Noose Hangs In Between

 

NOOSE FOR A GUNMAN-1960-Routine western with gunslinger Case Britton (Jim Davis) returning to a town where he killed 2 men, to meet Della Haines (Lyn Thomas), his bride to be. He also warns the Marshall (Walter Sande) that outlaw Jack Cantrell (Ted DeCorsia) and his gang are heading for the money in their bank. Town big shot Avery (Barton McLane) and his hired gun Link (Leo Gordon) are in cahoots with the gang. Harry Carey Jr is also in it and Victor (father of Al) Adamson has a bit role. The year before NOOSE director Edward L. Cahn and screenwriter Robert Kent also teamed to make the far superior THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE.

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Fungus Among Us!

SPACE MASTER-X-7-1958-A scientist with marital problems (Paul Frees, better know for this vocal narrations than his on screen acting) gets some “space fungus” off a US probe (The Space Master) and brings it home to experiment on. Unfortunately while he’s doing this he keeps getting interrupted by his ex-wife (Lyn Thomas) who wants custody of their child. Eventually the fungus kills him and escapes but the government seems to contain it until they learn the wife had been in the house too. Bill Williams (who was in a TV series DATE WITH THE ANGELS at the time) is in charge of finding her.

Along the way he meets Moe Howard playing a helpful cab driver (“Ya know she had eyebrows like you pull out with pliers”) and Thomas B. Henry is a professor.

It's like a low budget science fiction version of Elia Kazan's PANIC IN THE STREETS in a way because once the fungus is contained it's really just a hunt for the infected woman. I thought the story could have been better since the screenwriters were George Worthington Yates (EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, THEM!) and Daniel Mainwaring (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS).

Director Edward Bernds made many 3 Stooges shorts (and later acouple of the "new" Stooges movies), the underrated Sci-Fi WORLD WITHOUT END and Bowery Boys comedies. He died in 2000 at 94!

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