Tonight - The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Originally in 3-D, it's being shown "flat", though I understand the original version as been restored.

Some trivia: The Creature himself was played by two people. The swimming and underwater scenes were performed by Ricou Browning, an expert swimmer from Hawaii. On land, it was Ben Chapman. Chapman was quite a bit taller than Browning, so two Creature suits were needed.

As far as the creation of the monster itself, though Bud Westmore received screen credit, the design, sculpture and execution was more of a team effort by Westmore's crew. Here's an interesting article - it's a bit long, but parts of it deal with an unsung artist named Millicent Patrick:

The Fantastic Mystery of Millicent Patrick

Anyone for sushi?


Signor V.

Thank you Sir. Love when you provide these very interesting facts.

Even though I seen this recently, I cannot miss it..... Its like when The Wolfman is on, I could never turn it off.
One of my favs

Coming up this week, one of my favorites:

A 1964 kitsch classic from William Castle - Joan Crawford in...

Strait-Jacket



A little trivia here: Does anybody remember who played her cheating husband who gets whacked in the scene above? He went on to become quite famous as a TV actor just a few short years later. You might say he was a "major" star...


Signor V.

I’m only guessing.... Lee Majors ? From your Hint.

I’m gunna look it up.

MY Wife had a gues also ,, the guy from Major Dad.

We have a winner!



(I did sorta give it away, didn't I?)


Signor V.

Yes, good hint.... we enjoyed that. After making our guesses we googled it.
We love Q&A.... We compete against each other in Jeopardy every night we can watch.

Its on Sir.

DW is even excited to wife.

OMG , Lee looks so young and Joan so Old.\

She is whacko.

Thanks for the heads up Sir V.

Wife is loving this, I may get Lucky.

We paused the credits three times already, we both thought the youn girl looked familiar but as you said Lee Majors did not get a a credit neither did she.

Good flick.

According to the Imdb, the uncredited actress was Patricia Crest (aka Patricia Krest). Very little about her on that site. Just a few credits and nothing after Strait-Jacket.

Not a familiar name or face to me.


Signor V.

That movie was the best Svengoolie ever had, we loved it.

Yep. It was definitely memorable. As decapitation movies go, it was a bit of a groundbreaker.





Seriously, you have to remember that back then (early 1960's) losing a head, hand, limb or anything similar on-camera was rare in mainstream US films. Nowadays we're used to seeing everything lopped off in loving, gory detail.


Signor V.

True. The craziest thing back then was Giant Ants and a few Martians.

LoL

The Black Cat.

Never seen it, looks good. I like the cast.

Sven is really steppin it up.

IT came from beneath the sea.

https://goo.gl/images/QQrs7j

This was one of the first movies I ever saw in a theater. I was all of six years old and my sister (then 16) and my brother (then 14) took me on the bus to see it in Coney Island. It was a little too much for me and about all I really remember is the scene where the octupus threw one of his tentacles over The Golden Gate Bridge. Years later I saw a movie poster showing that scene and the memories came flooding back. It was a cheesy movie, but it was a GOOD cheesy movie. I love sci-flick from the '50s, especially those starring Kenneth Tobey who was known for his his '50s tv show, "WhirlyBirds" (about a helicopter pilot). His other monster movies from that period included, "The Thing" (a GREAT movie with fast-paced dialogue that is among the best ever) and "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms", whose sad ending was in my beloved Coney Island.

The wonder years of my summer life were spent in Coney Island late 60 - 70s.
Parents took us to CYO beach club off Surf ave and we would enjoy the boardwalk and park as well for many years.

I agree, Great cheesy movies. I am going to look up the tv show ( Whirly Birds) - sounds familiar.

Surf Avenue had three big movie theaters back in the '50s. It was there I had a traumatic experience when I was a kid. I saw "Bambi" there when I was about six years old and it devastated me when Bambi's mother died. That stuck with me for years. But I digress. Years later my draft board was on Surf Avenue and I was really lucky that I came from that "poor" section that had lots of guys available for the draft. (I also had a high number, by birthday, in that first lottery (1969).

Anyway, if you've never seen "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" you should check it out. Great FX for the time (Ray Harryhausen) and the local tie-in (the monster comes from the North Pole down the Atlantic current into NYC and comes ashore in lower Manhattan and then eventually back to Manhattan Beach and Coney Island (although it was really filmed in California). Look for a very young Lee Van Cleef as the marksman who kills the monster with a uranium dart).

The '50s had tons of these Grade B sci-fi flicks and some of them were quite memorable. One of my favorites was "Them", a REALLY good movie. The FX were terrible (giant ants) BUT the buildup to the story was absolutely terrific. The first 30 minutes of the movie (especially the scenes in the desert) were hauntingly suspenseful and as good as any movie I've ever seen. Stars James Whitmore (the poor man's Spencer Tracy) and James Arness who played "The Thing" in 1951 and later became famous on tv as Marshall Dillon in "Gunsmoke". Even more cheesier as far as FX went was "The Crawling Eye" which basically looked like a skeevy egg omelet but it had a decent story and starred Forest Tucker, later of tv's "F Troop".

"The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" arrives in NYC. He came ashore at the Fulton Fish Market piers, the same location that many of you younger people may remember from "Goodfellas" (where they found a frozen Frankie Carbone in the meat truck).

I remember that this movie was shown late at night, on one of the first nights that local TV transitioned into all night broadcasting, from when they used to sign off at midnight.

As a pre-teen watching this, I was hoping for a graphic "sex," and was not interested in the adult violence.

When seeing this movie as a child on TV, I remember being upset and crying when the monster was killed.

House of Wax

Sven showing 1951 The Son of Dr. Jekyll

Son of Dr. Jekyll is interesting, not because it's a particularly great film (it isn't), but because of the way the monster transformation (singular - there was only one) was achieved. Hayward (Jekyll) changes without any camera stopping, lap dissolves, etc. because the Hyde makeup is painted on in red greasepaint, then filtered lighting (or a filtered camera lens) works an effect only possible in black and white.

The technique had been around for many years in film. In the 1927 silent Ben-Hur, lepers were healed this way. Here is a clip from the 1932 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Fredric March:



And from 1937's Sh! The Octopus:



Curious as to how it's all done? Check this out:



Fascinating stuff.


Signor V.

That’s great, we even missed some of Live PD last night t finish watching this flick.

I love the dreary camera shots of old London and the dark sets.

1961 Vally of The Dragons.

Never seen it, will watch while I wait for Live PD nad then DVR the rest.

Cynthia Meyers....if u (all) ppl. don't know what I'm talking about....Google her..I know Dues is good 4 that...he's hip..LOL.she's in all the Valley movies of the 60s...

Ahhhh, Cynthia Myers. I'm old enough to remember the Playboy centerfold that first put her on the map, as it were. I believe it was in 1969, and that's how Russ Meyer cast her in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

Gone, but definitely not forgotten.


Signor V.

Very smart & well remembered Vitelli..I did not think anyone was on the same page (so 2 speak) as I..wonderful creature God has given us in those days huh?/