To Live (1994)

The Cultural Revolution, one of the most terrible and bloody periods in history, is recalled in all this horror in this masterpiece starring You Ge and Gong Li. They are a couple who start off quite wealthy but lose everything due to You Ge's gambling as China is shattered by military conquest and then civil war. Reduced to the status of peasants they have to fight to survive, to live, in Mao's China.

The couple and their childrens' lives and experiences are used to show how China changed under Mao, with communist propaganda affecting everyday life, collectivisation and later the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. This final act results (in a round about way) in tragedy...

Great events are sometimes best told through the eyes of normal people at the bottom of society as is the case with this film. Sometimes you wonder how people can survive such hardships, to live. These people did.

Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939)

Schoolgirl Nancy Drew (Bonita Granville) is at a newspaper on some sort of work experience gig when she gets onto a real case instead of reporting on a squirrel stuck up a tree. The case involves poisoning but Nancy doesn't think the suspect Betty (Eula Denning) did it. She wants her lawyer father (John Litel) to take the case but he won't do it until there is solid proof she is innocent...

Nancy is helped (usually reluctantly) by her neighbour Ted (Frankie Thomas Jr) to find evidence to clear Betty but stumbles upon a real mystery, just who is a man with a strange ear (Jack Perry) who is involved in the case?

It is light hearted fluff on the whole but features some nice detective work and an amusing set piece in a boxing gym. It also includes a rather strange but endearing musical interlude by a teenage Mary Lee.

Sewers of Gold (1979)

Also known as "The Great Riviera Bank Robbery" this film is based on the true story of a bank robbery in France in the 1970s. It stars Ian McShane as a right-wing terrorist who has the great idea of breaking into a bank safe deposit vault in Nice to raise funds for his fascist uprising. His friend Jean (Warren Clarke) is a bit sceptical of messing with the criminal underworld but soon is persuaded to go ahead with the plan... which consists of getting into the sewers below Nice and then digging through metres of rock.

Although the film has little in way of spark (and we must remember our "heroes" are rather unpleasant thugs who have a liking for swastika wall coverings) it is fascinating to see the mechanics of a bank raid covered in detail. At times it is more like a long version of The Sweeney or Professionals but that is not a bad thing...

Although all the characters are French luckily the British actors use their own accents and not some weird kind of Franglais.

The Marked One (1963)

An enjoyably low-budget British crime film. Don Mason (William Lucas) is an ex-jail bird who did time for money forgery. His former gang members think he is still in possession of the plates to print money and give him a going over and when that doesn't work they threaten the daughter he has with his estranged wife Kay (Zena Walker).

Police Inspector Mayne (Patrick Jordan) is also after those plates and keeping Don under surveillance. Don is desperately trying to find the plates, and the identity of who is after them before his daughter is snatched. When Don's photographer friend Chas (Brian Nissen) is found murdered then Don also has to deal with being hunted as the prime suspect...

Kay also has to deal with his slimy landlord boss Benson (Arthur Lovegrove). Its a bit cheap but that adds to the grittiness of early 1960s London. Not a fantastic film but perfectly serviceable.

Extravagance (1930)

Alice (June Collyer) is spoilt, her mother flogs herself to the bone to give Alice everything she wants. When she marries Fred (Lloyd Hughes) she expects things will continue as they have been but Fred's business is struggling and he can't afford to buy her the sable coat she desires. While he is slogging his guts out she is partying all night and leaving him with a pile of bills...

Alice finds a way to raise some money, she meets a sleazy stockbroker called Morrell (Jameson Thomas) who'll help her get money though there is a price to pay. You know what that is.

It is an early talkie and suffers from some awkward dialogue. The overt adultery and greed in this pre-code film is fascinating though ultimately the film is a bit too silly especially the melodramatic ending. Morrell is a great bad guy though.