Ghost on The Beach

 

 (imdb)

THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI-1966-Recently dead old guy Hiram Stokley (Boris Karloff; he did HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS the same year) is told by his dead sister Cicely (Susan Hart) that if he wants to go to heaven and be young again, he has to do one good deed. He decides to make sure his estate goes to his rightful heirs. Chuck Phillips (Tommy Kirk), "not very bright but a nice boy", Lili Norton (Deborah Walley), Myrtle Forbush (Patsy Kelly), plus his attorney Reggie Ripper (Basil Rathbone; in QUEEN OF BLOOD the same year) and his "vile sidekick" J. Sinister Hulk (Jesse White). 

After Myrtle's nephew Bobby (Aron Kincaid) and his friends arrive, Nancy Sinatra sings "Geronimo". The young people frug arrogantly and act dumb at the pool. Ripper introduces his daughter Sinestra (Quinn O'Hara) and she tries to kill Bobby. Then Princess Yolanda (Bobbi Shaw) and her Indian companion Chicken Feather (Benny Rubin) with a gorilla (George Barrows) show up to help get rid of the relatives. The Rats, a motorcycle gang led by Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) arrive because their stupid leader falls in love with The Princess. Then Stokley's butler Malcolm (Francis X. Bushman in his last movie role) shows up to warn Chuck to leave. Meanwhile, Stokley watches on a crystal ball and comments and Cicely intervenes to help. Chuck's not very bright friend gets terrorized by some fake monsters and the slapstick finale takes place in a torture chamber. The Bobby Fuller 4 also perform. 

Director Don Weis made this hokey dated beach movie but the old guys seem to having a good time.

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J'Accuse....My Parents

 

I ACCUSE MY PARENTS-1944-Over aged high school student Jimmy Wilson (Robert Lowell) wins an essay contest about this wonderful parents and home life but surprise! Jimmy's mom (Vivienne Osborne) is a lush and his father (John Miljan) is a callous louse who likes to gamble. They fight a lot and have wild cocktail parties. When mom shows up at school drunk Jimmy drops out and gets a job as a shoe salesman. His first customer is Kitty Reed (Mary Beth Hughes), a nightclub singer and it's love at first sight. 

After getting the brush off from his folks he visits Kitty at the club. There she introduces him to her boss Mr. Blake (George Meeker) who is actually sweet on Kitty. They celebrate Jimmy's birthday together. Later Jimmy goes to work for the sleazy Blake making dubious pick ups while romancing Kitty. When Jimmy is driving the getaway car during a robbery/killing, he finds out exactly what he's doing for Blake who tries to eliminate him. 

Jimmy gets away and winds up working in a hamburger joint for nice guy Al (George Lloyd). Meanwhile Kitty sings a sorry ballad (it's one of three tunes she does) and searches for her boo. Jimmy decides to go back and make Blake turn himself in. He and Blake have a tussle over a gun and Blake is killed. Jimmy, telling his story in flashbacks to a judge gets off lightly, wins Kitty and gets to hear his parents lectured by the judge. 

This nutty innocuous morality tale (that's totally entertaining) from PRC was produced by Sam Katzman and directed by the workaholic Sam Newfield who made eleven other features in 1944 including NABONGA and THE MONSTER MAKER.

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"One Of You Has Got To Die"

 

 (wikipedia)

FOUR BOYS AND A GUN-1957-4 "boys" rob the box office of a boxing arena. In the melee a cop (un-billed Joseph Campanella) is shot and killed. 

They are all arrested and flashbacks reveal what led up to their predicament. Asshole Eddie (Tarry Greene) is dumped by his girlfriend who likes her boss better. Ollie (Frank Sutton) who's having an affair with Eddie's sister gets in trouble with the boss he runs numbers for. Stanley (William Hinnant) is a nice wimp from a decent family but is corrupted by Eddie and Ollie. Amateur boxer Johnny (James Franciscus) has a pregnant wife but is told by his manager (J. Pat O'Reilly) that he doesn't have what it takes to be a pro. They throw a party to raise the money but a gangster spoils it. The abrupt ending seems to say they will all go to electric chair. 

Director William Berke was working mostly in TV at the time but in the '30's and '40's directed tons of low budget films (Jungle Jim, Dick Tracy, westerns). Screenwriters Phillip Yordan (Bogart's last film THE HARDER THEY FALL) and Leo Townsend (who later wrote several AIP “Beach” movies) adapted the story from a novel by Willard Wiener.

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There's A Riot Going On!

 

 (wikipedia)

RIOT IN JUVENILE PRISON-1959-After juvenile delinquent Eddie Bassett (Scott Marlowe) leads an unsuccessful breakout from a juvenile prison where two boys are killed, the governor orders Dr. Furman (Jerome Thor) to use drastic experiments to help straighten out the youths despite the protests of the fascist warden Col. Walton (John Hoyt). His first order of business is to make the place co-ed and brings in a busload of juvvie females. They are overseen by Bess (Ann Doran) & Grace (Marcia Henderson). Almost immediately two women Babe (Dorothy Provine) and Kitty (Virginia Aldridge) have a cat fight over Eddie. Another J.D. Killion (Dick Tyler) starts trouble when he attacks Kitty. The governor dismisses Furman and the warden gets control. After Eddie is beaten up by a sadistic guard (Richard Reeves) he leads a riot. 

RIOT is a typical kind of “teens behind bars” '50's drama that was petering out by 1959. It was directed by the great Edward L. Cahn who made INVISIBLE INVADERS and THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE the same year. Screenwriter Orville Hampton also penned JONATHAN DRAKE and THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE in '59.

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Mr. BIG is 100!

 It was director Bert I. Gordon's 100 birthday a couple of days ago. Let's celebrate!

EARTH VS. THE SPIDER-1958-A small town has a spider problem. Two teenagers Mike (Gene Persson) & Carol (June Kenny) searching for the girl's father (Merritt Stone) stumble into a cave where a giant spider is nesting. They escape and warn the sheriff (Gene Roth) who scoffs. A school professor Art Kingman (Ed Kemmer) convinces the sheriff the threat might be real. A whole group goes out to the cave. They find Carol's dad's corpse and the giant spider. They think they kill it with DDT and Kingman convinces the sheriff to bring it back to the school to be studied. It's locked away in the gym but Hugo the janitor (Hank Patterson) allows bass playing Sam's (Skip Young) rocking combo to rehearse there and their swinging rock & roll brings the creature back to life! It wrecks the town endangering everyone including Kingman's wife (Sally Fraser) and their kid. Stupidly Mike and Carol go back to the cave to look for her lost bracelet. Unfortunately the spider heads back there. They get lost and the town plans to dynamite the cave. 

Mike's dad Mr. Simpson (Hal Torey) owns a movie theater that's showing THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN & ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE both directed by SPIDER's director Mr. BIG himself Bert I. Gordon. There's also a scene of a teenager reading “Famous Monsters Of Filmland” number 1! 

The strange part of this story (forgetting that there's a normal sized spider blown up to look gigantic on the screen) is that Kemmer's character of Kingman is really responsible for all the the destruction and death. Co-screenwriter Lazlo Gorog also penned THE MOLE PEOPLE. George Worthington Yates, the other screenwriter scripted several other Mr. BIG movies and THEM!

Thnaks for reading and thanks to Mr. BIG. Hope you had a nice day!

Shut The Door!

 

BEYOND THE DOOR 3-1989-In Belgrade Serbia overage stupid college students meet Prof. Andromolek (Bo Svenson). From the get go he's obviously evil because when a telegram arrives saying the mother of one of girls has been killed in a car accident he throws the message away without telling her. The others make fun of her because she's a virgin. 

Much of this contrived nonsense takes place on a moving train. It really sucks and has nothing to do with the original BEYOND THE DOOR (or BEYOND THE DOOR 2 for that matter). The director Jeff Kwitny later wrote episodes of the cartoon series “Animaniacs”.

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Are They?

 

ARE THESE OUR CHILDREN?-1931-An early talky exploitation mortally tale about Eddie (Eric Linden), a too self confident high school student who lives with his grandmother (Beryl Mercer) and younger brother (Billy Butts) and has a nice girlfriend Mary (Rochelle Hudson). But after he's humiliated at school he falls into a life of crime while romancing a floozy (Arline Judge). He shoots and kills his grandma's deli owner friend over a bottle of "hooch". When he and his cronies are arrested Eddie likes the publicity. When his ego driven idea of being his own lawyer backfires he's convicted and sentenced to death. 

Director Wesley Ruggles (brother of actor Charlie) had made comedy shorts in the silent era. He later directed Mae West in I'M NO ANGEL. 

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More Darro and Moreland

LET'S GO COLLEGIATE-1941-A star athlete Bob Terry is supposed to arrive at Raleigh college and help the rowing team. Unfortunately he’s drafted. This puts a damper on the hope of having a championship and students Frankie Monahan (Frankie Darro), Tad (Jackie Moran) and Buck Wing (Keye Luke) are quite depressed. The girls on campus led by Bess (Marcia Mae Jones) and Midge (Gale Storm) are so excited that the losers are afraid to tell them. They get a guy named Herc (Frank Sully) to impersonate Terry. Then they can't get rid of him so they try to make him into a rower. There are several songs but Mantan Moreland as Jeff is wasted. Barton Yarbourough (I LOVE A MYSTERY) is their coach and Tristram Coffin is Slugger. 

Work horse director Jean Yarbrough made KING OF THE ZOMBIES (also with Moreland) the same year. Later he directed four Abbott & Costello movies (and all the episodes of their great TV series), Rondo Hatton in HOUSE OF HORRORS and THE BRUTE MAN, The Bowery Boys and many TV episodes.

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4609335177952045780/6557514618581060655?hl=en

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Teens vs. Aliens

INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN-1957-Aliens have invaded lovers point in the sleepy town of Hicksville USA. Johnny Carter (Steve Terrell) and his girlfriend Joan (Gloria Castillo) hit one of the mini spacemen with their car. They call for help but the police don't believe them. There's also two bored con men, Joe (Frank Gorshin) and Artie (Lyn Osbourne). Artie seems to be the narrator at the beginning. Joe finds Johnny's car with the saucer man pinned under it. When he tries to move it he’s killed by some other saucer men who have some kind of metal rods in their fingers (like Wolverine). Old man Larkin (Raymond Hatton) calls the cops but when they come of course the alien corpse is gone and they think Johnny's been drinking. One saucer guy has a run in with Larkin's bull and kills it. Meanwhile Johnny and Joan enlist Artie to help them after being terrorized by a severed alien hand. Adults won't help so it's up to the lovebirds and their gang to stop the invaders. There's also a government cover up conducted by the army that accidentally destroys the spaceship. The aliens inject alcohol into their victims. Russ Bender is a doctor. Jason Johnson and Ed Nelson are in it too. Angelo Rossitto, Paul Blaisdell (who created the eerie aliens) and Bob Burns are the saucer-men. This whacky teenagers meet aliens movie was directed by Edward L. Cahn and much like his THE SHE CREATURE features memorable monsters but not that good of a story.

John Ashley

HIGH SCHOOL CAESAR-1960-At a high school for over aged teenagers tough guy Matt Stevens (John Ashley) and teen thug buddies rule with fists and intimidation. He even rigs the school election so he becomes class president and his little boy toy Cricket (Steve Stevens) becomes treasurer. The principal is a real dullard who has no idea what's going on. Matt is actually a spoiled rich kid whose parents aren't around. Despite being a big bully he’s unhappy and after ripping off some student dance money he goes home and cries. Trouble starts when Matt plans to set up Cricket with a girl named Wanda (Judy Nugent). He dispatches his girlfriend Lita (Darla Massey) to set this up but Wanda wants no part of it. Lita doesn't tell Matt and pretends the whole date is ready but Wanda only has eyes for Bob (Gary Vinson). At a place called The Wagon, Matt confronts Bob who punches Matt after he slaps Wanda (who called Matt a “pampered pretty boy”). Then Bob’s friend Kelly (Lowell Brown) wins Matt’s gold coin in a drag race. Later Matt forces Kelly off the road and he’s killed in a crash (Matt takes his coin back). Everything seems ok until two of his henchmen are almost caught stealing from the school. And when Matt kidnaps and tries to molest Wanda, Cricket in a jealous rage admits to everyone that Matt was responsible for Kelly's death. Matt’s birthday party is ruined when everyone turns against him and Bob roughs him up. He’s left alone in the dirt a whimpering jerk. 

HIGH SCHOOL CAESAR really pushes the envelope on adults playing teens and it's obvious this kind of teen drama was on the way out by 1960 to be replaced with “beach” movies. Ashley would co-star in a few (and suffer a starring role in Larry Buchanan's ATTACK OF THE EYE CREATURES) before acting in and producing horror movies in The Philippines. Writer/director O'Dale Ireland also made a movie called DATE BAIT (with Gary Clarke) the same year. Other than that his claim to fame is having edited Al Adamson's PSYCHO A GO GO!

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Overage Teenagers

UNTAMED YOUTH-1957-Two hitch-hiking sisters Jane (Mamie Van Doren) and Penny (Lori Nelson; THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED) are arrested for skinny dipping by a local sheriff (Robert Foulk). A corrupted judge (Lurene Tuttle; MA BARKER'S KILLER BROOD) sends them to an "agricultural" work farm to pick cotton. It's just a front to provide cheap labor for the mean owner Mr. Tropp (TV actor John Russell). Almost immediately upon arriving Penny breaks into song when in her under-wear! Then Jane gets into a cat fight with the owner's former mistress (Jeanne Carmen; THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS). The judge's son Bob (Don Burnett) goes to work there and early rock and roll legend Eddie Cochran leads the male prisoners and sings "Cotton Picker". There's a wild dance number where Jane sings and the old cook calls their dancing "African antics"!  

Tropp gives Penny an "audition" at his house but when he puts the moves on her Bob helps her escape. He sics his dogs on her but once again Bob saves her. When Bob complains to his mom about a female prisoner dying and the conditions at the farm, mom reveals her secret: she and Tropp are secretly married. "Man oh man, this is wild ain't it?". To complecate things Bob and Penny fall in love. In the end Penny gets to do a Calypso number on TV!

Rock and Roll, illegal immigration, corruption and teenage (?) rebellion are combined in this far fetched but entertaining musical drama or drama with music maybe??

Director Howard W. Koch had already made BOP GIRL GOES CALYPSO the same year as UNTAMED YOUTH, and would also directed Van Doren again in THE GIRL IN BLACK STOCKINGS. The next year he'd directed Karloff in FRANKENSTEIN 1970.

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