Gammera the Invincible (1966)

A Soviet atomic bomb goes off when a bomber crashes in the Arctic accidentally awakening a gigantic turtle called Gammera who seems to want to destroy the world. How unlucky is that?! Unfortunately Gammera seems to be indestructible so that is quite a problem for Japanese scientist Dr Hidaka (Eiji Funakoshi).

So basically this is Godzilla's cousin in a shell and like his more famous counterpart Gammera also enjoys slowly smashing his way through half of Tokyo. This version of the film adds some American characters to add a more international air to the Japanese original though it doesn't add a great deal to the story. At the end of the day it is still a man in a rubber suit crushing model buildings.

The film is fun but frequently ridiculous. Including the music that appears to rip off the Batman theme. The main problem with Gammera in this film is that he isn't very scary, he just seems to waddle around destroying things by accident.

Sheriff of Tombstone (1941)

Brett (Roy Rogers) and Gabby (Gabby Hayes) turn up in Tombstone. Brett is mistaken for Shotgun Cassidy (Harry Woods) whom the mayor (Addison Richards) has recruited as sheriff in the town.

Brett decides to play along and pretend to be Shotgun. He soon finds out that the mayor has dark plans to take over the town using Shotgun as an enforcer. Meanwhile Brett is also looking for the men who have killed his brother...

A good example of a B-movie western. It is all good clean and straight forward fun with plenty of songs too. Rogers and Hayes make for a good double act.

The Vampire Bat (1933)

An interesting variation on the vampire horror theme. People begin to die in a village in mysterious circumstances, their bodies drained of blood. As there are bats also hanging around the village suspicion is that a vampire is at work...

Dr von Niemann (Lionel Atwill) is the one who suspects (and obviously seems a bit suspicious himself) vampires though the police in the form of Karl (Melvyn Thomas) is sceptical. The villages err on the side of superstition and when the village idiot (Dwight Frye) is found to have a fondness of bats it doesn't end well for him...

The film isn't bad though not that original, it incorporates elements of other horror stories (vampires, mad scientists, mysterious murders), but blends them together well. The low budget means everything is a bit sparse but this adds to the atmosphere.

Cyborg Cop II (1994)

Jack Ryan (David Bradley) is that underused movie trope: the maverick cop who doesn't play by the rules. During a long (very long) shootout during a drug bust his partner is killed by crazed drug boss Starkraven (Morgan Hunter). Starkraven is captured and sentenced to death row... but is instead sent to a secret base where he is turned into a cyborg...

Starkraven and some other cyborgs are intended as super warriors who will always be under control of the authorities, many fail safe measures are in place to make sure they can never turn on their masters. Naturally Starkraven escapes in minutes and releases his (small) army of cyborgs to conquer the world. Ryan meanwhile is tracking down what happened Starkraven and with the help of Federal agent Liz (Jill Pierce) and a lot of heavy firepower the stage is set for a showdown...

There is rather a lot of violence in this film. To be honest a bit too much. The opening scene in the drug raid seems to go on forever. The film has lots of plot holes and obviously isn't filmed in the US despite the setting (some of the accents of the supporting actors are hilariously bad). It makes little sense but is fine mindless fun.

The Pharmacist (1933)

A good W.C. Fields comedy short. In this he plays a pharmacist who has to contend with customers who play checkers instead of buying something, a daughter who eats a canary bird (Marjorie Kane) and another daughter (Lorena Carr) who is hanging out with someone called Cuthbert (Grady Sutton) a name he really dislikes for some reason.

Fields main method of coping with this is mixing regular martinis. It is all pretty funny especially the customer who rants about stamps.

Ator: the Fighting Eagle (1982)

For every Conan there were dozens are cheap rip-offs and here we have Ator, an Italian example and not bad at all if you take it for the nonsense it is. The Spider God rules cruelly over the land but prophecy says that the son of a hero called Ator will defeat the Spider God and his chief priest Dakkar. When that son is born the mysterious Griba (Edward Purdom) spirits him away before Dakkar's soldiers, who wear a lot of horns and unconvincing armour, can kill him.

Ator (Miles O'Keeffe) is given to a couple of peasants who raise him as their own son alongside their actual daughter Sunya (Ritza Brown). Ator, who somehow seems to have found a magic hairspray tree, falls in love with Sunya and wants to marry her despite thinking she is his sister (actually he doesn't think there is anything wrong with this). Luckily his parents reveal that they arn't brother and sister after all so incest outrage averted. Unfortunately Dakkar's troops kidnap Sunya (for some unexplained reason) on the wedding day...

Ator finds Griba who tells him his destiny to kill the Spider God. He meets up with a beautiful thief (in skimpy armour) Roon (Sabrina Siani) and they begin a quest across the land to finally achieve their destinies (in Roon's case to loot the Spider God's treasure)...

Despite the rather odd incest note and some ridiculous costumes the film holds together as a decent - if cheap - sword and sorcery film. Naturally the Spider God when he is finally revealed is ridiculous but you would be disappointed if he looked anything other than a cheap rubber prop lets face it.

A cute little bear cub is shown throughout the film, as it probably does the best acting in the film it holds the film together.

Mystery Files (1996)

Andy Hui is that 90s phenomenon, a slacker: all comics, baseball caps, laid back and skint. So skint in fact he and his sister Vivian Lai head to the mainland to help their cousin Edmond Leung solve a murder. Andy is a genius you see, like Columbo, who knows the murderer almost before the murder has taken place. In the first case an abusive husband is found dead, his wife's lover is suspected by Edmond but Andy uncovers the truth. Vivian looks cute but doesn't really add much except act girly and scream at all the right moments.

As Andy and Edmond are celebrating the solving of the case in a KTV bar another murder takes place there (how lucky!) And they begin to solve this one too, which is mixed up with the red herring of some ghostly supernaturalness...

To celebrate his reward money Andy packs Vivian off to HK and goes on a Malaysian cruise instead, there he fancies some singers but then finds out they are ladyboys. Yeah hes a slacker. Another murder takes place on the boat, and what has Ada Choi got to do with it? One thing for sure death seems to follow Andy, its definitely safer to keep away from him...

Enjoyable enough murder mystery(s), a bit contrived and low-budget but decent fun anyway. Its worth it alone for one of Vivian Lai's few forays into film. The film would probably work better as a mini series as its really three separate stories only linked by some of the same actors but enjoyable all the same.

Sabotage (1936)

An excellent tale of intrigue and suspense from Alfred Hitchcock. Cinema owner Karl Verloc (Oskar Homolka) has plunged London into a blackout but he has much more in store for the capital...

Verloc is to plant a bomb, however the police in the form of undercover detective Ted (John Loder) - who makes a rather unconvincing grocer - is already watching the cinema and onto existence of a plot (not that they know what it is). Verloc's wife (Sylvia Sidney) and her young brother Stevie (Desmond Tester) are unaware that kindly Mr Verloc is really a terrorist though when Ted's cover is blown it is too late for the tragedy which engulfs both of them...

Tense and atmospheric, this film delivers and also is a wonderful look at 1930s London: tubes, trams and pavements of street vendors selling nonsense. Look out for a young Charles Hawtrey in a cameo talking about turtles!

Miami Connection (1987)

A film about a martial arts rock group fighting ninjas on motorbikes, yes you read that right.

Miami Connection (which actually takes place in Orlando not Miami) is the work of YK Kim who starred, produced and wrote this film. His acting and script writing may be rather suspect though his taekwando, as showcased in the film, is undeniably excellent.

A gang of motorbike riding ninjas are moving in on the drugs trade in Florida. However their attention is soon drawn to a rock group (and we get a number of quite acceptable if cheesy 80s soft rock tunes in this film) who incorporate martial arts into their act. The film consists of a number of decent action set pieces held together by a flimsy and often contradictory script...

The film is awful but also brilliant. The film takes some of the best and cheesiest aspects of 80s culture and mixes them in a blender. Somehow it all works and it is easy to see why the film has become a cult classic. It makes little sense but once you accept that you can appreciate it for the unintentional genius it really is.

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)

They seek him here... they seek him there...

During the Terror of the French Revolution Madame le Guillotine is giving the fast dwindling French aristocracy the closest of shaves. But an elusive hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel, is snatching them from Robespierre's (Ernest Milton) clutches...

Meanwhile in London Lady Blakeney (Merle Oberon), a Frenchwoman, despairs of her foppish husband Sir Percy (Leslie Howard). Unbeknown to her though Sir Percy is the Scarlet Pimpernel. After her brother is arrested in France she is put under pressure by the brutal Chavelin (Raymond Massey) to find out who the Pimpernel is...

An excellent film, from the horrors of the Revolution to the grandeur of the English Court the film keeps you transfixed. All the principals play good roles but Leslie Howard steals the show, how he switches from seemingly useless dandy to daring hero in an instant is fabulous.

The Pay Off (1942)

Lee Tracy plays a wise cracking (charismatic though after a while slightly annoying) reporter called Brad McKay. When the District Attorney is gunned down the gambler Moroni (John Maxwell) is the chief suspect though Brad knows he is innocent... as he was beating him at poker at the time.

Or is Moroni as innocent as Brad thinks? He tells Brad that the DA was on the take and that his assistant killed him. But how is club owner John Angus (Jack La Rue) involved, who is the real Mr Big and who is the young woman (Tina Thayer) who is desperate to contact Brad and has access to a locker of money?

Well Brad soon finds that the case is not as straight forward as it seemed. The film is bright and breezy (not unlike a comic strip in feel) though a bit light in tone despite regular killings. Evelyn Brent plays a good small role as a moll involved marginally in the case though seemingly really just around for Bead to kiss!

Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)

Ten years after Dracula was killed by Van Helsing his castle lies empty, except for the mysterious and frankly rather sinister servant Klove (Peter Latham). Two English couples (played by Barbara Shelley, Francis Matthews, Susan Farmer and Charles Tingwell) on holiday come across the castle and despite warnings from Father Sandor (Andrew Keir) stay the night in the castle. They don't really have much choice in the matter to be honest...

Very soon they find themselves menaced by the resurrected (in a rather creepy scene) dark lord Dracula (Christopher Lee)...

Once the film gets going it is wonderfully dramatic and intense with plenty of snarling vampire action. Dracula doesn't utter a word in the film (apart from a cruel shriek) but is an irresistibly evil presence.

Reaching for the Moon (1930)

Douglas Fairbanks was best known for his swashbuckling silent movie roles but in this early talkie he plays a New York financier in pursuit of love in a bright and breezy swashbuckling style.

Larry (Fairbanks) is a big success on the stock market where he meets Vi (Bebe Daniels) a friend of one of his employees Jimmy (Jack Mulhall) at a party. Vi bets Jimmy she can get Larry's attention before she sets sail to England in the morning. She manages it and also sets him up. Larry is so stung by her laughter he joins the ocean liner...

On the boat (which includes a musical number by Bing Crosby - his first appearance on film) the relationship between Larry and Vi goes back and forth, as do his fortunes on the stock market. By the time he arrives in (foggy of course) old England he is broke (thanks to the stock market crash) but how is he doing for love?

The film doesn't have a great deal of plot but is energetic and fun. I've always thought a romantic film works better if there is humour as it makes it much more realistic. The real stars of the film are the sets though. The film is a masterpiece of Art Deco.

Who Done It? (1956)

A hilarious farce which helped launch Benny Hill's career. He plays Hugo a bumbling private detective who gets involved with sinister (in a ridiculously over the top way) foreign agents who want to steal the plans for a new weather control machine (and no doubt dominate the world)...

Assisted by Frankie (Belinda Lee) - who does most of the actual dangerous stuff, somehow she possesses the strength of about ten men - he manages to foil the nefarious agents in a huge action set-piece taking part at an exhibition (complete with robot tank which Hugo uses to deal with his police nemesis Gerry Marsh) and a final chase in a stock car race.

It is silly, crude but very funny.

Danger Flight (1939)

Tailspin Tommy (John Trent) is a comic book aviator hero and he is bought to life pretty well in this movie.

Tommy is an amazing pilot and a totally fearless hero (of course) who thinks nothing of taking off his plane in a storm to take supplies to trapped workers. When he can't land he (naturally) sacrifices his only parachute to drop the supplies...

Tommy is also targeted by criminals who try and trap him when he is taking a payroll cargo. In between various flying adventures he also befriends a troubled youth (Tommy Baker) and manages to make him a model citizen.

It is a bit obvious and lacks much in the way of shade but is a good fun adventure film.

Konga (1961)

Unintentionally hilarious British rip off of King Kong.

Dr Decker (Michael Gough) goes missing in Africa for a year, when he finally returns to London he claims he will change the world with the new discoveries he has found. In his own lab he has rather suspicious looking plants which, when a serum is made from them, can greatly increase growth of animals. Naturally he starts injecting his pet chimp, who soon is a huge ape and who will do Dr Decker's bidding... i.e. kill.

Dr Decker is a fascinating character, dark and single minded. Killing means nothing to him, whether it is his cat which he shoots without a second thought or directing Konga to kill his rivals. His long suffering assistant Margaret (Margo Johns) has a bit more moral ambiguity. But only a bit more, she is happy to let Dr Decker continue on his way as long as he loves her. Unfortunately he has his eye on one of his buxom young students...

The film is remarkable cheese, with a man in an ape suit running rampant. The final act however oddly runs out of steam, as does Konga who just stands there while the army expend most of their Cold War stockpile to finally bring him down. Of course one major plot flaw is that when the chimpanzee is given growth serum it turns into a gorilla...

The Love Nest (1923)

A fun Buster Keaton short. Buster seeks to forget his lost love by sailing off on his boat. He ends up having to be rescued by a whaling ship (which for some reason is called the Love Nest) captained by a tough and mean old sea dog (Joe Roberts) who throws his crew overboard for the slightest reason...

Well that's the flimsy story, that isn't the point of a comedy short like this. The plot is just a framework to hang on a lot of sight gags. Some are funny though the film doesn't always hit the mark.

One notable gag is Buster "fishing". He walks down a rope ladder into the water with a gun until he is completely submerged. There is a puff of smoke from below the surface and then he returns up the ladder holding a fish!