The Accursed (1957)

A group of former resistance fighters are assembled by their former leader Colonel Price (Donald Wolfit) for one purpose: to find out which one of them is a traitor! Price is waiting for his man in Berlin, Dehmel (Colin Croft) to bring him the identity of the traitor... but Dehmel is bumped off as soon as he arrives at Price's country home.

Then a Major Shane (Robert Bray) arrives, supposedly because his car has broken down, but is soon transpires that he was looking Price's now-dead informant and he becomes involves in the search for the identity of the traitor/murderer. More murders and attempted murders begin to take place...

Although this has the veneer of a spy drama, this is really a classic country house whodunnit with the Major taking the role of the authority outsider who uncovers the culprit with the oldest trick in the book. The film is quite slow but has a good sense of suspense and a good cast including Anton Differing, Christopher Lee and Jane Griffiths.

Penny and the Pownall Case (1948)

A bright and breezy little crime yarn, based on the 1940s comic strip Jane. Penny (Peggy Evans) is a young model who is drawn by artist Blair (Christopher Lee) in a slightly racy strip. However, the comic strip is really a way for Blair to communicate with his fellow Nazis seeking to escape capture by the British.

Penny discovers the name of a murdered agent by her room mate and police secretary Molly (Diana Dors) and then finds the name has something to do with Blair. She goes with Blair to Spain, also there though is the police in the form of Carson (Ralph Michael) who is hunting for Nazi fugitives...

A light story, it moves along apace and has a straight forward plot. Penny spends most of the film changing her clothes, including quite a lot of screen time in her underwear. The film is short but not without interest, early roles for Dors and Lee (his first screen appearance as a villain).

Ten Little Indians (1965)

A good and stylish version of the Agatha Christie classic. A mixed group of people are invited to a remote mansion in the Alps. The host UN Owen has yet to turn up but his voice is heard as a recording tells the guests they have all got away with murder. The deaths begin almost immediately. The guests soon realise that one of their number is bumping them off and using the nursery rhyme Ten Little Indians as an inspiration.

So who is UN Owen? Is it the Judge (Wilfred Hyde-White), Mr Blore (Stanley Holloway) or Ann Clyde (Shirley Eaton) or one of the others? One by one the guests are bumped off in a variety of manners even including a crashing cable car! 

The film has a great feel with plenty of suspense. The performances are very good on the whole. The voice of UN Owen was Christopher Lee, well who else? 

The film compares well to the 1974 version.

Snake People (1971)

A colourful but rather average zombie horror film, worth watching mostly as it was one of Boris Karloff's last films before he died. Captain Labesch (Rafael Bertrand) and Anabella (Julissa) arrive on a remote island. They find the authorities spend most of their time in a drunken stupor especially the police chief Carlos East (Anabella is especially keen to stop this as she wants funding for a temperance society!) and a crazed voodoo priest called Damballah is practising strange rites including we are told, raising the dead.

Anabella's uncle (Karloff) owns most of the island and warns that the ancient rites should not be interfered with. He is researching secret powers of the mind. Does he have involvement with something more sinister on the island too?

This isn't a good film by any means though is not unentertaining, the voodoo rites follow the usual script with plenty of skulls, fires, near naked women dancing with snakes and a sinister dwarf. However, they often go on a bit with not much happening. The plot doesn't really make such sense either but the film looks pretty good.

Pretty Woman (1990)

A famous romantic comedy though not without the odd bit of cringe. Rich businessman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) is in LA to conduct some big business deals, he hires a down on her luck but playful prostitute Vivian (Julia Roberts) for the night. Afterwards he decides to hire her for a week to accompany him for a few dinners and engagements.

Naturally there are a few mishaps along the way and a trip to the opera. Vivian begins to fall in love with Edward and vice versa. He starts to reassess his way of doing business, not as cut-throat as before. However, she rebuffs his offer of becoming his mistress, she wants more, a fairy tale. It is almost too late when Edward realises he wants to give her it...

It can be a bit cheesy at times but Gere and Roberts play their roles well with plenty of chemistry. Don't expect a gritty examination of the tough reality of working the streets, expect a bit of light humour and frolics along the way.