Paul Palmentola

Birth : 1888-02-18, Italy

Death : 1966-04-19

Movies

Crash Landing
Art Direction
Airplane passengers prepare for a crash landing in the ocean.
The Tijuana Story
Art Direction
Courageous newspaper editor Manuel Acosta Mesa tries to take on the mob in Tijuana through his newspaper, reporting on the violence, prostitution and drug sales in the border town.
The Night the World Exploded
Art Direction
With his assistant, Laura Hutchinson, Dr. David Conway develops a device to advance the fledgling science of earthquake prediction. After forecasting a large trembleor that will rock California within twenty-four hours, Conway cannot persuade the Governor to act. When the prediction proves true and further tests indicate that there are more quakes to come, Conway and Laura seek to perfect their device. Subsequent tests deep within Carlsbad Caverns discover an unknown element—E-112—that is responsible for the earthquakes and threatens to destroy the globe if it ever reaches the surface. The team determines that with only four weeks until Armageddon, the race is on to neutralize the killer element before it takes a devastating toll.
The Giant Claw
Art Direction
Global panic ensues when it is revealed that a mysterious UFO is actually a giant turkey-like bird that flies at supersonic speed and has no regard for life or architecture.
The Man Who Turned to Stone
Art Direction
A new social worker at a girls' reformatory discovers that her charges are being used by a group of ancient alchemists, who have insinuated themselves as the prison's chief staffers, to keep themselves alive and free from an insidious petrification, which is already afflicting one of their number.
Zombies of Mora Tau
Art Direction
American tycoon George Harrison, his beautiful wife, Mona, and deep-sea diver Jeff Clark are off the coast of Africa hoping to salvage a fortune in diamonds at the bottom of the sea near the voodoo-haunted island of Mora Tau, and are joined by an English girl named Jan. The treasure is reported to be guarded by Zombies, walking dead-men doomed to roam the earth until men stop trying to find the sacred treasure. Here, they are walking the sea-bottom, and there is a large conflict of interest between them and the treasure-seekers.
Utah Blaine
Art Direction
Western about Calhoun helping to overcome land-grabbing outlaws.
Don't Knock The Rock
Art Direction
Rock-and-roller Arnie Haynes returns to his hometown as a hero to the teenagers. However, the mayor and other concerned adults have banned him from performing in his hometown because they consider him and his music a negative influence on the youth. But with the help of disc jockey/publicist Alan Freed and fellow artists (including Bill Haley and the Comets and Little Richard), they hope to convince everyone that rock and roll is not as dangerous as the adults think.
Miami Exposé
Art Direction
A police detective baits killer gamblers with a mob witness (Patricia Medina) in the Everglades.
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Art Direction
Test space rockets exploding at liftoff and increased reporting of UFO sightings culminate in a direct attempt by alien survivors of a dead, extra-galactic civilization to invade Earth from impervious flying saucers, using ray-weapons of mass destruction.
The Werewolf
Art Direction
The arrival in a small mountain town of a dissheveled stranger launches a series of murders committed by some sort of animal. As the town doctor and his daughter attempt to help the stranger, the sheriff investigates the murders; and they uncover a sinister experiment involving two rogue scientists, a car accident victim, his wife and children, and a serum that causes a man to turn into a ravaging werewolf.
Blackjack Ketchum Desperado
Art Direction
A former gunslinger comes to the aid of ranchers battling a murderous land baron.
Inside Detroit
Art Direction
Gus Linden, former racketeer head of a Detroit local of the United Automobile Workers of America, A.F.L, attempts to destroy his successor, Blair Vicker, so he can put his old rackets back into the auto factories. Vickers fights him off, ultimately winning help from Linden's attractive daughter Barbara and from Joni Calvin, Vickers' moll.
Teen-Age Crime Wave
Art Direction
A delinquent girl involves an innocent friend in an armed robbery followed by a jail-break and hostage-taking with her equally delinquent boyfriend.
Apache Ambush
Art Direction
Two former enemies find themselves together on a cattle drive and fighting marauding Apaches and Mexican bandits.
Chicago Syndicate
Art Direction
An ex-military accountant is recruited by the FBI to infiltrate the mob in Chicago in an attempt to break open the rackets. To complicate his job, two women stand in his way, each with their own agenda.
It Came from Beneath the Sea
Art Direction
A giant octopus, whose feeding habits have been affected by radiation from H-Bomb tests, rises from the Mindanao Deep to terrorize the California Coast.
Creature with the Atom Brain
Art Direction
Murders, with victims dying from spines broken by brute strength, erupt in the city and the killers, when encountered, walk away unharmed by police bullets which strike them. A police doctor's investigation of the deaths leads to the discovery of an army of dead criminal musclemen restored to life, remotely controlled by a vengeful former crime boss and a former Nazi scientist, from the latter's laboratory hidden in the suburbs.
Adventures of Captain Africa
Art Direction
Filled from front to back with stock footage taken from the Columbia serials "The Phantom-1943" and, primarily, "The Desert Hawk-1944", with John Hart and the always-dull Rick Vallin making less-than-adequate substitutes for Tom Tyler and Gilbert Roland, this Sam Katzman "production" finds the mighty jungle avenger and legendary Captain Africa - A "Phantom" rip-off that side-stepped the need to pay King Features another fee for using the character - pledging to see that the legitimate Arabian caliph, Hamid, is restored to the throne which a tyrannical rival has usurped. He is joined in this enterprise by adventurer Ted Arnold, wild-animal trapper Nat Coleman, and his assistant Omar and, to cover all bases
Seminole Uprising
Art Direction
An angry Seminole chief wages war after his tribe is relocated from Florida to the American West.
Jungle Moon Men
Art Direction
Priestess Oma is forever young in this Jungle Jim knockoff of "She" or the La of Opar stories from "Tarzan". The Jungle Jim-type character is played by Weissmuller using his own name.
New Orleans Uncensored
Art Direction
William Castle directed this Sam Katzman production, a gritty crime thriller about a newly-discharged sailor who gets a job as a longshoreman in The Big Easy. He swiftly discovers mob corruption throughout the docks, and when a friend is killed by the gangsters, he convinces the police to let him go undercover and take matters into his own hands. Filmed on location on the docks and in the French Quarter.
Pirates of Tripoli
Art Direction
A pirate tries to help a deposed Arabian princess reclaim her throne.
Masterson of Kansas
Art Direction
Western lawman Bat Masterson sets out to prove a man standing trial for murder is innocent.
Riding with Buffalo Bill
Art Direction
Columbia Pictures elevated a run-of-the-mill B-western supporting player, Marshall Reed, to the title role in this equally run-of-the-mill western serial released in 15 chapters. Like most serials in the '50s, Riding with Buffalo Bill consisted of quite a bit of budget-stretching stock footage telling a highly fictionalized account of Buffalo Bill Cody aiding a group of ranchers in their defeat of a local crime lord. The serial's assistant director, Leonard Katzman, later produced the long-running television series Gunsmoke and Dallas.
Cannibal Attack
Art Direction
Jungle Jim fights enemy agents who are trying to steal cobalt while disguised as crocodiles.
The Law vs. Billy the Kid
Art Direction
Billy the Kid is forced to kill for the woman he loves, and is ultimately brought to justice by his old friend Pat Garrett.
Battle of Rogue River
Art Direction
In 1850 Oregon is trying to gain statehood, but a truce is needed with the Indians before it can be accomplished. A new Army commander, Major Archer, is dispatched to bring order and peace to the territory.
Jungle Man-Eaters
Art Direction
Jungle Jim does battle with a would-be diamond smuggler and a renegade tribe.
The Miami Story
Art Direction
Fed up with the raising crime in Miami, the police chief and the leading members of the city council hire a former Miami gangster, gone straight, to help eliminate the biggest crime syndicate in the city.
Prisoners of the Casbah
Art Direction
A low-born thief loves a Moroccan Princess. She must marry to escape death at the hands of her enemies. The groom is able to wed or cast away his bride simply by saying "I Marry You" or "I Divorce You" three times.
Slaves of Babylon
Art Direction
The Jews are taken from Jerusalem and made slaves by King Nebuchadnezzar. In the meantime Cyrus, king of the Persians, who has been living as a shepherd, is proclaimed king and defeats Nebuchadnezzar.
Sky Commando
Art Direction
Colonel Ed Wyatt is regarded by pilots under his command as being a ruthless disciplinarian. His co-pilot, Lt. Hobson Lee, and Jo McWethy, a war correspondent assigned to the squadron become more friendly than meets Wyatt's approval. When Wyatt's plane is forced down behind enemy lines, he orders his crew to proceed to the American lines with the vital film they have shot, while he remains behind to hold off the enemy.
Serpent of the Nile
Art Direction
Cleopatra toys with Mark Antony who wants to merge his Rome with her Egypt.
Prince of Pirates
Art Direction
In a 16th century kingdom in the Netherlands, the newly crowned King Stephan concludes a secret treaty with the Spanish. This puts him at odds with his younger brother, Prince Roland, who favors a treaty with the French. Stephan orders Roland imprisoned but Roland escapes and leads a revolt.
The Pathfinder
Art Direction
Pathfinder, a white man raised by the Mohican Indians, joins forces with the British army to avenge himself on the Mingo warriors and the French, who have brought death and pillage to his people. He takes on a mission to retrieve secret plans from within the French fort at St. Vicente.
The Golden Hawk
Art Direction
A 17th-century French pirate (Sterling Hayden) sides with an English noblewoman (Rhonda Fleming) who's posing as a pirate.
California Conquest
Art Direction
The period is the 1840s and California is part of Mexico. Many of the citizens wish to become part of the United States. Other countries are also interested and the Russians have established bases in the northern part of the state. To further their hold they have stolen guns and Don Arturo Bordega, a leader of those wanting statehood, is out to recover them.
Brave Warrior
Art Direction
In Indiana of the early 1800s, conflict once again arises between the United States and Great Britain over territory and boundaries. Each side endeavors to gain the support of the Shawnee Indian tribes in the area. Governor William Henry Harrison enlists the aid of Steve Rubbell, whose friendship with the Shawnee chief Tecumseh goes back to childhood. Tecumseh's leadership of the Shawnee is contested by his brother, known as The Prophet, who sides with the British. Tecumseh, who grew up as a childhood playmate of Steve and of Laura McGregor, loves Steve as a brother and hopes to marry Laura. But Laura is in love with Steve. Laura's father, Shayne McGregor, secretly leads local support of the British against the Americans, even though it risks the life and love of his daughter. Everything comes to a head at the battle of Tippecanoe.
Mysterious Island
Art Direction
It is 1865 and Union prisoners use a military balloon to escape a Southern prison camp near the end of the Civil War. The balloon drifts for days and finally lands on a mysterious volcanic island with very unusual inhabitants. Also landing, in a better aircraft, is Rulu, a visitor from Mercury. She seeks a radio-active material that will enable her to manufacture an explosive that will destroy the world or, at least, the portion known as Earth in this 15 Chapter Serial from the 1950s.
Fury of the Congo
Art Direction
Jungle Jim must protect rare pony-like animals whose glands produce a powerful narcotic. On the way, he fights a giant spider.
Revenue Agent
Art Direction
Accountant Augustis King discovers that his wife, Marfhe, is having an affair with his boss Sam Bellows. He telephones Internal Revenue Bureau that he can give evidence of a large tax-evasion racket. Before IRS-agent Steve Daniels arrives, King is murdered by a henchman of Bellows and his partner, Ernie Medford. Daniels discovers that Bellows and Medford are smuggling gold bullion from their mine in Mexico, and sell and bank the money under assumed names. they hide the bullion in a compartment welded to the bottom of a car.
Pygmy Island
Art Direction
Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) fights a gorilla, finds a Wac (Ann Savage) and keeps high fiber from falling into enemy hands.
Last of the Buccaneers
Art Direction
Swashbuckler about the adventures of pirate Jean Lafitte after he helped save New Orleans from a British invasion during the War of 1812.
Captive Girl
Art Direction
Jungle Jim is out to save Joan from an evil witch doctor whilst simultaneously fighting evil treasure hunter Barton.
Cody of the Pony Express
Art Direction
Buffalo Bill Cody battles a gang of outlaws secretly headed by an unscrupulous lawyer.
Mark of the Gorilla
Art Direction
Nazis dressed to look like Great Apes are looking for gold, and Jungle Jim must stop them.
Chinatown at Midnight
Art Direction
A young man who steals valuable Oriental objects for a lady friend who operates an antique shop gets mixed up in a twisted murder plot.
Barbary Pirate
Art Direction
U.S. agent Major Tom Blake is sent to Tripoli to uncover who it is in Washington that is tipping off the pirates as to what's being shipped where. A fast-moving story with lots of sabers and rapiers.
The Mutineers
Set Decoration
Mobster Thomas Nagle and his gang take over a ship to use running guns and counterfeit money into Lisbon.
The Lost Tribe
Art Direction
Jungle Jim fights a lion and sharks trying to save an African village from those who would despoil it.
Jungle Jim
Art Direction
Lady scientist, Hilary Parker is searching for a rare drug to help combat polio. Opportunist Bruce Edwards joins the quest but is actually after gold and buried treasure.
The Prince Of Thieves
Art Direction
After fighting in the Crusades alongside Richard I of England Sir Allan Claire is returning home to marry his betrothed Lady Christable. Accompanied by his sister Lady Marian Claire, the two are intercepted by Robin Hood and his band of Merrie Men. Recognising a friend of King Richard, Robin informs them that Lady Christabel is the be married to another against her well in the interest of politics and her father's fortune. The three team up to rescue the fair lady.
Sweet Genevieve
Art Direction
The biggest town problem is worrying whether the high school basketball team will win the championship...until racketeers move into town and the kids begin to bet on horses, become overly fond of stripped-down racing cars, and Genevieve Rogers (Jean Porter) suspects her father of being too fond of the school principal's secretary. Town nerd Bill Kennedy (Jimmy Lydon) invents a new fuel amidst rumors that - horrors - the basketball game might be fixed. River City is not the only town that has trouble starting with a "T" and there's not a pool hall in sight.
The Sea Hound
Art Direction
Columbia's 34th serial production starring Buster Crabbe, the Serial King himself
Last of the Redmen
Art Direction
A family-oriented adaption of James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans." As the French-Indian War rages across the untamed territory of the Great Northwest, the embattled wilderness gives birth to a legend -- the proud legend of "The Last of the Red Men." August, 1757, General Montcalm and his Iroquois alalies are on the war path -- and General Munro fears for the lives of his children as they travel to join him at Fort William Henry. Although Munro dispatches a letter urging them to take refuge at Fort Edward until the road is safe, an Iroquois scout intercepts the warning. So Major Duncan Hayward, handsomely portrayed by Jon Hall, is unaware of the danger as he escorts Alice Munro (Evelyn Ankers), her sister Cora (Julie Bishop), and her young brother Davy (Buzz Henry) from the sanctuary of the fort. When their guide Magua, a vengeful Iroquois played by Buster Crabbe, betrays them, only one man can save the travelers from his savage trap. Starring Jon Hall and Michael O'Shea.
The Missing Corpse
Art Direction
A feud between rival newspapermen Kruger (Bromberg) and McDonald (Guilfoyle) goes deadly when blackmailing McDonald ends up murdered and his corpse planted in the trunk of Kruger's car. Good guy Kruger attempts to hide McDonald's body, with the help of chauffeur Hogan (Jenks), to keep from being charged with murder. However, zany scenarios occur as the body just won't stay hidden, and keeps on popping up in multiple places where Kruger is located, leading to him hiding the body again and again while Kruger tries to find the real killer.
The Lady Confesses
Art Direction
An estranged wife shows up after a nearly 7 years of disappearance -- thought to be dead, to prevent her husband from marrying his new love until someone kills her.
Strange Illusion
Art Direction
An adolescent believes that his widowed mother's suitor may have murdered his father.
The Man Who Walked Alone
Art Direction
A war hero returns home following a medical discharge and ends up entangled with a young woman speeding away from her wedding day in her fiance's car. Seeing the soldier, she gives him a ride and explains her predicament. Things get sticky when the cops capture them and accuse the soldier of desertion.
Fog Island
Art Direction
Leo, a former convict, is living in seclusion on an island with his step-daughter, the daughter of his late wife. Leo was framed by a group of former business associates, and he also suspects that one of them killed his wife. He has invited the group to his island, tempting them by hinting about a hidden fortune, and he has installed a number of traps and secret passages in his home. He is aided in his efforts by a former cell-mate who holds a grudge against the same persons. When everyone arrives, the atmosphere of mutual suspicion and the thick fog that covers the island promise a tense and hazardous weekend for everyone.
The Kid Sister
Art Direction
A madcap comedy about a kid sister who tries to steal her older sister's boyfriend. Her plan involves joining forces with a burglar to rob the unfortunate suitor's home.
Rogues' Gallery
Art Direction
Reporter Patsy Reynolds and photographer Eddie Porter are assigned to interview John Foster, head of the Emmerson Foundation regarding a listening device the organization is working on. Foster evades them and they to the lab to see Professor Reynolds, the real inventor. Soon, they are involved in several shootings, blueprints that change hands several times, a corpse in their car that appears and disappears a few times, the loss of their jobs and several people who either think they are killers or candidates for being killed.
Bluebeard
Art Direction
Young female models are being strangled. Will law enforcement be able to stop the crime wave before more women become victims?
I Accuse My Parents
Art Direction
Ignored by his alcoholic parents, Jimmy Wilson starts hanging around with some shady characters. After falling in love with a lounge singer, Jimmy tries to impress her by doing jobs for her shady boss. After one of these jobs goes bad, Jimmy ends up on the run. Eventually, he must confront the truth, his past, and his parents. The judge cites parental neglect in the case of a teenager (John Miljan) charged with murder.
Seven Doors to Death
Art Direction
An architect (Chick Chandler) studies the doors of six shops and an apartment house to solve a gem theft/double murder.
Delinquent Daughters
Art Direction
A town is shocked when a high school girl commits suicide. A reporter and a cop team up to investigate and find out exactly what is going on among the youth of the town.
The Monster Maker
Set Designer
Mad scientist injects his enemies with acromegaly virus, causing them to become hideously deformed.
Sweethearts of the U.S.A.
Art Direction
A WW-II defense plant worker gets knocked out and dreams about helping the war effort in various ways, including solving a crime.
Men on Her Mind
Art Direction
A famous singer reflects on her life, including her journey from being an orphan to her fame as a singer, as she tries to decide which of her three suitors she will choose.
Nabonga
Set Designer
When a treasure hunter seeks a downed airplane in the jungles of Africa, he encounters one of the passenger's young daughter, now fully grown, and with a gorilla protector.
The Devil Bat
Art Direction
Dr. Paul Carruthers feels bitter at being betrayed by his employers, Heath and Morton, when they became rich as a result of a product he devised. He gains revenge by electrically enlarging bats and sending them out to kill his employers' family members by instilling in the bats a hatred for a particular perfume he has discovered, which he gets his victims to apply before going outdoors. Johnny Layton, a reporter, finally figures out Carruthers is the killer and, after putting the perfume on himself, douses it on Carruthers in the hopes it will get him to give himself away. One of the two is attacked as the giant bat makes one of its screaming, swooping power dives.
The Crime Patrol
Art Direction
Prizefighter Bob Neal (Ray Walker) is in debt to gangster Vic Santell (Hooper Atchley) for training expenses. Santell orders Bob to take a dive in the fourth round so Santell can recoup prior gambling losses. Taunted by his ring opponent, Bob wins the fight. Realizing that his profession and underworld characters connected to it are causing him problems, Bob decides to join the police force. After taking nurse Mary Prentiss (Geneva Mitchell) to a drive-in restaurant where the total bill is a depression-era cheap eighty-two cents, Bob and his fellow officers round-up a gang of fur thieves in a warehouse shoot-out.
I Hate Women
Art Direction
A reporter is frustrated with women after a string of failed relationships. But then he finds himself taking up the cause of a young women he believes is falsely accused of killing her husband.
Badge of Honor
Art Direction
Hoping to impress a pretty girl he's after, a playboy poses as a newspaperman and goes after a big story.
Found Alive
Art Direction
When a California mother loses custody of her young son to her ex-husband, she flees with the child to the jungles of Mexico with hopes of starting life anew.
The Honor of the Press
Art Direction
Cub reporter Daniel Greely gets a job on a big city newspaper. A string of robberies occur and the owner of the paper blames the police for not rounding up the crooks. Daniel discovers that a coded message in the newspaper's editor's box tips the crooks about each robbery.