The Flying Missile (1950)

An interesting, if not overly thrilling, look at the earliest days of US Navy guided missiles.

The war is over and now the US Navy is preparing for the next one, that will likely involve guided missiles. Commander Talbot (Glenn Ford) is keen to get his submarine involved in these new trials after watching an early missile (basically a V-2) launched off an aircraft carrier. 

The trial will involve firing V-1s off the decks of submarines, things don't go easy of course and involve the crew of the submarine in various troubles, Talbot is also trying to a girl (Viveca Lindfors)...

The film is a bit slow, and is at times it a little too much like a piece of propaganda but the early missile footage is very interesting.

Cuban Rebel Girls (1959)

A mysterious piece of sometimes sleazy propaganda that was Errol Flynn's final film.

Errol Flynn heads over to Cuba to be a war correspondent documenting Fidel Castro's revolution against Batista. An American girl (Beverley Aadland) heads to Cuba to join her boyfriend who is fighting for Castro. Flynn follows her and other teenage girls fighting for Castro...

This is a very strange and poor little film, the fact it exists seems very strange these days and was probably a bit odd back then too. The production values are very cheap, the film looks more like a grainy home movie and often is pretty tawdry, along with the obvious propaganda.

Worth watching for the curiosity value only to be honest.

Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)

A tough, though uneven, tale of crime on the streets.

Barnes (Mark Stevens) and Purvis (Edmond O'Brien) are two policemen reacting to calls on the radio voiced by Mallory (Gale Storm), whom they both have the hots for. 

However, the partnership (and love triangle) is torn apart by the gangster Garris (Donald Buka) who kills Barnes. Now Purvis is out to bring Garris down no matter the cost...

A fair amount of violence and a lot of scenes set at night give this film a Noir feel. Though this Noir feel is rather diluted by the light hearted nature of the romantic sub-plot. Not a flawless film but perfectly enjoyable.

Escape from San Quentin (1957)

A tense prison break drama.

Gruber (Richard Devon) persuades fellow con Gilbert (Johnny Desmond) to help him break out of San Quentin, Gilbert is vital to the plan as it involves using a plane to fly out of the prison and Gilbert is a pilot. 

The plan succeeds but now the escaped convicts face difficulty in getting their hands on Gruber's hidden stash of loot. Gilbert though is more interested in getting to talk to his estranged wife, soon his sister-in-law (Merry Anders) is dragged into their escape with both the police and the mob after them...

A good film with Noir touches, the actual prison break itself only takes up a small part of the film, most of it is taken up with the convicts on the run. This can drag a bit but the menace and violence of the mobsters keeps you interested.

Hi-Jacked (1950)

An inoffensive decent little crime drama.

A gang are hi-jacking trucks and stealing the loads, one of these trucks is being driven by Joe (Jim Davis) when he falls for the old broken down car trick.

Unfortunately, Joe has a record so he is suspected by the police of being involved. These suspicions are fuelled when Joe is framed into driving a load of contraband. He sets out to catch the real criminals, and save his marriage to Jean (Marcia Mae Jones)...

This is a reasonable if unexceptional B-movie. The story is not very original and the performances a bit flat. It passes the time but not much more.

The Case Against Brooklyn (1958)

A tough crime drama with a definite Noir feel.

With unlicensed bookmakers operating in the city, the feeling is that the police are on the take. The DA sends a rookie cop in to investigate. Pete (Darren McGavin) is unknown and keen, but hurled into a very dangerous situation with ultimately deadly consequences. 

Pete thinks recently widowed Lil Polumbo (Margaret Hayes) is the key to getting the evidence that the local police are in the bookies' pocket but he really needs to be wary of her friend Franklin (Warren Stevens)...

A great example of a late Noir. The villains are ruthless and deadly, willing to resort to anything to keep their racket going. The plot is fast moving and the film is well performed. A great watch.

The Lineup (1958)

A tough Noir with some real menace.

The police are battling to stop the smuggling of narcotics, including heroin, into San Francisco. The method used is to dupe or force travellers to bring the drugs into the city when they return from abroad. Dancer (Eli Wallach) and Julian (Robert Keith) are two hoodlums who have turned up in town to retrieve the drugs smuggled in by a group of passengers off a cruise ship. 

All is going smoothly as they work they way through the mules (though a trail of dead bodies is being left behind) until they find drugs hidden in a child'd doll has been lost. The mastermind behind the operation will not be very happy about that...

A great film, the gangsters are psychotic, the people drawn into the smuggling ring are frequently doomed. A violent and dark film that is well worth seeing.

Operation Manhunt (1954)

A dramatisation of the life of Soviet defector Igor Gouzenko who was a wanted man by the KGB after he defected to Canada, he also makes a (masked) appearance at the end of the film.

Gouzenko (Harry Townes) is living in hiding in Canada, but the Soviets have their plans ready to find and kill him. Agent Volov (Jacques Aubuchon) is tasked to pose as a wannabe defector in order to befriend Gouzenko so he can be drawn out of kiding...

After a slow start (the semi-documentary style doesn't help) this film develops in a compelling spy drama full of tension. There are also some surprises too especially in the final scenes. It can be a bit wooden at times but the story (with it's real-life basis) is excellent.

Pickup on South Street (1953)

A tough and gritty Noir spy drama.

Candy (Jean Peters) is being tailed by the feds, they know she is carrying microfilm containing industrial secrets which the Communists want to get their hands on. 

However, pick pocket Skip (Richard Widmark) messes everything up by stealing Candy's purse on the underground! Now the search is on for the pick pocket, both by the spies and the feds...

A dark film, doomed people hanging on by their fingernails in the dark underbelly of the city. A very good film with a compelling storyline. Thelma Ritter plays a terrific role as a police informer, indeed well worth the Oscar nomination she got for it.

The Third Visitor (1951)

A nice little, if sometimes a bit static, murder mystery.

After Richard Carling (Karel Stepanek) is found dead in his fancy house, Inspector Mallory (Guy Middleton) begins his investigation. There are a number of suspects as Carling was visited by a few people that night, but who was the last person to see him alive. And what is the dark secret behind who Carling really is?

The film can be a bit confusing at times, and also can get bogged down now and then. The story is good though and rewards the viewer's patience at some of the meandering early on as the dark secrets are gradually revealed. Everything comes together in the final act.

Some good performances, especially from Sonia Dresdel, add to the richness of the film. Not perfect but worth watching.

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.