June 23, 2025 · 5:01 pm

ROCK HUDSON’S SWASHBUCKLER FILMS

Time for a look at Rock Hudson’s overlooked swashbuckler movies.

SEA DEVILS (1953) – As England and other nations battle France in 1800, English Captain Gilliatt (Rock Hudson) has abandoned his career as a fisherman to become a smuggler. He excels at the task and over the past few years he and his ship the Sea Devil have gained quite a reputation.

The wily and sea-savvy Gilliatt’s latest cargo to smuggle is Droucette (Yvonne De Carlo), a fugitive French aristocrat acting undercover to save her brother from the guillotine in Revolutionary France.

Amid much swordplay and other action during frequent trips across the Channel, Gilliatt struggles to keep her alive and understand the motives of this beautiful woman with whom he has fallen in love.

Droucette for a time seems to secretly be an agent for Napoleon but then turns out to be a double agent who is really working for England after all. Gilliatt prevails in the end, thwarting Napoleon’s plot to invade England and rescuing Droucette from death on the guillotine.    Continue reading →

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June 23, 2025 · 9:44 am

JUNE TWENTY-THIRD ROUNDUP OF NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS

Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog does another current events roundup from an America where ignorant, uninformed and emotionally unstable anti-Trump loons have conveniently forgotten the eight years of Barack Obama’s periodic strikes on the middle east.

*** NEW! TRUMP ANNOUNCES CEASEFIRE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND IRAN.

PRESIDENT TRUMP PRAISED FOR HIS DECISION ON THE STRIKES AGAINST CRAZED IRANIAN REGIME’S NUCLEAR SITES. Trump critic praises the president and acknowledges the strikes saved American lives HERE. Even this unhinged anti-Trumper admits this was the right call HERE.

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE JOHNSON: PRESIDENT TRUMP GAVE IRAN EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A DEAL.    SENATE MAJORITY LEADER THUNE: IRAN REJECTED ALL DIPLOMATIC PATHWAYS.    INSIDE THE MISSION.   

DEMOCRAT PARTY

DEMOCRATS OBJECT TO THE IRAN NUKE STRIKES IN A WAY THEY WOULD NEVER OBJECT TO ANY ACTION TAKEN BY UKRAINE AGAINST RUSSIA OR BY HAMAS AGAINST ISRAEL. So predictable and so tiresome.   

SENATE INVESTIGATION PROVIDES MORE EVIDENCE OF DEMOCRATS OUTRIGHTLY LYING ABOUT JOE BIDEN’S CONDITION TO COVER UP HIS UNFITNESS. More HERE. Unaccountable figures were acting as president while a figurehead was trotted out in public. There is no bigger story right now.

ACCUSED MN ASSASSIN BOELTER’S CONFESSION LETTER CLAIMS HE KILLED TO CLEAR THE WAY FOR A SENATE RUN FOR DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR TIM WALZ.

DEMOCRAT JUDICIAL CORRUPTION IN COLORADO UNDER INVESTIGATION. When “judges” are nothing more than political party operatives.

DEMOCRAT HENRY CUELLAR COURAGEOUSLY ADMITS PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS RIGHT TO USE THE NATIONAL GUARD IN LOS ANGELES AND REFUTES THE NOTION THAT THE RIOTS WERE “PEACEFUL.”

NEW YORK DEMOCRATS FIGHTING TO KEEP COUNTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN THEIR FAVOR FOR REPRESENTATION IN THE 2030 CENSUS. Continue reading →

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June 22, 2025 · 5:56 pm

UNITED INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE: COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM

Time for another Balladeer’s Blog tip of the hat to a college sports team that’s not going by the overused Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats.

UNITED INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE Continue reading →

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June 21, 2025 · 6:13 pm

BALLADEER’S BLOG IS NOW FIFTEEN YEARS OLD

THANK YOU once again to all of you readers for making Balladeer’s Blog so enjoyable to write. As I always say, the unusual and controversial items I sometimes churn out here mean that readers have to be open-minded and very secure in their own beliefs not to just take offense and leave. You folks are the greatest!  

Here are some of my most popular blog posts from the past 12 months.

BAD MOVIES – “Teenage” Monsters from the 1950s HERE, The Bionic Boy (1977) HERE, Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (1980) HERE, Television Spy HERE, Ron Ely’s Spaghetti Westerns HERE, Keith Richards movies HERE.

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – The Air Battle (1859) HERE, Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds (1686) HERE, In the Deep of Time (1897) HERE. Conquest of the Moon (1887) HERE. The Aleriel Novels (1874-1893) HERE. A Voyage into Tartary (1689) HERE. Elektropolis (1928) HERE.

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION – The Swamp Fox with Leslie Nielsen as Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion HERE, Wildside (1985) HERE, Reel Wild Cinema episodes HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. The Best of Broadway HERE. Big Hawaii (1977) HERE. The Blue Palace (1974-1976) HERE.

SILENT FILMS – Rin Tin Tin’s silent movies HERE. Seven silent films about the American Revolution HERE. Samson in silent films HERE. Rudolph Valentino’s silent movies HERE. Mabel Normand’s silent films HERE. 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1916) HERE. Astrea the Strongwoman HERE.

FRONTIERADO – The original Deadwood Dick Dime Novel (1877) HERE, O. Henry’s original Cisco Kid story HERE. Shotgun John, neglected gunslinger HERE. The real Judge Roy Bean HERE. The Buffalo Soldiers HERE. Red Sun (1971) with Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune and Alain Delon HERE.

FOURTH OF JULY SEASON – Neglected battles: February 1777 HERE, Anna Maria Lane and Sally St. Claire HERE, the Black Soldiers of the Chasseurs-Voluntaires de St. Domingue HERE. The Black Coat, forgotten Revolutionary War superhero HERE. Blackheart Rum for the 4th of July HERE. Continue reading →

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June 21, 2025 · 12:01 am

1940s MARVEL SUPERHEROINES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the neglected superheroines of Marvel Comics, known in the 1940s as Timely Comics.

SILVER SCORPION 

Secret Identity: Betty Barstow

First Appearance:  Daring Mystery Comics #7 (April 1941) Her final Golden Age appearance came in 1942.

Origin: Betty Barstow, a feisty secretary for private investigator Dan Hurley, donned a costume and investigated a case her boss was refusing to look into, a case involving unusual activity at a graveyard. She wound up capturing a ring of counterfeiters and resolved to continue fighting crime as the Silver Scorpion.

Powers: The Silver Scorpion was in peak physical condition and excelled at jiu-jitsu and other martial arts. In addition, she was as agile as an acrobat. 

Comment: Since the only things “silver” on the Silver Scorpion’s costume were her wristlets, boots and the scorpion logo on her cape, I think they should have made her wristlets into revolving bracelets which fired long silver needles coated in scorpion venom. Non-fatal scorpion venom, of course, but painful and inducing temporary paralysis. Continue reading →

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June 20, 2025 · 1:50 pm

NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS ROUNDUP: JUNE TWENTIETH

Here’s another current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog.

THE LATEST DEMOCRAT RIOTS, THIS TIME IN PORTLAND, TARGET FEDERAL WORKERS WITH EXPLOSIVES AND MORE. Fascists are gonna fascist. DEMOCRATS CONTINUE STOKING THE VIOLENCE.

SEATTLE’S DEMOCRAT CHIEF OF POLICE PROMISES TO DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO HELP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINALS ELUDE ICE. I will ask the Democrats again – given your irrational claims that we live in a “dystopia” under Trump, aren’t there any suffering CITIZENS you would be willing to champion? “Illegal immigrants uber alles” remains the Democrat motto.

REPUBLICAN CONGRESSWOMAN ANNA PAULINA BRAVELY HELPS LEAD THE EFFORT TO SUBPOENA INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL AND PRIVILEGED WHITE ONE PERCENTER GEORGE SOROS.

APPEALS COURT RULES IN TRUMP’S FAVOR ON CA NATIONAL GUARD CASE.

SENATE HEARINGS ON THE GROTESQUE DEMOCRAT COVERUP OF JOE BIDEN’S UNFITNESS CONTINUE. Continue reading →

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June 20, 2025 · 10:13 am

NO, ANTI-TRUMP LOONS, LAST WEEKEND’S MILITARY PARADE WAS FOR THE ARMY’S TWO HUNDRED FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY, NOT FOR TRUMP

I’m still laughing over the way that anti-Trump fascists are so ignorant, uninformed and emotionally unstable that they idiotically believed that the parade last weekend was for Trump himself.

IT WAS THE ARMY’S TWO HUNDRED FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY, HENCE THE ELABORATE FESTIVITIES. President Donald Trump’s birthday happens to be on the same date as the army’s birthday – June 14th. And – try to follow me here, anti-Trumpers – those two birthdays will ALWAYS coincide.

Last weekend was NOT a case of military strength shown off for a national leader but to mark the TWO HUNDRED FIFTIETH birthday of America’s army. Birthdays/ anniversaries being celebrated for the 25th, 50th, 100th, 200th, and 250th time ALWAYS get special celebrations.

I’m still seeing anti-Trumpers lying that the military parade was for Trump. Don’t they realize that every single time they try spreading these lies that it tightens the bond between the Donald and his supporters? Sheesh! There are still imbeciles who think Trump told people to inject themselves with bleach or that he was trying to launch a nuclear program at Mar-a-Lago.  Continue reading →

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June 19, 2025 · 1:35 pm

2025 JUNETEENTH: MARKING THE DAY DEMOCRATS LOST THEIR SLAVES

democrats kkkIndependent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog wishes you a happy Juneteenth, marking the day Democrats lost their slaves. (Democrats owned slaves, not Republicans.) African-Americans continue fighting for their freedom from the Democrats, who today treat people of color like they still own them and that they MUST vote for Democrats and ONLY Democrats.

That political party, which I’m ashamed to say I used to belong to years ago, even distorts the Juneteenth holiday. They try fundamentally transforming it into a day when Democrats – the only extant political party which supported slavery and even fought a Civil War over it – can act like they are above reproach while THE REST OF THE COUNTRY shares a guilt The Party pretends to be free from. 

Joe Biden, embodying the grotesque hypocrisy of that detestable political party, EULOGIZED A KLANSMAN – DEMOCRAT SENATOR ROBERT BYRD – yet Biden thought he was fit to give finger-wagging lectures to the rest of us. (If this post upsets you, tell the Democrats to stop politicizing Juneteenth by pretending they had nothing to do with slavery, or the Ku Klux Klan, or Jim Crow, etc.) Continue reading →

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June 19, 2025 · 5:09 am

THIRTEEN HEAVY METAL HORROR FILMS FROM THE EIGHTIES

Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at a baker’s dozen of movies from the 1980s subgenre of Heavy Metal-related horror. Why only thirteen? Because I already reviewed Black Roses and Rocktober Blood years ago.

PAGANINI HORROR (1989) – Directed by Luigi Cozzi, better known to us fans of psychotronic movies as the Italian Ed Wood. Three women and one man constitute a heavy metal band desperate for a hit song. They strike a Faustian bargain with the mysterious Mr. Pickett, played by Donald Pleasence.

Pickett takes their souls as payment for a lost musical composition by the long-dead violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini. The rockers adapt the piece of music as a heavy metal work and decide to film the song’s music video in a mansion once owned by Paganini himself. 

Playing the piece while filming at the mansion causes Paganini to rise from the dead and lets loose other forces of Hell. Those characters not butchered by the masked, undead maestro via a knife that pops out of his violin are slaughtered by the supernatural forces now at large in the house.

Cozzi being Cozzi we also get the kitchen sink in the form of time loops, portals to Hell, family curses, cosmic Lovecraftian concepts and some of the daffiest death scenes imaginable. Some victims die by wood fungus, an inexplicable car fire and even by having invisible walls close in and crush them. Insert your own mime joke here.  Continue reading →

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June 18, 2025 · 10:10 am

JUNE EIGHTEENTH ROUNDUP OF NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS

Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog offers up another current events roundup from an America where anti-Trump loons pretend to not like kings but are okay with all the faceless kings who used Joe Biden as a prop and a figurehead to sneak through their own agendas. And never forget how the Democrats and their media outlets spent years covering up Joe Biden’s unfitness and calling people “conspiracy theorists” for telling the truth about Biden.

POPULIST PRESIDENT TRUMP’S POLICIES HAVE BROUGHT ON THE LARGEST INCREASE IN BLUE-COLLAR WORKING-CLASS WAGES IN SIXTY YEARS. Trump, the greatest president for the working class and the poor during my lifetime, continues his successful policies from his first term.

        Meanwhile, Democrats go around fatally shooting their own party members for voting with Republicans in the Minnesota legislature.

BERNIE SANDERS REGAINS A LITTLE OF THE INTEGRITY HE THREW AWAY. DEMANDS THAT THE DEMOCRATS BAN BILLIONAIRE-RUN SUPER-PACS FROM THEIR PRIMARIES IN 2028. Bernie obviously remembers how the DNC rigged their primaries against him in 2016 and against Tulsi Gabbard in 2020.

THE DEMOCRATS’ BELOVED G-7 ISSUES A JOINT STATEMENT SAYING “IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON” AND ACKNOWLEDGING ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF. Following in President Trump’s wake as the leader of the free world.

EXPLOSIVE NEW REVELATIONS ABOUT VOTE FRAUD IN 2020 THROUGH THE INHERENTLY CORRUPT “CHEAT BY MAIL” CON INCLUDE EVIDENCE THAT THE INFORMATION WAS COVERED UP. The 2020 election was as tainted and corrupt as the 1876 and 2000 election results were.

EXPOSING THE ADDITIONAL MONEY FUNNELED TO THE “JUSTICES” OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT. Ketanji Jackson leads the sleazy pack with her two-million-dollar “advance” from PRH. Time for Americans to grow up and stop pretending that the SCOTUS isn’t as corrupt as the rest of our political establishment.

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENT AT THE SOUTHERN BORDER.

DON SURBER’S GREAT ARTICLE ON WHY TRUMP IS AT FIFTY-THREE PERCENT APPROVAL RATING AND ONLY THIRTY-ONE PERCENT TRUST THE MEDIA. Continue reading →

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