Wednesday, October 15, 2014

BETTY BOOP - The Fleischer Brothers - "Is My Palm Read" (1933)

 Well, the Countdown's about halfway done, so before it's too late here's some scary stuff from 1933, Betty BOO!p style!
You can find Halloween wallpaper like this and lots of other cool stuff at the Betty Boop Pictures Archive!

Now it doesn't sound like a very scary title, but "Is My Palm Read" is filled with all kinds of ghosts and other weirdass unexplainable phenomena, and it's all brought to you courtesy of those wacky guys, the Fleischer Brothers, with Dave doing the directing, and Max doing the producing!

The only member of the cast that gets any credit is the marvelous Mae Questel who did Betty's voice in over 150 different films! If that's not enough, Mae was also the voice of Olive Oyl too and a ton other voices like Sweet Pea and Little Audrey too! I'm just assuming there is a shrine to her somewhere, and if not, why not??

This is about as sweet and innocent as Betty Boop has ever looked! She looks like she's going to church on Easter Sunday!

Betty is all decked out because she's going to get her fortune read!

Here's how perverts Bimbo and Koko assist Betty, by looking through her dress when the light is right!

Bimbo predicts Betty's future using a crystal ball, and there never is any palm reading, just the Fleischer's taking a little artistic license with different factions of mysticism!

First thing that shows up in Bimbo's crystal ball is a butt nekkid baby Betty, followed by this ship that is just about to go under!

Betty was on that ship and she's about to find herself on some strange desert island, where even the waves reach out and pat her butt as she's washed ashore!

"Is My Palm Read" exploits two genres of film that would turn out to both be very popular, Jungle movies, and Horror movies!

How can you go wrong with ghosts in the jungle? Not possible! (Except maybe for Clutch Cargo!)

This living 'Hut Of Horror' snatches Betty right up and deposits her inside!

More ghosts, and a spider makes web bars on the window so that Betty is trapped!

Betty's pretty resourceful, she writes help on a board and burns it in the fireplace, and the smoke sends out the distress call in very nice cursive handwriting!

Bimbo picks up the signal and is able to rush in and rescue Betty and  make himself look like the big hero!

Back at the parlor, Bimbo then reveals to Betty that he is the psychic reading her future!

But then out of nowhere, the ghosts show up for real this time and drag Betty and Bimbo back to the jungle prophecy!

Betty and Bimbo lead the bevy of ghosts on a wild chase through the jungle......

..........that culminates in a hollow log that Betty and Bimbo are able to exit, but the ghosts get bounced on by Bimbo one by one and go down to the bottom of the gorge to their untimely demise for the second time!

Here's a parting shot that will also make for some fine wallpaper from another completely unrelated cartoon, "Have You Got Any Castles" from 1938 that I was going to do for the "Countdown To Halloween," but decided against! It's not really a scary cartoon, but there was this one small scene that included this killer Gruesome Foursome that I just couldn't leave behind!

Monday, October 13, 2014

THE THING / Universal Pictures, Turman-Foster Company - 1982

It's Halloween Countdown Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Here's a creep fest I saw at the theater back in 1982, it's a nonstop tilted bumper car ride without bumpers and no ambulance. It stars Kurt Russell as part of a dysfunctional scientific expedition at the Antarctic that come across a real terror from another world.

Eegah!! sent over a sound clip from this wild flick for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our atomic flame thrower, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a taste of... THE THING!

It starts with some seemingly mad Norwegians in a helicopter trying to shoot a single huskie who runs to the safety of the Americans. It all ends in disaster for the foreigners!

After the dog mutates that night, the guys figure out that they have an alien life form that needs other animals and humans to inhabit! So, they fly to the Norwegian camp to see what clues to the mystery they can find there.

And, they find more than they bargained for! They take a pile of twisted flesh back to their camp to study.

It always cracks me up when a dude in 1982 smokes pot and no one even cares! To me, it was a big middle finger up to Ronnie and Nancy!

They find the giant saucer discovered by the Norwegians that had crashed in the ice.

I like this weird mutation that has teeth in the eye sockets!!

While trying to revive this dude, the doctor finds out the hard way that the Thing was hiding in him, and, gets his hands bitten off!

Then, the Thing turns into this hideous mutation and it simply creeps out the door!

After the Thing has taken over a number of the crew, MacReady comes up with a plan to tell who's a human and who's a Thing by testing everyone's blood with a hot metal rod! If there's no reaction to the blood, then, you can be trusted. This is one of the best scenes and is really gut wrenching to watch!

It's over for this guy, the Thing opens up it's huge mouth and swallows half of him, his legs kicking wildly!

Welp, Macready blows the place up and one can only hope the Thing is dead, a very somber ending... I like THE THING from 1951 sooo much better than this version, many eighties flicks have ending where nothing gets solved. Give me good old fifties writing where problems are always solved!

Eegah!! is up Wednesday with another Halloween Countdown Surprise!..

Saturday, October 11, 2014

FLIP THE FROG - Ub Iwerks - "Spooks" (1931)

Hey!! Here we are, already on Day 11 of the "Countdown To Halloween," and yet another amazing cartoon from the 1930's entitled "Spooks," but this time, instead of Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, the star is Flip The Frog, not to be confused with Flip The Bird, a comic character from the 60's! It really is such a beautiful gesture, isn't it, so let's get rollin', crackin', and a movin'!

One year later after Walter Lantz's version of "Spooks," Ub Iwerks brought out his own version!

There's only one difference, this one doesn't have anything to do with the "Phantom Of The Opera," is a completely different story, and is animated to a much higher level in the detail department!

Here he is, our hero, Flip The Frog out alone on a cold and windy night with only his brave stead as a companion!

Seriously, it's hard for my little pea brain to comprehend that only one man was responsible for all this amazing imagery, it is almost beyond my grasp of reality! You know when people ask you who you'd like to meet from all of history, I'm thinking Mr. Ubbe Ert Iwwerks would be a damn fine choice! It's almost like he was from another planet! Ub passed away in 1971 at the age of 70, and I seriously doubt there will ever be another talent such as his!

Are you starting to get scared yet?

Flip's choice of refuge might not be the best decision in the world! Like the rain wasn't that bad!

Ub Iwerks wrote, animated, directed, and produced "Spooks!!!!"

He had some help with production from Pat Powers, and the Master of all the Maestros, Carl W. Stalling was the genius who supplied the music! Carl Stalling should be in some kind of record book if he's not already, for his remarkable career that includes an unthinkable 760 credits!! Ok, sure, they're all shorts, but still, that has to be the greatest run of all time without a freakin' doubt! I'm tired just thinking about it! Here's a bit of what Carl brought to the table in this freak fest!

Dinner is served!!

Flip pretends to be enjoying himself, but hands off the bone to a skeleton dog when his skeleton host isn't watching!

Hubba, Hubba, bring on the ladies!!

The personality that Ub was able to put into this skeleton character is totally off the charts at times! Here he measures Flip up for a certain untimely fate!

It's not what the face of the clock says, but this is 13 o'clock in our world!

Oh, boy, Flip has really got himself into serious trouble this time!

Now you see what the measuring was all about, Flip is the perfect size to fit the last display case he has in his collection of death!

One big explosion ends the whole ordeal.......

.......and Flip and his faithful stead can ride off together in love, peace, and understanding!

......OR, Can they?

Flip streams many places these days on Youtube, Here's just one of them! You really can't go wrong!

Monster Music

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