The Spider Woman (1943)

An excellent entry in the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series, as the master sleuth battles a deadly foe who uses deadly spiders to kill.

A spate of mysterious deaths, claimed to be suicides though many are sceptical, grips London. However, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson (Nigel Bruce) are on holiday in Scotland. Holmes says he feels ill and then appears to fall to his death into a river, though his remains are never found.

But of course Holmes is not really dead, he returns in disguise and begins the hunt for whoever is behind these mysterious deaths. Disguised as an Indian gentleman down on his luck, Holmes encounters Adrea Spedding (Gale Sondegaard) who is interested in single men down on their luck. Indeed, she is keen to kill them using deadly spiders so she can claim their life insurance...

This is a great film, if you suspend disbelief at the basic concept (insurers don't pay out for suicides usually) it is highly enjoyable. Adrea is a great villain, including having a taste for killing people in very intricate and imaginative ways.

The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)

What is worse than spiders? Giant spiders from outer space!

Some sort of anomaly has landed in Wisconsin, some form of alien life form has arrived and it has a lot of legs and a lot of eyes! Tarantula sized spiders emerge from the anomaly that quickly grow into giant spiders which terrorise the population (especially young ladies of course). Scientists Dr Vance (Steve Brodie) and Dr Langer (Barbara Hale) need to find a way to save mankind.

This is ridiculous science-fiction horror trash of course but it is a lot of fun. Cheesy and makes little sense, but that is what films like this sound be like. 

The film is oddly dated though as it feels like it should have been made about twenty years earlier when various kinds of space and mutated giant bugs were attacking mankind a few times a week.

Who Killed Gail Preston? (1938)

An interesting little murder mystery, and including some musical numbers too!

Gail Preston (Rita Hayworth) is a popular young singer working in the club, her talent is only matched by her ability to make enemies including her ex whom she wants fired. She is gunned down at the end of a song in the club and detective Tom Kellogg (Don Terry) is quickly on the case. 

It seems like it might be a simple case too as Owen (Dwight Frye) confesses to the murder then kills himself. However, it is quickly revealed that it wasn't Owen, there was another culprit and a fascinatingly devious way to commit the crime...

A good crime drama with plenty of red herrings and twists and turns as the various suspects are ticked off one by one. However, the film is basically a remake of 1934's The Crime of Helen Stanley (though in the earlier film's case the crime takes place on a movie set). But the crime is ingenious enough to be enjoyable twice!

Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951)

Bulldog Drummond has been away breeding pigs, he is called back into action to battle a deadly gang.

A highly organised criminal gang is running rampant in London. The police turn to Bulldog Drummond (Walter Pidgeon) for help. He goes missing from his club (for a rather complicated reason which easily goes wrong) and goes undercover as a criminal. 

Drummond and policewoman Helen Smith (Margaret Leighton) join the gang led by Arthur Gunns (Robert Beatty), but the identity of the mastermind behind the gang is still a mystery...

An enjoyable film, taking a look at the sleazy underbelly of early postwar London. The story is good with a number of interesting scenes and sub-plots. Not quite as fast paced as some earlier Bulldog Drummond films but this goes give the film room to breathe.

The Falcon's Alibi (1946)

Another entry in the Falcon series, the Falcon being a former jewel thief who has gone straight but the police never believe him!

The secretary Joan (Paula Corday) of rich Gloria Peabody (Esther Howard) is in trouble. She has discovered some of her employer's expensive pearls have gone missing and if more are taken then she will get the blame. 

She enlists the help of The Falcon Tom Conway (Tom Lawrence). However, soon the jewels are stolen and also a butler is murdered...

This is a good entry in the series though has little you would have seen before from a Falcon film. The usual mix of fast moving dialogue, red herrings and face paced action. The Falcon is his usual calm and suave self and very very watchable. Its great fun.

Great Guy (1936)

He might be holier than thou in this role but James Cagney really scores in this role... as a weights and measures inspector!

In New York the weights and measures inspectors make sure citizens are not short changed. Small cheats lead to big profits and thus the inspectors are under fire. Johnny (Cagney) is put in charge of the department after the head is put on the shelf in a suspicious accident. Johnny discovers that everyone in business wants to be his friend, and want him to look the other way in return for a bribe. 

Even though Johnny plans to marry Janet (Mae Clarke), he remains firm. Though unfortunately one of the crooked businessmen is Janet's boss and this soon puts his relationship under trouble as well as his safety...

This is a great little film, one of a couple of B-movies Cagney made for smaller studios when he was between major studios. His character is maybe a little too good to be true at times but Cagney pulls it off in his usual energetic and charismatic style, of course. 

The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988)

The last of a series of Dirty Dozen sequels, by now everything was wearing a bit too thin.

It is 1943 and secretly the Nazis believe the war can't be won, thus twelve young Nazi hot shots are going to be sent to the Middle East to lay the foundations for the Fourth Reich. Major Wright (Telly Savalas) recruits another bunch of condemned and hopeless convicts for another suicide mission to go deep into Nazi held eastern Europe and kill the Nazis before they can reach Istanbul.

To make things more complicated, one of the Major's Dirty Dozen is a Nazi spy and is intent on sabotaging the mission. The Major thus changes his plan on the fly though this could mean his men become targets of the RAF!

A rather by-the-numbers TV movie, it has the usual tired tropes of crack SS stormtroopers not being able to shoot straight plus the premise doesn't really make a lot of sense. It is fine enough to watch if you just want some wartime action and not worry too much about quite why!

Double Exposure (1944)

Fast moving crime with added comedy and romance.

Larry Burke (Chester Morris) is the editor of a trashy magazine always looking for good photographers. He finds one in Pat (Nancy Kelly) and he has feelings for her, but her boyfriend Ben (Philip Terry) kind of gets in Larry's way! 

Meanwhile, the latest wife of playboy Sonny Tucker (Charles Arnt) is found dead, just after Pat staged a very similar photoshoot herself for another feature. Pat gets the blame for the murder, unfortunately Ben can't provide her with an alibi as Larry tricked Ben to get on a boat on a wartime convoy which has been sunk! 

Light and fast moving fare, Chester Morris plays his usual charismatic character which makes the film. Although the film does include a murder, it is mostly a comedy with some rather zany characters and snappy dialogue.

Child Bride (1938)

Some films from the interwar period could not be made nowadays due to changes in social attitudes, even thinking about making a film like this one nowadays would probably get you put on a list! This film tackles the thorny issue of ..er.. tweenage girls marrying older men.

The concept of the age of consent has yet to reach the rural mountain communities of 1930s America. Very young girls are regularly married off to much older men, though the teacher Miss Carol (Diana Durrell) wants to get the practice outlawed. Unfortunately, one of her pupils, 12 year old Jeannie (Shirley Mills) has caught the eye of Jake Bolby (Warner Richmond) and he is willing to go to any lengths to get his hands on her including murder and blackmail...

A rather dark and mildly exploitative film to say the least, though not that sleazy (thank God!) It is a rather interesting film though ultimately pretty distasteful. Happily, Bolby doesn't get his evil way with Jeanie and instead gets punished for his misdeeds, i'm sure you won't mind these spoilers!

Hot Cars (1956)

Honest Nick Dunn (John Bromfield) is a used car salesman, naturally his honesty is a disadvantage when it comes to flogging old bangers.

Unfortunately for Nick he has a sick young son and needs a job. He takes a new job working for Markel (Ralph Clanton) who seems too good to be true... because he is. The cars Markel wants Nick to sell are stolen, but medical bills for his son means Nick has no choice but to stay. 

However, Detective Davenport (Dabbs Greer) is sniffing around and soon Nick is in a downward spiral of ever deeper trouble...

A low budget film but decent quality. The story is basic but works well enough. Entertaining without being mind-blowing. The 1950s cars are also hot in several ways.

I Live on Danger (1942)

A typically fast moving and fast talking reporter gets involved in the case of a man wrongly convicted for murder.

Jeff Morrell (Chester Morris) is a roving radio reporter who is always one quip too many away from being fired. Eddie Nelson (Edward Norris) is a young man who is accused of murder when a man is shot in his presence. 

Eddie goes on the run but is captured thanks to Jeff much to the horror of Eddie's sister Susan (Jean Parker) - and whom Jeff was becoming sweet on. Jeff now works to try and clear Eddie before it is too late...

A fast moving and breezy film. The plot is pretty basic and fairly generic, at times a bit hard to follow, but it is a great deal of fun. A film perfect for Chester Morris' character.

Planet of the Vampires (1965)

An incredibly campy science-fiction epic. 

A team of astronauts led by Markary (Barry Sullivan) land on an alien world, and immediately things start to go wrong. Crew members start to act strangely, out of control and attacking their own colleagues. 

Some crewmen die and even are bought back to life as murderous zombies on this eerie mysterious world.

Although the sets and costumes are incredibly campy (but to be fair also of the time) and the budget was pretty low, this film is actually rather good at times though let down by the dialogue. 

An atmospheric science-fiction horror. It was a big influence on Alien, which did pretty well.

The Jury's Secret (1938)

An enjoyable courtroom drama with a good twist.

After a deadly flood, the local top businessman (Samuel S Hinds) is accused of profiting on people's sorrows by his reluctant employee Walter Russell (Kent Taylor) who is threatened with being ruined if he tries to quit. Russell kills the businessman and escapes town. However, local agitator Bill Sheldon (Larry J Blake) ends up being accused of the murder and Russell returns to town. 

He meets his old flame reporter Linda Ware (Fay Wray) but then before he can elope with her he is called into jury service for Sheldon's murder trial. Wracked with guilt Russell must ensure Sheldon isn't found guilty...

A good courtroom drama, we know who the real culprit is and it is interesting to see his conflict as he tries to save Sheldon without putting himself at risk! The somewhat cynical look at small town law and justice is also entertaining.

Tobor the Great (1954)

A large robot foils enemy spies, terrific 1950s science-fiction fun!

Professor Nordstrom (Taylor Holmes) and Dr Harrison (Charles Drake) develop a robot to pilot the first rocket into space so they can find out if it's safe for mankind. The large robot can read human minds and enthrals Nordstrom's grandson Brian (Billy Chaplin). 

Unfortunately, enemy agents want the secrets of the robot, which Nordstrom has called Tobor (that is robot backwards). They kidnap Nordstrom and Brian and, in a rather brutal scene for movies of the period, threaten Brian's tender flesh with a blow torch! Luckily Tobor is on the way...

Although it does come with a large side helping of cheese, this is a great little 1950s science-fiction film. Tobor looks suitably ridiculous and the film is not overly padded out with stock footage as some of the genre suffered from.

The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date (1940)

The Lone Wolf in action again, with a somewhat overly complicated plot.

The Lone Wolf Michael Lanyard (Warren William) is in Cuba buying rare stamps. He encounters Patricia Lawrence (Frances Robinson) who needs help, which the Lone Wolf agrees to give of course! 

Patricia's brother has been kidnapped by a criminal gang, though the gang steal the Lone Wolf's stamp album thinking it is the money! The Lone Wolf begins to hunt down the gang, but of course the police are trying to hunt him down instead!

The film has a complicated plot, like so many B-movies about three movies' worth of storyline is squeezed into one! The light hearted feel to the film with plenty of banter between the Lone Wolf and his butler Jamison (Eric Blore) keeps things moving at a good pace and adds to the high entertainment value.

The Circus Show-Up (1932)

The Phantom (Frank Readick), an early DC character, narrates another short crime drama.

A circus trapeze artist (Polly Ann Young) is preparing to perform her highly dangerous triple somersault in the big top. However, someone flips the light switch at the most dangerous moment, she falls to her death. The circus manager (Paul Nicholson) quickly works out who flipped the switch, even though two other people admit to it.

While other entries in this series were well formed little crime dramas, this film is pretty poor unfortunately. So much is unexplained and makes little sense.

The Return of Boston Blackie (1927)

Before the highly successful Chester Morris series of Boston Blackie films in the 1940s there were a number of other adaptations of the character in the silent movie era, this was the last "silent" Boston Blackie film before the series returned with sound in the 1940s.

Boston Blackie (Raymond Glenn) has just spent two years in jail, He makes a vow to go straight but ends up involved with Sylvia (Corliss Palmer) who has stolen a necklace from a dancer. 

It turns out the jewels belong to Sylvia's father (who was having a bit on the side with the dancer). Blackie agrees to break into the father's safe to put the jewel's back.

The star of the film though is Blackie's dog Strongheart who gets top billing! The film is fine enough, nothing at all like the later talkies. A pleasant if not exceptional watch.

Kronos (1957)

An enjoyable science fiction film with some alien super science wreaking havoc.

Aliens send a probe towards Earth, after it is shot down by American nukes the probe turns into a huge walking electrical accumulator robot which begins to drain Earth of every volt. Dr Gaskell (Jeff Morrow) leads the scientific investigation into the alien technology, which is being controlled by a possessed colleague of his (John Emery). Can Dr Gaskell devise a way to defeat the alien probe which he has called Kronos...

This is a fun film, Kronos looks superb. Although the plot is pretty standard for the genre this film is very nicely done despite the low budget. It isn't what you have got, its how you use it.

Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You (1971)

A TV pilot which aimed to relaunch Ellery Queen on television in the 1970s, unfortunately it didn't work. For now anyway.

A serial killer called the Hydra is killing people seemingly at random across New York, each murder accompanied by a rather creepy animation of a multi-headed snake. Inspector Queen (Harry Morgan) is making no headway with the case so calls upon his nephew Ellery (Peter Lawford) to help out. Ellery discovers a link in the murders, with the help of one of the victim's sister Celeste (Stefanie Powers).

Ellery discovers a prime suspect, though as the film is only half-way you know there will be some complications...

Not a bad film, though the casting of Ellery Queen is a bit odd. Although the plot is fine, it is stretched out rather thinly which ends up making the film a bit of a drag in the end though it does have a cool filming style throughout. 

Luckily for Ellery Queen fans another attempt to launch a TV series starring the character was successful later in the decade.

Homicide for Three (1948)

A young couple suffer the honeymoon from Hell.

Young naval officer Lieutenant Duluth (Warren Douglas) returns from his ship to finally enjoy a honeymoon with his new wife Iris (Audrey Long). However, they can't find a hotel room in town but in the end accept the loan of a room from a kind lady. But this hurls them into an awful mystery involving multiple dead women, a bearded drunk and a showdown with two murderous clowns at a circus! Can they find the true culprit before the police arrest them for the murders?

An interesting little crime drama which is played fairly light most of the time, though it isn't funny enough to be a proper comedy and too humorous to be a proper crime drama! It is a worthwhile and enjoyable watch all the same. Seasoned crime drama fans will probably guess who the real killers are though!