TENSION - "Everybody's Got A Breaking Point" (1949)

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For most folks, the day after X-mas is about relaxation because it's all over, but down here in The Dungeon, since we don't know how to relax, it's all about finding more subjects to torture and creating TENSION!! Time to go back to the year 1949, when life was simpler but also sometimes undeniably a lot more complicated depending how you look at it!

Great title card to go along with Barry (PYRO) Sullivan as Detective Collier Bonnabel's introductory narration! The music in "TENSION" was composed by André Previn, one of the most versatile musicians in the world, who can easily transiton from Classical to Jazz and Pop, a truly brilliant musician whose career spans eight decades!

What was he talking about? Oh, that's right, Tension and how to get people to SSNNNAPPPPP!!!!!

This is the great Richard Basehart as milquetoast pharmacist Warren Quimby! Anybody who grew up in the 60's will remember Richard for his 110 episodes of "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" as Admiral  Harriman Nelson! He was also in the "Twilight Zone" as Adam Cook in the episode titled "Probe 7, Over And Out!" Richard also had the role of Ishmael in the classic 1956 feature "Moby Dick," and in 1962 had the starring role in a movie called "Hitler!"

Warren Quimby's total bitch of a wife Claire is played by Audrey (Lady In The Lake ) Totter! Almost always a bad girl in most of her roles, Audrey was the personification of a femme fatale in this film and many others! Her career waned when bad girls were no longer fashionable in the Disney world of the 60's!

Warren takes Claire to see the charming house he wants to buy her out in the suburbs, but she wants nothing to do with it, and won't even get out of the car! She likes it in the city where the sugar daddies are prevalent!

Claire leaves Warren to go live with a rich guy in his beach pad, so he takes he frustrations out on the bowling alley!

The man with the money that she so craves, Audrey's new beau is Barney Deager as played by Lloyd Gough! Lloyd's career came to a screeching halt in the early 50's for about 10 years when he and his wife were blacklisted for their left-wing political affiliations! He bounced back in the 60's and was in "The Outer Limits" episode "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" as a General Claiborne, and was in 26 episodes of "The Green Hornet" as Mike Axford!

When Warren comes around to try and stake a claim back on his wife, not only does Barney Deager kick sand in Warren's face, he knees him in the nuts for good measure, and has to think twice about not killling him!

Warren decides he's going to kill Barney, and to do that he needs to set it up perfectly, so he decides to take on a whole new look and personality! Ditching his glasses and getting some of those new high-tech contact lenses is a good place to start!. He then goes and gets himself a new apartment, and tells the people who live there that he's a traveling salesman, and that's why he's not around during the week! He plans on killing Barney as this new person, and then disappearing without a trace!

The pharmacy where Warren works provides some of the busiest looking scenes you're ever going to see. Look, there is stuff and more stuff literally everywhere!!

Growing up in California, I don't remember the California Crazy chain of gas stations, but I guess it existed!!

In his new digs, Warren meets his neighbor Cyd Charrise as the warm, pretty, and intelligent Mary Chanler! Sometimes you wonder why actors and actresses change their names, Cyd Charrise was born Tula Ellice Finklea, does that answer your question? Cyd Charrise was a brilliant classically trained dancer who was in a bunch of musicals! She was such an amazing dancer, her legs were insured for five million dollars in 1952!! Warren is so obsessed with killing Barney, he can't really even conceive of being in a new relationship!

Warren breaks into Barney's pad, and is just about ready to do him in when Barney wakes up! Warren suddenly realizes what a fool he is, changes his mind, and finally decides that he will be happier if he just lets the whole thing go, and start a new life with Mary, who, unlike his wife, is somebody who actually likes him!!

But since this isn't a love story, before Warren can get around to hooking up with Mary, Claire shows back up with her bags in hand! Somebody has killed Barney, and she needs a place to hide, she needs Warren to take her back!

Warren finally does what he should have done in the beginning of the film, he slaps the shit out of Claire, and she's not happy about it one bit!

The sweet science of boxing was particularly popular in the 40's and 50's and always makes for a good back drop for a scene! Here our narrator Barry Sullivan and his partner, William Conrad as Lieutenant Edgar Gonsales question Barney Deager's man-servant! William Conrad obviously went on to star in his own TV show "Canon" for 121 episodes, and was no slouch in the narration department himself as he narrated "Rocky And His Friends," "The Fugitive," "Tales of The Unexpected," and "Buck Rogers In The 25th Century!"

Mary Chanler in the meantime has been left on hold, and innocently goes to the police to file a missing persons report on the man she has fallen in love with! Oops! Bad move!

The cops were already trying to put the squeeze on Warren for the murder, so Detective Bonnabel takes Mary out for a cup of coffee, so she can see that her boyfriend isn't who she thinks he is! Yeah, it's starting to get a little tense!!

If you listen to the opening narration again, you'll hear Lieutenant Bonnabel say that sometimes you have to do things like romance or kiss your suspects to get them to give you the information you need. Claire really thought that her and Bonnabel were going to run off together, but boy did she have a surprise coming when that rubber band finally snapped!! Unorthodox detective work to say the least, but very effective!!

CARRY ON SCREAMING - Ray Pilgrim - "Cause When You're Screaming, I Know You're Dreaming Of Me" (1966)

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So what say we bid adieu to 2012, and set the stage for 2013 with a film that fits this dank dungeun to a tee! It's not exactly a great movie, but it's plenty weird, and it's got an amazingly cool theme song, so what more do you want for nothing? From the year of 1966, here's "Carry On Screaming!"

That theme for "Carry On Screaming" was written by Myles Rudge and Ted Dicks, and was performed by Ray Pilgrim, and if you don't know who Ray Pilgrim is, you're missing out on some rich musical history! According to Ray's website, he was one of the most prolific big band singers of the late 50's and early 60's in the UK, and around 1958, he was the lead singer in a band called, "The Earthquakers!" He was also in a few other groups like the Typhoons, The Starlings, The Jaybirds and Beatmen, and guys today like Richard Cheese would be nowhere without him! Ray only became a singer to make enough money to be able to go to school and get a degree in economics! After he accomplished that goal, he gave up show business and became a money-making suit in the upper management of a large company! He came out of retirement once to sing the theme to "Carry On Screaming!" Go to Ray's site to read the whole story, and see some neat pictures too!

"Carry On Screaming " is just one in a series of 31 "Carry On" parody flicks made between the years 1959 and 1992 by Producer Peter Rogers and Director Gerald Thomas!  The first one was titled "Carry On Sergeant" and the last one was called "Carry On Columbus" with titles like "Carry On Up The Jungle," Carry On Teacher," Carry On Cowboy," and Carry On Spying," and a couple of "Carry On Christmas" TV specials in between! Each and every Carry On film was made to satirize something, and "Carry On Screaming" was intended to be a satire of Hammer films!

Harry H. Corbett in his only Carry On film, as Detective Sergeant Sidney Bung, and his wife Joan (22 other Carry On Flicks and TV shows such as "Carry On Doctor") Sims as Emily Bung, have less than a stellar marriage! In fact, he'll do almost anything just to get away from her and her chronic annoying bitching!

Doris, The woman screaming in the top picture was kidnapped as her boyfriend and her were spooning in the woods, and some kind of broken off finger was left behind as a clue for Detective Bung and his cohort, Peter (at least 17 other Carry On features like "Carry On Camping") Butterworth, as Detective Constable Slobotham, to try and decipher!

The two detectives and Doris's boyfriend Jim (10 other Carry On films like "Carry On Cabby") Dale as Albert Potter, follow the clues to this rest home!

The eyes behind that hollow painting that are watching the boys, belong to the lovely Fenella Fielding as Valeria Watt! Fenella was only in one other Carry on movie, "Carry On Regardless," but of course you'll also remember Fenella for her memorable role as Morgana Femm in "The Old Dark House" with Tom Poston!!

Valeria's charms curl the toes of even the strongest of men, including the 6'7" man servant  Sockett, as played by Bernard Bresslaw, who was in 17 other Carry On flicks including "Carry On In The Legion!"

Valeria's brother Dr. Orlando Watt has to be brought back to life to deal with the situation! Dr. Watt was played by Kenneth Williams who was in at least 23 other Carry On features including "Carry On Jack," "Carry On Loving," and "Carry On Behind!!!"

Tom Clegg as the monster Oddbod was in another five Carry On shows like "Carry On Cleo!" He is also smitten by Valeria's beauty! I still haven't figured out why he doesn't have a neck!

Charles Hawtrey as the character Dan Dann lives in a basement like dwelling and knows all his neighbors by their undergarments!  Charles was also in 24 other Carry On motion pictures including "Carry On Constable," and "Carry On Nurse!"

By examining the severed finger, it is determined by a Dr. Fettle that the creature is of the mythical  species Homo Gargantuas!

Using electric current, Dr. Fettle accidently reconstitutes a naked and mangy looking Oddbod Junior! Billy Cornelius in the role of Junior was in nine other Carry On movies like "Carry On Dick," and "Carry On Henry The VIII!"

The plot thickens like figgy pudding when the detectives determine that Doris has been turned into a mannequin, after being identified by a mark on her derriere! Angela Douglas as Doris was in three other Carry On flicks, one of them being "Carry On...Up The Khyber!"

Valeria is so smoking hot that when she asks Detective Bung if he minds if she smokes, she literally does!!

Valeria cons Detective Bung into drinking some potion that turns him into a Hyde-like creature temporarily!

When he returns home to Mrs. Bung, she doesn't even really notice that he's now a monster, and just gives him a ration of shit for not combing his hair and taking care of his teeth properly!

In order to lure Oddbod out into the open, they dress up Detective Slobotham as a woman, and take him out into the woods, but Detective Bung's wife, who is now very suspicious of his activities, follows them and gets kidnapped and turned into a mannequin herself!

It's a big mess at the end when Slobotham also gets kidnapped and almost  gets waxed too! Doris gets rescued and brought back to life before the whole operation falls apart, and Dr. Watt and Valeria's evil operation is finally discombuberated!

Valeria is rehabilitated and given a second chance in Detective Bung's home!

As luck would have it, Mrs. Bung accidentally never gets revived and remains a mannequin much to Detective Bung's chagrin! Right!! It's not horrible, it's not hilarious, it's not really good, but it's not too bad, and you can get "Carry On Screaming" from Sinister Cinema for a reasonable price! 2013 is going to be fraught with weirdness down here in the Dungeon, so stick around,  I assure you, it's only going to get worse!! Carry On...2013!!

World's Oldest Mother Dies

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A Spanish woman who was the oldest ever to become a new mother died Saturday at the age of 69, according to her family, BBC News reported.

Maria del Carmen Bousada was 66 when she gave birth to twin boys in 2006. She said she received fertility treatments at a California clinic after telling doctors she was 55. A Spanish newspaper said she was diagnosed with cancer shortly after giving birth to sons Christian and Pau, who are now 2 years old.

Bousada had said there was no reason to believe she would not live as long as her mother, who was 101 when she died. Even if she died prematurely, she said, her sons would never be alone, BBC News reported.

"There are lots of young people in our family," Bousada said.

Original Post: HealthDay

Parental Stress Increases Kids' Risk of Asthma

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Asthma is one of the most common ailments of young childhood - rates among children under age 5 have risen 160% from 1980 to 1994 in the U.S. But while the list of triggers that set off bouts of wheezing and shortness of breath (allergies, pollution or strenuous exercise, for example) are well known, it's still not clear exactly how the various factors that cause asthma - including genes, environment and exposure to pollution - contribute to children's chances of developing the disease.

Now researchers at the University of Southern California say they have a clearer understanding. In their study of nearly 2,500 non-asthmatic children ages 5 to 9 who lived in the area, researchers found that the level of stress reported by the children's parents had a significant impact on the kids' susceptibility to other common contributors to asthma - namely exposure to pollution from traffic and secondhand smoke. Scientists found that children whose parents described themselves as stressed and anxious were 50% more likely to develop asthma than kids with non-stressed parents - at least when these youngsters were also exposed to pollution in a high-traffic, urban setting.

Parental stress alone did not increase the children's risk of asthma, but the combination of living in a household with high stress levels and being exposed to pollutants from traffic in the environment was sufficient to trigger the disease. The study found similar results with exposure to tobacco smoke.

Studying a combination of factors can help explain why some kids are more likely to develop asthma than others, says Rob McConnell, lead author of the study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Childhood asthma is a complex disease and probably has many contributing causes," he says. "This study provides another clue as to what might be causing it."

The results also shed light on how risk factors like stress can increase the vulnerability of the respiratory system to environmental pollution or allergens. Because asthma involves inflammation in the airways in response to particulates that enter from the air, a separate factor that also increases the body's inflammatory response - like stress - can help create especially fertile conditions for asthma to develop. So a child who feels anxiety in response to parental stress, for example, may already have inflammation in his airways, which makes him more likely to develop asthma because of exposure to environmental pollutants.

"The message to take away is that various factors overlap to create asthma," says Dr. Leonard Bielroy, an allergy, asthma and immunology specialist in Springfield, N.J., who has studied some of the condition's intersecting risk factors. "And whether those factors are psychological or physical, the more they overlap, the greater the chance of developing asthma."

While McConnell and his group did not specifically measure stress levels in the study's participants - it's difficult to get a reliable reading in such a large number of youngsters quickly - other studies have shown that parental stress translates directly with more-anxious kids. McConnell hopes that these findings will spur additional studies to investigate why, for example, asthma rates tend to be higher among lower socioeconomic groups. "There are a lot of potential reasons why poverty might be associated with asthma," he says, including that poorer families tend to live in more highly polluted, densely packed urban areas.

But there might also be a psychological contribution, which his study has highlighted. "It's not poverty itself but something about poverty that increases the risk of asthma, and we are suggesting that stress is another exposure we ought to think about."

Original Post: news.yahoo.com

Heart risks 'missed in smokers'

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High blood pressure is picked up less often in people who smoke, despite them being at higher risk of heart disease, research suggests.

A study of more than 20,000 men and women in England found smokers were less likely to be aware that they had high blood pressure than non-smokers.

The University College London team said spotting the condition was particularly important in those who smoke.

Being diagnosed can also prompt people to quit, heart experts said.

Smoking and high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, are both key causes of early death, the researchers wrote in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.

National guidelines advocate that doctors encourage those with high blood pressure to stop smoking and that greater effort should be made to look for signs of the condition in those who smoke.

The study, which took data from the Health Survey for England in 2003 and 2006, found improvements over time in the proportion of people who knew they had high blood pressure.

But it was being detected less frequently in people who smoked compared with those who did not, or those who used to smoke but had quit.

Among those smokers who had been diagnosed with the condition, they were more likely to have been told by a health professional to stop smoking than those who did not know they had hypertension, and were more likely to have quit.

Weight

One reason for the lack of diagnosis could be that smokers in the study tended to be thinner than those who did not smoke.

The researchers, who were funded by Cancer Research UK, said that GPs may be more likely to test blood pressure in people who were overweight.

Since 2004, GPs have been paid an incentive to test blood pressure and to record whether someone is a smoker.

Study author Dr Jennifer Mindell said it was disappointing to find smokers with high blood pressure were not being diagnosed.

"It's important to pick up high blood pressure in everybody but it's particularly important in somebody who already has a higher than average risk of heart disease or stroke, including those who smoke.

"And anything that gives people additional motivation to quit must be a good thing.

"It is a reminder for GPs that measuring blood pressure in smokers, even if they are thin, is important."

June Davison, a cardiac nurse from the British Heart Foundation, said: "It is crucial that smokers are aware of their blood pressure as smoking and high blood pressure are among the most common risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

"This study also highlights that if smokers are made aware of their high blood pressure, it can increase their motivation to stop smoking.

She added that smokers over the age of 40 should go for a health check where their blood pressure will be measured and advice on quitting smoking can be given.

Original Post: bcc.co.uk

TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY / Sol Lesser Productions - 1943

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It's Freaky Forties Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a weird one featuring Tarzan, Boy, chimpanzee pal, Cheetah, Nazis, giant lizards, man-eating plants and... A giant SPIDER! Oh, Hell yeah!

Eegah!! sent over a fun lil' soundclip for us to hear, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the monster mover, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our audio offering for... TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY!

Tarzan is so well known by now that Jane can have her letters to him dropped off by parachute! Boy reads it for Tarzan...

Jane, who's currently nursing British troops, asks Tarzan to help in obtaining a malaria serum extractable from plants in a distant jungle region.

Tarzan interrupts the show at an oasis and chases off the customers because he thinks the girl's in danger, but, she wasn't! Now, he's stuck with her for the rest of the adventure. Nancy (THE BAD SEED) Kelly plays American desert entertainer Connie Bryce.

Cheetah shows off for the crowd with his tight rope walking prowess!

Tarzan's framed and thrown in jail, so, Boy comes up with a plan for him to escape...

Only to be followed by Nazis in a dust storm.

When they arrive at the mysterious jungle, Tarzan sees giant lizards roaming around!

Boy and Connie are discovered by the Nazis so they run into the jungle, there, they find a creepy hidden cave.

Cheetah informs Tarzan that Boy and Connie are in big trouble!

Gee, I wonder what they're looking at?!..

On the way to helping, Tarzan gets all tangled up in some man-eating plants! Believe it or don't, Tarzan does his yell and an elephant shows up to gets him out of the mess!!

The head Nazi finds the two in the cave and gets ready to shoot them, but Big T pushes him into the giant web instead!!..

Justice is served!!.. The head Nazi gets his brain sucked out of his skull!

Parting shot from our little buddy, Cheetah!