Nazi Agent (1942)

Although heavy on propaganda and message, this is a good early wartime spy drama.

Otto (Conrad Veidt) is a respected book seller, and an emigre from the Nazi Germany he despies. However, his twin brother is very much on brand with the regime, indeed he has also come over to the USA but he is setting up a spy ring! He forces Otto to become part of his network but in a struggle Otto is forced to kill his brother. 

Otto takes the part of his brother, and now within the spy network begins his plan to bring it down from within. However, he also encounters fellow agent Kaaren (Anne Ayers) who has become disillusioned with the regime...

An enjoyable film with good performances and emotion leading to great sacrifice. The best part of the film though is definitely Veidt who plays twin brothers with dramatically different characters. Unfortunately this was one of his last films before his early untimely death.

Noah's Ark (1928)

An epic tale which links the Biblical story with the harrowing incidents of the First World War.

A mixed group of people are travelling on the Orient Express in 1914 including a couple of American tourists Al (Guinn Williams) and Travis (George O'Brien) and a German girl Marie (Dolores Costello). The story switches to 1917, by now Al and Travis are American soldiers on the Western Front. They save Marie from being shot as a spy... but what has all this got to do with Noah's Ark?

The story switches to the time of Akkad, whose King has defied God who sends a flood to wipe out mankind, though Noah is tasked with building a big boat. An epic part of the film (though the flood scene was maybe a little too epic, three extras died in the filming and dozens more were injured, Costello also caught pneumonia!) The film has a strong anti-war message, unfortunately the message was unheeded just over ten years later...

The film is a transitional silent film with some sound scenes. Unfortunately, the dialogue does not add a great deal to the film. The film is a solid watch, the flood scenes (basically an extended dream sequence) are compelling, though what a price was paid.

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)

Sherlock Holmes battles Moriarty with a vital secret weapon at risk of being lost to the Nazis.

Dr Tobel (William Post Jr) has developed an advanced new bomb sight, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) helps bring Tobel to the UK and away from the clutches of the Gestapo. It should all be simple and settled now right? 

Unfortunately not as Tobel has a rather lax attitude to his own personal safety, and the dreaded Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill) is after the bomb sight and is willing to sell them to the Nazis...

An excellent "modern" Sherlock Holmes tale, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Watson bringing all the goods as usual. Fast moving plot and ingenious code driven action makes this film highly enjoyable.

The Brighton Strangler (1945)

A rather dark, if somewhat implausible, tale of murder in the dark streets during the Blitz.

Reginald Parker (John Loder) is a successful stage actor though he is starting to tire of his role as a murderer, the Brighton Strangler. 

When he is hit on the head during a bombing raid on London he has amnesia but a chance enounter unlocks a memory in his brain and he now believes that he is really the Brighton Strangler! He heads to Brighton and begins to kill for real...

A dark tale and the medical details are somewhat ridiculous, but the film is pretty atmospheric and well directed though the short film can drag a bit at times. The ending is particularly memorable.

Raiders of Ghost City (Serial) (1944)

An enjoyable American Civil War era Western serial, though with a war propaganda edge.

A gang of Confederate agents are stealing gold shipments bound for Washington. Government agent Steve Clark (Dennis Moore) is sent across to California to investigate, helped by Wells Fargo agent Idaho Jones (Joe Sawyer). 

In fact, the real mastermind behind the theft is Morel (Lionel Atwill) who isn't operating for the Confederacy after all but rather a group of Prussian spies...

A great serial with a good variety of cliff hangers including runaway train cars and burning sheds! The inclusion of Prussian spies was likely to give the serial a bit of a wartime propaganda edge but works well, Atwill and his accomplice Virginia Christine make an excellent pair of villains which gives the serial the bite the slightly bland heroes cannot.

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.

Fatherland (1994)

It is the 1960s, but in this timeline Hitler has won, but is the Third Reich quite as secure as it seems?

Having won the Second World War, Nazi Germany is now looking to improve relations with the USA. US reporter Charlie (Miranda Richardson) is over to cover the impending visit of the US President to Berlin, Hitler hoping this will help the Nazis in their endless war of attrition with the Soviets. Charlie is given a lead on a massive secret the Nazis are trying to hide. 

Meanwhile, SS officer March (Rutger Hauer) is investigating the death of a senior Nazi official but his investigation is suspiciously cut off by the Gestapo. Is his investigation linked to the secret Charlie is uncovering? The darkest secret of all, the secret of what happened to the Jews...

An enjoyable TV movie, although an alternate history setting this is more about the investigation of crimes and cover-ups and works very well as a suspensful thriller. It would be nice to see the alternate world explored more though that would have probably needed a full TV series.

The Masked Marvel (Serial) (1943)

It is war time and Japanese agents are out to wreck the US war effort, but the Masked Marvel is here to save the day!

After a spate of explosions of strategic industries, the mysterious Masked Marvel (William Forrest) investigates a gang of saboteurs led by the wonderfully over the top evil Sakima (Johnny Arthur). The Marvel assembles a group of agents, one of whom is himself, only Alice (Louise Currie) knows which one is the Masked Marvel. 

The Masked Marvel gets into a number of cliff hanging perils before his final showdown with Sakima...

A wartime adventure romp, and a pretty standard adventure serial. This is highly enjoyable nonsense with the usual ridiculous stunts. The acting is a bit patchy but this is a show for the stunts and adventure, and these are both top notch.

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.

Disaster at Silo 7 (1988)

An accident at a nuclear missile silo poses a real risk of the missile exploding, with a rather large nuclear warhead on top.

The accident occurs during refuelling of a Titan II missile causing a fuel spill. Team leader Sergeant Fitzgerald (Michael O'Keefe) is called in and immediately realises the risk of the fuel igniting and blowing the while thing up. He tells his wife (Patricia Charbonneau) to get out of town fast with his family, then heads back into the silo...

This is an enjoyable TV movie, it does fall back on TV movie tropes a bit but the action is solid, if stretches the budget a bit thinly at times. The film is based on a real incident that occurred in 1980, and it pretty accurate too so don't read up on the Damascus Titan explosion before you have seen this movie unless you don't mind spoilers!

Biggles (1986)

The iconic World War 1 flying ace Biggles stories would seem to be perfect for a translation to the big screen, unfortunately this wasn't it.

New York advertising executive Jim (Alex Hyde-Wright) is working on a dreary advertising campaign when he is suddenly zapped through time and witnesses a plane crash, an old biplane. Later, he is visited by the mysterious Air Commodore Raymond (Peter Cushing) who tells Jim that he is linked to an aviator from the First World War, James Bigglesworth aka Biggles (Neil Dickson)!

Soon, Jim and Biggles are zapping to and fro each other's times. Biggles encounters the oddness of 1980s London, and Jim the trenches and aerial combat (so it seems Biggles got the better deal). Soon, they must work together to defeat a powerful German secret weapon which could win the war and change history...

If you have read a Biggles story you will wonder why they had to do the story this way, and turn it into a fairly generic time travel story. It isn't that bad a film, indeed the action sequences are often pretty good, but you can't help but feel a bit disappointed.

Tempest (1928)

A classic late 1920s silent movie.

This film follows the story of Ivan Markov (John Barrymore), a soldier in the final days of Tsarist Russia. Despite heavy opposition, low born Markov rises through the ranks to the officer corps. 

He falls in love with the Princess Tamara (Camilla Horn) though she spurns his advances, however when he is found drunk in her quarters Markov's enemies have their chance to dispose of him. He is kicked out of the army and send to prison. 

However, the old regime soon falls and Markov has a new important role with the Communists who release him, will Markov seek revenge on the now non-aristocratic Tamara?

A fine film with plenty of drama and emotion and some great camera work, though some performances are a bit wooden and spoil things a bit. Barrymore is great though, the perfect silent movie hero. 

The Secret Code (Serial) (1942)

Fast moving movie serial nonsense with the usual unbelievable cliffhangers.

A group of Nazi agents are attacking the US through various nefarious plots to sabotage the war effort. Policeman Dan Barton (Paul Kelly) goes undercover to infiltrate the gang by pretending to have gone rogue. 

Barton learns that the Nazis are aiming to capture a secret formula. Barton begins to battle the gang wearing a fire-proof disguise as the Black Commando...

A fun action serial with lots of death defying stunts and peril. The episodes have little fat on them, the plot flying through at high speed. The Nazis have some wonderfully over the top secret bases. Naturally, it is best enjoyed if you suspend a huge amount of disbelief.

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!

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!

Rocket Attack U.S.A. (1960)

The Soviets have launched Sputnik into space and now the Cold War paranoia is dialled up to 11.

With the Soviets now orbiting the Earth, the US are afraid the Soviets are gathering data before they can launch a deadly nuclear attack. Secret agent John (John McKay) is sent across the border into the Soviet Union - which seems rather easy to be honest - and links up with female agent Tanya (Monica Davis) who is getting pillow talk from the Soviet Defence Minister...

Apparently the Soviets discover they can defeat the US with just one nuclear missile and one is prepared. If only the US had a anti-ballistic missile defence system in place but no doubt a bigger defence budget will help. 

This is a pretty basic Cold War film, heavy on the use of stock footage and propaganda. It is all pretty poor stuff with a minute budget though does include the helpful advice that covering yourself with wet newspaper can help with nuclear blasts!

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.

Afghanistan - The Last War Bus (1989)

Plenty of action but not a lot of coherent plot.

Hondo (Mark Gregory) is a mercenary who is sent on a top secret mission into Afghanistan to locate a lost American officer and a bus (yes!) 

However, this is a very special bus as there are top secret plans hidden aboard. Hondo is a one man army, making his way across the country wiping out half of the Russian Army. But to escape, Hondo and some other Americans he frees must fix up the bus...

This isn't a very good film though has plenty of action. Naturally the only person who seems to know how to shoot straight is Hondo who can even shoot down helicopters with a shot gun. Despite all of the blood shed, the film is often a bit dull and slow.

Soldier's Fortune (1991)

Somehow a violent tale of mercenaries and kidnap ends up being a bit dull.

After the daughter Jennifer (Cindy Guyer) of rich businesswoman Susan (Barbara Bingham) is kidnapped by armed men, Susan calls on her ex-husband (and Jennifer's father) for help... Robert Jones (Gil Gerard) happens to be a mercenary! Jones recruits some of his former buddies who are of course a motley crew of military stereotypes!

Jones' efforts to deal with the kidnappers do not go smoothly, due to an inside woman feeding them information but the stage is set for a showdown at the docks...

Apart from a few decent action set pieces, a lot of this film is pretty pedestrian where not a huge amount is going on. The film also does not do much with the main baddie (Charles Napier) until the end, an old enemy of Jones though this isn't really mentioned much in the earlier part of the film.

P.O.W.: the Escape (1986)

David Carradine and his buddies kill the enemy so easily you wonder just how the US lost the Vietnam War?

With the Vietnam War drawing to the close the US are desperate to get their men held prisoner by the North Vietnamese. Colonel Cooper (Carradine) is captured on an unsuccessful raid on a prison camp and ends up a prisoner himself in a camp under the control of the brutal Vinh (Mako). However, Vinh is not a true believer, he in fact wants to flee to the US with a load of gold he has stolen. He manages to persuade Cooper to help him escape, in return for letting Cooper and the other prisoners flee.

But the escape is a difficult one, with the North Vietnamese Army pursuing them and dissent between the US soldiers themselves. This includes Sparks (Charles Grant) who wants the gold for himself and isn't afraid of killing friend or foe to get it...

So, this is gung ho nonsense of course but is terrific fun if you fancy a bit of mindless war action. It is a very butch film, the only female character being a bar girl (Irma Alegre) who spends most of her screen name naked! A high body count makes up for a meagre plot.