Category: men in peril

Columbo: And The Quirky Little Detective in The Shabby Raincoat Says!

From Season 3, Episode 4: Double Exposure

Original Air Date"”16 December 1973
Robert Culp plays Dr. Bart Keppel an opportunistic  “motivational research specialist guru” who uses subliminal cuts to commit murder. But Lt. Columbo is onto him right from the beginning as usual!

Starring Peter Falk as the inimitable & tenacious, underestimated and hyper perceptive Detective Columbo who always comes prepared with thoughtful anecdotes about his family and his ever present cigar. He’s  shabby “like an unmade bed” but always lovable. The episodes are rooted in class conflict as Lt Columbo often inhabits the role of David up against the entitlement ridden criminal who thinks they’re a Goliath yet are no match for such a subtle and agile minded wit.

Columbo – “I don’t think it’s proving anything Doc, as a matter of fact I don’t even know what it means. It’s just one of those things that gets in my head and keeps rolling around in there like a marble.”

Just a quick note about Peter Falk, one of my favorite actors who created one of the most memorable characters of all time.

On June 4 2009 wife Shera Danese released a press statement asking for Falk’s privacy after a very public battle over conservatorship by his daughter. He has since retired from the business, due to illness and Alzheimers. I write this blog quote in honor of my admiration for his past work over the years, and wish the man peace and contentment on his journey.

MonsterGirl


Jack Arnold’s Existential Sci-Fi Masterpiece The Incredible Shrinking Man 1957

Jack Arnold’s incredible tale of the eternally evolving man starring Grant Williams.

The song “Heavy” appears on my album Fools and Orphans. With a special guest vocal appearance by the late Jeff Ladd. Sadly the world lost Jeff on May 21, 2010

MonsterGirl ( JoGabriel )

The Man Who Laughs 1928 Conrad Veidt’s Gwynplaine and The Eternal Smile

The Man Who Laughs 1928 Directed by Paul Leni and starring the outre emotive Conrad Veidt as the tragic  Gwynplaine and the lovely Mary Philbin as Dea, the blind girl who touches his carved smile with her love.

Gwynplaine is one of my favorite characters in literature, one of Hugo’s more obscure works, Leni captured his soul in  his film with the help of Veidt, perfectly!

Based on Victor Hugo’s novel “L’Homme Qui Rit”

Jo Gabriel’s song “Hold My Breath” appears on my album ISLAND through Kalinkaland Records world wide.

MonsterGirl (JoGabriel)

Obscure Scream Gems: The Monster of Piedras Blancas 1959 “People would rather start a legend”

The Monster of Piedras Blancas 1959

This is an obscure scream gem. The monster really freaked me out when I was a kid. Not only was he purely merciless, but the ripping off heads thing, really scared the crap out of me back when I was young and they aired the movie frequently on Saturday afternoons. I usually really love monsters, except for that nasty bastardly brain Gor, in The Brain From Planet Arous 1957. The Giant Sea Mollusk in Monster that Challenged the World 1957, and perhaps that outre nasty stowaway alien in Edward L Cahn’s It, the Terror from beyond space 1958

NOTE THE SIMILARITY: PAUL BLAISDELL’S FRIGHTENINGLY IMPOSING ALIEN!



I loved the giant ants in Them 1954 although they did kill Gramps Johnson. I love ants in general and the Grasshoppers in The Beginning of The End and The Praying Mantis and I didn’t blame the Tarantula that much. These are creatures that act from a nervous system that is set in stone, with no other mission but to procreate, eat to survive, and procreate, did I already say that? I didn’t like the Killer Shrews because they killed the horses. Hmm,  maybe I should make a post someday about sympathetic monsters vs bad bad monsters. The reasons why we identify with some and can’t wait to see others be blasted to pieces by the local police, military, or savvy reporter or scientist, usually male who has a beautiful girlfriend. I love the blog pants monsters, so what could I call this comparative study of Ugly Evil Mess vs. Cheesy Likability? Well, that’s something to ponder later on.

Anyway.
The Monster From Piedras Blancas stars Les Tremayne as Dr. Sam Jorgensen, Forrest Lewis (the lovable hard-of-hearing trombone player in The Mayberry Band episode of The Andy Griffith Show) as Constable George Matson, John Harmon as Sturges, the lighthouse keeper, Jeanne Carmen as Lucy Sturges. An interesting note is when the credits roll, the characters are made impersonal by giving them titles instead of their actual names, like Lewis as The Doctor, Sturges as The Lighthouse Keeper, Jeanne Carmen as Lucy The Girl, Frank Arvidson as The Storekeeper and Don Sullivan who plays Fred is The Boy.

The dreamy DON SULLIVAN IN THE GIANT GILA MONSTER

Produced by Jack Kevan and Directed by Irvin Berwick and screenplay by C. Haile Chace.

Producer Jack Kevan was actually responsible for creating such fantastical figures from The Wizard of Oz 1939 during his time at MGM. He did the makeup for Spencer Tracy in his version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1941 and of very cool note, he created the decomposing features of Hurd Hatfield’s Dorian Gray 1945 Kevan was already making a name for himself in Hollywood with his special makeup effects when he signed onto Universal. It was actually Bud Westmore head of the department at that time that got the notoriety. There was also a monster designer named Millicent Patrick who was also bathed in anonymity. She managed to become recognized not as a designer but for a few acting roles, as she was a sensual beauty as well. Beauty over brains I guess. But I always love to see women working and showcased in the fields of engineering, technology, science, and art design when it is almost always assumed that the men held the reins in that department and in particular in the Horror and Sci-Fi Genres. Women didn’t just design gowns like Edith Head, Norma Koch, and Theoni V. Aldredge.

So when you consider the notable names of make-up designers from that period, Bud Westmore is one of the first people who come to mind. Creating The Gil Man character which needed to not only look compelling, it needed to be functional as Ben Chapman and Ricou Browning needed to be filmed underwater for many of the The Creature From The Black Lagoon’s sequences. Westmore having come from a famous line of Westmore artists elevated him to administrative status in the industry.

Once at Universal Kevan became friends with Irvin Berwick, who was actually a dialogue coach for such stars as Rock Hudson Tony Curtis, and John Saxon. There was also a technical adviser for racing films there named C Haile Chace. Universal went through a period where they had massive budget cutbacks and layoffs ensued. So in 1958 Kevan and Berwick founded VanWyck Productions. The first film was supposed to arc off the Gil Man craze at Universal and they wanted a movie that would be equal to or more shocking than Creature From The Black Lagoon. Filming began in the small town of Cayucos in California, and partially at Point Conception. Piedras Blancas literally means White Rocks in Spanish.

NOTE: I apologize for the less-than-stellar quality of my photos in this post, the copy of the film I have isn’t the greatest. I’ll try and replace the more blurry ones, later on, I just couldn’t wait to share the film. MG.

The film opens in the early morning, at the Point Piedras Blancas Lighthouse. The beacon has just been shut down. There is a view of a rugged crag, on the rocky part of the cliffs, a scaly tusk-like claw grabs at an empty tin plate. We do not see this creature, but we watch as it pulls the plate out of view and then thrusts it back onto the rocks. The scene is stark and abrupt.

John Harmon who plays Sturges The Lighthouse Keeper runs the tower as a way to remain isolated from society. He is ready to do his daily routine of going into town for provisions. He spots two fishermen getting too close to the rocks and warns them off in his usual cantankerous manner.

Once Sturges gets to the small fishing town on his bicycle, we see a crowd of people surrounding a battered rowboat on the beach. Inside the boat are two headless bodies of the Rinaldi brothers.

At the site of the Rinaldi brother’s crime scene, one of the town’s people says~”Never seen anything like it in my life, head’s ripped clean off.” Then he asks Constable Matson what he makes of it “I don’t know what to think, they’re as white as sheets they don’t look like they have a drop of blood left in ’em.”

“I bet old Sturges knows more than he’ll tell.” The townspeople clearly have a mistrust of Sturges. “I still think Sturges oughta tell us what he knows”… “Maybe he don’t know nothing”, “You wanna bet!” Matson says, “Okay quit your grumbling.”

Sturges arrives at Kochek’s store on his bicycle. He starts to put in his weekly order. Kochek talks about the Rinaldi killings, “I didn’t pay attention til it drifted toward the pier then I seen them… like a slaughtered steer.” He makes a gesture with his finger as if to cut his throat. “Throats cut clean, not much blood around. You wanna know what I think, it ain’t rocks and it ain’t squalls. It’s something living that did it.”

Sturges tells Kochek that he talks too much. But Kochek says that’s what they said about the couple 2 years ago from the east when their boat washed ashore but they weren’t found. “We should pay more attention to these legends it would explain a lot many things that have happened over the last 3o years.” Sturges leers at him, “Kochek you’re a lot bigger fool than I thought.”

When Kochek tells him that he gave his meat scraps away to Burt for his hogs. “You idiot you’ll be sorry for this,” Kochek argues with him that Burt got them for his hogs when Sturges didn’t come in yesterday, besides he paid for them, and he’s getting tired of giving him his weekly meat scraps for free. It’s curious that Sturges gets so riled about a bunch of meat scraps.

Continue reading “Obscure Scream Gems: The Monster of Piedras Blancas 1959 “People would rather start a legend”” →

MonsterGirl’s Quote of The Day! The Black Cat (1934)

The Black Cat (1934) – Bela Lugosi

“Supernatural, perhaps; baloney, perhaps not.”

EDGAR G.ULMER’S: THE BLACK CAT (1934) “ARE WE BOTH NOT"¦ THE LIVING DEAD?”

Amazing Rasputina score The New Zero feat to The Black Cat 1934.

Melora Creager plays a wicked Cello!!!!!!

Chills -M.G.

The Tacky Magnetism of Paul Blaisdell’s Fantastically Ridiculous Sci-Fi/Horror Puppetry

I want to add this little note to my post. I did happen to find mention of Blaisdell in at least 2 books so far that are part of my library. Since I’ve moved to the coastal city of Bath Maine, my studio and library are in a disarray, so many of my books and things are sort of caught between worlds of stasis and static. Keep Watching the Skies by Bill Warren volume II 1958-1962 does cover Paul Blaisdell a bit as well as D. Earl Worth’s Sleaze Creatures. And now Randy Palmer's book, Paul Blaisdell: Monster Maker This makes me a little less sad! M.G.

Paul Blaisdell was an unsung asset to American International Pictures (A.I.P) and to the truly unprecedented, unintentional pioneer and auteur of cheap, cheesy and campy gems on shoe string budget that somehow have been elevated to icon status because of their enduring charm.

THE GREAT ROGER CORMAN

Thanks to Roger Corman for giving Paul Blaisdell the opportunity to create his omnipresent monster — the busty Beulah the incarnation of an arcane female manifestation from out of the primordial ooze channeled through Marla English during regressive hypnosis, in The She Creature (1956).

THE GREAT PAUL BLAISDELL



Beulah went on to appear albeit altered +crazy wig for Voodoo Woman (1957).

and an oddly incongruous to the plot, a derivation of her had a cameo in The Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow (1959).

Beulah in The Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow is just a little less busty!

The reason Beulah got around was due to the production company having no budget for any special effects so they asked Blaisdell if he would let them use Beulah and he was kind enough to consent allowing them to bring her out for a command performance.

I especially love the adorably nasty little bug-eyed creatures with large heads somewhat like brussel sprouts who loved to get cows drunk, not to mention a young Frank Gorshin in Invasion Of the Saucer Men (1957)

LITTLE CABBAGE HEADED BUG EYED FIENDS!


And we can’t forget his laughable cucumber Mutant in It Conquered the World (1956), and of course the alien cucumber’s little flying minion a crusty umbrella bat thingy that implanted a doodad in your neck so you’d do its bidding.

Of course, there’s the mutant that was supposedly most likely a bear at one time before the fallout’s noxious vapors transformed it into a monstrous 3 eyed horny creature in Day The World Ended(1955)


And one of my personal favorites is the awesome Tabanga tree stump equipped with a beating heart that walked really slow and could hardly move a branchy arm yet inspired great fear amongst the superstitious jungle folk and interloping Western scientists alike.

5 Movie Monsters in Search of an Existential Crisis: AntiFilm School Presents the 3rd Annual Halloween Horror Movie Spooktacular!

Paul Blaisdell was an artist who worked in rubber like Auguste Rodin.


worked in marble, well maybe not, but to those of us who grew up with his cheesy monsters, it was art after all.

At first, Blaisdell was a sketch artist, fine arts painter, and sculptor, being an artist/musician myself I understand how poor one person can be by doing what they love. He never made a lot of money as a monster maker in the height of the fabulous 50s. Also, like me, he drew monsters and did models as a kid.

I used to make all the Aurora Universal monster models. Collected all of Forrest J. Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazines.

and sketched the creatures from those sacred rags and superheroes from my huge Marvel and D.C. comic book collection. I would be stinkin’ rich if I hadn’t sold each and every one for 10 cents a copy while sitting on the street corner back in the good old days, in the suburbs of Long Island New York.

little monster girl and her pop who didn’t mind her playing with monsters!

Obviously, Blaisdell was really good at what he did, because he wound up making a great and lasting contribution to the monster business and Roger Corman’s campy cult films of the 50s. Me I went on to become a songwriter inspired by these glorious childhood memories, but I am better at playing piano and songwriting than building giant rubber mutants with bulging eyes. Although I did try to build a space station in the basement with parts that I got from our vacuum cleaner, which wasn’t broken at the time… don’t ask.

From that point on, every time the hammer went missing in my house, my father would give me the most piercing looks and start yelling. To his credit, he’s the one who would take me to the local mom-and-pop stationery store to buy or bring me home the latest Famous Monsters Magazine, and never said, “Little girls shouldn’t be interested in monsters”, so he was truly a great guy, even if he did yell about the hammer a lot! So anyway…

Blaisdell submitted his illustrations to pulp sci-fi publications like Spaceways


and Otherworlds. And eventually, he was discovered by magazine publisher Forrest J. Ackerman who was so impressed with Paul’s work that he became his agent.

Because of Ackerman, Blaisdell got his first film job designing the alien creature for The Beast With a Million Eyes (1955). He actually helped the project out because at the point he came on board, there wasn’t any little alien yet in the movie at all, which would have to be problematic!

Paul and Jackie Blaisdell with ‘Little Hercules’ between them.

The beastly slave of the alien is a hand puppet created by the cheesy greatness that was Paul Blaisdell.

Interesting side note: For The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955), Corman needed someone to design the alien who originally was supposed to be an invisible force marauding through the galaxy hitching rides on various life forms and taking over their consciousness, like the mind control of the animals in the film. In Bill Warren’s informative book Keep Watching the Skies, Corman contacted friend collector/historian Forrest Ackerman suggesting stopping animation genius Ray Harryhausen (who obviously was way out of Corman’s league and price range) Warren-“Corman recoiled in economic in shock.” Then Forrest recommended Jacques Fresco a futuristic eco-conscious architect and designer who had created the space station and rockets for Project Moon Base (1953)

But Fresco wanted too much money to do the job, so Ackerman came up with another idea. There was an illustrator who designed cover art and did illustrations for his magazines, named Paul Blaisdell. It wasn’t like Blaisdell had the experience building movie models but the young guy did build model kits (the Aurora kind I used to spend the days gluing and painting) and he also did some sculpting. Blaisdell said he would try it for $200 for the job and another $200 for materials. It was still more than Corman wanted to invest, but it seemed the last resort if he wanted a creature in his film. Corman sent the poster to Blaisdell as a composite and informed him that it didn’t have to do much more than show itself on screen for a few moments, then collapse. Blaisdell could then make it on a small scale, using only the upper torso since the rest would be hidden by the ship’s hatch. And so he made a hand puppet which was a dragon-like creature with wings he molded from clay and placed a simple latex mold over it. Paul’s wife Jackie modeled its hands. The Blaisdell nicknamed him “Little Hercules.”

Blaisdell made him a leather jacket, an eight-starred medallion, and a toy gun and then added manacles and chains to its arms to point out that he was really a slave to the alien intelligence. According to Randy Palmer's book, Paul Blaisdell: Monster Maker he was happy with his work, and so were the crew.

Corman and American Releasing Corp must have been satisfied enough with Blaisdell’s skill and his price as well, as he went on to become the go-to monster-maker for the studio during the 1950s. Including The busty She-Creature (1956), the cucumber alien in It Conquered the World (1956), The fanged umbrella bat in Not of This Earth (1957), The alcoholic Google-eyed brain invaders in Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957), my personal favorite Tobanga the walking tree spirit in From Hell it Came 1957 and the alien stow away in It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958).

He also acted inside the suits he designed, created special effects, and did his own dangerous stunts in Corman's movies. However, the 60s were not kind to Blaisdell and he decided to retire. He did co-publish a monster movie magazine with fellow collector and friend Bob Burns but walked away from the industry entirely. Blaisdell passed away in 1983 suffering from stomach cancer at the age of 55.

Paul went on to design monsters for all the low-budget American International Pictures like the little flying thingy in Not of This Earth (1957). The bug-eyed little green men in Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) and Earth Vs. the Spider (1958). He was also responsible for an uncredited corpse in The Undead (1957), but I don’t know if that counts as a monster, unless it was a crusty rubber corpse with bulging eyes. Blaisdell also created the imposing alien creature in the tautly paced and fantastic It, The Terror From Beyond Space (1958), which was an inspiration for Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979)

One of my absolute favorites is the Tabanga tree monster in From Hell It Came (1957) as well as the cucumber guy, as they are both hilarious and I simply just adore trees and cucumbers.


In terms of the cucumber mutant, I don’t know if I dreamt this up, pulled it out of my arse, or am just misremembering reading an interview or watching a documentary with Corman saying that Blaisdell’s cucumber creature sat in a shed for years until Paul and Roger got drunk one night and took it out and played with it until the arms fell off. If anyone else recollects hearing or reading this, please drop me a note so that I don’t start doubting myself.

So Blaisdell had a unique vision with the design of his campy mutants and aliens and little flying thingies  He probably will be most remembered for Beulah the grotesque representation of primordial womanhood with the scaly protruding mounds of what were supposed to be her luscious scaly creature boobs? in The She Creature.

Of course, he’ll be fondly thought of for the outrageous cucumber creature in It Conquered the World that terrorized Beverly Garland thanks to husband Lee Van Cleef who invited the damn thing to earth. It’s just sad that he doesn’t get more notoriety for creating some of the most ludicrously delicious and silly monsters of all time.

In addition to designing these creatures, he also often played them as well. Unfortunately, Blaisdell became disillusioned with the film business and just quit making anything more for the movies in the 50s. How many times can Beulah make an entrance right?

I would have thought that Paul designed the giant Crab Monsters for Corman in what else but Attack of the Crab Monsters,(1957) but he was already working on The She Creature and apparently the low budget for the special effects on that film had put Blaisdell off.

In the early 60s, Blaisdell started his own magazine called Fantastic Monsters of the Films but it was a very short-lived endeavor which featured a “how to” section called The Devil’s Workshop

In the early 60s, he did some conceptual artwork on several movies which never made it out of the can. And like a lot of talented people, he wound up living out his life in obscurity. I’ve tried to find his name in several indexes of the film books about the 50s genre that I have here and I can’t find mention of him at all. It made me a little sad.

It would be really interesting to see what kind of monsters he could envision today if he were still with us.

Blaisdell had a knack for working with no budget and yet slapping something together although absurd and silly looking he always came through for AIP and even Bert I Gordon who soon realized that Blaisdell could get things done – and not just make rubber monster suits. Bert I. Gordon hired him to build all the miniature and oversized props needed for his films The Amazing Colossal Man, (19570 Earth vs. the Spider, and Attack of the Puppet People (1958). It was Blasidell who was responsible for the giant hypodermic needle in Colossal Man and for the set of doll-sized items used in Puppet People.

He also worked doing some conceptual sketches for the Milner brothers, designing my favorite Tabanga Tree in From Hell It Came. While the Milners based their menacing tree-stump on his designs, Blaisdell didn’t receive any money, and awful but true he didn’t even get credit for it either, that’s why it’s a lesser known fact that he was responsible for the Tabanga Tree Guy at all.

Sadly, Paul died of stomach cancer at the very young age of 55 on July 10, 1983, in Topanga Canyon, California. But Beulah, the cuke, the flying thingies, Tabanga, all the little bug-eyed guys, and Paul Blaisdell’s devoted fans like me, will always appreciate the giggles and chills he/they evoked when watching his wonderful creations come to life.

Paul Blaisdell’s film contributions:

I found these two links about Paul Blaisdell and thought that both people put a lot of heart and effort into collecting great information about this unsung patron saint of foam rubber and glue.

http://www.badmovieplanet.com/3btheater/tributes/Paul_Blaisdell/paul_blaisdell.html

http://www.bloodsprayer.com/uncategorized/how-to-make-a-monster-paul-blaisdell-remembered/

Monster Girl’s Quote of the night! Island Of Lost Souls (1932)

“Do you know what it means to feel like God?” – Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton)

The 4D Man (1959)A man in the fourth dimension is indestructible.

 

4D Man (1959) Directed by Irvin Shortess Yeaworth Jr. and co-produced by Jack H Harris. Screenplay by Cy Chermak. Starring Robert Lansing, Lee Meriwether, James Congdon, Robert Strauss, and a very young Patty Duke. Earlier on Yeaworth and Harris had collaborated on The Blob(1958). The film has elements of the fantastical vivid coloring used in The Blob that gives this film a very comic book tonality. Actually, Jack Harris had promised the lead to Steve McQueen originally, but Harris thought he was such a pain in the ass from his experience with the actor on The Blob, that he didn’t want to work with him again.

Just for the sake of taking me back to Saturday morning schlocktalcular 50s and 60s mad scientist/science gone awry films that entertained me all through those golden afternoons. I offer yet another guilty pleasure film. The 4D Man.

This little multi-dimensional flick also goes by the name Master of Terror and The Evil Force but I’ve always enjoyed it as the 4D guy who can walk through walls and whenever he touches someone, it drains their life force and they age to dust in seconds.

Yeaworth directed this film with a very frenetic energy. It’s actually a very interesting concept if you consider the power to walk through walls could open up oodles of possibilities if used in the right hands of course.

Robert Lansing is scientist Scott Nelson, and his younger brother Tony played by James Congdon, develops a method of penetrating solid matter.

After he blows up the lab where he’s been experimenting with his theories, he goes to big brother for help. Scott helps Tony by procuring an electric motor that activates brain waves causing the forces of mind over matter to truly break through any barrier. Jack Harris‘ production is very slick while Lansing is literally charged with rays from the fourth dimension.

Unfortunately with all stories about the dangers of delving into areas that perhaps shouldn’t be explored hastily, this process winds up using up Scott’s life force and causes him to age rapidly as well as triggers a maniacal strain of homicidal self-preservation, greed all mixed with a little god complex for good measure.

He starts to feed off other people’s life force and ultimately kills them with his touch. Scott is engaged to Lee Meriwether who eventually convinces him to temporarily stop using his power long enough for them to shoot him.

Chic James is the prostitute who withers away as Scott robs her life force.

A similar film of interest is The Projected Man (1966)

Special Note: Jack Harris came up with the idea for a 4D man over lunch while reading a pamphlet on the fourth dimension and the molecular structure of two foreign pieces of matter. The idea is that these molecules could be allowed to interconnect. So if you could put a pencil through a slab of metal,

like in the film, why couldn’t a person walk through a wall? Walking through walls is a novel idea, but he needed to inject the feeling of menace into the plot. That’s when they decided that Lansing’s character would rapidly age and need to regenerate his life force.

MG

The Hideous Sun Demon (1959) Reptilian pants monster by day

Since we’re having a major blizzard here on the eastern seaboard, I thought it appropriate to spread a little sunshine in your day! I’d like to share a film that is a “guilty pleasure” of mine.

I love 1950s sci-fi/ horror. There are some films that share equal parts of the genres. The Hideous Sun Demon is one of those atomic-age scare films.

The Hideous Sun Demon (1959) alternative titles Blood on His Lips, Terror From the Sun(  more fitting for people who look like worn-out saddles from too much sun worshiping and tanning bedtime), and The Sun Demon. Directed and Produced by Robert Clarke and Screenplay by E.S.Seeley Jr.

Stars Robert Clarke, Patricia Manning, Nan Peterson, and Patrick Whyte. In keeping with the theme of shapes shifting and transformation films such as werewolves and large cat people.

This film is about a reptilian conversion whenever Dr Gilbert McKenna played by director Clarke himself is exposed to the light of day, the sun. Normally films that evoke fear are set in shadowing night, with beasties lurking in the darkness. Sun Demon depicts the horror and fears in broad daylight, the theme of the monster transformed by the moonlight is actually now inverted, to become a tale of fearing the bright landscape of the day.

On a much more subtle level or perhaps not so subtle considering it is well known of Dr McKenna’s drinking problem. the film can be taken as a cautionary tale about addiction. Now, Dr. Gilbert McKenna happens to also be an atomic scientist who deals with the dreaded radioactive materials. So combining this highly dangerous practice with a highly self-destructive habit makes for a disastrous result. Dr. McKenna causes an accident in his lab, which sets off a chain reaction of exposure to a strange kind of radiation exposure. He literally becomes allergic to the sunlight and when at the mercy of the big old fireball in the sky, he becomes a scaly monstrosity.

Trying to help Gil out are his associates Ann Russell played by Patricia Manning and Dr. Frederick Buckell(Patrick Whyte). They insist on Gil staying out of the sunlight until they can find a specialist who can treat him for radiation poisoning. Unfortunately, Gil has a very strong will and drive to do things his own way, after all, he is an addict.

He goes out one evening and finds a nightclub singer Trudy Osborne ( Nan Peterson)and they start up a little fling on the beach, which leaves Gil exposed to the sun the next morning.

Ann is in love with Gil, but Gil doesn’t seem to notice at all. Because Gil is oblivious to Ann’s feelings, he sneaks out while she is taking care of him. He goes back to find the sleazy Trudy and yet again he’s caught out in the sunlight. This time, once he’s transformed into the scaly demon he winds up killing a gangster named Georgia who happens to be Trudy’s ex-boyfriend.

Inevitably Gil is chased by the police and falls to his death from a high tower.

The fact that Gil is a willful participant in turning into this demon, suggests that it is the subject of addiction and choice that the film is relating to us. Gil could have remained inside during the day to protect himself and others from what he might become, but his urges created a compulsion that ultimately was his downfall.

I can’t take credit for the use of the phrase Pants Monster. Here is the link to their hilarious site!

http://pantsmonsters.blogspot.com/