The Challenger (1979)

High octane if somewhat repetitive kung fu action. Chin (Norman Chu) is working his way through all the martial arts schools in the lands, challenging the masters in order to find the man he wants to kill. Yu (David Chiang) is also challenging people left, right and centre but because he wants money. Yu notices that Chin is loaded and challenges him, their fight ends in a draw...

Wei Ching-Fung (Lily Li), the madam of the casino/brothel, gets involves with both men but unknown to them she is the woman of the man Chin is looking for, Master Pao (Philip Ko). Wei hires Yu to get rid of Chin but they end up uniting in order to fight Pao in a final epic showdown...

The film has a lot of fighting scenes, and they are good, especially the final battle. However, a little more plot might have helped to space the fights out. The film has a number of comedy numbers which verge between cringe and awful. A good if uneven kung fu film with impressive and charismatic performances by the principles.

The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935)

An enjoyable Ellery Queen murder mystery. Ellery (Donald Cook) and Judge Mackin (Berton Churchill) head off to California on holiday. Immediately they are drawn into a crime mystery as Stella (Helen Twelvetrees) is found bound and gagged in their chalet after her uncle has been apparently kidnapped. When they return Stella to her parents' home they find the first of a number of murders has been committed...

While Sheriff Moley (Harry Stubbs) stumbles his way through the crime scene, Ellery pretends he is not interested in the situation though he is very interested in Stella. He, of course, manages to discreetly steer Moley away from arresting everyone on sight while finding the real culprit...

A very agreeable country house mystery with a number of possible culprits and red herrings. A seasoned crime film watcher will probably quite quickly realise what is really going on but this is a well made little murder mystery.

The Fourth Protocol (1987)

A tense and layered spy drama. The head of the KGB has a dastardly plan to split NATO apart. They send Petrofsky (Pierce Brosnan) to the UK with a very important mission: to build and detonate a nuclear bomb at a US airbase! The mission is above top secret with a string of permanently silenced agents left behind as Petrofsky gets ready. MI6 are already on the trail though with Preston (Michael Caine) investigating the smuggling in of nuclear material...

Caine plays a great role here as the agent hated by his superior and under an official cloud, but will save the world anyway. He does this with plenty of surveillance, wading through records and not a small amount of violence. 

Brosnan also plays a good role as the cold and smooth agent whose only real weakness is that he is rather horny. Ned Beatty and Ian Richardson also star as senior and double-dealing officials on either side.

The Earth Dies Screaming (1964)

A very low-budget science-fiction horror film but does an amazing job with what it has. Tough American pilot Jeff (Willard Parker) arrives in an English village to find everyone dead. Finally he comes across a small number of survivors including Peggy (Virginia Field) and the mysterious Taggart (Dennis Price). Jeff thinks the Earth has been hit by a gas attack, he and all the other survivors all had reasons to evade the gas (aircraft, oxygen tent, air raid shelter). Then Jeff sees some cranky looking robots staggering through the village...

The motley crew of survivors do not get very far, They have a pregnancy to deal with, and alcoholism from one of their members. Finally Jeff discovers that the robots, and dead people bought back to life as zombies, are being controlled by a nearby transmitter. He and Mel (David Spenser) head off with a Land Rover full of explosives...

The film drips with suspense and a moody atmosphere and shows that you don't need a big budget and a wife range of sets and locations to produce an effective science-fiction film. The robots are rather ridiculous, who look like they have been made out of any junk which was handy, the mystery of Taggart is not really explained but our plucky survivors manage to defeat the robots and go home happily for tea.

The Bat (1926)

A very odd though fascinating film. Van Gorder (Emily Fitzroy) and her niece Dale (Jewel Carmen) have taken over a remote country house, unknown to them the previous and now dead owner's money has been concealed in the house. Now a mysterious character and master criminal who dresses as a giant Bat has come to steal it! What follows is a series of spooky antics via hidden passageways and red herrings.

Brooks (Jack Pickford), Dale's fiancé, is the man suspected being behind the (quite frankly) bizarre Bat character. With the help of Detective Anderson (Eddie Gribbon) the Bat is finally run to earth, quite literally thanks to a man trap. But who was the Bat? At the time audiences were asked not to tell people who it was (an early example of no spoilers!), we'll honour that too!

This is basically a dark house mystery with some added suspense and horror and indeed humour thanks to the Bat. The thought of a man dressed as a giant bat to commit murder and robbery is quite surreal and the wonderfully atmospheric sets and clever cinematography really make this film something special. This film was remade in 1930 and that version of the Bat was said to have been a big inspiration behind Batman!