TALES FROM THE TRENCHES 2019 EPISODE 1 FUTURE WORLDS (SHOUT TV)

This is a great look at the careers of Roger and Julie Corman as seen thru their eyes.

This episode looks at 7 movies dealing with future worlds and alien planets from several films Roger produced or directed.

The movies discussed here are DEAD SPACE, DEATHSPORT, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, WAR OF THE SATELLITES, GALAXY OF TERROR, STARCRASH and NIGHTFALL.

It's always good to hear Corman speak about his films and there are a lot of great anecdotes and behind the scenes information as well as some pretty cool clips. I enjoyed hearing about WAR OF THE SATELLITES and STARCRASH the best.

Listening to Julie is very interesting as she has almost the same take on movie making as Roger and she has even more stories to tell. This is a 13 part series from Shout TV and I will be looking at them all.

If you haven't checked out the series, you should. It's a heck of a lot of fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Daniela Bianchi is 78.

TEENAGE WOLFPACK 1956 (SINISTER CINEMA)

A very well made classic JD film.

Horst Buchholz stars as Freddy, the leader of a mob of teen thugs who are always getting into one kind of trouble or another.

His brother Jan (Christian Doermer) comes to see him and soon finds himself also wrapped up in Freddy's web of crime and deceit. Freddy is a brutal but ultimately dumb young man who has no feelings for anyone but himself.

His sexy girlfriend Sissy Bohl (Karin Baal) turns out to be as unstable as Freddy. Both are driven by theft, violence and murder. The downfall starts when Freddy plots the theft of a mail truck and it turns out to have no money on it at all.

They later rob an elderly man's home and end up killing him. This is a very brutal and well made film whose credits were changed by DCA in order to try and hide the fact that it's a German import film.

This is the movie that got Buchholt's career off of the ground and you can easily see the talent this man had. If you haven't seen the movie, I would suggest you do. It's not too widely known and that's sad because it's good.

Most of the leads in the film had very good careers and as I said, watch and you'll see why. The print is from a beautiful 35mm that Sinister has.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Rebecca Quinn is 33.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Tom Selleck is 75, and Katherine Ross is 80.

RIP MONIQUE VAN VOOREN 1927-2020

The Belgium born actress has passed away.

Her acting was sparse and brief, but she is best remembered for her roles in such films as "Tarzan & The She Devil" and "Flesh For Frankenstein" and a few appearances on some TV shows like the original Batman and "NBC Experiment In Television".

A very statuesque and beautiful woman, Van Vooren passed away on January 28th, 2020 at the age of 92.

HIGHWAY PATROL BEST OF SEASON 2 1956-1957 (TGG GROUP) DISC 2

This disc contains even more episodes from this classic series.

Broderick Crawford stars as Dan Mathews, the leader of the highway patrol, and these are some of his adventures. The show was major hit in it's day and ran for four years. I enjoyed everyone of these following episodes.

HOT CARGO 11/26/56... Interesting story about hijackers who use fake road accidents to stop trucks and steal their cargo.

OIL LEASE 12/3/56... Two crooks steal a bazooka and use it in a daring payroll robbery of a refinery, but then find escape is almost impossible when Dan and his men are called to the scene.

EX CON 12/10/56... Three felons force a former prison buddy to help them steal $12,000. This is a very simple but tense episode that stands out as one of the best of all 4 seasons.

MOTEL ROBBERY 12/17/56... A man and two women make a lot of daring motel holdups, and the longer they go the more daring they become,until their life of crime catches up to them. Rhodes Reason stars.

STOLEN CAR RING 12/24/56... Three people steal expensive cars and then make false registrations and then sell them before any crime can be detected. Dan and the patrol investigate and have quite a time catching the bandits.

ESCAPED MENTAL PATIENT 12/31/56... A somewhat disturbing episode about an escaped patient from an asylum that believes he is a great musician and has unpredictable homicidal behavior.

ARMORED CAR 1/7/57... Three men steal an armored car with the guard still in the back. They kidnap his wife to force him into giving them the $25,000 he is protecting. The gorgeous Ruta Lee stars.

MIGRANT WORKERS 1/14/57... Thieves steal money from migrant fruit pickers, but the theft goes wrong when murder occurs. Another top notch episode.

And that wraps up all the episodes on this disc. The quality from TGG Group is very good and if you like classic TV I recommend this. Great story telling and I love the narrator, who of course was Art Gilmore.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Barbi Benton is 70, and Jack Hill is 87.

TEENAGE BAD GIRL 1956 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Not too shabby of a drama about a young girl gone bad.

Sylvia Syms stars as Janet, a 17 year old girl with a good stable life and a mother who cares for her and her sister. Anna Neagle is Valerie, the mother who is trying to work her way up to a higher paying job.

Everything seems fine until Janet falls for a young man named Tony Ward Black (Kenneth Haigh). Slowly he takes control of her life and gets her involved with the teenage scene of staying put all night, drinking, smoking and other things as well.

This leads to a huge rift between Janet and her mother and they slowly drift apart as Valarie desperately tries to help her daughter. Eventually Tony leads Janet to a web of murder and deceit which just about destroys everyone.

Syms is excellent in the role of Janet, the naive young woman turned delinquent because of the love for a young man. Haigh is also perfect in the role of Tony.

The rest of the cast includes Norman Woodland, Wilfrid Hyde White, Julia Lockwood and Wanda Ventham.

It's a pretty well made film and I have heard about it for years but never had the chance to see it until now. A good tight script, direction and acting make this a winner for fans of the genre.

The print is in very good shape and should please those who aren't too picky. Recommended.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Bridget Fonda is 56, and Melissa Brasselle is 55.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 1952 (TGG GROUP)

I hadn't seen this movie in years, but it's just as amusing as I remember it.

The classic fable stars Bud Abbott as Mr. Dinklepuss and Lou Costello as Jack. We all know the story, Jack has to sell his families cow for money and is instead given magic beans by a shady butcher.

The beans grow into a giant beanstalk and Jack, accompanied by Dinklepuss climb up to a giant's house in the sky and attempt to rescue a kidnapped princess and prince.

I love A&C and this is one of their best films. It was made independently and the two comedy geniuses shine. There are a ton of great sight gags, and most of them work very, very well.

The movie starts in black and white, but changes to color once the fable starts. This version, and every one I have seen runs about 70 minutes, but there is a longer version that runs 83 minutes, but it's in a private archive and has not been released in any format.

Abbott & Costello promoted this film on an episode of Colgate Comedy Hour which I wrote about a few days ago. If you like good clean comedy then I would recommend this film. Buddy Baer also makes the film shine as the Giant.

Hey, you gotta love the lipstick on the cow that Jack sells. Every since I saw this a short while back I now refer to my boss at work as Mr. Dinklepuss.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Kathryn Leigh Scott is 77, and Sasha Banks is 28.

AT WAR WITH THE ARMY 1950 (TGG GROUP)

The third teaming of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

Lewis is Pfc. Alvin Korwin a low man on the totem pole in the military. Dean Martin is 1st Sgt. Vic Puccinelli.

Vic treats Alvin like a low life and the two have a lot of misadventures in the service. I have to admit this wasn't a very funny movie, and it bored me which is shocking for a film with these two great talents.

Martin's character is a very mean spirited person who takes great pleasure in making Lewis's character look really stupid and this isn't in the least bit funny. It was rather shocking to see a "comedy" film so damned mean spirited.

When a film like this is boring, it's deadly. I cannot recommend this film to any comedy fan or Martin and Lewis fans. It was on a disc I bought so since I had never seen it, I figured I'd give it a look.

I'm sorry I did. Avoid.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Michelle McCool is 40.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Nastassja Kinski is 59, and Elaine Giftos is 75.

RIP JOHN KARLEN 1933-2019

The actor best known to genre fans as Willie Loomis has passed away.

Karlen played multiple characters on the classic horror soap opera "Dark Shadows", but his performance as Willie Loomis will always be the favorite.

Karlen started his career in TV in 1957 and made appearances on many shows until his big break came in 1967 with the above mentioned Dark Shadows. He also appeared in many movies and some of the best include "House Of Dark Shadows", "Daughters Of Darkness", "Picture Of Dorian Gray" a 1972 televison movie and the classic TV horror film "Trilogy Of Terror".

In Karlen's TV work were appearances in such shows as "Mannix", "Night Gallery". "Supertrain" and much more. He was also famouse for his starring tole in the Cagney & Lacey TV series as Harvey Lacey.

Karlen was a very versatile actor and that is why he got a lot of work. He was a very familiar face to many of us during the 60's, 70's and 80's. He passed away on Jan. 22nd at the age of 86.

SEA HUNT BEST OF SEASON 1 VOLUME 2 DISC 2 (1958)

Here are more great episodes from the classic TV series starring Lloyd Bridges as Mike Nelson. The episodes never fail to entertain me and hold my interest.

THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT 8/16/58... A gang of hoodlums attack Mike after he has help a small boy retrieve his lost bicycle. Jeff Bridges stars as the young boy and Frank Wolff is a policeman. A very well made episode.

DEAD MAN'S COVE 8/23/58... Mike has to prove that a woman mysterious death was not an accident. Leonard Nimoy stars in this tense episode.

KILLER ROCK 8/30/58... Myron Healey and Aline Towne star in this episode in which Mike is called in to help destroy an underwater peak that has caused a lot of shipwrecks.

THE AMPHIBIAN 9/6/58... One of the members of a small group of sports divers turns out to be a spy who Mike catches taking pictures of a secret Navy operation.

LORD CRISTOBAL 9/13/58... Mike is the target for a murderer while he is investigating a sunken ship for an insurance company.

DECOY 9/20/58... Mike is called in to investigate reports of a huge sea monster that even has the huge whales swimming away in fear. This is a very well done episodes and one of my favorites.

THE SEA HAS EARS 9/27/58... Mike searches for some divers who are tapping into an underwater cable and getting top secret information from a major American company.

THE MANGANESE STORY 10/4/58... This was the final episode of the first season. In this exciting episode Mike fights sharks, weather, attempted killings and a giant clam in his search for manganese which could prove very valuable for the US Government.

These episodes as well as the ones on the previous disc I review are just a small sample of what a great show this was, and I do hope to find more of these soon. If you're a classic TV fan, I couldn't recommend this enough.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Gil Gerard is 77.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS: THE STORY OF TOM SAVINI 2015 (SHUDDER)

Another great documentary on Shudder.

This is a documentary on one of the the greatest special effects men ever to work in the business of movies....Tom Savini.

This covers his life from a child growing up in Pittsburgh, going thru school, going into Vietnam and coming out a very different man and then finally finding his niche in movie make-up.

Of course we hear from many people who have worked with him including John Amplas, George Romero, Tom Atkins and many, many more. We also get to hear from his daughter which really gives us insight to the man, not just the image.

There are plenty of great clips from movies Tom has worked on and some of his home made movies as well. If you're a Savini fan, this is a MUST see piece of cinema.

I enjoyed it a lot but then I have always admired Savini since I first saw "Dawn Of The Dead" and "Martin" back in the day. Go to Shudder if tyou want to see this. Yes, this is a somewhat short write-up, but I really don't want to give too much away.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Linda Blair is 61.

DAYLIGHT'S END 2016 (VERTICAL)

A pretty damned good film that seems to have fallen into oblivion.

This really reminded me of "The Omega Man" as it is about a time when most of the world has been wiped out by a strange plague that has turned most of the population into creatures that cannot stand the light of day and huddle in dark buildings where they hope they will not be discovered.

A small band of surviving humans fight for survival in an abandoned jail as the hordes of these creatures assail them every night. Johnny Strong is Rourke, a man with a souped up Mad Max like car who teams up with the other survivors in an attempt to help them reach a cargo plane at the Dallas airport and then fly to the imagined freedom and safety of an island.

This movie really works on a lot of levels and there are some pretty intense scenes. The best I think was the one involving the attempted setting of explosives designed to kill off most of the creatures in one building. That scene really builds the tension.

Lance Henriksen is Frank, one of the leaders of the small group of humans, and he does a great job as usual in the role. It's always a pleasure to watch Lance in anything and his presence here just lifts the movie that much more.

The movie didn't do well at all and died a quiet death at the box office, but it is a film that horror fans should see. It's not better or worse than many others and I believe everyone would find at least one thing to like about the movie.

If you get a chance you might want to check it out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Maryse Mizanin is 37, and Audrey Dalton is 86.

HIGHWAY PATROL BEST OF SEASON 2 1956 (TGG GROUP) DISC 1

Another great ZIV Television production and a show I had never seen until I got this set on DVD.

I believe I had seen only one episode of this show starring Broderick Crawford as Police Chief Dan Matthews and I enjoyed it. Then I ran into this set standing in a long line at a store on Christmas Eve and I figured I'd pick it up.

This is a two disc set containing episodes from season 2 and so I will give you a rundown of the disc 1 episodes, and then later I will look at disc 2. A great show with some damn good scripts The show ran for 4 years. Here is what is on disc 1.

THE SEARCH 10/8/56... A very charming man turns out to be a psychotic killer who uses said charms to get people to help him elude the police. Gail Kobe stars.

KIDNAP COPTER 10/15/56... The Highway Patrol finds that they have to use their helicopter to rescue a badly injured kidnap victim as well as use it to aid in the capture of the two kidnappers.

TRAILER STORY 10/22/56... A fugitive murderer kidnaps a newlywed couple pulling a trailer in a vain attempt to escape from the police.

FISHERMAN'S LUCK 10/29/56... Two thieves are killed in a car accident and their partners try to get the impounded vehicle so they can collect the $50,000 still hidden inside.

MAGAZINE WRITER 11/5/56... Herbert Strock directed this tense episode about Matthews and his men trying to find an on the lamb crime writer whose life is in danger by gangsters because they think he can identify a murderer.

TYPHOID CARRIER 11/12/56... A typhoid carrier flees from the police after a small child comes down with the illness. This is an odd but very tense episode.

HOT ROD 12/19/56... A felon and his younger brother stage a series of hold ups in a supercharged hot rod. Their lives take an even more tragic turn when they run over an elderly woman in an escape.

There are 7 episodes for you and more to come. The entire series is a well written, and very entertaining show with Crawford doing a great job as Dan Matthews. When I watch these shows I feel as if I am watching a very cool film noir. A highly recommended show and I'll have more episodes coming soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Tom Baker is 86, and Jack Grinnage is 89.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Tippi Hedren is 90, Shelley Fabares is 76, Linda Hayden is 67, and John Richardson is 86.

WHITE PONGO 1945 (TREE LINE)

A PRC film that really boggles the mind.

Sam Newfield directed this strange film about an expedition to find a legendary white gorilla that may be a missing link between man and the apes.

The safari is infiltrated with German soldiers looking for the gorilla for their own evil means, and an undercover policeman named Geoffrey Bishop (Richard Fraser) who is also on a mission from the English Government.

Nothing but trouble follows the safari and soon the lovely female of the bunch that has been kidnapped by the German scientist is then kidnapped by the white gorilla. Maris Wrixon is the distressed damsel and she handles the role well for what it is.

The titanic struggle at the end of the film is a fight between the white gorilla and a brown one. The white gorilla wins and is caught and caged for his efforts and then the movie ends.

This is one odd film and it barely held my attention, which is odd for a PRC film as I generally love them. I can't really recommend this, but if you want to see it go ahead.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Ted DiBiase is 66,and Cheryl Waters is 73.

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM 1950-1965 (TGG GROUP)

One of the most famous and popular shows ever made for television.

A lot of you know from visiting this blog that I have a special love for most things horror and sci-fi, film noir, and western but believe it or not I do like a lot of things outside of those genres. Classic TV is one of them, and it gets no more classic than this.

Benny was one of the best performers in his field and a true comedy genius. I recently got a chance to see eight episodes of his show, which I haven't seen in many, many years. They are listed below.

THE HILLBILLY SHOW 4/20/58... Jack's manager has a hard time finding time to speak with Jack, and adding to the frustration is Jack reminiscing about a Hillbilly act he used to have. This episode is a gem.

BEDROOM BURGLARS 1/9/55... A pair of burglars enter Jack's bedroom and find that taking anything out is the biggest challenge they've ever had. Good comedy and some very laugh out loud moments.

FRED ALLEN 4/19/53... Benny and Allen were two great radio stars and they had a fictionalized feud for over 20 years in radio, the movies and TV. This episode is hilarious as that feud continues with Fred trying to oust Jack from his own show.

HUMPHREY BOGART 10/25/53... Police Lt. Benny has to question "Babyface" Bogart in connection with a murder. It was quite a thing to see Bogart on a TV show and even though he looks a slight bit uncomfortable with comedy the episode works out very well and it a great take off on film noir.

LIBERACE 1/17/54... A Great episode sees Jack visit the home of Liberace and even Jack is astounded by the goings on and extravagance. Liberace invites Jack to a concert where Jack can play his violin, and fans of this show know what that means.

GOLDIE, FIELDS AND GLIDE 3/21/54... George Burns and Bing Crosby appear in this timeless episode about Jack remembering his vaudeville days. Bob Hope also makes a quick appearance. So much talent showcased in a 26 minute show. Great memories here.

HOW JACK FOUND MARY 10/31/54... A reporter asks Jack how he met Mary Livingston and he tells him a story about meeting her while she was a clerk in a May Company Store. Lots of laughs and we even get to see Eddie "Rochester" Anderson singing and scat dancing with the Sportsmen Quartet.

It's sad that TV will never be like this again. Good, clean fun and some genuine laughs by people that knew how to make you laugh. I really enjoyed getting to see some of these wonderful shows again, and I hope I get to see more soon. They made a very pleasant change from my usual fare.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Cristina Galbo is 70.

THE BRAIN MACHINE 1977 (TREE LINE)

Yes, I liked this movie a lot.

Joy N. Houck Jr. directed this interesting horror film about several people chosen to participate in a top secret Government experiment involving a machine that can read your inner most thoughts.

The story starts with a scientist, the one who invented the machine stealing his own creation and trying to keep it away from people. He is hunted down by agents of the US Government who want the machine in use. They kill him and the experiment proceeds as planned, but with a lot of cover up and double cross.

The four people involved are put in a room and their brains are scanned to see if they are being truthful or not. Slowly but surely they turn on one another, but the top government people do not stop the experiment. They want the Brain Machine to keep the population in check. As one agent says "total surveillance is freedom".

Tings continue to go horrible wrong until all are killed in a very downbeat and scary ending. Even though many have died the Government considers the machine to be a success and move it to another location.

This review is a very simplified form of what really goes on in the movie, but I don't want to give too much away, and I really liked it and if you haven't seen it I recommend that you do.

This filmed in Mississippi obscurity stars James Best, Barbara Burgess, Gerald McRaney, Doug Collins and Stuart Lancaster in a great role. It's available on a lot of PD sets so check it out and decide for yourself.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Caroline Munro is 71, John Carpenter is 72, and Marilu Tolo is 76.

SEA HUNT BEST OF SEASON 1 VOLUME 2 1958 (TGG GROUP) DISC 1

This is a great little set I found while standing in line at a store and I figured I'd give it a try because I had never seen the show, but have heard nothing but good things about.

The quality is very good and these ZIV produced shows were a lot of fun. Lloyd Bridges stars as Mike Nelson and it ran for 4 years. Here is some of what is included in this compilation.

PRESSURE SUIT 6/21/58... A professor and his daughter hire Mike to help them get rare underwater plants off the coast of Costa Rica.

THE PROSPECTORS 6/28/58... Two prospectors ask Mike to join them in a hunt for uranium. One of the two men endangers everyone with his insane jealousy and suspicions.

THE HERO 7/5/58... Larry Hagman stars in this episode about a rich hunter who cares about nothing except killing a shark for his trophy case.

UNDERWATER STATION 7/12/58... Mike discovers a kidnapped scientist that is being held in a secret underwater prison cell. A very good little episode.

THE LOST ONES 7/19/58... Lloyd's son Jeff Bridges stars as one of two missing children who are trapped in a rapidly flooding cave. Mike must try and rescue them before it's too late.

CAPTURE OF THE SANTA ROSA 7/26/58... Mike Nelson is called on to help rescue a Latin American diplomat being held hostage on his boast with his wife.

THE SHIPWRECK 8/2/58... Mike shares his life raft with three others storm survivors and they all four must fight for survival as they are trapped in the middle of the ocean without food or water. Russ Conway and Leonard Nimoy star.

THE BIG DIVE 8/9/58... A movie stuntman tries to break a diving record to impress a movie studio boss. This stunt puts several lives in great danger.

This collection is broken up into two discs and the above episodes are from disc one. Disc two will be written about separately. The episodes are all well made and Bridges is perfect for the role of Nelson.

Each episode had a lot of voice over as Mike narrates the action on screen which was unique for TV back in the 1950's and the series always had good stories with mostly upbeat endings. I enjoyed watching these episodes and as I said, I will be writing about the other episodes soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Joanne Linville is 92, Phyllis Coates is 93, Barbie Blank is 33, and Shane McMahon is 50.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Marjoe Gortner is 76, Linda Lawson is 84, and Kacy Esther Catanzaro is 30.