Discarded Lovers (1932)

Discarded Lovers is an enjoyable little murder mystery involving the murder of a Hollywood star. Actress Irma Gladden (Natalie Moorehead) is what used to be known as a "loose woman", with various men on the go. She is found dead after finishing a film and suspicion falls on... well quite a few people.

Apart from a rather annoying and silly policeman (Fred Kelsey) the story is solid if rather cliched and has some decent performances including Irma's secretary Valerie (Barbara Weeks) and Jason Robards as Rex, one of Irma's lovers.

Naturally being a Golden Age period murder mystery the police are happy for a civilian, in this case a reporter (Russell Hopton), to be involved in the case. As a police investigation it isn't exactly text book but the sheer glamour of the occasion and the exuberance of some of the acting makes up for everything.

Strangers of the Evening (1932)

A very confusing crime drama involving missing corpses at a morgue, a murder, mistaken identities and amnesia. It is a complete mess of a film which doesn't make a great deal of sense and has all manner of weirdness going on.

Despite all of that the film is quite entertaining even if some of the attempts at humour seem to fall pretty flat. The fight scenes are so poor they are hilarious.

Eugene Pallette plays the detective given the hapless task of trying to work out what is going on, he gives a good phlegmatic performance. Zasu Pitts is given star billing though doesn't do a great deal in the film.

What does any of it mean? Well helpfully it is all explained at the end, though is still as clear as mud.

Wayne Murder Case (1932)

A silly and sometimes painful murder mystery, the Wayne Murder Case does have some interesting ideas though, but they arn't executed particularly well.

Silas Wayne is a cantankerous dying old rich man (William Mong). He gathers his relatives together (who hate him as much as he hates them) to reveal their inheritances.

However he suspects someone is already ripping him off and calls in the police. While a couple of police officers are on hand he is murdered right in front of everyone.

In comes the detective (Regis Toomey), helped/hindered by an annoying reporter (June Clyde) whom he fancies and so is willing to break police procedure to have around. While the investigation takes place a strange hooded figure starts bumping off the relatives.

It sounds like it could be a decent set-up but it is executed rather poorly. Scenes drag terribly with some indifferent/bizarre acting. The murders are pretty gruesome but the hooded figure is a bit too ridiculous to take seriously. The twist at the end is good though and makes up for a lot of what happened before.

Rubber Racketeers (1942)

Gangster Tony Gilin (Ricardo Cortez) takes advantage of rubber rationing and the subsequent spike in demand for tyres to steal new tyres. He has them hacked to look used and sell them in car lots.

Unfortunately some of his early tyres were death traps. One of the tyres kills the brother of Mary (Barbara Read), her boyfriend Bill (William Henry) is determined to find out who is behind the scam.

Gilin decides Bill needs to be silenced permanently but doesn't count on his girlfriend Nikki (Rochelle Hudson) despairing of Gilin's evil ways and warning Bill...

It is all rather clunky, low-budget and the propaganda is laid on somewhat thickly. In fact a bit too thickly as some of the dialogue is ridiculous. Vigilante justice also seems to figure highly in this curious little film. What I did like is the slang spoken by some of the villains. The film quite frankly is as flat as a dodgy tyre but is entertaining enough.

Cross of Iron (1977)

Being someone who devoured, as a teenager, the books of Sven Hassel and Leo Kessler on bands of misfit German soldiers in World War 2 then Cross of Iron is easily right up my street as it covers much the same ground. It stars James Coburn as a tough battle-hardened yet cynical German NCO leading his men on the Hellish Eastern front.

While dodging Russian bullets and Nazi spies he also has to deal with his new commander Captain Stransky (Maximillian Schell), a mad Prussian obsessed with winning the Iron Cross no matter the cost (though preferably without having to do any actual fighting).

It is a tough film, uncompromising and filled with brutality and violence with some very good and realistic battle scenes. The film is all about the darker side of humanity, there is lightness though at times but usually showing the absurdity of life such as when Stransky is trying to show he can earn his Iron Cross but cannot even load his machine pistol. A great supporting cast including James Mason and David Warner make this a pretty special film.