter. Unfortunately Williams doggedly refuses to drop his investigation and Morgan kills him. It's up to Williams' friend Dr. Finley (Walter Kingsford) to set a trap to catch Morgan and avenge his friend's death. Kenneth MacDonald has a small role. 

This is another documentary style crime drama for the much maligned Edward L. Cahn who a few years later made some memorable low budget horror movies. Shayne, a familiar character actor was two years away from playing His most famous role as Inspector Henderson on TV's THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. 

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for reading!

 

Byron Foulger

THE PANTHER’S CLAW-1942-Police commissioner Thatcher Colt (Sidney Blackmer) investigates mysterious threatening letters sent to various individuals by “The Black Panther”. All the victims have a connection to an opera house. A recently fired baritone named Lombardi (Thorton Joaquin Edwards) comes under suspicion but seems like a clown. He’s also in love with the female star Nina Politza (Gerta Roza). All the clues seem to point at Mr. Everett Digberry (the great Byron Foulger), a wig maker and also would be victim. Colt and his assistant Abbott (Rick Vallin) discover that a murdered tenant is actually Politza in disguise. 

This low budget PRC production directed by the super fast William Beaudine is ok but it's great to see character actor extraordinaire Byron Foulger with such big and pivotal role! 

Earlier Adolphe Menjou had played the Colt character in two movies. This entry was suppose to be the first of a series but no more were made.

Thanks for reading!

Ma Barker

MA BARKER'S KILLER BROOD-1960-Lurene Tuttle (Mrs. Chambers in PSYCHO the same year) is the infamous lady gangster who raises her kids to be killer/bank robbers after training them to steal from their church's collection plate. She's very mean and calls her oldest son Herman (Don Grady; later in TV's MY THREE SONS) a sissy because he plays the violin (which she smashes). She seems to be so mean and violent because she had to wear homemade “bloomers” when she was young! When her husband protests and lectures her she just laughs at me and throws him out. She plots several heists with her “young-uns” but the sheriff runs them out of town. 

By 1933 she has trained her 4 sons to rob an armored car. Grown up Herman (Donald Spruance) is suppose to kill the guard but loses his nerve and Mom has to run the guard over (twice!) but takes time to slap Herman a few times. Her other “boys” are Doc (Ron Foster), Lloyd (Rex Holman) and Fred (Eric Morris). She sets up a kidnapping for Machine Gun Kelly (Vic Lunden; later The Lobster Man in an episode of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA). Myrna Dell plays his girlfriend. Ma throws a party where Baby Face Nelson (Robert Kendall) and John Dillinger (Eric Sinclair) show up and son Lloyd and his date (Ginny Barry) sing “Little Joe Carew”. Paul Dubov plays Alvin Karpis, a killer who joins the gang. Tristram Coffin is Ma's second husband a drunk who they force to play Russian roulette (he loses) after he squeals. When the gang kidnaps a banker their trouble starts. Stupidly, Ma hires a sadistic alcoholic doctor (the great character actor Byron Foulger) to change one son's fingerprints and face. When it doesn't work they set him on fire! She's eventually machine gunned by federal agents in Florida where one of the agents compares her to the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. 

The story ends with scenes from another movie and a narrator quoting The Bible. MA BARKER was directed Bill Karns who one year later made 5 MINUTES TO LIVE with Johnny Cash as a psycho hit man. His other output seemed to be devoted to the 1954 TV version of GANGBUSTERS and it's subsequent movie. 

MB isn't bad as a low budget crime drama but it is nasty and violent for the time. The acting and hateful dialogue Ma spouts is very good. The story is choppy though: the fates of two sons are kind of forgotten about until the narration at the end and two bank robbery scenes are suddenly narrated by Ma as if perhaps originally she was suppose to tell the story. I was also shocked at one point in the final shoot out when it sounds like Ma says “I kill ya, ya fuckers”! But re-listening she actually says “ya butchers”... 

“None left his mark. Each left his stain”, so says the sexist narrator...

Myron Healy has an unbilled role as a bank robber. Music composer Gene Kauer's score was also used later in THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS. 

Like many crime dramas of time (and even now) based on real characters this is fictitious. In fact the real Ma Barker is considered to have only been a willing accomplice to her sons' crimes not the criminal mastermind she has been made out to be. Much of her notorious reputation was probably the work of J. Edgar Hoover to minimize the FBI's actions of shooting an old lady.

Thanks for reading!

Up In Smoke

UP IN SMOKE-1957-In this Bowery Boys craziness Sach (still top billed Huntz Hall) sells his soul to the devil (the great Byron Foulger in dress suit and horns) to get the names of winning horses after losing some charity money on a crooked horse race. Of course every time he tries to make a bet something goes wrong (he has no money, he's put in jail...). Since gagman Jack Townley was one of the screenwriters many routines are rehashes of things seen in other places (notably Abbott & Costello). When Duke (Stanley Clements) catches Sach talking to a monkey (it's the devil in disguise) he takes him to a psychiatrist (Fritz Feld) named Dr. Bluzak. In the end Sach thwarts the devil and he loses his job! But Sach helps him get it back! 


Since Sach does so many stupid things a better ending would have been that this episode was the last of the series and the devil took the nitwit to hell! A little harsh I guess....


The other boys are David Gorcey as Chuck and Eddie LeRoy as Blinky. Joe Devlin, James Flavin and Benny Rubin also appear. A character named Dr. Bluzak also appeared in an episode of THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW that Jack Townley wrote! And Byron Foulger played him! 


William Beaudine was back to direct this second to last entry of the series. 


Thanks for reading!

"It will reach out with it's magnetic arms...."

THE MAGNETIC MONSTER-1953-A strange magnetic force grips LA. Two scientists (Richard Carlson and King Donovan) investigate and find that a dying scientist (Leonard Mudie) was experimenting with a new kind of element ("serranium"). Somehow the element can draw energy from the air and turn it into matter. It starts to grow and could send the Earth off it's rotation! The duo go to Canada to use their cyclotron but run into some opposition. Fans of bug eyed '50's drive in monster flicks might be disappointed as no creature is seen.

Some of the SFX are taken from a 1930's German film called GOLD. Produced by Ivan Tors and directed by Curt Siodmak (creator of THE WOLFMAN) and the two collaborated on the screenplay. Herbert Strock was the editor (and may have directed some scenes). Jean Byron is Carson's wife. Byron Foulger, Michael Fox, John Zaremba, Frank Gerstle, Billy "Whitey" Bennedict, Kathleen Freeman and Strother Martin all have roles. Carlson later was in THE MAZE, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE and THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. Donovan was in THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS the same year.

Thanks for reading!

They Live...

THEY LIVE BY NIGHT-1949- is an incredible film noir by Nicolas Ray.

It stars Farley Granger (who had just been in ROPE and would go on to co-star in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN for Hitchcock) and Cathy O'Donnell as doomed lovers involved in robbery, deception and killing.

Director Ray creates an undercurrent of doom in this film that is unbelievable. You know things can never work out. You just watch and wait for it to fall apart. Ray would go on to make REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, JOHNNY GUITAR and KING OF KINGS but he never really made another one like this.

Howard Da Silva (who was later blacklisted) and Jay C Flippen ( a veteran character actor later in Kubrick's THE KILLING and THE WILD ONE) are the guys who lead Granger's character astray. O'Donnell was headed for stardom until she incurred the wrath of Samuel Goldwyn. She made sporadic film appearances after that (her last film was BEN-HUR in 1959). She died of cancer in 1970 at the age of 45.

THEY LIVE BY NIGHT also includes in it's cast Will Wright, Ian Wolfe, William Phipps and my favorite character of all time Byron Foulger!

Granger (still alive at the time of this writing) would later on star in SENSO for Luchino Visconti but wound up playing in mostly low budget films in Europe and America....

Thanks for reading!!

What A Bunch of Characters!

When i watch a lot of old movies I love spotting certain actors. When I see them I usually yell out their names even if I'm alone. Here's a few of my favorites:



BYRON FOULGER-He is without a doubt my favorite chacter actor! He most often pops up as a neighbor lingering around after a murder has been committed. He might have some comment like "How shocking. She was such a quiet girl", usually giving the impression that he had something to hide that had nothing to do with the plot! He also played clerks, pharmacists, train conductors and was the mad scientist "Dr. Bluzak" in an episode of "The Abbott & Costello Show". In the '60's he showed up in a lot of sit-coms. To read his bio and see his picture go here: http://www.dougmacaulay.com/kingspu...or_last=Foulger



GENE ROTH-If you like AIP productions from the '50's you've probably seen this guy in a dozen of them. He was the cynical but tough sheriff in EARTH VS, THE SPIDER and was the second in command Nazi in SHE DEMONS (oops, sorry..that's not AIP!). He had un-billed roles in many films (a cook, a cab driver) was even in some late period 3 Stooges shorts including OUTER SPACE JITTERS (the one with Dan Blocker as the monster). Here's a picture of him:

TRIS COFFIN-Great name! This guy showed up in many movies billed and un-billed, sometimes as a bad guy or red herring crooked banker. He also played army officers and doomed business associates. He was the star of the Republic serial THE LOST PLANET AIRMEN. Some times billed as Tristram Coffin which is cooler.

Here he is:



Recognize him?



MORRIS ANKRUM-This actor was all over the map in the fifties. He usually played a father or army captain or some kind of scientist. He also was the judge on many episodes of TV's PERRY MASON. Here's his picture:




JOHN ELDREDGE-This actor made many un-billed movie appearances too. He also had a kind of recognizable voice. He played a villain on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN several times. As movies coincidences would have it, he and George Reeves co-starred in a silly Rosemary Lane romantic comedy in 1940 called ALWAYS A BRIDE!

Hope you recognize some of these gentlemen!