Geekboy's Movie Poster Collection: Part 1

So I just spent the last two weeks doing a massive remodel of my bedroom.  Throwing Spackle around, repainting, building new shelves, tearing out old carpet, and rearranging my furniture.  I decided I wanted some new wall art to go with the new paint job.  I'd found a dealer on Ebay who specializes in the reproduction of vintage posters at reasonable prices, and I'd been drooling over them for a while.  I finally took the plunge and purchased some of my favorites.

First up we have the 1941 Republic serial 'Jungle Girl'.  If you know me you know that this is my all time favorite serial, so picking up this one was an obvious move.

As this dealer also had the 1942 follow up, 'Perils of Nyoka,' I bought it as well so I'd have a complete set.

Third we have 1949's 'King of the Rocketmen'.  This is the first of four Republic serials to feature the Rocketman suit - the others being 'Radar men from the Moon' (1952) 'Zombies of the Stratosphere' (1952) and 'Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe' (1953).  Each of the Rocketman serials uses a significant amount of stock footage from the previous installments, so watching them back to back can get pretty redundant.

Fun fact: The Rocketman serials are the primary source of inspiration for Dave Steven's comicbook hero 'The Rocketeer'.

George Lucas also named one of the Clone Troopers from Star Wars 'Commander Cody' as a tribute to the character from 'Radar Men' and 'Sky Marshal'.

And finally we have the 1968 science fiction film 'The Green Slime'.  This is kind of the odd one out in a collection for Cliffhanger Serial posters, but it's an awesome poster and I wanted it, okay?

It may be an awesome poster, but the movie that goes with it is slightly less awesome.  It does have a rocking theme song though - give a listen here:

 -Geekboy.

The Alligator People (1959)

Most people wouldn't consider this a good movie.  You've probably noticed by now that the ol' Geekboy isn't most people.  I know 'The Alligator People' left an impression on me when I first saw it, but I forgot just how much I liked it until I re-watched it for review purposes.

What's so great about this movie?  Firstly, it's set in the swamps of Louisiana, and you can't go wrong with the spooky and exotic atmosphere that come with setting your movie in the swamps of Louisiana.  Secondly, for the first half of the movie, the story is equal parts Mystery and Horror.  Thirdly, the one doing all the detective work is our Heroine who has a lot of actual purpose and stake in the story in a genre that usually reduces the female lead to someone who trips, screams, and gets carried off by the monster.

The story starts with a frame story.  The frame beginning and ending is actually my least favorite part, as it strains credibility and doesn't serve much purpose other that to give our heroine some occasional first person detective narration.  We start in a Psychologist's office who has been experimenting with hypnosis and accidentally uncovers repressed memories while performing an experiment with his assistant, Jane Marvin (played by Beverly Garland).  Under hypnosis she reveals that she lived a tragic past life under the name Joyce Webster.

Now that we have that cheesy (and pointless?) intro out of the way, we get to the cool stuff.  Joyce is a newlywed ex-army nurse on her honeymoon.  Her husband, Paul, had been horrifically disfigured in a plane crash, but is now mysteriously as good as new.  However Paul gets an urgent telegram and leaves the train at the next stop is a state of panic, and the train leaves without him.  Paul has disappeared, and Joyce discovers that she doesn't know that much about her new husband.  She does some detective work and follows his trail to a desolate train-station in the middle of the swamps.

She talks a hook-handed local - played by the one and only Lon Chaney Jr. - into driving her to the nearby Plantation house which is also the last know address of her husband.  Chaney is the town drunk with a vendetta against alligators because one took his hand.  He seems like a harmless eccentric at first, but he proves himself dangerous later on.

So she arrives at the Plantation which is owned by the secretive and disagreeable Mrs. Hawthorne.  Mrs. Hawthorne claims to have never heard of Paul and wants Joyce out of her house as soon a possible, but as there won't be another train until the next day, she allows Joyce to stay the night so long as she doesn't leave her room under any circumstances.   After hearing spooky night noises Joyce discovers that she is LOCKED in her room (Southern Hospitality, am-I-right?) but manages to snitch the skeleton key from under the maid's nose.

In the middle of the night she hears the sound of a lonely piano downstairs, and she can't help but investigate.  She discovers a figure in shadows hunched over the keys.  He flees into the night at the sight of her and she is left with just a glimpse of his scale-covered face.

Mrs. Hawthorne is not to happy that Joyce was out of her room that night, and she's even less happy when she discovers that Joyce has no intention of leaving by the morning train.  Joyce needs answers and she's willing to out-stubborn Mrs. Hawthorn to get them.

Mrs. Hawthorn reveals that the piano player was in fact Paul, and that she is secretly his mother.  That's a great way to meat you in-laws.  So, Joyce waits up to see Paul again that night, and once again he flees at the sight of her.  This time she chases him out into the swamps.  It's raining buckets, and she's menaced by alligators and snakes, and she loses her way.  But she's 'rescued' by Lon Chaney's character.  He's drunk, and starts hitting on her.  She is rescued by Paul who barges into the little cabin and attacks Chaney.  Paul carries her off after she is knocked unconscious - so we can have that shot of the monster carrying the pretty girl that all these movies have to have - and Chaney drunkenly swears revenge on the 'two legged alligator'.

It is revealed that Paul is turning into a reptile due to an experimental medical procedure that involves combining human DNA with that of a regenerating reptile.  This is what had saved his life after the plane crash, but an unfortunate side effect is that all the test subjects are turning into - wait for it - ALLIGATOR PEOPLE!  The telegram on the train was from the doctor who did the procedure warning Paul of the side effect, and he left because he didn't want Joyce to see him like this.

The doctor has been working on some sort of death-ray type device that's supposed to reverse the side effects.  Paul insists that they try it out on him so that he and Joyce can be together again.  The doctor warns that they have no way of knowing what will happen if there is an overdose of the radiation.  So they start the procedure, and of course, our hook-handed villain bursts in just then to get his revenge on Paul.  Because of the distraction Paul gets an overdose of the ray, and is transformed into an Alligator person.  Meaning the actor had the pleasure of wearing what looks like an alligator puppet on his head.  Prior to this, we just had the scale makeup on the face and hands, which isn't great, but it's a passable monster movie costume.  The alligator puppet?  Not so much.

Lon Chaney's character is electrocuted when he gets his hook tangled in some wires, Joyce screams at the sight of Paul, and he once again runs off into the swamp.  Joyce runs after him, but after seeing his reflection in the water and realizing how monstrous (or silly) he has become, he wanders into the quicksand and is never seen again.

We cut back to the psychologists' office, and Jane/Joyce has no memory of her past now that she's out of the hypnotic trance.  The doctor decides that this is for the best as she happier this way.  So I guess they tacked on the frame story to make the ending less of a downer?  Still seems a bit silly to me.

If the story of scientists using reptilian DNA to regenerate human tissue and inadvertently creating a monster sounds familiar, you may be thinking of the Spiderman villain Dr. Kurt Connors AKA 'The Lizard'.  The Lizard first appeared in 1963, four years after the release of 'The Alligator People'.  I don't think it's too big of a stretch to say this movie may have influenced the creation of the Spiderman villain.

Most people probably haven't heard of this monster movie, but it's worth watching in my opinion.  The swamp scenes have great atmosphere, Beverly Garland is compelling as the female lead and Lon Chaney Jr. is always fun to watch.  Only things I hold against 'The Alligator People' is the repressed memory plot device and a couple of less than stunning effects, like the alligator costume.  First and foremost I like the way the story unfolds like a mystery.

-Geekboy

The Mole People (1956)

When I started this blog my intention was to review lots and lots of monster movies of the 40s and 50s. how many have I actually reviewed so far?  Not enough to consider this a monster blog, that's for sure.

So I just recently gave this 1956 sci fi adventure movie a re-watch.  I'd previously seen it maybe 6 years ago.  It actually held up much better than I was expecting.  As a teenager who was just starting to watch B-movies I didn't realize that there was a difference between a GOOD monster movie and a REALLY REALLY BAD ONE.  And this may not be a great monster flick like 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' but it's certainly a few notches above 'Plan 9 from Outer Space' or 'Robot Monster'.

So the movie actually starts in a library with a scientist explaining Hollow Earth theories to the audience.  This doesn't really have anything to do with the story.  It's just that the movie is begging you to take it seriously.  Cut to an archeological expedition digging in the foothills of the Himalayan mountain range.  They're searching for a mythical lost city.  They keep name-dropping the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Biblical Flood to further establish credibility.  Unfortunately an earthquake disturbs the dig site.  It also dislodges an oil lamp from one of the mountain peaks.  The lamp is brought to the archeologists by a young shepherd boy.

The scientists study pictographs etched into the lamp.  It tells of the Gilgamesh version of the flood and a temple built high in the mountains.  Thinking this may just be the lost city they're looking for, the explorers set off to find the temple.

To further establish credibility the filmmakers show that they actually researched mountaineering.  The explorers explain that they plan to set up multiple base camps on the side of the mountain.  They show our heroes crossing portable aluminum bridges, close-up shots of their crampon clad feet, and of course, native Sherpas carrying their gear (I don't know if you can tell, but I was a bit of a mountaineering geek in my teenage years).   I don't usually expect to see this much accuracy from a B-movie.

So they reach the top of the mountain and find the lost Sumerian temple.  Unfortunately the ground crumbles under their feet and one of the members of the expedition falls into a seemingly bottomless chasm.  Dr. Bentley - the leader of the expedition - establishes himself as the hero of the story when he immediately leads the way down the chasm after his comrade.  Unfortunately a cave-in traps three members of the expedition - Dr. Bentley, Dr. Bellamin, and Dr. Lafarge - underground.  They set off exploring the tunnels and trying to find another way out.  They discover some of the tunnels are man-made.  After stopping to rest they are attacked by the titular Mole People.

The Mole People are really cool.  Nicely designed monster costumes.  They claw their way up through loose dirt, and then grab you and pull you under.  My only complaint is the way they have that hump on their backs, but they walk upright.  Shouldn't they stoop over?

So our heroes are captured by the mole men but manage to escape.  They find their way to an underground city populated by Albinos.  Dr. Bentley theorizes that this is the rest of the lost Sumerian city buried underground centuries ago in one of the mountains many earthquakes.  The Albinos aren't to keen on new arrivals.  The natives have a strict population control policy due to the limited quantity of their mushroom food source.  So they decide to sacrifice our heroes to the 'Fires of Ishtar'.  Our heroes aren't to keen on the prospect of being scarified, so they put up a fight.  They use a handy dandy flashlight to blind the Albinos and make a break for it.  Unfortunately they get separated in the tunnels and Lafarge is killed by the Mole People.

Our heroes bury their fallen comrade, and head back to the city.  They manage to convince the natives that they're 'messengers from the gods' because of their magic flashlight.  They get a lot out of this deal.  Not killed for one.  Also they get their own slave girl as an added perk.  The slave girl - named Adad - is a genetic throwback who is treated like dirt by the natives because she isn't an Albino.  She's your typical empty headed native love interest from this type of movie.
Dr. Bentley: "You shouldn't have to be a slave.  You should be free."
Adad: "What is free?"
Later in the movie:
Adad: 'What is love?"
I'm kind of surprised she never asks what breathing is.

It's revealed that the Mole People are mindless slaves of the Albinos.  They are forced to work in the mines and harvest Mushrooms.  Our heroes - being the square-jawed heroes that they are - oppose injustice of any kind, including this inhumane treatment of Mole People.  They more or less try to run the underground city using the power of the magic flashlight.

The main villain of the story is the high priest who wants this magic flashlight for himself.  He has been suspecting the divine status of our heroes for some time now, and the discovery of Dr. Lafarge's body confirms his theory.  Fun fact, the high priest is played by Alan Napier, probably best know as Alfred from the 60s Batman TV series.

He hatches a plan to feed our heroes drugged mushrooms and then sacrifice them to the Fires of Ishtar.  Previously to this point we've seen some native girls be sacrificed in part of an elaborate ceremony.  Masked priests open a massive set of doors and a blinding light streams out.  The sacrifices willingly enter the chamber and the doors are closed behind them.  Later masked Albinos carry blackened corpses from the chamber.

Adad actually does something useful at this point.  She gets help from the sympathetic Mole Men to stop Dr. Bentley and that-other-guy-she-doesn't-really-care-about from being sacrificed.

- If this is a movie you think sounds interesting, spoiler alert from this point on -

The high priest attempts to stop the Mole People revolution using the magic flashlight.  Unbeknownst to him, the batteries had previously gone dead.  Thanks to the enraged Mole People, the high priest also goes dead.  Adad tries to get the massive door open, but her puny little 50's girl arms can't do it, so the Mole People smash the door in, causing the Fires of Ishtar to stream into the room.  Adad, headless of the danger, rushes into the chamber to free Dr. Bentley and what-sis-name.

It is then revealed that the Fire of Ishtar is just sunlight.  It burns the skin of the Albinos, but is harmless to Adad and our heroes.

So they decide to climb out of the light well to the surface world.  And here comes the part that - in my opinion - prevents this from being a really good movie.  Something movies of this era liked to do is tack on a tragic ending for no reason.

When they reach the surface there's another earthquake.  Adad runs back towards the temple like the little idiot she is and is crushed by a collapsing pillar.  This feels so pointless and tacked on that it kind of ruins an otherwise good movie at the last minute.

BUT if you are into lost world type stories, adventure movies, or classic monsters, you should definitely check this one out.  True, it may take itself a little too seriously at first for as campy as the lost city actually is, but if you're already familiar with the clichés of the genre you should get a chuckle out of the power hungry high priest, the heroes pretending to be all powerful because they have access to 20th century technology, and the love story between the hero and the ditzy slave girl.