Cheese and slackers - a decade of films - 1961

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May 26, 2006, 10:38:12 PM5/26/06

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The Absent Minded Professor (1961)
Classic Disney. A bumbling professor accidently invents flying rubber,
or "Flubber", an incredible material that gains energy every time it
strikes a hard surface. It allows for the invention of shoes that can
allow jumps of amazing heights and enables a modified Model-T to fly.
Unfortunately, no one is interested in the material except for Alonzo
Hawk, a corrupt businessman who wants to steal the material for himself.

Anatomy of a Psycho (1961)
The crazed brother of a condemned killer sent to the gas chamber swears
vengeance on those he holds responsible for his brother's execution.

Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1961)
George Pal. A Greek Fisherman brings an Atlantean Princess back to her
homeland which is the mythical city of Atlantis. He is enslaved for his
trouble. The King is being manipulated by an evil sorcerer who is bent
on using a natural resource of Atlantis to take over the world. The
Atlanteans, or rather the slaves of Atlantis, are forced to mine a
crystalline material which absorbs the suns rays. These crystals can
then be used for warmth. The misuse of science has created weapons out
of the crystals that can fire a heat ray to destroy whatever it touches.

The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)
Ed wood didn't make this movie. If he had it would have been better. A
defecting Russian scientist is transformed by an atomic test into a
hulking monster, Tor Johnson, of course. Not much else except some
people are killed, boys get lost, and a rabbit sniffs Tor's corpse.
Coffee-obsessed B-movie auteur Coleman Francis was unleashed upon an
unsuspecting world with this standard "man becomes radioactive monster"
movie rendered hilariously surreal entertainment by the soundtrack
having been lost in production and replaced by nonsensical rambling
narration from a drunk-sounding Francis.

Bloodlust! (1961)
A group of teen-agers vacationing in the tropics take a boat out to a
seemingly deserted island. They soon find, however, that the island is
inhabited by a wealthy recluse and his staff. While their host is
initially hospitable, he quickly reveals his true purpose: to hunt down
and kill each of his visitors, as he has done with everyone unlucky
enough to set foot on his island.

Carry On Regardless (1961)
The Helping Hands agency employs some very strange people to perform
some very strange jobs! Even the simplest of tasks get bungled by the
incompetent but lovable staff, as they get given jobs ranging from
taking animals for walks (no ordinary animals you understand) to
demonstrating new products at a large and prestigious exhibition...

The Children's Hour (1961)
A private school for young girls is scandalized when one spiteful
student, Mary Tilford, accuses the two young women who run the school of
having a lesbian relationship.

Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
American crook Sparks Moran sees a chance to make a bundle when a
Caribbean island has a revolution. He plans to help loyalists (and the
national treasury) escape on his boat, then kill the men and blame their
deaths on a mythical sea monster. Trouble ensues when the _real_ monster
shows up!

The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
In Spain, Leon is born on Christmas day to a mute servant girl who was
raped by a beggar. His mother dies giving birth and he is looked after
by Don Alfredo. As a child Leon becomes a werewolf after having been
taken hunting. As a young man, he works in a wine cellar and falls in
love with the owner's daughter Cristina. One full moon, he again turns
into a werewolf and terrifies the town.

Dark Odyssey (1961)
A young Greek immigrant confronts New York City while searching for the
man who raped his sister.

The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
Huge favorite. Great movie. After the super-powers accidentally set off
H-bombs simultaneously the staff at Fleet Street's Daily Express report
dramatic changes to the world's climate. As London swelters and the
Thames starts to run dry the paper's staff finally get the Government to
admit that the earth's axis has shifted. Eventually they discover that
the full truth is far worse even than this.

The Dead One (1961) aka Blood of the Zombie
A voodoo priestess sends out zombies to bring back live victims for her
sacrificial rituals.

The Devil's Messenger (1961)
In this feature version of the Swedish TV series "13 Demon Street," a
50,000-year-old woman is found frozen in an ice field, and a man's death
is foretold in dreams.

Diary of a Nudist (1961)
Doris Wishman. Newspaper editor Arthur Sherwood is on a hunting trip
when he accidentally stumbles upon a nudist camp in the woods. He is
very much shocked by this and decides to send reporter Stacy Taylor to
the camp so she can write an expose on the camp and have it shut down.
However, much to her surprise, Stacy finds that she enjoys the nudist
lifestyle and writes some very positive articles on her experiences,
which doesn't sit well with Arthur. Arthur then decides to join the camp
himself and write his own story.

Door-to-Door Maniac (1961)
A gang of bank robbers terrorize a small town by knocking on doors and
then killing whoever answers. Johnny Cash as a nutcase thief/killer is
delightfully weird, and he manages to sneak his musical talents in a few
times...but Vic Tayback steals the show as a hard-boiled, joyless criminal.

Dr. Blood's Coffin (1961)
People are mysteriously disappearing near a remote Welsh village, where
a scientist is experimenting with reviving the dead.

The Errand Boy (1961)
Probably Jerry Lewis, best movie. Paramutual Pictures wants to know
where all the money is going so they hire Morty to be their spy. Morty
works for Mr. Sneak and gets a job in the mail room so that he can have
access to the lot. But all that Morty ever finds is that he can cause
havoc no matter what he does.

Fiend of Dope Island (1961)
Dope island dictator Bruce Bennett runs his island whipping natives and
friends alike any time they don't move fast enough for him or displease
him in some way - which it seems is all the time as he is always drunk.
Bennett lies to a beautiful blonde entertainer(we'll get to her in a
minute) to come to the island for $500 and then has plans on
seducing/raping her and making her his own. In the meantime, he is also
running a drug operation and plans governmental overthrows in the Caribbean.

Francis of Assisi (1961)
I'm a sucker for a good religious movie. The story of a lusty, fighting
young adventurer who exchanged his sword for a cross and rose to glory

The Full Treatment (1961)aka Stop Me Before I Kill!
Val Guest. No video release shown at amazon. Still recovering from
serious head injuries sustained in a car crash, motor racing driver Alan
Colby and his wife Denise go on holiday to the South of France. There,
Alan is suddenly and unexpectedly struck with a compulsion to strangle
his wife. Hearing about this, Dr. David Prade, a local psychiatrist,
offers to help, but his offer is rejected by Alan and he and Denise
return to London. The psychiatrist follows them there, convinced that
sooner or later his services will be needed and that he should be close
at hand. At first, all seems well with Alan, but then one morning he
wakes from a long sleep to find that Denise has disappeared. Worse, all
the evidence points to his having murdered her.

Gorgo (1961)
A fond favorite. A salvage vessle is nearly sunk off the Irish coast by
an undersea earthquake. A few nights later, a walking sea monster
tangles with the fishing boats and enters the town. The salvage vessel
captures Gorgo and takes it to London for display. Gorgo's mother, who
is upset and significantly larger follows his trail to London leaving a
wake of destruction in her path.

The Hands of Orlac (1961)
A pianist has a transplant operation that gives him a new pair of hands.
Unfortunately, the hands belonged to a murderer, and he finds the hands
starting to take over his life and commit crimes. A seedy magician
suspects what is happening and tries to blackmail him.

Homicidal (1961)
William Castle. Emily, an attractive young woman, checks in at the Hotel
Ventura and makes a strange request of the bellhop--that he marry her
that night, though the marriage will be immediately annulled. Entranced
by her beauty, he agrees. She instructs him to drive to the house of a
particular Justice of the Peace, and after the ceremony the bellhop is
shocked when Emily fatally stabs the JP and flees into the night.
Ventura police note the name given on the marriage license, "Miriam
Webster." Their investigation leads them up the coast to Solvang,
Calif., where a detective interviews the real Miriam and learns that she
is half-sister to Warren Webster, who will inherit $10 million on his
upcoming birthday.

The Innocents (1961)
Genuinely creepy movie. A masterpiece. In late 19th century England, an
inexperienced young woman (Kerr) becomes governess to a small orphan
girl living in a lonely stately home occupied only by the child, a
housekeeper and a small complement of servants. Her initial misgivings
allayed by the child's angelic nature, her anxieties are once more
aroused when the girl's brother, equally captivating, is sent home from
boarding school for wickedness of some unspecified kind. Then eerie
apparitions and inexplicable behaviour on the children's part cause her
to wonder about the house's history, especially about the fate of the
previous governess and the former valet, Peter Quint, and to fear for
the children's souls and for her own sanity. Eventually convinced that
there is an unnatural force at work, perverting the innocence of her
charges, she sets out to secure the children's salvation by wresting
them from its power. Though her struggle reaches a resolution, its real
nature and its outcome ultimately remain ambiguous.

Karate, the Hand of Death (1961)
The first american made martial arts movie. A Nazi war criminal is in
Tokyo to cash his war loot: $1 million in platinum. When he's murdered,
a visiting American is framed and must elude police as well as a gang
that thinks he has the precious metal. He's Matt Carver and he has his
own history: raised in Japan, fluent in Japanese and karate, but an
American soldier in the Pacific in World War II. He's bitter, and he's
in Tokyo to put ghosts to rest. While in hiding, he turns to the
Harakawa family, including Akira, his boyhood friend. Carver's history
with the Harakawa family holds the key to the mystery of the dead Nazi,
but how do these separate stories connect, and can Carver sort it out
before it's too late? But the good stuff is one of the DVD extras.
Titled "The Incredible Martial Arts Show" or something like that, it is
merely a 0f trailers for dozens of martial arts and kung-fu movies from
the Sixties and Seventies.

Konga (1961)
Cheeeeeeeeese. Dr.Decker comes back from Africa after a year, presumed
dead. During that year, he came across a way of growing plants and
animals to an enormous size. He brings back a baby chimpanzee to test
out his theory. As he has many enemies at home, he decides to use his
chimp, 'Konga' to 'get rid of them'. Then Konga grows to gigantic
proportions and reaks havoc all over the city of London!!

The Ladies Man (1961)
Great Jerry Lewis movie. After his girl leaves him for someone else,
Herbert gets really depressed and starts searching for a job. He finally
finds one in a big house which is inhabited by many, many women. Can he
live in the same home with all these females?

Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan (1961) aka Samson and the Seven
Miracles of the World
Sam must rescue a beautiful Chinese princess from a marauding horde of
warriors.

Maciste nella terra dei ciclopi (1961) aka Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops
One of the best of the genre. Strongman Maciste must battle the one-eyed
Cyclops monster that is ravaging the land of Sadok, while at the same
time fending off the advances of the evil Queen Capys, who wants to do a
little ravaging of her own.

Maciste, l'uomo più forte del mondo (1961) aka Mole Men vs. the Son of
Hercules
Maciste arranges for himself and his new friend Bango to be captured by
a mysterious band of white-clad marauders and taken to an underground
city. There the two are forced to turn an enormous wheel along with
other captives as part of a gold-and-diamonds mining operation. The
underground city's queen, Halis Mosab, takes note of the handsome,
muscular Maciste and chooses him to be her consort if he can meet such
challenges as saving the kidnapped Princess Saliura from a gigantic ape.
Maciste kills the ape and carries Saliura back to the aboveground world.
The white-clad marauders can't follow them if it means being caught in
the sunlight which instantly dissolves them. Maciste then returns to the
underground city to save the other captives. Meanwhile, high priest
Kahab informs his son, Katar, that their queen is not one of them but,
unbeknowst to her, was kidnapped as a small child from the "world
above." If Katar can marry her, their children can be "normal" and can
live in the world of sunlight. Katar sees Maciste as his enemy and is
pleased when the re-captured Maciste is now subjected to a test of
strength which will not only kill him but also Bango and another captive
named Loth who is in love with the Princess Saliura.

Master of the World (1961)
Likely the weirdest movie Vincent Price and Charles Bronson were ever
in. The world in the late 19th century: A scientist and his team are
held as "guests" of Robur on his airship, that he want to use to ensure
peace on earth. Peace with all, even if he has to bombard military
targets all over the world. Can the scientist stop him?

Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
Quite good William Castle gothic. A search for a winning lottery ticket
in his dead father's grave causes Sardonicus' face to freeze in a
horrible grimace, until he forces a doctor to treat his affliction--with
even more grotesque results!

El Mundo de los vampiros (1961) The World of the Vampires
The piano just blew me away. The plot boils down to the evil Count and
his plans of revenge against the Colman family.There has been much blood
spilled between the two and this night may prove to be the end of the
line for the Colman family (a man and his two nieces). Count Subotay
(Subotai?) plays a piano made of human bones and skulls in his misty
underground lair. He summons his minions to help him carry out his plot
against the Colmans.His female vampires are pretty hot looking.The male
vampires are blind, hairy handed(a self abuse warning perhaps?) and
quite ugly.Of course this way the Count can keep the women for himself.
A young couple is viciously attacked to begin the evening.Then the Count
moseys over to the Colmans to join a party.One of my faults with this
movie lies in the fact that if your family has been decimated by
vampires don't you think you'd do what you could to learn the name of
the vamp?Especially after some strange pale dude in a tuxedo and cape
shows up in your neighborhood? We meet the hero (Rudy) and learn that
vampires can be killed by a certain tune.He plays it on the piano and
the Count does everything but wet his pants in screaming agony.He slams
down the piano key cover on Rudy's hands(a la Tom & Jerry)to make him
stop. The Count leaves but he vampirizes one of the girls who in turn
vampirizes Rudy.Rudy begins to grow hair on his hands and his eyesight
begins to dim.Mr Colman vanishes and Rudy finally adds up that Subotay
is a vampire and responsible for the attacks. The film becomes a race
against time.Rudy is captured and the other niece is prepared for
vampiric sacrifice. Can Rudy defeat the Count before he turns into a
mindless vampire creature?Will the Colman family be destroyed forever?

Murder She Said (1961)
The miss Marple films are wonderful. I have several on tape. I've always
been a Margaret Rutherfprd fan. Old miss Marple is on a train ride when
she witnesses a murder in a passing train. She reports it to the police
but they won't believe her: since no body can be found there can't have
been any murder, right? As always, she begins her own investigation. The
murder was committed while passing Ackenthorpe Hall and miss Marple gets
herself a job there, mixing cleaning and cooking while searching the
house for clues.

Mysterious Island (1961)
Classic. During the US Civil War, Union POWs escape in a balloon and end
up stranded on a South Pacific island, inhabited by giant plants and
animals. They must use their ingenuity to survive the dangers, and to
devise a way to return home. Sequel to '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' .

Night Tide (1961)
I've never understood this film. Very surrealistic but worth seeing at
least once. On leave in a shore side town, Johnny becomes interested in
a young dark haired woman. They meet and he learns that she plays a
mermaid in the local carnival. After strange occurrences, Johnny begins
to believe that she may actually be a real mermaid that habitually kills
during the cycle of the full moon.

On the Double (1961)
Great Danny Kaye flick. American GI Ernie Williams, admittedly
weak-kneed, has an uncanny resemblance to British Colonel MacKenzie.
Williams, also a master of imitation and disguise, is asked to
impersonate the Colonel, ostensibly to allow the Colonel to make a
secret trip East. What Williams is not told is that the Colonel has
recently been a target of assassins. After the Colonel's plane goes
down, the plan changes and Williams maintains the disguise to confuse
the Nazis about D-Day.

The Phantom Planet (1961)
The mysterious appearance of an unknown planet brings miniature people,
giant monsters, beautiful women and undaunted heroes to the screen. The
self-contained planet "Rheton" has the ability to move in and out of
galaxies to escape their enemies. Earth sends an astronaut team to
investigate, which discovers miniature people. One astronaut survives to
help them fight off monsters and Solorite attacks.

Il Posto (1961)
One of the true masterpieces of film making. Domenico and Antonietta are
two suburban Italian youths who meet while seeking "a job for life" from
a big city corporation. After a bizarre screening process made up of
written exams, physical agility exercises, and interview questions such
as "Do you drink to forget your troubles?" (Domenico and Antonietta are
no older than 17 or 18), they land jobs in the "Technical Division" and
"Typing Services" respectively. From there, Domenico works as an
underutilized errand boy until a clerk position is vacated by the death
of an older employee. Domenico finally takes his place in a room of 12
other clerks with a manager overseeing them from a desk at the head of
the room. The film ends as Domenico ponders his fate, from behind his
tiny desk at the back of the small windowless room, listening to the
sound of the mimeograph machine as it runs off carbon copies next to the
manager's desk.

Reptilicus (1961)
Great cheese fest. Copper miners in the tundras of Lapland discover a
frozen piece of reptilian tail belonging to some unknown prehistoric
creature. Taking the specimen to an aquarium in Copenhagen, Professor
Martens (Asbjorn Andersen) gets more than he bargained for when the tail
regenerates into a giant, acid spitting monster that terrorizes the
country. The Danish military, led by U.N.-appointed American general
Mark Grayson (Carl Ottosen) attempts to hunt down the monster and
destroy it, only to realize that blowing the thing up will create
hundreds of little creatures.

The Snake Woman (1961) aka Terror of the Snake Woman
No DVD or VHS release as far as I know. The undeservedly obscure SNAKE
WOMAN is a lost treasure waiting to be rediscovered. An early effort by
prolific director Sidney J. Furie as the companion feature to Furie's
also-excellent DR. BLOOD'S COFFIN, SNAKE WOMAN is a marvelous depiction
of evil forces, both modern and ancient, battling each other in a vivid
microcosmic setting, this time a charismatic yet diabolical English
village. The dense prologue of the film pits Science vs. Superstition in
a most unique way, as a well-meaning but ill-advised doctor inseminates
his lunatic wife with snake venom, whilst a witchy midwife cries "Evil!"
over the entire proceedings. The resultant baby, born with black, dead
eyes, soon grows into a haunting beauty who just happens to be a killer
snake. The killings are peripheral to the amazing atmosphere of the
piece, and most importantly, the cadre of indelible, eccentric
characters who represent various aspects of a society on the verge of
traumatic upheaval. A colleague of the deceased doctor paints a perfect
sketch of Old European aristocracy; the old man who takes pity on the
snake baby and raises it as his own clearly alludes to the
grandfather-patriarch figure in Johanna Spyri's HEIDI books; the
midwife/witch breathtakingly embodies the spirit of punitive religious
intolerance; even the arrogant cop from the big city eschews his disdain
of historical imperative to respect the value system of the villagers,
swept up by the profound collective energy of the insular community.

Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)
My favorite 3 stooges, and in this case, Joe Derita was perfect. Based
on the classic fairy tale. Snow White and the three stooges revolves
around a beautiful princess Snow White who must flee her home after her
stepmother wishes her to be dead. Seeking refuge in the cottage of the
seven dwarfs she accidently meets the three stooges who are house
sitting for them while they are away.

Taste of Fear (1961)
After narrowly surviving an accident in which she nearly drowned, the
wheelchair bound Penny Appleby returns home to live with her widowed
step-mother Jane on the French Riviera. She begins to question her
sanity after several times seeing her father's corpse around the house
and its grounds, and enlists the help of the friendly chauffeur Bob
while attending Doctor Gerrard acts in a suitably sinister manner. No
one is who they seem in this tale of intrigue and suspense.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)
Massive favorite. Admiral Nelson takes a brand new atomic submarine
through its paces. When the Van Allen radiation belt catches fire, the
admiral must find a way to beat the heat or watch the world go up in smoke.

Whistle Down the Wind (1961)
Because I'm a huge Hailey Mills fan. Little Kathy discovers a man wanted
for murder hiding in her family's barn. When she askes him who he was,
he says Jesus Christ just before he goes unconscious. Kathy and her
siblings are convinced that he is Jesus and try to hide him from grown-ups.

X-15 (1961)
Not quite science fiction, but right on the edge with the true story of
the beginnings of the space race. Frank Sinatra was among the producers
for X-15, an interesting space-race film that marked the feature debut
of Richard Donner (the Lethal Weapon series, Timeline) and provided an
early lead role for Charles Bronson, who leads a solid cast in this
occasionally tense, hardware-driven drama. Bronson, David McLean, and
Ralph Taeger are test pilots for the X-15 research vehicle, which
brought man to the brink of outer space for the first time. The film
divides its running time between scenes of the crew testing the rocket
and domestic drama involving their wives and girlfriends (played by Mary
Tyler Moore, Patricia Owens, and Lizabeth Hush). James Stewart's
narration offers an all-American layer to the script, written by James
Ward Bellah (whose stories were adapted by John Ford for She Wore a
Yellow Ribbon and Sergeant Rutledge, among others) and producer Tony
Lazzarino. Eagle-eyed fans might notice future California congressman
Robert Dornan among the ground crew.

--
When your young children cry too much, show them their birth video in
reverse and tell them that's what happens to kids who don't stop crying.

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May 27, 2006, 4:26:20 AM5/27/06

to B-Mo...@googlegroups.com

In a message dated 5/26/2006 10:22:05 PM Pacific Standard Time, bo...@1s.net writes:

Bloodlust! (1961)
A group of teen-agers vacationing in the tropics take a boat out to a
seemingly deserted island. They soon find, however, that the island is
inhabited by a wealthy recluse and his staff. While their host is
initially hospitable, he quickly reveals his true purpose: to hunt down
and kill each of his visitors, as he has done with everyone unlucky
enough to set foot on his island.

A nice workout scene that could be remade with Jamie Presley

Lynn, Maurice and Cham

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May 27, 2006, 7:11:10 PM5/27/06

to B-Mo...@googlegroups.com

***Man, these lists have made me realise, as much as I hate Disney now, they
made some really cool non-animated movies in the 60s.

***One of the best MST3Ks I've ever seen. Terrible movie. Poor Tor Johnson.

***Another one that was great on MST3K. Another ripoff of The Most Dangerous
Game.

***I love this freakin movie. I think it is hilarious, both intentionally
and not. Love the guy that speaks in animal sounds.

Dr. Blood's Coffin (1961)
People are mysteriously disappearing near a remote Welsh village, where
a scientist is experimenting with reviving the dead.

***Pretty dull stuff.

Fiend of Dope Island (1961)

***In my que.

***Classic stuff. Better than a lot of the Godzilla flicks. This was even
done on MST3K, maybe the best movie they ever had on their show.

***A William Castle flick that I have yet to see. In my que.

***Pretty cool movie. If you can find the dvd (Something Weird) definately
pick it up as it features about 100 old kung fu trailers.

Konga (1961)
The Ladies Man (1961)

***Qued.

***Wow, another Castle flick I haven't seen. Qued.

***Very underrated movie with great Harryhausen effects.

***Cool cheese done on MST3K.

***I love it. It's freakin horrible but I love it. Some of the worst special
effects ever.