X Marks the Spot (1942)

Although not very original, and with events proceeding at such a breakneck pace you hardly have time to breathe, this is a very entertaining crime drama. Damien O'Flynn plays Eddie, a private detective about to join the Army. When his policeman father (Robert Homans) is gunned down he is drawn into a racket involving rival gangs (led by Jack La Rue and Neil Hamilton) and bootleg tyres.

Rubber rationing was obviously big news in 1942, the subject was also covered in Rubber Racketeers.

Eddie is helped by a fascinating plot device, a telephone linked jukebox where operators play records on request. Linda (Helen Parrish) is the operator whom Eddie has the hots for and who ends helping him with his investigation... one made more difficult when Eddie is accused of killing one of the gangsters. Someone else is involved... there isn't a great deal of investigation though. Various suspects get gunned down with regularity until the real culprit is basically revealed through being the last person standing.

But what a great film, cheap but definitely cheerful.

House of Mystery (1934)

House of Mystery is at times terribly corny and dated but at others hilarious. It is a horror-murder mystery involving ancient curses and killer apes.

Many years before a drunken archaeologist Mr Prendergast (Clay Clement) accidentally kills a monkey in a Hindu temple in India and is cursed by the fakir. Twenty years later his investors are after their share in the loot from his expedition but he tells them a tale of woe and death as the curse has followed him and is slowly killing him.

He challenges his investors including Ed Lowry and George Hayes to spend a week in the house. As they do so the killings begin...

To be honest the film is completely ridiculous and full of dated oriental stereotypes and the occult: seances, incense and mysterious drums. It also has a man in a rather unconvincing ape suit and the mysterious Chanda (Joyzelle Joyner). It is all terrific fun.

My Breakfast with Blassie (1983)

Comedian Andy Kaufman and legendary wrestler / manager "Classy" Freddie Blassie sit down for breakfast and... well that's pretty much it! They talk for an hour about various topics including personal hygiene and their respective careers over the poached eggs and toast and whatever else they had.

A rather strange little film, itself a skit on the also a bit strange My Dinner with Andre (1981). Why was Kaufman hanging around with an old wrestler? The film was made just after Kaufman had entered the wrestling scene himself and had a legendary feud with Jerry Lawler which broke wrestling into the mainstream for awhile a couple of years before Hulk Hogan...

The film makes for pleasant if unsubstantial viewing. Freddie Blassie just oozes charisma as the seasoned flamboyant old hack. Andy Kaufman is somewhat edgy and awkward. They played to their characters very well.

Fog Island (1945)

Fog Island is an interesting film. Ex-con Leo (George Zucco) who was convicted of stealing a fortune invites the people who shopped him to his foggy island, one of his guests also being the one who killed his dear wife. The guests who include Lionel Atwill and Sharon Douglas are each given a random object. After a weird dinner party they begin their search for the fortune their host once stole and which they think is still around.

Fog Island is an ex-pirate lair with secret passages, hidden compartments, underground vaults and booby traps. Manipulated by Leo most of the guests end up in a locked room which begins to fill with water...

Interesting and enjoyable film with noir touches though it doesn't make a lot of sense. Everyone is backstabbing everyone else (sometimes literally), even lovely step-daughter Sylvia (Veda Ann Borg) isn't wholly above reproach.

Law of the Underworld (1938)

Law of the Underworld is a bizarre little crime film with people acting so strangely sometimes you wonder if it's supposed to be a comedy. Tommy (Richard Bond) and Annabelle (Anne Shirley) are a naive young couple who are robbed by the local hoodlums led by Rocky (Eduardo Ciannelli) in the park. When they try to get their money back (by robbing the gangsters!) they naturally get caught.

Gangland boss Gene (Chester Morris) has plans for them and an obsession with trying to become respectable and avoid violence. Hot-headed Rocky meanwhile is growing resentful about his boss' business direction... and is knocking off Gene's moll (Lee Patrick).

Although an enjoyable film the naivety of Tommy and Annabelle is a little too much to believe as they get dragged more and more into the crime underworld. Rocky and Gene give good performances though but Gene's nice-guy gangster character is also a bit hard to believe.