The Return of Chandu (Serial) (1934)

Princess Nadji of Egypt (Maria Alba) is in danger. A strange cult from the lost (or so people thought) island of Lemuria want the blood sacrifice of an Egyptian princess to help bring their goddess back to life and Nadji fits the bill perfectly. Nadji has some help though in the shape of Chandu (Bela Lugosi) master of the mystic arts of the Orient...

So begins this serial, which is highly entertaining yarn of Oriental mysticism (very popular in the 1930s) though maybe a bit slow compared to some serials. Nadji becomes possessed by the cult led by Vindhyan (Lucien Prival) and spirited away to Lemuria. 

The action switches to the Pacific where Chandu, his sister Dorothy (Clara Kimball Young), nephew Bob (Dean Benton) and niece Betty (Phyllis Ludwig) search for Nadji with the help of the the white Yogi (Josef Swickard) but are pitted against the Lemurian's slave army of natives. Can Nadji be saved and the dark cult defeated? Stay tuned next episode to find out...

A fun serial full of campy nonsense, as usual many of the sets and costumes are recycled from other productions. Including the doors from King Kong. A notable thing about the serial is that Bela Lugosi plays the hero for a change. The serial is vaguely a sequel to the 1932 film Chandu the Magician though Lugosi played the villain in that one!

The 20 Questions Murder Mystery (1950)

An interesting premise for a murder mystery. The BBC radio show Twenty Questions is receiving anonymous clues the panel has to guess. Afterwards strange murders take place...

When the show, which includes the real stars of the show at the time including Richard Dimbleby playing themselves, starts receiving these mysterious clues Bob (Robert Beatty), a reporter, thinks from the start there is something suspicious going on. He thinks they are linked to some motiveless murders. His newspaper is sceptical though as are the police (Edward Lexy). However rival journalist Mary (Rona Anderson) also thinks something is up and soon faces danger herself...

Sometimes the film is a bit slow and the tone is curiously light at times but a very reasonable crime drama with a nice twist at the end.

Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938)

Bulldog Drummond (John Howard) is in Geneva about to marry Phyllis (Louise Campbell) at last but a plot involving fake diamonds delays the marriage yet again...

Scientist Professor Goodman (Halliwell Hobbes) has found out a way to create perfect artificial diamonds and intends to give his invention away. Industrialist Sir Raymond Blantyree (Matthew Bolton) has made a lot of money from rocks and thus isn't too keen on diamonds suddenly being made worthless and so aims to stop the scientist...

To make matters more confusing a rival scientist Dr Botulian (Porter Hall) also wants to stop the competition and claim the artificial diamonds for himself. So begins capers across Europe back to London and various (and sometimes a bit confusing) disguises and cases of mistaken identity. Drummond is assisted by Algy (Reginald Denny) and Tenny (E.E. Clive) of course to various degrees...

Maybe not quite as fun as some other Bulldog Drummond films but a pleasing adventure romp complete with evil schemes, (mad) scientists with labs full of sparkling electricity and plenty of action including a final whip vs sword fight!

Light in tone the film has it's fair share of whimsy and nonsense including a penguin in a top hat. Long suffering police chief Colonel Nielson (John Barrymore) is on hand to continue squeezing life out the joke about his title.

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)

A superb Hammer horror film. During the days of ancient Egypt Tera, a goddess of evil, is locked in a tomb after having her hand cut off (though she still manages to kill all of the priests). A team of archaeologists discover the tomb, and find the goddess still perfectly preserved in the sarcophagus. Years later the lead of the expedition Fuchs (Andrew Keir) gives his daughter Margaret (Valerie Leon) - who looks remarkably like the goddess - a talisman but that is not enough to stop her being possessed by the goddess and begin to assemble the relics required to bring the goddess back to life...

Margaret discovers that her father has the goddess' tomb in his basement, the goddess herself intact.. apart from her hand which is kept in a box! With the help of a member of her father's team Corbeck (James Villiers), who wants to use the goddess for his own evil ends, Margaret begins to ruthlessly bring about the return of the goddess. Even her boyfriend (Mark Edwards) is sacrificed and the death count remorselessly rises as her father's team is eliminated one by one...

The Age of Aquarius is strong with this one. All the tropes of Egyptian mysticism are present and so expertly woven in a genuinely creepy and frequently terrifying film. The story may at times be a bit slow and there are a few plot holes but that doesn't detract from the horror enjoyment.

Disorder in the Court (1936)

The Three Stooges are called as witnesses at a murder trial, what could go wrong? Apart from everything?

Curly, Larry and Moe witnessed the murder of the boss at a night club they were playing at. Gail (Susanne Kaaren) is accused of the murder as she was found over the corpse with a revolver. However after much slapstick nonsense she is cleared but finding out the real murderer means chasing a parrot around a court room that is gradually being destroyed...

One of the best Three Stooges shorts with great dynamism is the comedy, plenty of slap stick and funny word play. We also get a music and dance number too, where Kaaren could show off her million dollar insured legs!