The Lost Zeppelin (1929)

In this early talkie intrepid airship Commander Hall (Conway Tearle) leads an expedition to the North Pole. The start of the film is rather drawn out and involves dinner parties and dress uniforms. We do find out though that Hall's wife Miriam (Virginia Valli) is in love with another man, Tom Armstrong (Ricardo Cortez) who is also going on the expedition...

If the start of the film is a bit tedious it does pick up noticeably when we actually see a zeppelin! The expedition runs into trouble and is lost (hence the title) after it crashes into the ice. America, including Miriam listens avidly at the radio for progress of the rescue... but for whom is she most anxious to hear about?

Although not perfect by any means - the opening twenty minutes drag awfully and the film suffers from the usual stilted dialogue of early talkies especially from Cortez though he would soon master sound films - the film is a solid aerial adventure with good special effects. Nice twist at the end too.

Maniac (1934)

A very strange film. Mad scientist Dr Meirschultz (Horace B Carpenter) is conducting weird experiments to reanimate the dead. His assistant is ham actor Don (Bill Woods) who, when he fails to steal a corpse for the doctor because he is scared by a cat, ends up shooting the doctor dead...

Actually Don was supposed to shoot himself so the doctor could have replaced his heart with one he keeps in a jar. He impersonates the dead doctor (instead of running away) and then begins conducting experiments on patients before he goes mad himself...

Maniac has a reputation for being one of the worst films ever made. It is a fair assessment, though the film is just so weird and off the wall as to be highly watchable despite the ineptitude, bizarre plot and strangeness going on. It has some great lines, when asked if Don has seen some missing cats and if he is using them for experiments he says he thinks too much of Satan to do that!

Circus of Fear (1966)

A gang steal money from a van but in the confusion a guard is shot. The shooter Mason (Victor Madden) is sent packing to a circus (where he is summarily dispatched by a knife man). Inspector Elliot (Leo Genn) tracks Mason down to the circus and finds many mysterious things...

Including Gregor (Christopher Lee) in a black mask, a lion tamer who apparently was horribly scarred. Gregor is training Natasha (Suzy Kendall) but has a secret which the ringmaster Carl (Heinz Drache) is determined to find out. Meanwhile Gina (Margaret Lee) is in a tempestuous relationship with knife-thrower Mario (Maurice Kaufmann) and is found dead with a knife in her back...

After a high energy opening the film does bog down a bit when it reaches the circus but the various sub-plots and red herrings make for a very enjoyable film. One of Christopher Lee's more unusual roles. The identity of Mr Big who organised the robbery and performed various killings is a genuine surprise.

The Lost City (Serial) (1935)

Superbly over the top serial sci-fi adventure. Mad scientist Zolok (William Boyd) seeks to conquer the world with electrical impulses sent from his machine in his secret base in deepest darkest Africa. The impulses are sending weather in the rest of the world crazy...

Engineer Bruce Gordon (Kane Richmond) has electrical machines of his own and he detects where the impulses are coming from and heads off to Africa. There he discovers Zolok and his crazy plans as well as his ability to create an army of giant men. Zolok also has a genius scientist (Josef Swickard) and his beautiful daughter (Claudia Dell) captive...

So all the usual ingredients for a sci-fi serial. Plenty of sparks and humming machines (because in the 1930s unless you had arrays of high voltage electricity sparking away it wasn't SCIENCE), endless fights, cliff hangers and re-used sets and costumes. Nothing we haven't seen before but campy, frenetic fun as a 1930s serial should be.

Terror By Night (1946)

Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr Watson (Nigel Bruce) are hired by Roland (Geoffrey Steele) to protect the valuable diamond owned by his mother Lady Margaret (Mary Forbes) as they travel back up to Edinburgh on the train. However before very long Roland is found dead and the diamond is missing! The murderer and thief must be still on the train.

The investigation begins of the other passengers on the carriage, several of whom are suspicious though there are red herrings a-plenty even a mysterious coffin. Sherlock Holmes deduces that Moriarty's henchman Moran is involved...

Although low-budget (nearly all the film takes place on one set) this is an excellent little mystery. Though it is somewhat marred by Watson's attempts at humour and some dodgy accents.