Magnum Force (1973)

For this blog 600th review another of our all-time favourites...

"Dirty" Harry Callaghan (Clint Eastwood) faces a new threat in this film. Not criminals this time (although he does get to waste a few of course) but an enemy within. Someone, probably a rogue cop, is shooting the city's bad guys who use the court system to avoid justice. Harry at first thinks it is his old buddy Charlie (Mitchell Ryan) who has gone a bit crazy but when Charlie is killed himself he knows the answer is somewhere else...

A group of young cops who graduated together raise his suspicions. Led by Davis (David Soul) they have formed a sub-culture, a death squad. When Harry is getting too close he finds himself under fire himself. But who is their leader, he asks his superior Lieutenant Briggs (Hal Holbrook)...

A tough, sometimes sleazy, sometimes a bit exploitation-ish crime drama. There is a warning about vigilantism but really this is all about Clint Eastwood acting cool and shooting lots of people. It is of course completely ridiculous and quite over the top and very violent. It is also incredibly 1970s.

Incident in Shanghai (1938)

A love triangle in the chaos of a war zone. While Japan batters Chinese forces in the Shanghai international settlement Dr Linden (Derek Gorst) is trying to hold his group of Western and Chinese survivors together. Complication number one is when his estranged wife Madeleine (Margaret Vyner) turns up as a nurse. Complication number two is when a British pilot Pat (Patrick Barr) fighting for the Chinese arrives on the run from the Japanese...

Dr Linden treats his wife terribly, his jealously intense. Things take a turn for the worse when Pat starts to fall for Madeleine. When Pat is seriously injured only Dr Linden can save his life but will he?

A rather short and rough film with a good ensemble, with some incredibly dated stereotypes as you can imagine. It is also padded out quite a bit including a rather odd Chinese variety show though the dialogue is pretty good.

Piccadilly Third Stop (1960)

An excellent little British crime drama with noir touches. Dominic (Terence Morgan) is a toff (but poor) crook in early 1960s London who introduces US crook Joe (John Crawford) to some nice gambling dens - and soon he in danger of sampling the excellence of the NHS if he doesn't pay his bills. Dominic meanwhile has hooked up with Fina (Yoko Tani), the daughter of a foreign ambassador. During pillow talk she tells him of a ton of cash in the embassy safe and how to get to it. However Dominic is really planning on running off with Joe's wife Christine (Mai Zetterling).

Dominic lures Joe in on a plot to break into the safe, getting into the embassy basement via the London Underground. To break into the actual safe the Colonel (William Hartnell) is recruited, a professional through and through as long as he gets regular scotch. Naturally there is no honour amongst thieves, both Dominic and Joe plan to stiff the other...

A superb slice of the London underworld, ruthless amoral gangsters who think nothing of using people for gain and discarding them without a second thought - though always impeccably dressed. The film builds slowly but surely up to a grand (though pretty dark) finale and some exciting scenes on the underground tracks.

Ghosthouse (1988)

A strange horror film, poorly done at times but quite inventive. Years ago a young girl (Kristen Fougerousse) who likes killing cats quickly progresses to killing her parents with the help of an evil doll. We fast forward to the present and radio ham Paul Rogers (Greg Rhodes) hears strange music and screams over the radio waves. Naturally he decides to track down the source of the signal with his girlfriend Martha (Lara Wendel) to an empty old house in the countryside...

There they find another bunch of young people, the guy Mark (Ron Houck) is also a radio ham and it is his and his girlfriend's Susan (Mary Sellers) voices Paul heard... though they haven't made these noises.... well yet. The attacks soon come though as do the reappearances of the young girl. The attacks involve various grisly attacks involving exploding jars, killer fan blades and even a guillotine which literally cuts a teen girl in half! Meanwhile weird caretaker Valkos (Donald O'Brien) is wandering around menacing them...

The film is terrifying... as in terrifyingly badly made with the film often cutting randomly mid-scene and the usual indifferent-to-bad acting. However the horror is inventive and frequently gruesome. It is also unintentionally hilarious, especially Martha who spends most of the film in a bad mood.

Pool of London (1951)

A deliciously gritty tale of merchant seamen and crime in early 1950s London. Dan (Bonar Colleano) and his shipmates including Johnny (Earl Cameron) and Harry (Leslie Phillips) have arrived back in London. Dan has a petty smuggling thing going on but his contacts including an acrobat Charlie (Max Adrian) have bigger plans...

In fact Charlie plans a robbery stealing diamonds and use Dan to get them to the Continent. The robbery takes place but a watch man dies, Dan now knows he could get the blame. Meanwhile Johnny has sparked up an romance with Pat (Susan Shaw) but Dan asks him to take a small package onboard...

An interesting slice of early 1950s British crime and the London docks. Not without plenty of violence, crime and racism. Enjoyable is James Robertson Justice who spends his time in port locked in his cabin with a book of poetry and several bottles of brandy!