The Flying Serpent (1946)

The Flying Serpent is a typical low-budget monster thriller, with some of the best acting by the ridiculous looking "beast". George Zucco is mad archaeologist Dr Forbes who has discovered the secret Aztec treasure and what's more has also discovered the flying serpent god Quetzalcoatl who was guarding the treasure and now does Forbes' bidding.

Forbes sets Quetzalcoatl off to kill his "friend" Dr Lambert (James Metcalf) when he angers him. Richard Thorpe (Ralph Lewis) is a mystery writer working as a radio investigator who arrives in town to investigate the murder of Lambert. Forbes decides to set his flying serpent god to kill Thorpe too... He survives that attack but is joined by Forbes' step-daughter Mary (Hope Kramer) to try and find out exactly what is going on.

So far so good (if not that original a story). Naturally the Quetzalcoatl looks ridiculous, in the start of the film it is kept in the shadows and to be honest the film would have been better off if the monster had been kept that way. However the attacks of the Quetzalcoatl are genuinely scary. Zucco also plays a good role.

A Study in Scarlet (1933)

A decent Sherlock Holmes mystery. A Study in Scarlet has the same title as one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mysteries but the plot has little to no relation to it (the film makers bought the rights to the title and characters not the story!) Reginald Owen plays Holmes, only a year after he played Dr Watson in an earlier Sherlock Holmes film!

Holmes and Watson (Warburton Gamble) investigate a series of murders. Someone is bumping off members of a secret society. The notorious blackmailer Merrydew (Alan Dinehart) is involved, he collects the assets of deceased society members and then redistributes them to the others...

This is an enjoyable but frequently ridiculous romp involving murky dealings in Limehouse, secret meetings and coded messages, and a high death toll. Owen plays a decent - though somewhat different to the usual - Holmes, the supporting cast does well too and includes the always exotic Anna May Wong and June Clyde.

Jesse James meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)

An example of the rather niche and obscure genre of western/gothic horror crossover. Jesse James (John Lupton) is still on the loose with his butch but dumb henchman Hank (Cal Bolder).

After a failed raid on a stagecoach carrying lots of cash Jesse and Hank end up in the clutches of Frankenstein's grand-daughter (Narda Onyx) (not daughter as the title says - obviously was too long to fit in the extra grand!) She is using local peasants for her depraved experiments to try and replace human brains with artificial ones to create a slave.

Frankenstein decides that Hank will be perfect for her experiment and finally help her achieve her goal...

So it sounds like the most ridiculous idea for a film ever but what makes this nonsense actually fairly enjoyable and watchable is that it is played quite serious and straight. It has many flaws though including the tiny budget. As a western it is mundane and as a horror film it is limited but the sheer strangeness of the premise carries it. Veteran of many Roy Rogers films Estelita Rodriguez plays a nice role as Jesse's love interest though sadly she died at an early age just after making this film.

The House of Secrets (1936)

Americans have always seem to have been obsessed with English heritage and ye olde history, it plays a big part in this film. Happy-go-lucky Barry (Leslie Fenton) is a broke American who makes it to England - after he saves young lady Julie (Muriel Evans) from a fresh guy on the ferry. When he reaches London he finds he is the sole heir to an old estate and he has to sign an ancient agreement to take over the estate in blood.

Only when he reaches his estate he finds it already occupied, including by the girl on the ferry Julie (what a coincidence eh?) For some reason they are very keen to buy his estate and keep him away...

Barry begins to investigate the mysterious goings on and gets entangled with gangsters, hidden treasure, secret formulae and screams in the night at the mysterious house. This is a fairly entertaining film with a good story and some snappy dialogue, though at times is a bit slow and frustrating and you just wish they could have progressed the plot a bit faster. The stiff old English lawyer being bamboozled by Barry's American slang is very amusing.

Robbery Under Arms (1920)

An early Australian tale of bushranging in the Outback (though amazingly already in 1920 the third adaptation of the novel Robbery Under Arms, there were films in 1907 and 1911 too - two more were made after this one). What are bushrangers? They were outlaws in the Australian outback who were at their height in the nineteenth century, the most famous being Ned Kelly of course.

This film stars Kenneth Brampton as Captain Starlight who is a "gentleman robber", a nicely ambiguous character - a criminal but also a hero seemingly in the Australian tradition. He gets involved with two brothers Roland Conway and S.A. Fitzgerald who join him on his escapades.

The escapades are pretty epic too with plenty of action scenes against a superb backdrop. The Australian countryside being the real star of the film. After many shoot outs and horse chases the gang face the music. The moral angle is played heavily at the end (presumably to get over a ban at the time in parts of Australia for films depicting bushrangers). Crime doesn't pay, apparently.