Diamonds are Forever (1971)

For our seven hundredth review, we enter the world of 007...

The seventh James Bond film, Sean Connery returning to the role after George Lazenby made his first and only appearance in the previous film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Bond is sent to investigate a diamond smuggling ring, though of course as this is a Bond film there isn't as simple a reason for smuggling diamonds such as greed. Bond discovers that SPECTRE are using the diamonds to create a powerful orbital laser weapon. The laser is used to destroy nuclear weapons in the US, Russia and China...

Bond discovers this in his usual way, mostly wearing a dinner jacket in various nice bars and casinos. Bond befriends (and beds of course) the diamond smuggler Tiffany (Jill St. John), he also tangles with arch-nemesis Blofeld (Charles Grey). Bond also steals a moon buggy and it all ends up in a final battle on an oil rig. The usual campy and over the top 007 nonsense we love.

This was Connery's final "official" James Bond film, 1983's Never Say Never Again being not part of the Eon produced canon of course. It is a fine film which depicts the ridiculous stylised 007 spy game better than most. The title song by Shireley Bassey surely has to be one of the very best Bond themes.

Cynara (1932)

A compelling story of how an affair rips apart a "perfect" life. Jim (Ronald Colman) is a successful barrister married to Clemency (Kay Francis). Their marriage is happy though Jim's life maybe lacks a little excitement. When Clemency is away Jim meets Doris (Phyllis Barry), a young shop girl. Despite Jim's misgivings (and love for his wife) an affair with Doris begins...

But when Clemency returns home, Jim realises his mistake and tries to end his affair but of course these things cannot be ended as easily or as swiftly as they can begin.

A highly enjoyable drama. The film opens with the collapse of Jim's and Clemency's marriage, and Jim prepares to head abroad in exile after his disgrace, the affair is told in flashback. The affair is treated with shades of grey which elevates the film into something special. It is clear that Jim loved Clemency throughout and the film will tug your heart strings for sure.

Black Dragons (1942)

Rather baffling propaganda drama. A group of Fifth Columnists, out to harm the US' war effort against the Japanese are killed off one by one by the mysterious M. Colomb (Bela Lugosi) - who seemingly is allowed to wander around the house of Mr Saunders (George Pembroke) without anyone querying exactly why or who he is.

Young detective Dick Martin (Clayton Moore) and Saunders' niece Alice (Joan Barclay) are trying to find out what is going on though without much success (just like the film going public no doubt). Colomb runs rings around everyone, able to appear wherever he likes in Saunders' house...

A rather clunky film though full of suspense and dark shadows. There is also a lot of inept police work on show. The plot is rather confusing, though at the end things become a little clearer when Columb's real identity and purpose is known. Though while the plot becomes clearer plausibility is stretched somewhat. The film should just be enjoyed for what it is. Mostly nonsense, but decent enough nonsense.

Missile to the Moon (1958)

Another 1950s scientifically implausible space exploration film, though this one has an interesting twist. Gary (Tommy Cook) and Lon (Gary Clarke) are escaped convicts who stow away on a rocket ship. The ship's builder Dirk (Michael Whalen) finds them and decides they will be the perfect crew to take an unauthorised trip to the moon before the government takes his ship from him. Dirk's friends Steve (Richard Travis) and June (Cathy Downs) also end up on this trip to the moon.

When they arrive there (not without incident) they find giant lumbering rock creatures. They hide in a cave and are captured by buxom blue skinned women. Naturally the moon civilisation, led by Lido (K.T. Stevens), is dying...

The special effects are hilariously un-special. The scene where they first arrive on the moon is a case in point, the "rocket" in the background is obvious two-dimensional card. The "moon" in the background for some reason has visible room corners! The less that can be said for some of the monsters the better. This gives the film the required camp and cheese factor to make this an enjoyable, if fairly unoriginal, 1950s sci-fi romp.

City Hunter (1993)

Not one of Jackie Chan's best films though still worth investigating. A comic book adaptation where Jackie plays a rather lazy private investigator called Ryu. He, along with his assistant Kaori (Joey Wang), are hired to find the missing daughter of a Japanese businessman. The search takes them to a cruise ship, which then gets hijacked. Ryu gets drawn into the fight against the hijackers led by MacDonald (Richard Norton)...

It is all a bit silly though not without some good moments including a great Street Fighter scene. Some of the fights are pretty good too, including one that draws upon Game of Death, and the film has a rather anarchic feel.

Unfortunately the silliness is a little too over the top. The film is made as a live action anime and if approached in that way it does entertain. There is some Jackie magic but other films showcase it much better.