Friday, July 6, 2012

CAPTAIN FATHOM / New Vistas Productions - 1955

It's Friday Fifties Adventure Theater with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our offering is a TV movie from 1955, and, cousin to HERE COMES TOBOR produced a few years later. It stars Don (CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS) Megowan and Kenneth (IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA) Toby.

Eegah!! has given us a cool little soundclip, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the banana peel, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here's a sample of sounds from... CAPTAIN FATHOM!

In the soundclip the narrator says... "This is an underwater craft propelled by atomic power. Call her "The Explorer" and you know her purpose. Few have seen her, less have been on her, but many have either gained or suffered because of her. "The Explorer" is no ordinary submarine and her skipper is no ordinary man. His name is only known to a few - Captain Fathom!" I really dig the sub, not sure if it was ever used in any other productions, it doesn't look familiar.

It's just another day at the office for these handsome modern-day underwater adventure seekers. Kenneth Toby has just come back from a surveillance mission and could use a towel. Apparently, the number of horizontal stripes on your t-shirt designates your rank!

What a treat, Barbara Wilson plays photographer Carol Barclay. Barbara was also in THE MAN WHO TURNED TO STONE, TEENAGE DOLL, BLOOD OF DRACULA, INVASION OF THE ANIMAL PEOPLE and was the bikini babe who got her top ripped off by Freddy at the beginning of THE FLESH EATERS!

They get all suited up in the latest hi-tech diving gear, then, go play in the kiddie pool!

They go exploring, there has been a radiation anomaly detected in this area! I like pic 2.

Here's a little homage paid to fifties hardware/equipment design...

They find a bomb on the ocean floor and attach a detonation charge to it! I like pic 2.

I don't get it, what was it going to do, blow up?

To increase the tension for the kids watching the show, the divers have to share their air in order to get back to the safety of the sub!

Alright, way to go Barbara! She was soooo beautiful in INVASION OF THE ANIMAL PEOPLE, a talented ice skater, too!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT - John Scott - "The 7th Continent" (1977)

"The People That Time Forgot" is based on a story by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of "Tarzan Of The Apes," and other books like.....

..."The Monster Men," a book I've had for years that has one of my favorite Frank Frazetta covers on it! Does that make it a good movie? Not exactly, but I did find it mildly entertaining for a few reasons!

If you really want to find some people that time forgot you need to either go to the bottom of the ocean, deep into some unknown jungle, or in this case, a distant frozen wasteland!

Voilà, once they get past the ice, there is a lush and green alternate environment replete with Dinosaurs and other remnants of the distant past!

The local cave girl is none other than Brit Pop Queen Dana Gillespie in another fine role, this time as Ajor! Last time we saw Dana, she was on another "Lost Continent!" John Wayne's son Patrick (Howdy Lewis) Wayne and Doug McClure get top credits in this film, but it's Dana that steals the show! Born Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie, Dana has been the girlfriend of Donovan, has had records produced by Jimmy Page and David Bowie, and was Mary Magdalene in the original production of "Jesus Christ Superstar!"

"The television man is krazy, saying we're juvenile delinquent wrecks, Oh man, I need TV when I've got T Rex!" - David Bowie, from "All The Young Dudes."

Dana still performs today as Dana Gillespie and The London Blues Band! Imagine if you will, it's said that as a schoolgirl, David Bowie used to carry her books for her!!! It was a year before this film was released that Bowie was in "The Man Who Fell To Earth," another movie we still need to get around to someday!

I took almost this same exact footage a couple of weeks ago, when it was so hot, the pine cones starting popping like popcorn!!

This place is not only inhabited by your everyday variety dinos, there's also critters like this big Scutosaurus. It's not too difficult to imagine the Scutosaurus farting and the resulting effects!

Bill Beavis didn't get credit for the cool scenic artwork, but he's the one who did it! I think the people who dwell here probably went to the "House On Skull Mountain" for vacations!

You've seen him here before, one of the Dungeon faves Milton (BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE, NIGHT CREATURES, DR.NO) Reid as the almighty and powerful SABBALA!

"The People That Time Forgot" may not be the best movie ever made, but I give them a lot of credits for some cool sets!

Here's the guy they have been looking for, Doug McClure as Bowen Tyler! Doug had an amazing career for a guy who only lived to be 59! Besides film, Doug had some incredible runs on TV, including 17 episodes of "Overland Trail" as Frank "Flip" Flippen, 70 episodes of "Checkmate" as Jed Sills, 249 episodes of "The Virginian" as Trampas/Tampas, and 13 episodes of "Barnaby Coast" as Cash Conover!

Joining Dana here for the big ceremony is Sarah (STRIPPERS VS. WEREWOLVES) Douglas as Charly! Among a horde of other things, Sarah was Ursa in "Superman" & "Superman II."

Sabbala attempts to have the last laugh at Ajor's expense!

The music throughout the whole ordeal was created by Maestro John Scott! Mr. Scott has almost 150 credits in almost every genre of film you can think of! I could write a whole blog on this one man's accomplishments, but I'll just tell you that he played both tenor and alto flute on The Beatles hauntingly beautiful number "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," and that should be enough!

Not overly sexy, gross or gory for 1977, "The People That Time Forgot" can still be found on Netflix last time I checked!

Monday, July 2, 2012

THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON / Clarke-King Enterprises - 1959

It's Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is a flick that I saw back in 1959 at the theater, this time, actor Robert Clarke decides to cash in on the fifties monster craze by coming up with this 74 minute low budget story of a man turned into a lizard-like demon after a nuclear accident in a lab where he was working. That reissue poster looks to be from the eighties, dropping the adjective, 'hideous.'

Eegah!! made us a sounsclip all about the bar scene where Nan Peterson sings the monster classic love tune... "Strange Pursuit." Soooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there next to the exhaust port, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's a tune sans the fly from... THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON!

After being rushed to the hospital for radiation contamination, Dr. Gilbert McKenna, Robert Clarke, amazes everyone because of how quickly he seems to have recovered after the accident!

But, the first time he tries to catch a little sun, he freaks out the old biddy sharing the space with him! Pearl Driggs played the "Convalescing Woman on Roof," she was Robert Clarke's mother-in-law and also the mother of the singing King Sisters!

..LEAPIN' LIZARDS!!

Wait, this guy who's trying to help Gil is pointing to a freakin' whale! Dude, no, lizard!

Here's the "Strange Pursuit" part in the soundclip... Even monsters need love (and cigarettes)! The decorations on the wall blow my mind!

Boys will be boys, so, Gil and singer Trudy's boyfriend, George, fight it out in the back room. Peter Similuk plays George, this was his last movie with a total of 10 acting credits. He also played a Russian pilot in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.

After Gil leaves Trudy half naked on the beach, running off in his sportscar because the sun was rising, he goes back to the bar to apologize. But, George and his pals are there, so, they take him out back and beat the snot outta him! It's amazing how many bad bras got under tight sweaters of dames in the fifties, seriously!

Then, George finds Gil at Trudy's place in the daytime and makes him go outside, bad idea!

Richard Cassarino was the creator of the monster. The suit looks awkward on Robert as he lopes along, it riding up in places.

Back home, he discusses his hoplessness to his doctor friends.

I dig this photo the most with the gas station and classic '55 Caddy! That was the price of gas into the mid-seventies.

After getting a cookie from the little girl, he has to then listen to her tell him about the tea party she had with her stuffed toys!

His mind numbed, he has to get away before he punches her and runs directly out into the sun, what a maroon!

I did us all a big favor and only show him coming at you, if you know what I mean!! This last scene is hard for me to watch in spots because of my acrophobia, and, I did not enjoy being on top of the Space Needle in 1968 either...

Where I come from, we call that a mess!..

Monster Music

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