The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)

Evil Cromwell (Richard Lynch) enlists the help of a demonic sorcerer Xusia (Richard Moll) to help him conquer the world. The young son of one of the kings he slays makes off with a fancy (and massive) triple sword that can shoot blades. Years later the son (Lee Horsley) is back as a mercenary called Talon...

Meanwhile Princess Alana (Kathleen Beller) and her brother Mikah (Simon MacCorkindale) are the last hold outs against Cromwell. Though they end up his prisoner, can Talon save the day and the world?

It is rather goofy sword and sorcery nonsense, laying the blueprint for the likes of Hercules and Xena. Expect well oiled muscles and shiny swords indulging in well choreographed semi-comedic violence. Don't expect much plot line sense though it is a lot of campy fun.

Windjammer (1937)

Bruce Lane (George O'Brien) is tasked with handing a subpoena to Commodore Selby (Brandon Evans) who is taking part in a yacht race along with his lovely daughter Betty (Constance Worth) and ends up stowing away. When he is discovered he ends up in the centre of peril when the yacht gets lost in the fog, and ends up getting rammed by a gun running cargo ship run by Captain Morgan (William Hall) who seems a bit of a rum fellow...

Bruce is rather cocky in his role but also seems to be the only person on the yacht who isn't incredibly naive. However sooner or later they all get wise to Morgan and his ship and realise they are in great danger.

An entertaining yarn on the high seas in the (latter) days of sail. The scenes aboard ship are very well done. Overall the tone is fairly light, the main characters a bit pantomime but it suits the film.

The Frightened City (1961)

A tough British gangster film with Noir-ish touches. Waldo (Herbert Lom) is a crooked accountant who has a masterplan to form a huge crime syndicate by merging smaller firms in London with the help of Harry (Alfred Marks).

Paddy (Sean Connery) is hired as the main muscle (though in a refined menace rather than ultra violent sense) but soon he finds himself drawn into something more than he bargained for when they take advantage of him to get rid of a friend (David Davies) who has fallen out with the syndicate...

The story is a little predictable but is nicely done with a bit of early 60s London style and sleaze.

Sean Connery is great in this film, it has been said (who knows it may be true) this role helped to get him the James Bond gig the following year.

Crashing Through Danger (1936)

A drama and love triangle involving electric company linemen. Truly there was no subject untouched in the 1930s. Torchy (Ray Walker), Slim (Guinn Williams) and Eddie (James Bush) are three happy-go-lucky lads who work on the electric company power lines, fool about and chase after dames. Their supervisor Pop (Robert Homans) forever reprimanding them... though always with a tear in his eye.

Unfortunately on Pop's final day he is killed due to negligence by the trio. They decide to look after his daughter Ann (Sally Blane) though soon they all have the hots for her and the love rivalry splits up their friendship. Though when a storm strikes and the power to the hospital is in danger of being disrupted will they pull together again?

It is a pretty familiar plot if we are to be honest, the only novelty being the guys are electric linemen and not some other profession. Competent if not spectacular, one could say it might lack a bit of spark...

Hot Summer in Barefoot County (1974)

Before the Dukes of Hazzard there was this... the babes of Barefoot. Stella (Tonia Bryan) and her three daughters including Mary Ann (Sherry Robinson) are making hooch in a secret still in the woods and running moonshine across county lines in hot rods - basically living one version of the American dream! The hapless and heavily bearded sheriff Bull Tatum (Charles Elledge) tries his best to stop them but usually ends up in the ditch in disgrace. However the Feds in the state capital are starting to get impatient...

Agent Jeff (Don Jones) is sent undercover to try and discover what is going on but he gets run off the road when he reaches Barefoot. He is injured and nursed back to health by Mary Ann and her daughters. Jeff falls in love with one of the daughters / suspects and falls foul of the local imitation hard case Culley Joe (Jeff MacKay)...

It isn't a great film by any stretch of the imagination, being rather poorly made and a bit predictable, but is fairly harmless trash. If you like seeing beat up hot rods being chased down country roads by police cars with a banjo soundtrack then this is the film for you.

Fun and Fury (1992)

A fast paced action comedy of the type HK churned out by the score in the 1980s and early 90s.

Leon Lai plays a Singaporean cop who is in love with Vivian Chow... who is the daughter of Kent Cheung, a HK Triad boss! Well of course daddy doesn't want a son-in-law who is a cop so he concocts a plan to frame Leon as a womaniser using the rather fetching young wench Sharon Kwok... 

So Leon and Vivian fall out and Leon has to enlist the help of his buddy Frankie Chan to mend matters. But while all this is happening another Triad boss (whose brother was killed by Leon or something like that - its not fully explained, these films do tend to have complicated and convoluted plots) moves in and with the help of a large black man wielding an RPG and a kung fu blonde babe with an assault rifle proceed to kick ass...

The plot is very simple and predictable but the action is great with some really good inventive kung fu fights and plenty of explosions especially in the cool final showdown. The film doesn't take itself too seriously which is why it works.

Dick Tracy (Serial) (1937)

A wonderfully over the top action serial, just how a comic hero adaptation should be of course. In this serial version of the comic story Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) is a federal agent and battling The Spider Ring crime organisation...

Now The Spider Ring which is led by the Lame One has some cool toys, including a sonic weapon he has mounted aboard a fabulous looking flying wing, though their plans seem rather suspect and often easy to foil. The Lame One is assisted by the rather sinister Doctor Moloch (John Picorri) who performs surgery on Dick's own brother George (Richard Beach) to turn him into a brainwashed thug (Carleton Young)...

Dick has plenty of help, and needs it as the evil plots come thick and fast. Among his assistants are Gwen (Kay Hughes) - who plays the Tess Trueheart role - and Mike (Smiley Burnett).

Bush Pilot (1947)

Red North (Austin Willis) is making a reasonable living hauling cargo in his floatplane up in the Canadian Great White North, and also keen on Hilary (Rochelle Hudson). However the arrival of Red's arrogant brother Paul (Jack La Rue) shakes everything up. Paul is keen to move in on Red's territory, and his dame...

The death of Red's mechanic Chuck (Frank Perry) hauling nitroglycerine hurls Red's life into chaos and turns Hilary against him. Can Red win back Hilary and sort out his brother?

A neat little film, rather melodramatic at times but a decent story if without any surprises. It is also interesting to see Jack La Rue in a role where he isn't a two-bit gangster.

This was one of the first Canadian movies to be made in English.

Non-Stop New York (1937)

A wonderfully energetic, but at sometimes quite odd, crime drama. Jennie (Anna Lee) is a showgirl down on her luck in New York, she chances upon a lawyer who works with the mob but who wants to get out. When the lawyer is bumped off a tramp Able (Arthur Goullet) is blamed but Jennie (now back in Blighty) knows he is innocent...

She needs to get back across the Atlantic to tell the police what happened and stop Able being executed. The gangster Brant (Francis Sullivan) must stop Jennie getting back to New York. She is travelling on a futuristic flying boat along with Brant and police detective Jim Grant (John Loder) who thinks something is up but isn't sure quite what...

Although quite far fetched this is a highly enjoyable crime drama / adventure set aboard a flying boat. A great collection of characters including prototype-geek Arnold (Desmond Tester) and plenty of good sharp dialogue.

Future Force (1989)

In the near future ever rising crime has led to the police being replaced by Civilian Operated Police Service (C.O.P.S.) who are brutal bounty hunters. Tucker (David Carradine) is the toughest man in the precinct but soon finds himself under attack by his former colleagues...

This is because reporter Marion (Anna Rapagna) has uncovered corruption at the very heart of the C.O.P.S. organisation involving imitation hard case Adams (William Zipp). Marion is wanted dead or alive... actually scratch that just kill her, but Tucker is going to bring her in alive for the lulz. Adams is therefore a bit miffed...

So its total nonsense and is a fairly slow moving mess of bad action scenes in the "future" which looks like 1989 if we are going to be honest... the only bit that is vaguely futuristic is Tucker's robot arm which he occasionally brings out of the trunk of his car when he feels the need to shoot some lasers. The battle between Tucker and similarly overweight thug Becker (Robert Tessler) is hilariously bad.

The Best Pair of Legs in the Business (1973)

A strange film but one with heart. One of the most 70s films you'll ever see too.

Reg Varney is Sherry, an entertainer at a dingy holiday camp. Sherry has delusions of once being a big name, even meeting the Queen. Though his wife Mary (Diana Coupland) knows the truth and that he is grinding out a living at the end of his career. She has had enough of him and his delusions and is getting ready to shack up with Charlie (Lee Montague).

Sherry's life begins to fall apart as he embarrasses himself and his son (Michael Hadley) in front of his future in-laws. When he finds out Mary is leaving him he has a meltdown and the end is in sight...

Perhaps against expectations the film is wonderful, capturing the shambles and grim sadness of Britain in the 1970s more than most films. Appearances by young Johnny Briggs, Jane Seymour and George Sweeney who would one day be very well known also entertain.

The Return of Chandu (Serial) (1934)

Princess Nadji of Egypt (Maria Alba) is in danger. A strange cult from the lost (or so people thought) island of Lemuria want the blood sacrifice of an Egyptian princess to help bring their goddess back to life and Nadji fits the bill perfectly. Nadji has some help though in the shape of Chandu (Bela Lugosi) master of the mystic arts of the Orient...

So begins this serial, which is highly entertaining yarn of Oriental mysticism (very popular in the 1930s) though maybe a bit slow compared to some serials. Nadji becomes possessed by the cult led by Vindhyan (Lucien Prival) and spirited away to Lemuria. 

The action switches to the Pacific where Chandu, his sister Dorothy (Clara Kimball Young), nephew Bob (Dean Benton) and niece Betty (Phyllis Ludwig) search for Nadji with the help of the the white Yogi (Josef Swickard) but are pitted against the Lemurian's slave army of natives. Can Nadji be saved and the dark cult defeated? Stay tuned next episode to find out...

A fun serial full of campy nonsense, as usual many of the sets and costumes are recycled from other productions. Including the doors from King Kong. A notable thing about the serial is that Bela Lugosi plays the hero for a change. The serial is vaguely a sequel to the 1932 film Chandu the Magician though Lugosi played the villain in that one!

The 20 Questions Murder Mystery (1950)

An interesting premise for a murder mystery. The BBC radio show Twenty Questions is receiving anonymous clues the panel has to guess. Afterwards strange murders take place...

When the show, which includes the real stars of the show at the time including Richard Dimbleby playing themselves, starts receiving these mysterious clues Bob (Robert Beatty), a reporter, thinks from the start there is something suspicious going on. He thinks they are linked to some motiveless murders. His newspaper is sceptical though as are the police (Edward Lexy). However rival journalist Mary (Rona Anderson) also thinks something is up and soon faces danger herself...

Sometimes the film is a bit slow and the tone is curiously light at times but a very reasonable crime drama with a nice twist at the end.

Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938)

Bulldog Drummond (John Howard) is in Geneva about to marry Phyllis (Louise Campbell) at last but a plot involving fake diamonds delays the marriage yet again...

Scientist Professor Goodman (Halliwell Hobbes) has found out a way to create perfect artificial diamonds and intends to give his invention away. Industrialist Sir Raymond Blantyree (Matthew Bolton) has made a lot of money from rocks and thus isn't too keen on diamonds suddenly being made worthless and so aims to stop the scientist...

To make matters more confusing a rival scientist Dr Botulian (Porter Hall) also wants to stop the competition and claim the artificial diamonds for himself. So begins capers across Europe back to London and various (and sometimes a bit confusing) disguises and cases of mistaken identity. Drummond is assisted by Algy (Reginald Denny) and Tenny (E.E. Clive) of course to various degrees...

Maybe not quite as fun as some other Bulldog Drummond films but a pleasing adventure romp complete with evil schemes, (mad) scientists with labs full of sparkling electricity and plenty of action including a final whip vs sword fight!

Light in tone the film has it's fair share of whimsy and nonsense including a penguin in a top hat. Long suffering police chief Colonel Nielson (John Barrymore) is on hand to continue squeezing life out the joke about his title.

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)

A superb Hammer horror film. During the days of ancient Egypt Tera, a goddess of evil, is locked in a tomb after having her hand cut off (though she still manages to kill all of the priests). A team of archaeologists discover the tomb, and find the goddess still perfectly preserved in the sarcophagus. Years later the lead of the expedition Fuchs (Andrew Keir) gives his daughter Margaret (Valerie Leon) - who looks remarkably like the goddess - a talisman but that is not enough to stop her being possessed by the goddess and begin to assemble the relics required to bring the goddess back to life...

Margaret discovers that her father has the goddess' tomb in his basement, the goddess herself intact.. apart from her hand which is kept in a box! With the help of a member of her father's team Corbeck (James Villiers), who wants to use the goddess for his own evil ends, Margaret begins to ruthlessly bring about the return of the goddess. Even her boyfriend (Mark Edwards) is sacrificed and the death count remorselessly rises as her father's team is eliminated one by one...

The Age of Aquarius is strong with this one. All the tropes of Egyptian mysticism are present and so expertly woven in a genuinely creepy and frequently terrifying film. The story may at times be a bit slow and there are a few plot holes but that doesn't detract from the horror enjoyment.

Disorder in the Court (1936)

The Three Stooges are called as witnesses at a murder trial, what could go wrong? Apart from everything?

Curly, Larry and Moe witnessed the murder of the boss at a night club they were playing at. Gail (Susanne Kaaren) is accused of the murder as she was found over the corpse with a revolver. However after much slapstick nonsense she is cleared but finding out the real murderer means chasing a parrot around a court room that is gradually being destroyed...

One of the best Three Stooges shorts with great dynamism is the comedy, plenty of slap stick and funny word play. We also get a music and dance number too, where Kaaren could show off her million dollar insured legs!

Fist of Fury (1972)

For this blog's five hundredth review the first martial arts film i ever saw, it was life changing...

Enter the Dragon was the breakthrough hit for Bruce but Fist of Fury remains the classic martial arts movie, and the classic Bruce Lee film. The story is fairly simple and nationalistic in parts and seldom subtle. Set in Shanghai before the Second World War, the teacher of a Chinese kung fu school is poisoned. His star student Bruce Lee returns home to investigate what happened to his teacher and doesn't have to look far to find out it is the evil Japanese led by Mr Suzuki (Chikara Hashimoto) who have killed him...

The story plays heavily on the racial prejudice the Chinese suffered in Shanghai in the early twentieth century. Bruce is set on revenge and is willing to pay the ultimate price to achieve it. Therefore the story is pretty predictable. But this is not a film for story telling it is a film for action.

The action is out of this world, the fight scenes in the Japanese bushido school are quite simply perfect examples of martial arts action. Perfectly paced and truly explosive. Scenes such as Sick Man of Asia at the start and Bruce fighting with his nunchakus have become iconic. It is a great film but incredibly violent as you might imagine.

It was the first martial arts film I ever saw, I started with one of the best.

Treasure of the Amazon (1985)

A rough jungle exploitation film that rips off the likes of Indiana Jones quite shamelessly at times.

Gringo (Stuart Whitman) is a semi-crazed adventurer who once went into the jungle with his friends to find treasure and returned years later unable to remember his own name and with the shrunken heads of his friends in a bag.

But naturally he now wants to return to the jungle with a group of fellow adventurers and others after the loot including former Nazi Klaus (Donald Pleasence) and Barbara (Ann Sidney) who has found some diamonds but doesn't seem to have found the correct accent to use...

The film isn't very good to very honest. The narrative jumps around all over the place and is often shamelessly exploitative for example including scenes with naked native women wrestling and another one where a native eats a tarantula! It also has massive amounts of gore and violence. The sheer disjointed awfulness however makes it fairly entertaining.

Helen's Babies (1924)

Harry (Edward Everett Horton) has written a book on raising children, although in reality he doesn't have any and doesn't really know anything about it, in fact he doesn't really like children! Unfortunately for him he gets put in charge of his two young nieces while their parents are away. Cute antics to follow.

Harry does have some help though in the form of local girl Alice (Clara Bow). The two nieces (Baby Peggy and Jean Carpenter) soon get into trouble as they are pretty wild. Harry soon gets to love the chaos though but maybe loves Alice more...

It is a cute little comedy, a bit insubstantial and twee at times. The cast are great though and put in good performances across the board.

Paradise Island (1930)

A rather dated and uninspiring early talkie. Ellen (Marceline Day) arrives in Tonga to get married but finds her husband (Roy Armstrong) to be is a hopeless drunk. As Ellen is the only white woman on the island she soon finds herself the centre of attention from a number of men...

They include Dutch Mike (Tom Santschi), whom Ellen soon finds cannot be trusted, and adventure seeker Jim (Kenneth Harlan). Ellen finds herself to be the prize in a poker game between Dutch Mike and Jim but Dutch Mike has marked cards...

It is light froth which ends in a largely clumsy fight (more like a shapeless brawl) and has a few songs along the way. The film is OK but rather dumb.