Fury Below (1936)

A troubled coal mine is taken over by Jim Cole (Russell Gleason), all fresh faced and just out of college. Yet another mining accident and a hospital full of casualties spurs Cole into action to find out just what is wrong with the mine. This puts general manager Fred Johnson's (LeRoy Mason) nose out of joint as he is behind a plot to wreck the mine so he can buy Cole out...

Fred is a deliciously evil character by the way, he basically whores out his sister Claire (Sheila Terry) to try and keep Cole out of the way...

Cole, assisted by his secretary Mary (Maxine Doyle) and her brother Joe (Rex Lease) the superintendent work to try and save the mine from low production, accidents and worker unrest led by Johnson's agent Dorsky (Matthew Betz). The film isn't very exciting until the final plot below ground but is interesting enough as a drama especially with respect to labour relations and health and safety pre-war. 

The Good Die Young (1954)

A superb British Noir about four men and the women who support them. The men are all without previous criminal records, but become desperate enough to rob a post office with deadly consequences...

Told in flashback we find out how the four men got into the situation seen at the start of the film where they prepare to commit crime. Mike (Stanley Baker) is an ageing boxer who leaves the ring but after losing a hand finds it impossible to get a new job. Joe (Richard Basehart) is a former US serviceman who is desperate to take his wife (Joan Collins) over to the US to escape her manipulative mother.

Eddie (John Ireland) is a US airman married to an actress (Gloria Grahame) who is openly unfaithful to him. Finally we have Miles (Laurence Harvey) who is a bit of a cad, he sponges off his rich wife (Margaret Leighton) but unfortunately it isn't enough to pay off his gambling debts. He forms a friendship with the others and concocts a scheme to use crime to solve all of their problems. However when the guns start going off then things really do start going wrong...

The clever use of overlapping flashbacks elevates this film above the normal heist film. Maybe a bit melodramatic but the intense final act makes up for any shortcomings earlier on.

The Beast of Borneo (1934)

A rather mediocre jungle and animal exploitation film. The film is slow and stilted and it's never a good sign when some of the animals can act better than the humans...

Dr Borodoff (Eugene Siglaoff) has some strange theories about human evolution from apes and needs a live orangutan to complete his experiments. As animal hunter Bob Ward (John Preston) has failed to provide a specimen so far from the jungles of Borneo Dr Borodoff - who is billed as an Anglo-Russian scientist though sounds like he is from Brooklyn - heads to Borneo with his beautiful assistant Alma (Mae Thorne). There they persuade Bob Ward, who is hesitant to provide animals for vivisection though is ok to put them in zoos, to take them into the jungle to find the orangutan Borodoff needs...

Despite being set in the jungle, and thus potentially full of life, the film is oddly lifeless. It proceeds at a glacial pace. The acting is frequently odd too, though in Mae Thorne's case it looks like she knew the film was complete nonsense and was doing it for a laugh.

By the Sun's Rays (1914)

A run-of-the-mill but decent enough Western silent short. Frank Lawler (Lon Chaney) is a definite bad guy. As the clerk for a mining company he knows when the gold shipments go out and tells a gang of bandits so they can steal it. Frank is also after the mine owner's daughter Dora (Agnes Vernon)...

The mine boss (Seymour Hastings) is however suspicious there is an inside man and hires detective John Murdock (Murdock MacQuarrie) to infiltrate the gang and find out. Of course Murdock saves the day, and the girl.

The plot is fairly simple but works fine in a film that's just about ten minutes long, let's face it some much longer films have even more simple plots.

The Drums of Jeopardy (1931)

A somewhat creaky early talkie though worth seeing for Warner Oland in a pre-Charlie Chan role, here he plays a mad Russian scientist bent on revenge.

He wants revenge on the Russian Petrov princes (Lloyd Hughes and Wallace Macdonald) who he thinks caused the death of his daughter. After the Revolution the Petrovs are in exile in America and the mad scientist is now released from the gulag and has the help of the Bolsheviks...

He possesses jewels of the Petrovs called the Drums of Jeopardy, he promises to return the jewels to the family one by one as he disposes of them.

The jewels are cursed (naturally), it's said that if one of the drums is separated from the others whoever receives it dies within twenty-four hours...

There follows some murky goings on, some bumpings off and other evil schemes. The action isn't that great though certainly atmospheric and the acting (especially by Oland) a bit over the top but it is a fascinating film. Oland's character was Dr Boris Karlov, it's said that Boris Karloff got the idea for his screen name after reading the original novel.