House of Danger (1934)

An enjoyable and effective crime drama.

Don (Onslow Stevens) and Ralph (James Bush) are returning to the US from the South Seas after years away, Ralph returning home after the unexpected death of his father. After an accident on board their ship, Ralph is injured. 

With Ralph's blessing Don poses as Ralph to go home, though he encounters Ralph's long-standing fiancée Sylvia (Janet Chandler) and falls in love with her. However, it is Don who is soon put in danger as it appears that the butler Gordon (Desmond Roberts) and Ralph's cousin Martin (John Andrews) are up to no good...

Although it is pretty clear from the off who the villains are, this is a fine crime drama with some good performances (though not universally, some of the dialogue can be a bit stilted at times) and a decent plot. 

The Bunker (1981)

The last days of Hitler holed up in his bunker, an interesting way of portraying the events now incredibly well known due to the excellent 2004 movie Downfall.

The war is going badly, Hitler's (Anthony Hopkins) health is also not doing so well. With the Allied armies closing in on Berlin, the Nazi leadership retreats underground into the grim Fuhrerbunker. There, Hitler and his staff including Speer (Richard Jordan) and Goebbels (Cliff Gorman) await the inevitable as the explosions above gradually change from being caused by aerial bombers to artillery and tanks.

This is an excellent film, atmospheric and dark and based on the memoirs of the staff who survived. The most interesting stories are from some of the lesser known staff members in the bunker including the radio officer Misch (Michael Kitchen) and the engineer Hentschel (Martin Jarvis) who interestingly were both still alive when this film was made. 

The film might not have generated a million memes like Downfall (the Steiner rant is quite different here) but it very worth a watch.

The Bat People (1974)

Man bitten by bats turns into bat, luckily this doesn't happen very often in real life with other creatures otherwise i'd now be a giant mosquito.

Bat scientist Dr Beck (Stewart Moss) and his wife Cathy (Marianne McAndrew) are on their honeymoon. Part of this includes going down into some caves, Dr Beck ends up being bitten by a strange bat. This causes him to transform into a giant vampire bat at night! 

Beck-bat has a taste for human blood of course but eventually manages to escape and return to the rest of the bats. Cathy meanwhile has also been infected by the bats and kills the local police man with the help of an aerial bombardment of bat poo...

Not a good film by any means, it is fairly entertaining from a cheese point of view but lacks much in the way of originality or quality and is padded out too much with irrelevance. The theme song is pretty good though.

Down to the Sea (1936)

Underwater adventures hunting for ..er.. sponges.

Greek immigrant fishermen risk their lives to dive deeply to get sponges off the sea bed in Florida. The fishermen are split into two groups led by John (Russell Hardie) who shallow dives and the deep divers led by Steve (Ben Lyon). 

The two groups are thrown together by bad weather and a dispute over fishing rights. A love triangle also forms between the two fishermen with Helen (Ann Rutherford).

It is a fine enough little drama, nothing too offensive or overly exciting if we are to be honest either. The plot has some interesting aspects to it including some of the dangers of deep diving, this makes it a worthwhile watch.

City Limits (1984)

A rather strange post-apocalypse tale involving young people on bikes battling a corporation.

A plague wipes out the vast majority of the world's adult population, now a few years later the almost grown up child survivors control the remains of the cities in violent motorbike gangs. 

In the countryside, Lee (John Stockwell) gets bored of being on the farm and heads into the city for adventure. He aims to join one of the gangs and soon proves his worth but a mysterious corporation fronted by Wicking (Kim Cattrall) is trying to take over the city and use the gangs for their own nefarious ends.

This is a rather low budget and fairly generic post-apocalypse tale, everyone is in cheap Mad Max cosplay gear and nothing really makes a lot of sense as the plot is largely missing. It isn't a dead loss though, it does have some interesting ideas including the importance of comic books in a new society that has grown up from children.

A Close Call for Boston Blackie (1946)

Another Boston Blackie film, although high on humour the crime involved does have a dark heart.

Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) gets involved with one of his old flames Geraldine (Lynn Merrick) who was menaced by thugs, she also leaves a small child in his house! Her husband is shot dead in Blackie's home and of course Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) suspects Blackie. Blackie escapes (again of course) and tries to unravel what is really going on. He finds the truth behind Geraldine and the child is a lot darker than he first thought...

A fun film, the usual Boston Blackie tropes and antics, including a lot of running around. Blackie and the Runt (George E Stone) both get to dress up and as usual no one can see though Blackie's rather flimsy disguise. Maybe a bit too familiar but a good show all the same.

The Human Duplicators (1965)

A bizarre sci-fi tale of android duplicates of humans.

Dr Kolos (Richard Kiel) is despatched to the Earth to conquer it by duplicating humans and turning them into somewhat unconvincing androids who look like they are made out of ceramic pottery. However, Kolos falls in love with a beautiful woman (Dolores Faith) and changes his mind about the invasion. 

Unfortunately, some of his duplicates already built including one of the scientist Professor Dornheimer (George Macready) and Glenn Martin (George Nader) are already causing trouble...

This is an odd film, with a huge amount of cheese and special effects of the cheapest type. The UFO for example looks like a Christmas decoration! Kiel's character is unintentionally hilarious and it is topped off with one of the most inept final fight scenes ever seen. Terrible but terrific too.

The Blood Waters of Dr Z (1971)

Heavy drug use must have been involved in this somewhere.

Dr Leopold (Marshall Grauer) is that beloved scientist of movie land, a mad one. Leopold is also some kind of Nazi and his way of bringing about the Fourth Reich is apparently to change himself into a bizarre killer sea monster. He transforms himself into a mutated catfish, he also wants to kidnap a young woman (Sanna Ringhaven) so he can breed a new master race of monsters. Why of course!

Leopold transforms himself into a rather plodding beast so mankind probably shouldn't lose too much sleep over him. His plans seem to be foiled by biologist Rex (Gerald Cruse) though the monster (Wade Popwell in the suit) manages to escape so who knows?

This is a pretty awful film, it is very cheaply made and makes little sense. It does have a real strange feel about it though and can be quite psychedelic at times, at least you will wonder if someone has spiked your drink.

Missing Girls (1936)

Certainly not a bad film by any means, but one which has a bit of an identity crisis.

Ann (Ann Doran) leaves her abusive family to seek her fortune in the city, though she soon finds getting that fortune rather elusive. The do-gooder daughter of a senator, Dorothy (Muriel Evans) takes Ann in as a maid. However, the senator (Wallis Clark) is soon caught up in gang warfare as he tries to end their racket and is gunned down. Dorothy and Ann go missing as they try and find the culprits. Dorothy's beau Jimmie (Roger Pryor), a reporter, tries to find them and bring the culprits to justice (or rather the FBI will...)

This film is rather confusing, it starts off seemingly as an exploration of the dangers facing young women alone in the big city but soon reverts into a fairly predictable but decently done crime drama. In a way this is probably for the best as plan A would have likely led to some exploitative sleaze. A solid B-movie that keeps you entertained.

Fugitive Alien (1986)

Japanese sci-fi battle nonsense, it is undeniably fun but...

A powerful alien race attack Earth with space ships and alien soldiers with big helmets (though the aliens look completely human which is handy budget wise). Alien soldier Ken (Tatsuya Azuma) baulks at killing a human child and his comrade is killed instead. 

Ken is condemned as a traitor by his people and ends up working with the humans to fight the aliens, and is hunted by the wife (Miyuki Tanigawa) of his former comrade...

Space soap opera froth for sure. This is a TV movie made out of a Japanese TV series and the limited budget really shows at times. However, as a bit of relentless space battle fun it can't be beat even if the plot is a bit basic. Just don't ask why the alien soldiers were bright wigs under their helmets in battle.

Roaring City (1951)

An enjoyable little crime Noir.

Private detective Dennis (Hugh Beaumont) is hired to place some bets on a dodgy boxing match by Barton (Stanley Price). One of the boxers dies during the match which messes up the crooked bets. Dennis tries to collect his fee but he ends up framed for the murder of the other boxer. Dennis has to find out why carried out the murder (and some subsequent kills) before the dozy detective Burger (Richard Travis) locks him up!

A modest but complicated film, the story driven by Dennis' narrative. The plot doesn't always make a lot of sense but the quick pace and cool early 1950s feel makes the film well worth watching.

The Shadow Returns (1946)

A complicated crime romp involving The Shadow.

Lamont (Kane Richmond) aka The Shadow investigates a mysterious plot involving diamonds smuggled in diamonds, mysterious deaths and a group of people who seem to spend all of their lives in the one room of a mansion. The Shadow is assisted by Margo (Barbara Reed) and Shevvie (Tom Dugan) - well maybe saying Shevvie was any assistance at all might be being very kind to him!

This is not that good a film, it really goes nowhere and switches between the same three locations for the most part. The film is saved by the charisma of the leads, who make a good unit but they can't do anymore than at least make the film perfectly watchable. 

The Shadow, in his radio drama days, had super hypnotic powers. In this film though he just wears a hat and a mask.

Code Name: Diamond Head (1977)

A pilot for a series that never came to fruition, which is a shame as it could have been a catastrophe that could have entertained generations of cult fans. As it is we have a fairly average if a bit odd spy film.

Johnny Paul (Roy Thinnes) is a US government agent based in Hawaii (code named Diamond Head of course). He has to prevent the theft and sale of a new nerve gas being developed at a local government laboratory. The enemy are headed by Donovan (Ian McShane) - a master of disguise or just lucky that the people he has to take the identity of look like him already. Diamond Head is assisted by Zulu and France Nuyen providing the muscle and the sex appeal in varying amounts.

It is all a bit inept. The plot is poor and the action lacking on the most part. As might be expected, Ian McShane is head and shoulders the best thing about this film. It is watchable but not great but i wonder how a full series would have turned out.

A Woman is the Judge (1939)

A courtroom drama that dials up the melodrama.

Mary (Frieda Inescourt) is a well-known judge on the circuit who is promoted to preside over more serious cases. However, behind the successful career, Mary has a secret. Twenty years before she had a daughter who was taken away by her estranged and crooked husband. Mary never gives up the hope she will see her daughter again one day.

Unfortunately, that day comes when the case of a major criminal reaches her court. One of the members of the crime boss' gang is Justine (Rochelle Hudson) - who is Mary's daughter! Soon, Justine is accused of murder of her blackmailer. Mary resigns from the bench to defend her daughter.

The film is rather melodramatic and has the kind of coincidences you would later see regularly in TV soap operas but it isn't that bad a film. An interesting if not overly entertaining film.

Ator the Invincible (1983)

The second Ator movie, somehow even cheaper and shoddier than the first.

Ator (Miles O'Keefe) is living an easy life after his earlier exploits (which are recapped at length early in the film to pad it out), he is recruited by Mila (Lisa Foster) to help save her father (William Berger) from the evil Zor (David Brandon). The way to the castle of Zor is long (somewhat too long) and includes various battles against ridiculous creatures and monsters...

The first Ator film wasn't that great but it was much better than this nonsense. It is all a bit too cheap and lacks much of a plot, lots of swords and sorcery yes but what does it all mean at the end of the day apart from plenty of muscles and grunting?

The Count (1916)

A Charlie Chapin comedy short which is a decent satire on high society.

Charlie's boss, a tailor (Eric Campbell) finds an invitation to a party in a pair of trousers and goes to the party pretending to be an important Count so he can woo a rich young woman (Edna Purviance). Charlie also sneaks into the house, but so he can woo the cook! Of course Charlie ends up at the party as well and mayhem ensues, then the real Count (Leo White) turns up...

A fun little film, though it does include Charlie yet again either being mistaken or pretending to be someone more important which is a plot device he overused a bit. It is fine, if a bit over familiar.

Cry of the City (1948)

A hard Noir, a battle of wits between cop and criminal on the tough streets.

Martin (Richard Conte) has been arrested for shooting a policeman, however the lawyer Niles (Berry Kroeger) wants Martin to also take the blame for the brutal robbery of an old woman for jewels. Martin escapes custody, though badly wounded. 

Lieutenant Candella (Victor Mature) leads the hunt for Martin, but Martin is also interested in why Niles wanted him to take the rap for the jewel theft...

A great film, tough and gritty. The two leads are pushed to their limits in their relentless cat and mouse chase. Childhood friends Martin and Candella are both highly similar (both Italian background from the same streets) but also so different in outlook and eventual outcome too. Only one can come out of this alive. 

An excellent example of the Noir genre.

Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966)

A rather poor and low budget 1960s spy drama, actual James Bond spoofs can be more realistic.

H.A.R.M. agent Adam Chance (Mark Richman) is tasked with protecting an ex-Soviet scientist called Dr Steffanic (Carl Esmond) who has developed a new weapon that kills people with a spore which literally eats the victim alive. 

Chance meets Steffanic though seems more interested in the niece Ava (Barbara Bouchet) who seems allergic to wearing anything more substantial than a bikini. Steffanic is working on an antidote to the spores before the enemy can unleash them on the good old US of A. However, there is more to Ava than meets the eye...

Chance doesn't exactly cut a very dashing 1960s secret agent figure. Instead of a suave DJ, he squeezed his middle aged frame into a yellow cardigan! The action is mostly pretty poor though the scene where Chance is on a motorbike and fighting an agent in a light plane is pretty good. The film seems like it was made on a budget of about 25¢ though does make the most of it. It is fun if approached with the right frame of mind.

Outlaw of Gor (1988)

Cabot returns to a mysterious world (called Gor) thanks to his magical ring and battles warriors and wizards with swords in a rather insipid fashion.

American academic Cabot (Urbano Barberini), along with his sex crazed and sleazy friend Watney (Russel Savadier), returns to Gor - a planet Cabot fought on in an earlier film. The Elder (Alex Heyns) fears that his wizard priest Xeno (Jack Palance) is up to no good. However, Cabot seems more interested in getting back with the Princess (Rebecca Ferratti)...

However, the Elder is wrong. It is the Queen (Donna Denton) who wants to usurp him. The Queen seduces Watney in order to frame Cabot for the murder of the Elder. Cabot flees into the desert with a bounty hunter after him...

This is all nonsense and a pretty low-rent sword and sorcery tale. Everything looks cheap and unfortunately is all rather half-hearted. It has plenty of camp but unfortunately not quite enough to get over everything else.

The Millerson Case (1947)

Crime doctor Dr Ordway finally manages to get away on vacation, unfortunately it turns into a real busman's holiday.

Dr Ordway (Warner Baxter) heads to rural West Virginia to do some hunting, however immediately he is drawn into problems in the small town. Firstly, a typhoid outbreak and then a murder investigation after the local barber dies of poisoning. 

Ordway begins his investigation, unfortunately due to the victim being a bit of a romeo everyone in town seems to be potentially a suspect! The local doctor (Addison Richards) is also shot dead as Ordway closes in on the culprit...

A fine crime drama with a complicated plot full of red herrings and twists. This was the eighth film starring the Dr Ordway character and a great entry in the series. 

Frozen Scream (1975)

An amazingly bizarre, and at times pretty gruesome, zombie horror.

A group of scientists (mad of course) are trying to discover the secret of immortality. They do this by kidnapping people and turning them into zombies which are kept frozen until they are needed for nefarious purposes. One of these zombies is Tom (Wolf Muser) and now his wife Ann (Lynne Yeaman) is trying to find out what happened to him. This puts her in various perils of course and pitted against one of the scientists (Renee Harmon) who has an impressively sinister accent...

This is a really weird film, the zombies dress as mad monks, the direction is very strange at times with curiously chosen camera angles but the scares can work, or can be hilarious, or both. 

The film doesn't really make a lot of sense and has a lengthly scene while a bad rock and roll band plays for some reason right in the middle of strange satanic rituals and vicious zombie attacks. It really shouldn't work and it doesn't... but somehow it does at the same time.

The Golf Specialist (1930)

A wonderful, if somewhat aimless, comedy short by the amazing WC Fields.

Bellweather (Fields) is at a hotel in Florida. After some awkward antics with a flirty wife (Shirley Grey) of the violently jealous hotel detective (John Dunsmuir), and with an angry sailor (Jack Irvin) wanting money from him, Bellweather goes to play some golf with many slapstick mishaps.

This is a great piece of fluff, it doesn't really go anywhere (and probably spends too long on the golf course) but is entertaining all the same and well worth watching. Fields early on mentions television, i wonder if this was the first time television was ever mentioned in a film?

Earth vs the Spider (1958)

Yet another film where a giant mutated bug battles the Earth's ultimate warriors: 1950s US teenagers!

A giant mutant spider begins to wreak havoc in a small US town. This is after it is "killed" by bug spray and then apparently bought back to life by rock & roll! Finally, the spider has to be defeated in it's lair by teenage couple Mike (Eugene Persson) and Carol (June Kenney) and their science geek teacher (Ed Kemmer) using the power of the national grid.

This is yet another creature feature film though has some interesting plot points to help elevate it above the usual dross level of these films. It still isn't great though but at least can be fairly interesting at times.