Coonskin (1974)

A very strange film, satirical and different but is it any good?

Mixing live action with animation, and everything seems rather random. This film includes a prison break (one of the would-be escapees is voiced by Barry White - yes that one!) as well as a number of wannabe gangsters who rise up the ranks in organised crime in Harlem...

A satire on mid-1970s America, blaxploitation films and race relations, though the satire is laid on as thick as an industrial digger. Maybe the film could have done with being a little more subtle. 

The mix of animation and live action is an acquired taste, though unfortunately not one i have ever acquired. It is certainly an interesting piece of work though i can't say i enjoyed it that much.

A film apparently intended to offend everyone, it will probably succeed.

Topper Takes a Trip (1938)

Light hearted supernatural antics.

Following on from the first Topper film, Topper (Roland Young) is now in the divorce court but the case is thrown out thanks to help from ghost Marion (Constance Bennett) and a clever dog (Asta the dog)! 

The troublesome Mrs Parkhurst (Verree Teasdale) takes Mrs Topper (Billie Burke) to France where she tries to arrange for a reason for a divorce, meanwhile ghost Marion also takes Topper to France to try and reconcile him with his wife so Marion can finally go to heaven...

We also see Cary Grant due to the re-use of some edited footage from the first film. This is a light fun film that is very nicely made. Topper appeared once more in Topper Returns in 1941.

Baby Ghost (1995)

An incredible piece of rubbish that somehow keeps your attention.

Hapless child photographer Winslow (Joe Estevez) ends up trapped in the high rise office building he works in by a strange little ghost, called a baby ghost but looks more like a little green lizard. 

Also trapped in the building is a tarot card reader (Erin O'Bryan) and a couple of members of staff. There are also a couple of useless thieves who have broken into the building.

A shoddy film which looks like it was shot on a budget of about 17 pence. Expect dodgy acting, awkward scenes which make little sense, padding which often reaches epic levels of boring and very rough special effects. Despite all the drawbacks this is a great watch, definitely in the so bad it's good camp.

The Dancing Masters (1943)

One of the later Laurel and Hardy films, a flawed film but the magic is still there.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy operate a dance academy, after a short interlude where they get swindled into an insurance policy by a very young Robert Mitchum, they begin to help a young inventor (Robert Bailey) with both his new death ray invention and his love life with Trudy Marshall...

This is a great little film, filled with the trademark Laurel and Hardy humour and slap stick antics. However, the story line is stretched a little too far though, plus the final runaway tram scene goes on a little too long. It isn't perfect but it is still wonderful.

One Week (1920)

An early example of Buster Keaton's work, a taste of the greatness to come.

Buster and Sybil Seely have just got married. One of their wedding gifts is a prefabricated house which they have to build themselves. What could go wrong?! A love rival is out to sabotage things though, and switches the part numbers around so the resulting house, after many mishaps, is a bit odd...

Its a bit frenetic, maybe a little too much slap stick is squeezed in at times but this is a fun watch with a lot of sight gags.

It's a Bikini World (1967)

A decent late 60s beach bikini film, plenty of young people frolicking in their swimwear, and even some plot too!

Delilah (Deborah Walley) turns up on the beach where beefcake Mike (Tommy Kirk) holds sway. Naturally, she quickly becomes a target for Mike's affections though she finds him arrogant. Mike overhears that Delilah prefers sensible boys not jocks so he disguises him (barely) as his studious "brother" Herbert. Delilah falls for Herbert but Mike faces a struggle keeping the truth from her...

Don't expect any surprises from this film which is true to it's genre, one highlight is the appearance of The Animals to perform one of their hits. The film's finale of a cross-country race should have been the film's exciting climax but instead becomes a bit of a bore. Times were a-changing, psychedelia was coming and that would soon make films like this look incredibly dated but it is a fine enough watch.

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.

Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday (1939)

Comedy crime antics, though amid all the nonsense the crime itself is rather dark.

Inspector Hornleigh (Gordon Harker) and Sergeant Bingham (Alastair Sim) are on holiday, and incognito, but when an obviously fake naval captain is apparently killed in a car accident Hornleigh (keenly) and Bingham (reluctantly) begin to investigate. It is soon clear that the accident was really murder and a plot is uncovered by a gang stealing corpses from a hospital to fake accidents in order to claim insurances and wills. The question remains who is the Mr Big behind the plot?

This is a great film, the comedy team of Harker and Sim working together so well. The plot is well constructed and builds gradually, though whether it makes a great deal of sense in the end is a good question. The mixture of character humour, silliness and crime may seem unusual these days but was quite common back in the 1930s.

Moonshine (1918)

Mountain folk engage in an endless series of feuds, but real trouble comes when a couple of government revenue inspectors (Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton) comes looking for an illegal still. Many strange antics follow.

This is a silent comedy that sends up the genre in many clever little ways (though not all of the attempts at humour work). The action is a little violent and crude at times but it doesn't take itself very seriously. Does it really work as a film though? 

Just You and Me, Kid (1979)

A charming odd couple comedy drama, officially there is some darkness here in the plot but it never gets in the way of some old Hollywood nostalgia and nonsense.

Bill (George Burns) is a retired vaudeville performer who delights supermarket staff with his genial quips and illusionist tricks. His life is thrown upside down when he discovers a naked teenage girl in the boot of his car! 

The girl is Kate (Brooke Shields), a teenage prostitute on the run from drug dealers. Bill, once he has befriended Kate, has to keep her hidden and safe, from the bad guys, nosy neighbours and Bill's daughter...

This is a highly enjoyable film, packed full of light, finely observed, humour and nostalgia. The relationship between Bill and Kate develops well during the film, especially once Shields warms into the role.

Meet the Hollowheads (1989)

A very strange sci-fi comedy, incredibly 1980s looking.

We are in a very strange future where a Jetsons like family live in a world of pipes, strange gadgets and mysterious punishments for misbehaving. Henry (John Glover) is trying to impress his boss to get promotion, at home though Miriam (Nancy Mette) is trying to control their unruly children including Cindy (Juliette Lewis) preparing for a rave party. Brother Bud (Lightfield Lewis) is practicing his music instrument which seems to also be a kind of mutated chicken.

Cindy is later bought home by the police after being caught intoxicated by softening cream. Henry's boss (Richard Portnow) comes for dinner, but he isn't there to be buttered up by Henry, rather he is interested in sexually harassing Miriam...

Honestly this is more like a fevered dream than a film, and has a real late 80s music video look and feel. Of course it doesn't make sense, but it isn't really supposed to. Incredibly imaginative though maybe sometimes you can take it a little too far. Certainly memorable even if it does become a bit tough going at times.

Electric Dreams (1984)

One of the most 80s films ever, a complete nostalgia fest of 80s pop and 80s computers.

Miles (Lenny von Dohlen) is an architect who is struggling to get anyone to buy into his big idea. He buys a computer to help him with his life. His computer gets ever more wrapped up into his life and begins to overheat, in a panic he pours champagne over the computer... this turns it sentient (of course!)

The computer calls itself Edgar (voiced by Bud Cort) and enters a love triangle with Miles and his neighbour Madeline (Virginia Madsen). When Edgar involves himself too much in Miles' life, Miles tries to turn Edgar off but this proves to be easier said than done...

This is a fun film which makes heavy use of the look and feel of contemporary pop videos (and including some actual MVs too). Its light and fluffy but has plenty of heart. The music is fantastic of course.

The Rink (1916)

Charlie Chaplin is a waiter in a restaurant, though as you can imagine much slapstick mayhem ensues. In his lunch break he goes roller skating in the park. At the park Mr Stout (Eric Campbell) is making advances to an unwilling girl (Edna Purviance). 

After showing off his roller skating skills, Charlie poses as an aristocrat and is invited to a party at the girl's house. Mr Stout and his new partner also show up.

This is a fine enough film, the usual slapstick antics. The film is most notable for showing off Chaplin's excellent roller skating skills.

The Blacksmith (1922)

Buster Keaton is working in a blacksmithing shop with plenty of mayhem of course. Buster ends up in a fight with the actual blacksmith (Joe Roberts) which ends up the blacksmith being in jail. Buster takes it on himself to serve the blacksmith's customers which involves him shoeing various horses and destroying a Rolls Royce!

This is a fine little silent comedy by one of the all-time greats though maybe a little more slapstick than usual. Not his best but still pretty good.

The Rounders (1914)

Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle play a couple of drunken gents in this early Chaplin comedy. The gents get drunk together amid much slapstick and end up passed out on the tables in a restaurant before getting thrown out and returned to their long-suffering wives (Phyllis Allen and Minta Durfee). 

This is all a bit rough and crude compared to the kind of film Chaplin would be making his name in in a few years. It is fine enough for what it is.

What a Carve Up! (1961)

A highly enjoyable comedy crime drama, at times it verges on Carry On territory but thats no bad thing.

Ernie (Kenneth Connor) is told his rich uncle has died by a somewhat sinister solicitor (Donald Pleasance). Ernie heads off to his uncle's country pile with his mate Syd (Sid James), a lonely looking house in the moors. Ernie's fellow family members are a motley crew of weirdos. Then the deaths start happening...

Ernie, Syd and the rest, including the uncle's former nurse (Shirley Eaton) scramble to try and work out what is going on in the strange house and stop the murderer. However, they need to identify who it is first. Surely it must be one of the family members present or is it, in this house riddled with secret doors and passageways...

This is a fine film, most of the time it isn't laugh out loud funny rather than humorous and inventive but it does have it's slapstick and ridiculous moments especially with Connor and James. It has plenty of twists too, it works as a dark house crime drama as well.

A Movie Star (1916)

A fine little silent comedy. A new Western starring Mack Swain is starting at the local movie theatre and a large crowd is assembling. To their delight the star of the film has turned up to see the film himself! As Mack and the audience watch his heroic antics on screen, Mack finds that not everyone in the audience is as enamoured as he is. 

This is a delightful early comedy, more understated and subtle than some of the slapstick of the time which has helped it not date as much as some films of the period, the parodying of the still young movie industry is superb.

The Boys in Blue (1983)

The comedy duo star as a couple of police officers, it certainly is a crime scene.

Sgt. Cannon (Tommy Cannon) and PC Ball (Bobby Ball) are a couple of bumbling police officers who comprise "The Force" in a sleepy village. There is little crime in their village, and so the police big wigs (Eric Sykes and Jack Douglas) are looking to close down the station. Cannon and Ball decide they need some crime to justify their continued employment and so plot to steal the painting of a local businessman (Roy Kinnear). But real art thieves are hiding out in the village...

Now, i did enjoy the comedy of Cannon and Ball on TV but this big screen outing really is wretched stuff. Cannon and Ball's comedy simply did not work in this situation and it destroys the film, despite the excellent supporting cast which also includes Jon Pertwee and Arthur English. Even a whole host of solid film comedy veterans can't compensate for the failure of the stars and the rather average execution and storyline. It really is a shame.

All Lit Up (1920)

Snub Pollard is a dandy who is hanging around a park chasing butterflies in a net. After some flirting (with girls not butterflies) he ends up in a jazz cafe and more mayhem ensues. Snub finally ends up in jail in this short piece of slapstick. A decent enough silent comedy though without making much sense or being that subtle. 

Fine for what it is but not really in the first division of silent movie comedies. Ernest Morrison plays a good role as one of the children Snub ends up having to look after at one stage.

Please Sir! (1971)

Feature length spin-off versions of popular sit-coms were common in the 1970s and can be a mixed bag, Please Sir! just about manages to get away with it.

Hedges (John Alderton) is the idealistic teacher of class 5C who are basically a teenager (although they all look about 25 of course) version of the Bash Street Kids. His class complain that they have never been taken away to a camp holiday like the other classes so Hedges manages to persuade the headmaster (Erik Chitty) and other senior staff to take class 5C to a rural camp, which doesn't half resemble a prison camp...

Class 5C soon get up to no good involving nearby gypsies and posh children from another school. Hedges is also pursued by a flight attendant (Jill Kerman) and his colleague (Patsy Rowlands)...

This isn't a bad film though the comedy is often a bit corny. Taking the TV cast away on holiday was one of the usual ways to extend a TV show into a movie and it works pretty well in this case.