The Whispering Shadow (Serial) (1933)

A superbly complicated and fast moving serial full of fights, death defying stunts and mad science. A mysterious crime boss called the Whispering Shadow is stealing valuable items from a storage company. The transport manager Jack (Malcolm McGregor) is out to stop the criminal and uncover his secret identity.

Of course there are a lot of potential culprits, chief among them seems to be Dr Strang (Bela Lugosi) who had a macabre house of waxworks (and a lovely daughter - Viva Tattersall - whom Jack soon has the hots for!) Strang also has a television device, might he also have the radio death ray which the Whispering Shadow uses to kill his victims remotely? Or could it be the radio scientist (Roy D’Arcy)? Obviously it won’t be the apparently layabout and foolish radio operator Sparks (Karl Dane)...

Being a serial of course there are many cliff hangers, red herrings and epic stunts, including an autogyro crashing into a radio tower and a collapsing room. Many shots are fired too in countless shootouts though most are to no avail! (No one could aim straight in these 1930s serials that is for sure.) A terrific over the top serial.

Monster from Green Hell (1957)

There was an obsession with radiation causing giant size mutation in animals in 1950s cinema. This is yet another tale of a rocket taking something up into space (wasps in this case). When the rocket lands the wasps becomes a giant monsters and starts killing everything in their path! Dr Brady (Jim Davis) and Dan Morgan (Robert Griffin) head to Africa to investigate. The path to the remote part of Africa known as Green Hell is tough though, with attacks by tribes of natives and poisoned streams.

Once Brady and Dan reach the village near Green Hell they discover the local doctor (Vladimir Sokoloff) is dead, killed by the monster. They head into Green Hell with the doctor's daughter Lorna (Barbara Turner) to face, and stop, the monsters...

A fairly standard monster sci-fi film, padded out with plenty of stock footage of African safaris. The monster special effects are suitably ridiculous and cheap looking. Fun nonsense if a bit generic.

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974)

A dark tale of teenage prostitution and ultra violence. When a young girl is found hanged, Assistant DA Stori (Giovanna Ralli) and Inspector Silvestri (Claudio Cassinelli) soon unravel a trail of prostitution and murder involving school girls and rich important men.

A man in black leather is riding around on a motorbike and silencing any witnesses, and the police themselves, with various sharp objects...

This is a brutal film, the killings and sexual details are not subtle by any means. Amid the mayhem though this is a very solid crime film and includes a lot of suspense and action, including an excellent motorcycle police chase.

Space Mutiny (1988)

An unbelievably bad sci-fi movie, the sheer awfulness making it unbelievably entertaining. On a colony ship in deep space unrest is building thanks to the evil Enforcer Kalgen (John Philip Law) who wants to send the ship into pirate territory. He begins acts of sabotage, one of which almost kills hot shot space pilot Dave Ryder (Reb Brown). Dave survives though and soon is leading the fight against Kalgon and his inept goons, assisted by the commander's daughter Lea (Cisse Cameron)...

So, this is a film which reuses footage from Battlestar Galactica (all the space scenes) - though some are played backwards. The original special effects are not up to much. Most of the space ship interior looks like an abandoned factory, with a few "futuristic" sets which use 1980s PCs. The bad guys drive around in golf carts which fire laser guns. Meanwhile, there are a group of alien women aboard who prance around to New Age music and appear to exert some kind of psychic control on people, though not much effect on the plot. 

The plot is rather basic and incoherent. The acting is almost universally awful. The fight scenes chaotic and inept... Obviously the film is hilarious. This is a film where one of the supporting actors dies... and then reappears as an extra in the next scene!

The Secret Place (1957)

An excellent crime drama with a difference, this is a true film of two halves. The first shows a daring diamonds robbery, the second centres around a young man bought unwittingly into the crime and now in possession of the diamonds which the gang want back.

Gerry (Ronald Lewis) is part of a gang which intends to steal diamonds. He is also in love with Molly (Belinda Lee). Now Molly's brother Mike (David McCallum) is on the fringes of the gang and comes up with a way for the gang to get their hands on a policeman's uniform. There is this boy, Freddie (Michael Brooke), who's dad is a copper and Freddie has a crush on Molly...

After the crime Freddie ends up, by accident, being in possession of the loot. Gerry and the gang of course want it back but a complication is that Freddie's young boy heart has been broken by Molly...

A tense drama, evocative with the sights and sounds of late 1950s London, with a lot of bombed out buildings still around. The film packs in the emotion, and many emotions too. The film may be a bit slow at times but personally i felt it made good use of the extra time.