The Day of the Triffids (1962)

A decent adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel by John Wyndham. The Earth is bathed in light from the heavens from a meteorite shower, everyone is watching the show except for poor sailor Bill (Howard Keel) who suffered an eye injury and is all bandaged up. However, the next day nearly everyone on Earth is completely blind and Bill wakes up to find the world in chaos (once he removed his bandages himself).

London is in chaos, including a train crashing into the buffers at the station. Here Bill finds another person who can see, schoolgirl Susan (Janina Faye). Together they cross to France to hopefully find help. They link up with the sighted Christine (Nicole Maurey) and continue onto Spain where the Royal Navy is looking to pick up survivors. If the situation wasn't serious enough there are also the triffids, bizarre plants from outer space that can move and have the taste for human flesh. They roam the countryside in huge packs looking for human survivors. However, they have a weakness for ice cream van music...

Meanwhile, on a lighthouse bickering couple Tom (Kieron Moore) and Karen (Janette Scott) are also besieged by the triffids. They finally stumble on a way to kill the plants (though it is that simple you wonder why no one else had thought of it already...)

A fast moving film full of sci-fi horror. The triffids look ridiculous though are scary. Some of the scenes of the film are harrowing, such as the train crash with the blind survivors desperately scrambling around. The plot doesn't make a huge amount of sense but it is an enjoyable sci-fi romp.

The Woman Eater (1958)

A strange film, a typical 1950s monster film though with a rather slow restrained manner despite the fact it includes a tree which feeds on women. 

Evil scientist Dr Moran (George Coulouris) discovers a tree in the Amazon which feeds on human flesh (of the female kind) and in return provides a serum which can bring the dead back to life (though presumably not half-eaten women).

He brings the tree back to England, along with native Tanga (Jimmy Vaughn) who regards the tree as his god, and feeds it a steady diet of women from the streets of Soho so he can obtain the serum. Sally (Vera Day) gets a job with Moran but soon wants to leave. However, Moran has fallen in love with her and decides to share his secrets with her...

A creepy film with a ridiculously looking tree (though thankfully we don't get to see it much). So many questions of course, why does the tree only want to eat beautiful women? Why did the tribe allow Moran to take their deity away? Naturally nothing really makes sense. Good campy fun.

Women in Blue (1943)

A fascinating if somewhat dated short film showing the training of new recruits to the US Navy Women's Auxiliary Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). The narrator (Hugh James) explains that the recruits learn how to march and learn important information such as how the Navy is run (unfortunately the narrator was able to resist the temptation to quip "badly"). Then they can take over base duties from men who can be sent into combat (to their universal delight of course).

Dangerous Paradise (1930)

A somewhat clunky early talkie. Heyst (Richard Arlen) is a hermit (though rather well dressed) who has his own island in the South Seas. On a visit to Surabaya he encounters Alma (Nancy Carroll) in a bar who is a rather harassed young musician. The bar owner Schonberg (Warner Oland) makes no secret of his aim to get into Alma's pants so the young girl stows away on Heyst's boat...

Unfortunately some bad men also soon arrive on Heyst's island. They are convinced there is treasure to be found despite Heyst's protestations. Can Heyst and Alma survive this incursion and (obviously) fall in love?

A reasonable little (and short) story though suffers from sound problems at times with the dialogue being unclear or drowned out. The film is interesting to see the future Charlie Chan as a sexual sleazeball.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

An excellent and bleak spy drama, and a very good John Le Carre adaptation. Leamas (Richard Burton) is a burned out spy running British intelligence operations in Berlin. Back in London Leamas is given a new mission to pose as a defector with the aim of discrediting Mundt (Peter van Eyck) of East German intelligence. 

Leamas builds a new identity of a washed out drunk, though enters a relationship with naive young communist Nan (Claire Bloom). Once he defects Leamas is interrogated by Mundt and his rival Fiedler (Oscar Werner). Leamas soon realises that he is just a pawn in a bigger game, and to his horror Nan is another pawn...

A deep and rich spy drama. The inhumanity, grubbiness and cruelty of the Cold War spy game has seldom been better portrayed. Burton's and Werner's performances are truly excellent. One of the best L'Carre adaptations, maybe one of the best spy movies of all.