Double X: The Name of the Game (1992)

In the 1990s and early 2000s there was a bit of a thing for comedians to try their hand at serious drama. Hugh Laurie of course, even Bob Monkhouse. But Norman Wisdom? Yes indeed he appeared in this British gangster film and it is utterly awful... and utterly brilliant at the same time.

William Katt plays ex-Chicago PD officer Michael Cooper, who is on holiday in Scotland, when he comes across ageing safe cracker Arthur (Norman Wisdom). Arthur is on the run from a brutal gang led by Iggy (Bernard Hill) and Ross (Simon Ward). Well when we say brutal, Iggy is almost like a pantomime villain, only slightly too over the top to make it in panto.

Arthur is a crook but gentle and dislikes the sadistic violent ways of Izzy, now he is on the run from various assassins who like blowing up cars in hotel carparks and the like. Cooper helps Arthur evade them... but is he everything he seems to be?

It is just so laughable, Wisdom basically plays the same role as he always has in films, only it doesn't quite work as well in a serious crime film, especially one involving shootings and torture scenes. Sometimes though you do think you are watching a weird kind of comedy as so much of the film is absurd. To be fair as the film progresses Wisdom seems to be getting the hang of it and it is Norman Wisdom so it is very enjoyable despite the film's many drawbacks (and without him in it it would just be an unwatchable mess)... but you just keep thinking "Mr Grimsdale!" while some bloke is getting tortured with electrodes.

Great God Gold (1935)

A tale of dodgy financial dealings during the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Sidney Blackmer plays John Hart, a stockbroker who has an aura of magic around him.

When a newspaper interview with Phil Stuart (Regis Toomey) inadvertently leads to the crash he gets drawn into the receivership business... mostly by his new rather strange habit of making his decisions on the flip of a coin.

When his actions lead to the death of hotel owner George Harper (George Irving) the daughter Marcia (Martha Sleeper) vows to bring down Hart with the help of reporter Phil Stuart. This is a bit of a problem for Hart who has the hots for Marcia (mind you he seems to have the hots for every single woman he meets including his secretary Gloria Shea and the wife of one of his business partners Maria Alba).

Hart starts off seemingly a businessman with a conscience but ends up uncaring about destroying so many lives and becomes greedier and greedier... obviously his corrupt and womanising ways do bring him down in the end though not maybe quite how you'd expect. Although a bit obvious and corny at times this is an enjoyable film with some good performances especially from Blackmer who manages to fit every single human emotion possible into the film. Sleeper also does a very good role, an example of a silent movie actress who could switch to sound films, though unfortunately she did not make many more movies after this.

Narcotics Squad (1957)

A cheesy but fun film about the scourge of narcotics and drug addiction among America's young with propaganda overtones. Paul Kelly is Police lieutenant Lacey who is investigating the pushing of drugs to High School kids in America. When one kid goes missing and is later found dead of an overdose things start getting very serious...

So far so good but some of the acting is terrible (especially from Cathy Downs), but some of the dialogue doesn't help which lapses into overt propaganda.

Luckily this doesn't really detract from the film which is dark and dirty. This certainly isn't the kind of idealised 1950s America of later films but a violent, moral free world. The 50s slang is also highly entertaining. Sheila Urban plays a great role as the morally ambiguous Julie.

The Phantom Broadcast (1933)

Arnold Gray is Grant Murdoch, a singer on the radio who has every woman swooning at his feet and arrogance to match his libido. What people don't know is that he isn't really a singer, his accompanist and manager Norman Wilder (Ralph Forbes) is actually the singer but due to being a hunchback lets Murdoch mime and get all the glory.

Not that the star is very grateful, he treats Wilder badly and hangs out with a mobster's moll (Vivienne Osborne) though also treats her like dirt. The mob in fact want to get rid of Wilder and get Murdoch for themselves but Wilder manages to avoid a hail of bullets.

Wilder falls in love with aspiring singer Laura (Gail Patrick). When Murdoch muscles in on her it sends the fractious working relationship into meltdown. Wilder finds Murdoch murdered and thinking Laura did it he takes the blame...

A cheap and sometimes confusing but undeniably enjoyable film with a great deal of crooning. The early days of radio are fascinating with announcers in their dinner jackets. If you like Art Deco then the sets in this film will be a fantasy for you.

Young and Dangerous (1996)

There is a theory that you shouldn't glorify violence and criminals. Luckily Young & Dangerous completely ignores that. It is a film about a bunch of swaggering gangsters getting into criminal scrapes. Its brilliant of course as well as being total tosh, but tosh thats so well made.

You can see why so many people, especially in HK, loved this film. The heroes are cool bad guys, criminals for sure but also with a code of honour. That's unlike the other criminals who are just pretty evil and uncool. There are a lots of fast cars, faster chicks and violence, lots and lots of violence.

The swagger is what makes this, and makes the main characters played by Ekin Cheng and Jordan Chan so likeable. They might be the bad guys, but you want to be in their gang. This was a hit in HK which spawned a number of decent sequels and even a prequel that was pretty good. But the original is the best.