Yellow Canary (1943)

A fascinating war time film involving Nazi spies and sympathisers. Anna Neagle plays Sally, a notorious pro-Nazi who is scorned by everyone from her own family down, who is sent off to Canada.

There she becomes involved with a Polish officer (Albert Lieven) while British officer Richard Greene keeps an eye on her.

However all is not what it seems, Sally is really a deep cover agent and Albert is the spy. Sally's mission is to penetrate a spy ring and foil a devastating Nazi plot. That and other twists elevate this film above standard wartime propaganda fare. There are some good performances too including from Margaret Rutherford who provides a bit of light relief.

The Kennel Murder Case (1933)

A wonderful attempt at a Golden Age murder mystery, complete with intriguing locked room puzzle and more suspects than you could shake a stick at! It stars William Powell as private detective Philo Vance, on hand to show the police what to do.

Archer Coe (Robert Barrat) is the victim, though as he was found in a locked room with a gun in his hand suicide is suspected. Though as the victim wasn't killed by a gunshot but rather a stab in the back suicide becomes unlikely. Unfortunately for Vance and the police Coe was rather unpleasant and had many enemies and people who would have had cause to kill him. His niece played by Mary Astor hated him for restricting her money, his secretary (Ralph Morgan) hated him for not letting him marry his niece. Even his servants had reasons to kill him!

The case is complex but by using fast editing and plenty of energy in the directing and performances a lot of story is packed into a fairly short film. The leads put on a good show backed up by some great supporting parts. A very good film indeed.

Smart Alec (1951)

This is a very strange film, the story (a murder and the subsequent investigation) is serious but it is performed with such an air of farce as to be completely ridiculous.

It stars Peter Reynolds as a smug young bounder who murders his rich uncle. He appears to be completely guilty but there is a problem: no bullet.

The crime story is actually quite innovative but the film is so full of ridiculous characters and nonsense it just can't be taken seriously. It does star a young Charles Hawtrey as a detective though which is interesting seeing him in a straight (well in theory) role.

Encounters in the Deep (1979)

The Bermuda Triangle where boats and people disappear without trace? Well that includes Miles' (Gabriele Ferzetti) daughter on a holiday. He funds Peters (Manuel Zarzo) and Scott (Andres Garcia) to mount an expedition to find just what is going on. Peters thinks it is extraterrestrials...

It sounds promising, unfortunately this Italian-Spanish co-production does not really go anywhere apart from aimlessly travelling around the sea and seeing underwater lights.

There is something strange going on but the motley crew on the boat seem pretty ill-equipped to handle it. A crew man is possessed and many strange things happen including a whole freighter vanishing, however only the ship's dog (who also seems the only one who can act in this film) seems to know what is going on. It is total nonsense of course, and lacks much in the way of coherence or suspense. The special effects are also laughable. I quite enjoyed it.

Shatter (1974)

An attempt by Hammer Films to cash in on the early 1970s martial arts craze, Shatter stars Stuart Whitman as Shatter, an assassin who is double crossed when trying to collect his money after a successful hit in Hong Kong. He ends up on the run and being menaced by... basically everyone including the security services led by Peter Cushing.

Along the way Shatter is helped by kung-fu master Ti Lung and love interest Lily Lee through a series of fights (the fights are actually pretty good) until he gets his dollars... or gets killed.

Well the plot isn't very complicated and the story is stretched out a bit but the overall film isn't bad at all though a bit ridiculous. The main problem is Whitman looks too much of a wreck to be a supposedly top-notch hitman who can survive fighting the mob and everyone else (luckily Ti Lung does most of the fighting for him). Still if you can suspend disbelief long enough then the film is enjoyable. The nostalgia for HK is strong with this one.