MURDER WITH MUSIC - "Mistaken Identity" (1941)

Tonight's feature is a tasty little morsel from 1941, and a great way for us to help celebrate "Black History Month" called "Murder With Music!" I bought my copy, but once again as I was writing this I found out you can download or watch it for free right "HERE" at the good old Internet Archive, so if you like music as much as I do, then head on over and check it out!

"Murder With Music" probably should have been called "Music With Murder" because it is approximately 85% music with just a thread of a plot to kind of tie it all together!

It starts off with this dude Milton (THE COOL WORLD) Williams as Ted Simmonds asking for a job as a reporter. The editor behind the desk is Bob (JUNCTION 88) Howard!  Bob is relating to Ted the story of the last reporter he hired, a loser named Hal!

Now Hal instead of being focused on his job, was more concerned with trying to make whoopee with this nightclub singer named Lola! Lovely Lola was played by a popular nightclub entertainer of the time named Nellie Hill! Nellie was only ever in one other movie called "Killer Diller," and in it she played a gal by the name of Lola! Hal was played by an actor named George Oliver!

Hal's lovemaking ideas get interrupted when Lola's attention is turned to this unnamed act on the televison doing a number by the name of "I'm A Cute Little Bangi From Ubangi" that really needs to be seen and heard to believed!! Lola must do pretty well, my parents never had a TV until the 50's!

That's the TV there in the flip-top box! The next thing you know Mike shows up but she thinks it's her boyfriend Lewis, and Hal has to hide in the closet! Mike has just escaped from a two year stint in prison and he thinks the smokes and drinks he sees are that of Lola and Lewis, he knows nothing about Hal!

If you ask my humble opinion, if they remade "Murder With Music," Mike's role would be perfect for Snoop Dogg as he's almost a dead ringer for Mike! Mike was played by Bill (HOUSE-RENT PARTY) Dillard! So Mike needs some new duds, so Lola suggests they go to the pad of the guy who owns the club she works at, a fellow named Bill Smith. She said Bill likes her so much, he'd gladly give Mike one of his suits!

There's only one problem, and that is that Bill Smith is at this party! Now why Bill and his wife who you can't see in this shot, are the only two people with masks on at the party is anybody's guess! As you can see, Bill Smith is quite popular with all the ladies! Bill Smith was played by Ken Renard and is one of the few characters in this film that had much of an acting career! Ken went on to be in "True Grit," Sparkle," "Exorcist II: The Herectic," and was even in an "Outer Limits" episode called "Corpus Earthling!" He was also in "Killer Diller" with Nellie Hill!

The band at the party is Nobel Sissle and His Orchestra, and they swing hard!

When Bill Smith and his wife return to their apartment, they have no idea that Hal the reporter is hiding behind a chair listening to their conversation!

Right about here it gets a little confusing! Bill Smith and his wife leave via the window, and then this police officer comes in through the window!

Lola and Mike show up at Bill's apartment, and tell the cop that they live there! Hal is still hiding behind the chair!

Meanwhile, back at the party the joint is still jumpin' with entertainment by  these tap dancers known as Alston and Young! Noble Sissle there in the middle keeps the music flowing! Noble Sissle wrote the song "I'm Just Wild About Harry" in 1921, and that song was used in like 27 different cartoons, movies and TV shows including "Harry And The Hendersons," and "The Muppet Show!"

Then it's time for the editor Bob Howard to join Noble's orchestra and sing "Too Late Baby!" The music refuses to stop!

Time for Nellie to break into her standout number called "Can't Help It" that was written by Skippy Williams. The uncredited policeman on the keys also does an outstanding job! 

Then there's this uncredited cat who breaks in on the editor 3 or 4 times talking in German, and then leaving post haste! A real honest to goodness case of WTF?! Weirdsville!!

The final moments include a stunner of an audition by Johnson and Johnson called "That's The Cheese you Got To Squeeze!" This piano and tap dancing boogie-woogie is so hot that it causes Bill Smith to say, "I'll buy that number!" The Skippy Williams Orchestra comes in on the end of the song to wrap it up tight!

Nellie reprises "Can't Help It" at the end of the film with Skippy's orchestra accompanying!

And then, just like the title suggests, somebody does indeed get murdered!! Best news of the year so far, I just found out that "Killer Diller" can also be downloaded for free at the Internet Archive! What a way to go!!

THE OBLONG BOX / American International Productions - 1969

It's Misshaped Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature stars Dungeon Favorites Vincent Price and Christopher Lee in a tale by Edgar Allen Poe about an aristocrat who keeps his disfigured brother locked in the tower of his mansion, and, for damn good reason! Produced in England for $175,000, I was surprised to find out that this was only one of three films actually produced by AIP, all other titles were for distribution...

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip from the flick, from the jungle to the pub, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located over there by the obtuse basket, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... THE OBLONG BOX!

Alister Williamson plays Vinnie's messed up bro, Edward. Alister was also in THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, THE POT CARRIERS, THE BRAIN, THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE GORGON, THE RETURN OF MR. MOTO, THE DEADLY BEES and THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES. You finally get to see his face in the last minutes of the movie.

There's lots of intrigue, it's got the old peep hole gag and it gots blow darts to the neck!

The river's the best place to get rid of the bodies of victims whenever Edward escapes and deep sixes them!

Chris Lee always fits the part, he plays Dr. Newhartt, Edward's doctor and someone who knows the whole horrible story.

They believe that Edward has died, so, they bury him! Upon further inspection, though, they discover that he's not quite dead...

Wearing a red hood, Edward goes to the pub for some entertainment. He ends up in a room with a prostitute and gets fleeced by her boyfriend, Edward then cuts her throat and beats the crap out of the guy!

Hey, Chris Lee!.. You're next!!

Vinnie shoots Edward in the foot to slow him down, fatally wounding him! Now we can see why everyone screamed when they saw his face!

When Vinnie goes over to console his dying brother, Edward bites him, giving him the gruesome disease!

Did I mention that this whole mess is because of a curse placed on Edward when he was in Africa?!.. Vinnie will pay for the sins of his bro!

SSSSSSS! - "The Year Of The Snake" (1973)

Before we get any further into this year of 2013, it's time to take note that this is the year of the SNAKE! That bit of information coupled with the fact that I just bought myself a brand new Amp Cobra Driver says it all! "Sssssss!!!!!!!"

The director of "Sssssss" was Dungeon hero, the late Bernard Kowalski! I was lucky enuf to meet Bernie on a couple of occasions because he was one of my father-in-law's Army buddies. We never had a chance to speak much, but if I knew then what I know now,  I would have asked him a few questions about this production like "Why?" Bernie was also the director of such cult favourites as "Night Of The Blood Beast," and "Attack Of The Leech Monsters" before going on to have a long and lucrative career as a TV director!

As the movie opens we find a weird cage being loaded up onto an old pickup truck with the driver telling another guy that he's a freakin' genius!

That genius guy happens to be Ssssstrother (TARGET ZERO) Martin as the kindly Dr. Karl Ssssstoner! And what a stoner he has to be to think he's going to get away with this crap for very long!

And I quote: "We wish to thank the cast and crew for their courageous efforts while being exposed to extremely hazardous conditions." Cobras? No Ssssshit!!

The Doctor puts on snake shows for the stinkin' massive hordes on the weekend while they drink King Cobra malt liquor!

Dr. Stoner's last assistant left mysteriously in that cage, and so he recruits a new student from the local college, Dirk (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) Benedict as David Blake! The Doctor is shooting David up with various snake potions, and what do you know, imagine that, he's starting to shed his skin!

If you're under 20, you probably don't know what this is, and if you're over 20, you're probably feeling  kind of nostalgic right about now!

The carnival comes to town!

Imagine that, one of the main attractions is the living snake boy, now where do you suppose he came from?

In the old "If it doesn't work the first time, try it again department," "Sssssss" was released a second time with a new tagline as "Sssssnake!"

Dr. Stoner gives the local bully a tassssste of his own medicine! That little toe proves you don't have to be prefect to work in Hollyweird!

For all you reptile lovers, there are plenty of sssssnakes in this movie!!!

Actually quite weird, the Doctor's life and his experiments have totally gone to the dark side! At this point there is virtually no room left for any shred of hope!

Rikky-Tikky-Tavi! Everybody knows mongooses kick cobra's asses on a regular basis, so the fact that there is a caged mongoose in this story kind of predicts that somewhere along the line the snakes are going to lose somehow, no matter what!

Can you spell FUSTERCLUCK? As in all wrapped up and no place to go!! WAZZZZ!!!!!!! Sometime before the year of the snake is over,  we'll get around to "Rattlers!"

ALIEN PREY aka PREY / Tymar Film Productions - 1978

It's Friday Fright with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We have a story about an alien invasion, the alien kills and takes over a body, assuming the identity of a young man. He's invited to stay with a lesbian couple after he pretends to be hurt, one girl becomes suspicious of her lover and starts to rely more on the alien for support, causing big problems. Shot in 10 days in England, most of the script was written during the filming and the majority of the footage was shot with a hand-held camera!

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip of some cool music from the film for our approval, soooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by the ejector pod, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our audio offering for... ALIEN PREY!

This is the invader, he goes on to kill and take over a body but gets absolutely no credit for working on this movie!

This is Barry Stokes as Anders, the transformed alien, he goes into the woods to look for some of that there, you know... Prey! Barry did mostly British TV including working on the HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR series.

Barry kept the alien teeth after the shoot!

Those teeth are pretty damn sharp, you can ask that dead copper there!!

When he's not hungry, Anders appears to be fairly normal. Here, he's out for a walk in the woods with Josephine and Jessica, his new best friends who have invited him to stay with them for a while. Sally (THE BODY STEALERS) Faulkner plays Josephine and Glory (SUPERGIRL) Annen plays Jessica.

He does have some strange alien phobias which come into play at times.

What the heck, there's never a bad time to show a shot like this...

They get dressed up and get Anders loaded! Hell, he's an alien, he don't know the difference anyway! Main actors used their own clothes for the shoot, really Barry?!

Anders falls into the pond but doesn't know how to swim. As he fights the fear and the girls try and save him, the water churns up some real fuckin' muck 'n' sludge!! Get this... In order to film in that pond, the actors had to have injections before they went in as the water was a dumping ground!

Anders ends up in bed with Jessica, so, what else, he chews on her neck!! One keyword for this flick is cannibalism...

Bzzzt, Bzzt, Crackle... Kator calling command ship, send advance parties immediately. I've now established humans high in protein... and, easy prey!