The Killings at Outpost Zeta (1980)

Although low-budget and frequently fairly shoddy The Killings at Outpost Zeta has some interesting ideas (though fairly similar to films like Alien) and some genuine suspense.

An elite team (including Gordon De Vol and Jacqueline Rey) is sent to a distant planet to find out what has happened to two earlier expeditions which are missing presumed lost. Once on Zeta the team discover a load of horrifically decomposing corpses and the team then start getting bumped off by a mysterious alien creature...

It is quite silly, and the sets look made out of tin and cardboard but it isn't that bad a film. One interesting aspect of the film is the acting, the actors frequently pause awkwardly and mess up their dialogue. Oddly the effect is quite realistic.

Cross-Examination (1932)

You can't beat a good courtroom drama and this is a superior example of the genre. It stars Don Dillaway as David Wells, accused of killing his father Emory (William Mong). David was about to be disinherited by his father (to be honest he was about to disinherit everyone) and when Emory is found dead David is the natural suspect.

H.B. Warner plays the defence attorney who does an excellent job though the case isn't blown open until David's mother Mary (Sarah Padden) turns up to tell the true nature of Emory and David.

The film takes place mostly in the courtroom with flashbacks to show the testimony of the witnesses. The courtroom scenes are excellent and tense, the whole film being well paced. The only problem with the film is that the case against David is actually pretty flimsy in the first place. The police don't seem to have done a lot of investigation and not found any actual direct evidence he did anything. Still the truth is out in the end.

Phantom from Space (1953)

A low-budget science-fiction romp. Flying saucers, aliens in strange suits et cetera. A UFO is spotted heading over the US but later disappears.

Lieutenant Hazen (Ted Cooper) is with the Federal Communications Commission investigating mysterious radio signals and comes across two men stricken by radiation. A survivor claims a strange man in a suit attacked them. A man with no head.

Later on more mysterious deaths occurred, explosions at an oil refinery and more radio interference. Unfortunately for our heroes (but fortunately for the budget) the alien is invisible outside of his suit...

It's a reasonable film though thats start off with little real action though does improve later on. There isn't much in the way of characterization (that is invisible like the alien) or much in the way of plot but it's not a bad film. One good aspect is that the female lead Betty (Lela Nelson) does more than just run around screaming. It also has a fair amount of suspense and some interesting "Invisible Man" type effects.

Philo Vance's Gamble (1947)

A Philo Vance story with Noir-ish elements (i.e. people get bumped off at regular intervals). An emerald has been stolen but before the fence (Dan Seymour) can double cross his syndicate of backers and his mistress he is bumped off.

Unfortunately for Philo Vance (played by Alan Curtis this time) he is present due to an association with Laurien March (Vivian Austin) and thus the police include him as a suspect.

Vance conducts his own investigation assisted/hindered by his rather dopey detective Ernie (Frank Jenks) who provides a bit of comic relief. The film is fast paced with some decent lines and nicely dark in the right areas. The ending also has a really nice twist.

American Ninja (1985)

Ninja films were all the rage for a time in the 1980s, this might be considered the high point of the genre. At least it looks like it had a budget of more than 20p.

The story is fairly basic: it starts a boy who has grown up on the wrong side of the tracks (Michael Dudikoff) but is now in the US Army gets tangled up with ninjas but has their skills himself. He is later found to have been bought up by a Japanese soldier/ninja but has forgotten his past due to amnesia (of course).

Meanwhile a black marketeer is stealing US Army weapons and hiring ninjas. Now it falls to our hero to save the day of course. So that's the story, naturally it is just a flimsy framework for a good deal of martial arts action. The action is often pretty decent and the film seldom has chance to get boring.

Naturally it is also pretty cheesy, especially when viewed nowadays. I particularly liked the evil ninja who had laser guns and mini rocket launchers.