Pharaoh's Curse (1957)

A rather dull mummy's curse film, although not without interest.

Captain Storm (Mark Dana) is sent out to reach a team of Egyptologists during a time of revolt in colonial Egypt. The team encounter a strange Egyptian woman called Simira (Ziva Rodann) who doesn't seem bothered by the relentless desert heat and keeps talking in riddles. At the tomb, Quentin (George Neise) opens a tomb and unwittingly releases an ancient evil spirit who begins to kill the party one by one, draining the blood of it's victims...

The film has problems. The story is not that original and moves rather slowly, plus does not have the largest of budgets. However, the film does have some good creepy moments and Rodann was excellent (if a bit campy) as the mysterious Simira.

Creature with the Atom Brain (1955)

Undeniably cheesy but a fun body horror science fiction film.

A gangster (Michael Granger) appears to have come back from exile abroad and is killing the people who put him away in prison, and he seems to have supernatural strength! 

Dr Walker (Richard Denning) investigates the case and discovers traces of radioactivity and links to a (mad) Nazi scientist (Gregory Gaye) who experimented with controlling animal bodies via electrodes in the brain. Could the experiment have moved onto human suspects?

The effects are pretty low budget but are wonderfully creepy. The final battle between the radioactive zombies and the police is both hilarious and thrilling. 

Motor Patrol (1950)

A tale of motorcycle cops in Los Angeles. 

Motorbike cop Larry (William Henry) is killed while investigating a hit-and-run murder case, which may have been deliberate. Trainee cop Ken (Don Castle), who is engaged to Larry's sister, goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of car thieves in the city...

A reasonable, competent if not overly exciting crime B-movie. There is nothing much wrong with this film though it does lack a bit of a bite. Sid Melton provides a bit of comic relief which helps the film become a little too worthy for it's own good.

Suddenly! (1954)

The highest of stakes as a sleepy small town becomes the scene of a planned assassination of the President of the United States!

Not a lot happens in Suddenly but all that changes when the President is due to leave his train there. Federal agents swarm over the place including one team which goes to a house overlooking the railway station owned by former agent Pop Benson (James Gleason) and his daughter Ellen (Nancy Gates). 

However, the team led by Baron (Frank Sinatra) are not federal agents after all but assassins who want to use the house to commit their crime!

This is a great film, tense and gripping as the ruthless and brutal Baron will stop at nothing to commit their mission, being willing to hurt or even kill anyone, men, women and children! 

Invisible Avenger (1958)

The Shadow returns, and this time he can become invisible again...

The Shadow, Lamont Cranston (Richard Derr) goes to New Orleans to investigate the death of a jazz man. Somehow, the death is mixed up with a Latin American country's exiled leader and a possible revolution. To combat the bad guys, The Shadow can make himself invisible (though the effect is somewhat ruined by the evil laughter he has to do at the same time for some reason) and control men's minds...

This actually was the pilot for a TV series about The Shadow who last appeared in films in the 1940s (though without any special powers). The pilot wasn't taken up so it was turned into a rather uneven film. 

It is a decent enough B movie, well paced and with plenty of action, the story delving more into the mystic than earlier films where The Shadow was basically a bloke with a hat! Mark Daniels plays Cranston's spiritual guide Jogendra.

Diplomatic Courier (1952)

A tense early Cold War thriller.

Diplomatic Courier Mike Kells (Tyrone Power) is sent to central Europe to retrieve a package from a colleague. After he finds his colleague dead, he is dragged into a dangerous search for the package which contains details of a Soviet plot. 

It seems that Janine (Hildegard Knef), an associate of his dead colleague, may be a Soviet agent but what about Joan (Patricia Neal) who just happens to bump into Mike in most unexpected places...

An enjoyable film and an interesting period piece, set in Trieste when it was an independent city state and on the front line of the Iron Curtain. A Noir for sure on the brutal battlefield between the superpowers and a shattered continent still recovering from one nightmare and in danger of falling into another.

Government Agents vs Phantom Legion (Serial) (1951)

A shadowy gang is hijacking Uncle Sam's strategic cargo, call in the Feds!

After a spate of hijacks and thefts of lorries carrying strategic items, Government agents Hal (Walter Reed) and Sam (John Pickard) are bought in to foil the crooks. The crimes are being organised by a shadowy figure who only speaks behind a glass. We do see who it is, one of the logistic company bosses, in the final showdown after many cliff hangers...

This is a reasonable if not overly spectacular serial. It is rather restrained compared to some examples of the genre but is pretty well made throughout with some good cliff hangers, the best being the first one with the exploding rail car in a tunnel. 

Some of the secondary characters including Kay (Mary Ellen Kay) don't really get as much screen time as they probably deserve.

Dance Hall Racket (1953)

An appalling piece of exploitative sleaze.

A criminal is killed at a dodgy night club owned by Tim Farrell (Umberto Scalli) with Vincent (Lenny Bruce) as his murderous henchman (who is very handy with a knife). 

A Federal agent is sent in to investigate and he discovers the club is a front for a diamond smuggling racket. Vincent meanwhile has plans to replace his boss permanently...

This is pretty grim stuff, badly acted and plotted. The cheese factor is high but when a dog (which doesn't do much other than lie around) outacts most of the humans then you know things are bad...

The sheer ridiculousness can be compelling at times but "so bad it's good" can only take you so far.

Morning Departure (1950)

A gripping but ultimately bleak tale of a submarine in distress.

A Royal Navy submarine commanded by Armstrong (John Mills) heads off on a routine training mission. However, things go wrong when the submarine encounters a mine which explodes. The badly damaged submarine is trapped on the sea bed. Although the submarine is found by rescuers and some of the surviving crew escape, Armstrong and the last few including Stoker Snipe (Richard Attenborough) are trapped with no means of escape...

A tense drama, though a submarine will always give you that. Hope is dashed several times as the last survivors slowly realise that there will be not be a happy ending. A superb film.

High Flight (1957)

Young men want to join the RAF and fly the latest jets. However, the path to join the elite does not run that smoothly.

One of the cadets is Winchester (Ray Milland) who causes a stir by arriving at the cadet school in his girlfriend's plane. Although he is a little careless and a bit wild, the commander Rudge (Kenneth Haigh) lets him off. It turns out that during the war Winchester's father died after Rudge's own carelessness. Something Winchester junior is well aware of...

An enjoyable, if fairly predictable, film. It is enlivened by some decent performances by the leads and good cameos from Leslie Philips and John le Mesurier. There is also a bit of comedic relief provided by Anthony Newley who causes havoc with his radio controlled flying saucer! The real stars of the film though are the Vampires and Hunters, classic British jets from a bygone age.

Crash Landing (1958)

A perfectly serviceable aeroplane disaster movie, more serviceable than the engines on the plane anyway.

A flight is half-way between Lisbon and New York, over the Atlantic Ocean. Two of the engines fail suddenly and now the tough Captain Williams (Gary Merrill) has to decide whether to ditch in the drink or try and make land. Williams has a very low threshold for failure, as we see in a flashback with his wife (Nancy Reagan) and son. However, as the adventure unfolds Williams learns how to be a human, be a better father and save everyone onboard. Give that man a payrise!

The rest of the crew and passengers are the usual collection of stereotypes, some of whom also have their happy redemption stories. Though the cliches are sometimes not fully developed.

The film is fine enough, if rather slow at times and static. However, the overall story and effect are worth staying around for. 

The Head (1959)

A very strange science horror film, obviously involving heads!

Professor Abel (Michel Simon) has developed a serum that can keep the severed head of a dog alive. He recruits a new assistant Dr Ood (Horst Frank). 

Abel dies of a heart attack but Ood takes the opportunity to remove the professor's head and keep it alive with the serum. Ood forces the professor to assist him with a bizarre experiment to give a hunch backed nurse a new body from a stripper...

A very strange film with a ton of atmosphere, though at times a little too odd however the film is certainly compelling enough to keep you interested. The soundtrack is particularly good and eerie. 

Barbados Quest (1955)

Rare stamps are very valuable, and a target of criminals in this 1950s yarn.

Tom Martin (Tom Conway) is some kind of private detective (it is never made entirely clear) who is employed by a rich stamp collector who thinks the valuable Barbadian stamp he has bought is a fake. With the help of his old comrade Barney (Michael Balfour), Tom begins to unravel a complicated plot of counterfeit stamps, a lucrative business which the gang ring leader Blake (Brian Worth) is willing to kill for...

A fine little film, modest though well structured. Tom Conway, a veteran of the The Falcon series plays a very familiar role as a suave private investigator who skirts close to the line. His character here though, sometimes referred to the Duke, only made a couple of films of which this was the first. Not that original but a good watch.

The Big Bluff (1955)

A gigolo's scheme to get his hands on a dying rich woman's cash doesn't go to plan in this tasty Noir.

Rich widow Valerie (Martha Vickers) has been diagnosed with a heart condition and is sent away to relax on doctor's orders, however she meets latin lover Ricardo (John Bromfield) and falls in love. Unfortunately, Ricardo loves exotic dancer Fritzie (Rosemarie Stack) who wants to leave her husband (who plays the bongos!) Ricardo learns of Valerie's medical condition and marries her, hoping she will soon die and then he will get her money and then he can run away with Fritzie.

Sadly for Ricardo he proves to be too good for Valerie and her heart improves. Under pressure from Fritzie, Ricardo forms a plan to kill his wife and use Fritzie for an alibi...

An enjoyable film though at times the acting and direction is a bit shoddy, but the film is worth persevering with and has a suitable dark ending.

Split Second (1953)

A Noir with a plutonium twist!

While reporter Larry Fleming (Keith Andes) prepares to cover the latest nuclear bomb test in the desert, he is called away to cover the escape of two dangerous convicts from prison including the gang leader Steve Hurley (Steven McNalley). Larry, and young hitchhiker Dottie (Jan Sterling) are among the hostages taken by Hurley. Hurley takes them all to the ghost town which is due to be nuked in a few hours time! Will Hurley let them escape in time in the question and it isn't looking too hot on that score...

A wonderfully dark little hostage drama with the hostages knowing that they are mere hours from a dose of instant sunshine. The film has some good (if sometimes uneven) performances and plenty of tension. The film is let down a bit by the actual nuclear blast though, some details of the weapon and it's effects were probably still classified at the time.

Invasion, U.S.A. (1952)

America is under attack, for real this times, by an avalanche of stock footage.

In a New York bar, a number of people watch the TV (and drink of course) but the news is bad. There are rumours of Soviet threats to America. One owns a tractor factory but doesn't want to change it to make tanks, the others are fairly blasé about the fight against godless Communism. But then the nightmare does happen after all, the Soviets attack Alaska and soon the nukes are flying. By now the bar patrons are in various parts of the country caught up in the Third World War...

This isn't a good film by any means, it uses a mountain of stock footage (much of it from WW2 though as the film was in the early 1950s it isn't too out of date), any live footage of fighting often usefully includes Soviet soldiers disguised as American troops (easier to get the uniforms). It's propaganda is laid on thick though, don't be denying the military industrial complex proper funding as otherwise you'll have Soviet paratroopers landing in the local park!

Radar Secret Service (1950)

Radar can do everything, as this curious little film tries to prove.

Uranium has been stolen by a criminal gang, the G-men led by John Howard are on the case and tracking the shipment using radar - which has almost supernatural abilities in this film! 

However, despite the magic of radar the G-men still need to use a shapely blonde to really get the goods on the criminal gang.

This is a decent watch but the premise is pretty ridiculous, though the radar nonsense is pretty funny. Apart from that the film is a pretty run of the mill and very low budget crime drama. 

Look out for the mention of Dick Tracy by radar expert Static (Ralph Byrd) who actually played Tracy in the late 1930s and 1940s!

Blood Orange (1953)

A competent enough crime drama though very much by the numbers.

Tom Conway is a private detective (and yes his character name is also Tom Conway) is employed to investigate the theft of jewels in the fashion industry. 

Eventually, Conway is removed from the case but the death of a woman who said she had information for him keeps him interested, though that isn't the only death and the red herrings come thick and fast.

It isn't a bad film but a bit tired and lack lustre, a bit like Britain in the post-war period really. Tom Conway has played a similar role to this many times and does pretty well with it - his presence and charm being the highlight of the film - as you would expect!

The Sword and the Dragon (1956)

An epic Russian film involving many swords and dragons.

Ilya Muromets (Boris Andreyev) is a great warrior, but unfortunately he had lost the use of his legs and therefore he can't stop the ravaging Tugar hoards from setting his village on fire and taking off pillage in the form of the village's women, including his sweetheart. 

After Ilya helps some travellers out, they give him some special medicine which restores the use of his legs. Ilya heads off in search of battle with the Tugars to prove himself to the Tsar. Unfortunately, the Tugars have fire-breathing dragons in their armoury...

The first Soviet film recorded in CinemaScope and multi-track stereo and this adds to the splendour of this film which is based on a famous Russian epic story, with plenty of Soviet propaganda added of course. 

An epic film made at a time of epic films and it certainly is not disgraced by it's Hollywood rivals. A fun watch, the story can be nonsense at times but the grand scale is very compelling.

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.