Hurricane Smith (1952)

A tale of treasure and freebooters on the South Seas which gets mired in calm seas.

Hurricane Smith (John Ireland) and his crew are marooned on an isolated island in the Pacific (why is never quite explained, it feels like they missed the first 20 minutes of the script out) but escape by stealing the ship of slaver Raikes (Emile Meyer). Later in Australia, and badly in need of coin, Smith's boat and crew is hired by Gorvahlsen (James Craig) to explore the flora and fauna of the South Seas but really Gorvahlsen is after gold.

Obviously because it makes perfect logical sense, Smith has pressganged Raikes into his crew, the two of them want the gold for themselves. The beautiful young Luana (Yvonne De Carlo), whom Smith falls for, also complicates matters of course.

Filmed in Technicolor, the film looks gorgeous and has plenty of swash buckling action and a fast moving plot but despite the bright blue skies ultimately the film is a bit dull. The film isn't very original and lacks a spark, though is a reasonable watch.

Lady in Cement (1968)

An enjoyable and relaxed gangster romp with late 1960s style.

Private detective Tony Rome (Frank Sinatra) is scuba diving off the coast of Miami when he discovers a dead blonde with her feet incased in cement on the sea bed. He begins to investigate why she was killed after being hired by man mountain Waldo (Dan Blocker). Tony begins his investigation in seedy girlie bars (of course) and discovers rich beauty Kit (Raquel Welch) is involved somehow, as is retired hoodlum Mungar (Martin Gabel)...

Not a bad film though doesn't make a huge amount of sense, it just seems to slide from scene to scene with some amusing quips by Sinatra and physical humour from Blocker. The film needs an edge but is a little too light to give it one. 

But it is perfectly entertaining enough to be worthwhile. It tries very hard to be cool, and sometimes succeeds. The psychedelic-ish girlie bar for example.

House of the Long Shadows (1983)

An enjoyable horror romp with a twist, also the last time Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing appeared together in a film.

Annoying American author Ken Magee (Desi Arnaz Jr) is set a curious bet by his publisher (Richard Todd), he is given 24 hours to write a novel and will win a $20K bet if he succeeds. As he needs peace and quiet, he is offered the use of a remote empty mansion in Wales. Reaching the mansion in a storm is not that easy but Ken makes it, and he sets up his typewriter. However, he immediately hears noises... the mansion is not empty after all.

In fact there is soon a whole dining room full of people there, including a man who claims to be the housekeeper (John Carradine), as well as some former inhabitants (Vincent Price and Peter Cushing) and a man (Christopher Lee) who is wanting to buy the mansion. However, there is a dark secret in the house involving a murder, and an imprisoned beast. Ken is joined by secretary Mary (Julie Peasgood) to try and discover the secret, and survive once the bodycount starts to rise...

This is a terrific film with it's cast of horror legends and a real old skool horror feel, it may be a bit slow to get going but once the action gets started it is pretty relentless. The film does have a rather large twist at the end which some will feel is inspired but others might feel a bit of a cop-out. 

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

A low-budget but highly entertaining horror made in a semi-documentary style (and based on real events).

It is 1946, a small town in Texas is rocked by a series of attacks by a masked maniac. Courting couples are not safe in their cars on Lovers Lane, he even starts attacking couples in their own homes. Top policeman Morales (Ben Johnson) is bought in to lead the investigation, though assisted by Deputy Ramsey (Andrew Prine) and Patrolman Benson (Charles B Pierce) he doesn't really get very far...

Just like the real case in fact, the murders were never solved and to this day the identity of the maniac is unknown. If the police investigation shown here is accurate then you can see why as they didn't really do a lot. This is an enjoyable horror/crime film with some decent thrills. There is a little bit of goofy humour added too for some reason which doesn't really add anything, luckily this nonsense is kept to a minimum.

Hollywood After Dark (1961)

A rather sleazy tale, more no-rent than low-rent.

Tony (Tony Vorno) owns a scrapyard in Hollywood. He is recruited by the owner of a strip club to join in a planned raid on an armoured car though is rather hesitant to go through with it. Tony who seems somewhat morose about... well everything but he falls in love with Sandy (Rue McClanahan), a Hollywood hopeful who is hoping to become a star but instead seems to be taking her clothes off for a handful of cheap punters. Tony decides to go through with the heist so he can use the money to help Sandy...

A very cheap and rather awful film. The film has poor acting, a poor plot, and is rather poorly made. Even the strip show scenes are rather grim. You do get to see a future Golden Girl do a burlesque strip show though!