Fugitive Road (1934)

Captain von Traunsee (Erich von Stroheim) is a bored Austrian army officer stuck at the border as a punishment for his love of high living in Vienna. An American gangster Frank Riker (Leslie Fenton) disturbs his boredom when he tries to cross the border and is detained.

More complications come when a Russian girl Sonya (Wera Engels) is also detained with a false passport. von Traunsee and Riker both have the hots for her. A love triangle develops though not all is what it seems...

The film is all about von Stroheim who is brilliant with his sardonic lines, unbridled lechery and overbearing pomposity yet also has a true heart of chivalry. The funniest scene is where he demands his orderly get his best uniform out when he is to meet Sonya, though first he has to have it drenched in cologne as it stinks.

They Call Him Chop Suey (1975)

They Call Him Chop Suey (also known as "Sudden Kill") is an enjoyable Filipino Bruceploitation movie starring Ramon Zamora (the Filipino "Bruce Lee") as Chop-Suey.

Chop-Suey is a kitchen worker in HK who returns to Manila after his uncle dies. Chop-Suey is obsessed with Bruce Lee but unlike some films with similar characters Chop-Suey actually is pretty good at kung-fu...

Chop-Suey starts working for his auntie at a struggling Chinese restaurant, struggling for customers and the onerous protection cash demands from mobster Mr Jackson (Romeo Rivera). Very soon Chop-Suey is fighting the mob and catching the eye of Jackson's girl (Jennifer Kaur)...

The story line makes little sense but it is just a vague framework to hang on a number of very acceptable action set pieces. There is some goofy humour in the film though also some pretty brutal violence, some the characters are a bit rape-y too. It is an unholy mix which just about manages to keep your attention.

Flying Blind (1941)

Flying Blind involves a plane crash and rather aptly is a bit of a wreck. What kind of film is this? A goofy romantic comedy? A spy film? Adventure? It tries to be all three and doesn't really work.

Jim Clark (Richard Arlen) is an airline pilot who quits with his flight attendant Shirley (Jean Parker) to start his own specialist airline transporting couples eloping to Las Vegas (well it's an interesting niche). Jim is also in a love-hate romance with Shirley which fills a lot of the film's time.

Meanwhile enemy agents have stolen secret military equipment and hijack Jim's airliner to make a get-away. The plane crashes in the forest but the adventure and peril continues...

The first half of the film drags but once we get to the actual spying and hijacking plot things pick up a bit... but not much. The aeroplane footage is enjoyable but there isn't much else to commend.

The Human Monster (1939)

An uneven, frequently ridiculous but undeniably creepy film. Bela Lugosi is Dr Orloff, a sinister (almost to a pantomime villain level) insurance agent and doctor at a home for the blind in London. Suspicion arises when there are a series of murders, the link being insurance policies drawn up by Orloff who then collects on the policies when they have been killed.

Orloff is the one doing the bumping off with the help of a disfigured blind assistant. The police in the form of Larry Holt (Hugh Williams) and for some reason Lieutenant O'Reilly (Edmon Ryan) from Chicago are on the case. Diana (Greta Gynt) is the daughter of one of the victims and a bit of a love interest for Holt and of course drawn into peril when she starts working at Dr Orloff's lair...

Dr Orloff is so over the top its hard to imagine any of his victims being fooled by him long enough to commit his crimes. It is best to suspend disbelief and enjoy the film for what it is, a creepy romp with good use of shadows.

The Toughest Man in the World (1984)

Mr T runs a youth centre for disadvantaged kids on the touch streets of Chigaco, saving them from a life of crime. Unfortunately those pencil pushing bureaucrats at city hall want to shut the centre down. He needs to raise money to keep the centre open and so enters a contest to find the Toughest Man in the World...

Mr T may not give a masterclass of acting (though has plenty of on-screen charisma) but this film is a masterclass of early 1980s cheese. You will see break dancing, bad polyester suits galore and ghetto blasters. Mr T also raps over the opening tune (which is one of the highlights if we are going to be honest).

The fighting scenes are decent as you might expect, the story line and acting is average as you also might expect. Of course that isn't the point of a film like this. Its all about Mr T spouting nonsense and beating people up. It (and he) is brilliant.