The Iron Mask (1929)

In one of the last silent movie epics Douglas Fairbanks reprised his role of D'Artagnan in this sequel to 1921's The Three Musketeers. King Louis XIII (Rolfe Sedan) receives news that his wife has given him a heir - but there is a problem, the heir has a twin. Cardinal Richeliu (Nigel de Brulier) fears the twin could cause trouble for France and must be kept secret. D'Artagnan's lover Constance (Marguerite de la Motte) - who had been the midwife - is banished and later dies. D'Artagnan finally discovers the existence of the twins and is assigned to act as the baby heir's guardian. However the evil de Rochfort (Ullrich Haupt) takes the twin away and raises him in secret...

Twenty years later the baby is now a man and is King Louis XIV (William Bakewell). De Rochfort arranges for the (evil and vain) twin to replace his brother. The true king is imprisoned and put in an iron mask so that no one could know of his identity. However a message is gotton through to D'Artagnan. The musketeers return for one last battle to save the true king...

A true swashbuckling silent movie epic, and also available in transitional form with a sound prologue and narration by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Although early on the film it gets bogged down a bit with flashbacks and trivia, in the second half of the film it is non-stop action, and lots of blades of course. It is lavish and grand with exquisite sets and costumes and an army of extras, a fitting end to this era of Hollywood.

R.O.T.O.R. (1987)

A hilariously bad 1980s sci-fi action film. Barrett Coldyron (Richard Gesswein) is developing the ultimate crime fighting robot called R.O.T.O.R. (which sounds like it should be a helicopter). Those pencil pushers at City Hall are impatient and want the robot on the streets A.S.A.P. of course, Barrett quits but it doesn't really matter anyway as a mishap involving some earphones and a comb causes R.O.T.O.R. to come to life (no really). He leaves the police lab and heads off on a bike...

It isn't long before his primary program as judge, jury and executioner comes into play when he kills a civilian for... well it isn't quite clear why. The girlfriend (Margaret Trigg) flees and R.O.T.O.R. begins a relentless (though rather inept) search for her. While the police seem to be uninterested in the carnage Barrett enlists the help of a female bodybuilder / scientist (Jayne Smith) to defeat R.O.T.O.R...

R.O.T.O.R. does seem to have a lot of weaknesses though, including car horns, 1980s soft rock and string... To save money the robot cop actually just looks like a beefy man with a moustache in black leather - like someone in a Village People tribute band rather than the ultimate crime fighting machine. But there is so much to enjoy here, such as the cheesy police robot which wears a police cap, the fact Gesswein is dubbed, the fight scenes which make no logical sense. An incredible film for all the wrong reasons, but tremendous fun.

James Batman (1966)

This is a very strange film that spoofs not only James Bond but Batman as well. An evil communist organisation called CLAW is seeking to take control of every freedom loving country in the world (or Asia at least), threatening the countries with destruction if they don't obey. To combat the evil doers secret agent James Hika (Dolphy) along with Batman (Dolphy again) and Robin (Boy Alano) are sent in...

It is basically a low budget wind-up and ruthlessly takes the piss. The action is frequently quite lame, punches are visibly missed, sets are flaky, the plot is rather confusing.

However it is undeniably entertaining if only from the sheer weirdness of it all. It isn't all that far away from a mid-20th century movie serial at times in terms of tone, film quality and nonsense. The real James Bond and the TV version of Batman didn't exactly take themselves seriously either, this just takes it on another level. It is not all fun though, some of the content is rather dark, very much of it's time shall we say?

Police Dog (1955)

A fairly light police drama but not a shaggy dog story. After PC Frank Mason's (Tim Turner) partner is shot by a burglar spiv (Cecil Brock), Frank decides to become a police dog handler. Frank is given Rex to train up and look after. Frank takes Rex home but this soon causes tension and jealousy between Frank and his girlfriend Pat (Joan Rice). Frank meanwhile is also keen to find the gunman...

There is nothing too surprising here, it has the usual depictions of British life in the 1950s, everyone humble but cheerful. The dog training scenes are interesting though and Rex plays a good role (an actual retired police dog).

Christopher Lee and John Le Mesurier have cameos as fellow police officers to Frank, Lee being unkeen on dogs and getting bit!

The Rage of Paris (1938)

A delightful little romantic comedy. Young French girl Nicole (Danielle Darrieux) is in New York desperate for a job. An embarrassing mix-up brings her into contact with Jim (Douglas Fairbanks Jr) but then she is embroiled in a plot with waiter Mike (Mischa Auer) and housemate Gloria (Helen Broderick) to ensnare a millionaire Bill (Louis Hayward)...

The plan is for Nicole to marry Bill and then help facilitate Mike's dream of having his own restaurant. The plan works as Nicole and Bill are soon engaged but Jim is a friend of Bill and he realises the plot. He has plans for Nicole himself...

A fun little film, predictable and light but very well done. The film looks fantastic, much of it set in fancy houses and hotels, it is an Art Deco treat. The performances especially from Darrieux and Fairbanks Jr are also top class. Darrieux in particular gives the film such joie de vie to really elevate it to something special.