“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow super Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be jumping for joy for his big broadcast of a classic Columbia Pictures creature/sci-fi/fantasy feature film masterpiece.

“Svengoolie” to present his big broadcast of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961)

Original 1961 Columbia Pictures theatrical trailer for Edward Bernds’ production of “Valley of the Dragons,” with added Italian subtitles for the title sequences for the YouTube upload.

“They go a million years back in time.. and land a million miles out in space!”  Original 1961 Columbia Pictures theatrical poster artwork for “Valley of the Dragons.”

The legendary Berwyn/Chicago-based sci-fi/creature feature film host will present his big broadcast of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961), this Sat.; Dec. 26 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

The 1961 Columbia classic sci-fi/creature/fantasy production was directed by veteran director Edward Bernds.  Before going into directing, Bernds worked as a sound engineer for Columbia Pictures; notably on Frank Capra’s cirtically-acclaimed classic masterpiece productions of “It Happened One Night” (1934) with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” (1936) with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939) with James Stewart, Arthur and Claude Rains.    Bernds also directed numerous Columbia comedy short subjects with “The Three Stooges” (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Jerry “Curly” Howard from 1945 until Curly suffered a stroke in 1947 and the Stooges’ 1947–1952 Columbia comedy short subjects with Shemp Howard).   Bernds also worked on two latter Columbia “Stooge” feature-length productions with “Curly Joe” DeRita, “The Three Stooges Meet Hercules” and “The Three Stooges in Orbit” (both produced and released in 1962; the two aforementioned feature-length Columbia “Stooge” comedies were co-produced by Norman Maurer’s Normandy Productions; Maurer was the son-in-law of Moe Howard).  Bernds’ non-Columbia feature productions include Allied Artists’ “Queen of Outer Space” (1958) with Zsa Zsa Gabor and the Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios) sequel to 1958’s “The Fly,” “Return of the Fly” (1959) with Vincent Price.

Bernds wrote the screenplay for his 1961 production, which was adapted from Donald Zimbalist’s story treatment.   Zimbalist was inspired by Jules Verne’s novel, “Career of a Comet” (a.k.a., “Off on a Comet” and “Hector Servadac”).  Veteran production executive Byron Roberts co-produced Bernds’ 1961 Columbia sci-fi/fantasy creature entry.  Roberts later served as a unit production manager for Michael Anderson’s Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer futuristic sci-fi thriller with Michael York, “Logan’s Run” (1976).  For the production of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961), Roberts co-produced the Columbia sci-fi/creature/fantasy production with veteran executive producer Al Zimbalist, the real-life father of Donald Zimbalist.   The senior Zimablist previously produced Eugene Frenke’s production of “Miss Robin Crusoe” (1954) with a pre-“Gunsmoke” Amanda Blake.   The 1961 production of “Valley of the Dragons” was produced under the “ZRB Productions” (Zimbalist, Roberts and Bernds) moniker for Columbia, according to details from the American Film Institute.

This will mark Sven’s third big broadcast of Bernds’ 1961 classic Columbia sci-fi/creature/fantasy feature film masterpiece production on Me-TV.  He previously showcased “Valley of the Dragons” (1961) as a big broadcast premiere back in April 2019 and as a Dec. 2019 big broadcast, which was presented as a tribute to Joan Staley, she died in Nov. 2019.

Who was in Bernds’ Columbia production of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961)?

The players who appeared in Edward Bernds’ Columbia production of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961) were Joan Staley (as Deena), Cesare Danova (as Hector Servadac), Danielle De Metz (as Nateeta), Sean McClory (as Michael Denning), Gregg Martell (as Od-Loo), Dolly Grey (as Mara), Gil Perkins (in the dual roles of Tarn and a Doctor), Mike Lane (as Anoka), I. Stanford Jolley (as Patoo), Jerry Sunshine (as LeClerc), Mark Dempsey (as Andrews) and Roger Til (as Vidal).

“Svengoolie” to present his big broadcast of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals from coast-to-coast will be jumping for joy for his big broadcast of a classic Columbia Pictures sci-fi creature adventure/fantasy masterpiece.

Original 1961 Columbia Pictures tinted lobby card for Edward Bernds‘ “Valley of the Dragons.”

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961)

“They go a million years in time and land a million miles out in space!” Original 1961 Columbia Pictures theatrical poster artwork element for Edward Bernds‘ “Valley of the Dragons.”

The legendary Berwyn/Chicago-based sci-fi/creature feature host will present his big broadcast of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961), this Sat.; Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

“Valley of the Dragons” (1961) was directed by veteran studio director Edward Bernds.  Bernds also directed various Columbia short subject comedies with “The Three Stooges” (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Jerome “Curly” Howard from 1945 until Curly’s 1947 stroke and the Stooges’ 1947–1952 Columbia shorts with Shemp Howard). Bernds also worked on two latter Columbia “Stooge” feature-length productions with “Curly Joe” DeRita, “The Three Stooges Meet Hercules” and “The Three Stooges in Orbit” (both 1962). Bernds’ non-Columbia features include Allied Artists’ “Queen of Outer Space” (1958), with Zsa Zsa Gabor and the Twentieth Century Fox sequel to 1958’s “The Fly,” “Return of the Fly” (1959); with Vincent Price.

Before he went into the field of directing, Bernds started out as a Columbia Pictures sound engineer for Frank Capra’s acclaimed productions of “It Happened One Night” (1934) with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” (1936) with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939), with James Stewart, Arthur and Claude Rains.

Screenwriter Donald Zimbalist wrote the screen treatment for “Valley of the Dragons” and was inspired by Jules Verne’s novel, “Career of a Comet” (a.k.a., “Off on a Comet” and “Hector Servadac”) and the Hal Roach–Hal Roach Jr. production of  “One Million B.C.” (1940, with Lon Chaney Jr., Victor Mature, Carole Landis and Conrad Nagel), according to Clive Hirschhorn’s passage on “Valley of the Dragons” in “The Columbia Story.”  Veteran production executive Byron Roberts co-produced Bernds’ 1961 Columbia sci-fi/fantasy creature entry with Donald Zimbalist’s real-life father, executive producer Al Zimbalist.

This will mark Sven’s second big broadcast of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961) on Me-TV.  He previously showcased Bernds’ 1961 Columbia production as a big broadcast premiere back in April 2019.

Who was in Bernds’ 1961 Columbia sci-fi/creature/fantasy feature?

The players who appeared in “Valley of the Dragons” (1961) were Joan Staley (as Deena; Staley later went on to greater fame for her role of Alma Parker in Alan Rafkin’s 1966 Universal ghost comedy with Don Knotts, “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken;” she also appeared as the villain “Annie Okie” alongside Cliff Robertson as the villain “Shame” in two episodes of the Adam West–Burt Ward “Batman” live action TV series in 1966, Staley later became a talent agent with her husband according to Mike Barnes’ tribute article on Joan Staley in The Hollywood Reporter), Cesare Danova (as Hector Servadac; apart from his various roles in film and TV, Danova went onto greater fame for his role of Mayor Carmine DePasto in John Landis’ 1978 Universal-National Lampoon mammoth campus comedy, “National Lampoon’s Animal House” with John Belushi, Karen Allen, Tim Matheson, Bruce McGill, Donald Sutherland, Martha Smith, Kevin Bacon and John Vernon), Sean McClory (as Michael Denning, McClory previously appeared in the role of Maj. Kibbee in Gordon Douglas’ 1954 Warner Bros. sci-fi creature thriller, “Them!” with Edmund Gwynn, James Whitmore, Fess Parker, James Arness and young Leonard Nimoy), Danielle De Metz (as Nateeta), Gil Perkins (in the dual roles of Tarn and a Doctor), Gregg Martell (as Od-Loo), Dolly Grey (as Mara), Mike Lane (as Anoka), Jerry Sunshine (as LeClerc), I. Stanford Jolley (as Patoo), Roger Til (as Vidal) and Mark Dempsey (as Andrews).

“Svengoolie” to present his big broadcast premiere of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be excited for his big broadcast premiere of a classic Columbia Pictures sci-fi/fantasy creature feature.

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast premiere of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961)

Original 1961 Columbia Pictures theatrical trailer for “Valley of the Dragons,” with added Italian subtitles.

Original 1961 Columbia Pictures poster artwork for “Valley of the Dragons.”

The legendary Berwyn/Chicago-based sci-fi/fantasy film host will present his big broadcast premiere of “Valley of the Dragons” (1961), this Sat., April 20 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

The 1961 sci-fi/fantasy creature feature was directed by Columbia veteran Edward Bernds.  Bernds started out as a sound engineer for the studio, notably for his work on Frank Capra’s acclaimed Columbia features; including “It Happened One Night” (1934, with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert), “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” (1936, with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur) and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939, with James Stewart, Arthur and Claude Rains).

Bernds later directed numerous Columbia short comedies featuring The Three Stooges (with Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Jerome “Curly” Howard from 1945 until Curly’s stroke in 1947 and the Stooges’ shorts with Shemp Howard from 1947–1952).  Bernds would later direct two feature-length Columbia “Stooge” productions with “Curly Joe” DeRita, “The Three Stooges Meet Hercules” and “The Three Stooges in Orbit” (both 1962).

Some of Bernds’ non-Columbia features that he directed were “Queen of Outer Space” (1958, for Allied Artists) with Zsa Zsa Gabor and the Twentieth Century Fox sequel to 1958’s “The Fly,” “Return of the Fly” (1959) with Vincent Price.

According to Clive Hirschorn’s retrospective book on Columbia Pictures, “The Columbia Story;” Bernds also wrote the screenplay for “Valley of the Dragons,” which was adapted from Donald Zimbalist ‘s story treatment.  Bernds and Zimbalist’s work was loosely inspired by Jules Verne’s novel, “Career of a Comet” (a.k.a., “Off on a Comet” and “Hector Servadac”).

Who was in “Valley of the Dragons” (1961)?

The players who appeared in Bernds’ 1961 Columbia sci-fi/fantasy creature feature were Cesare Danova (as Hector Servadac), Sean McClory (as Michael Denning), Joan Staley (as Deena), Danielle De Metz (as Nateeta), Gregg Martell (as Od-Loo), Gil Perkins (in the dual roles of Tarn and a Doctor), I. Stanford Jolley (as Patoo), Mike Lane (as Anoka), Roger Til (as Vidal), Mark Dempsey (as Andrews), Jerry Sunshine (as LeClerc) and Dolly Grey (as Mara).