Safety Last! (1923)

An iconic film, even if you are normally unfamiliar with silent movies you probably have seen the scene of Harold Lloyd hanging off the side of a tall building holding onto the hand of a clock!

Lloyd is a country boy who heads off to the big city. He gets a job as a clerk at a department store. In love with Milfred Davis, he needs plenty of money to get married. To get a big reward from the boss for promoting the store he ends up climbing the side of the building with some truly death defying stunts...

There is more to the film than the building climb but that is what you will remember (the earlier parts of the film can be a bit run of the mill at times) and the stunts are extraordinary. The scene where Harold tries to trick Milfred that he is a store manager though is also a delight.

The Magnetic Monster (1953)

A strange but enjoyable sci-fi thriller.

Dr Stewart (Richard Carlson) is called to a mysterious case of magnetism at a home appliance store, even lawn mowers moving about on their own. He and his team discover a deadly radioactive substance was in a lab above the shop (was that a thing in the 1950s? Science labs above shops?!) Another scientist called Denker (Leonard Mudie) has accidentally created a terrible new radioactive substance which requires huge amounts of energy every few hours and will reach out with magnetic claws to get it...

Dr Stewart and team decamp to Canada where a huge dynamo exists underground, the plan is to overfeed the substance before it grows powerful enough to destroy the world...

The underground dynamo footage comes from the 1934 film Gold, a decent job is made of integrating the footage though it is pretty obvious. This is a good sci-fi horror, the "creature" is a faceless unthinking substance, this film reminds me of Quatermass to some extent. The film tries to keep a degree of scientific realism, including a narrator going into detail about various scientific and computational activities. Maybe this kills the film of a bit of drama though it does add to the historic interest.

Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973)

Feature length movie versions of popular British sitcoms were popular in the 1970s, this indeed was the second film based on Steptoe and Son and unfortunately they should have quit while they were ahead.

Steptoe (Wilfred Brambell) and his son Harold (Harry H Corbett) are rag and bone men in London, trying to turn people's trash into treasure (and unfortunately usually failing). With money running out and bills mounting, Steptoe and Harold are in trouble. Things are made worse when their horse becomes lame and needs to be retired. Harold is given his Dad's life savings to buy a new horse, he comes home drunk with a greyhound instead!

Harold claims the greyhound will win them enough money to turn their business and lives around. Naturally things do not go to plan. In desperation Harold concocts a plot to fake Steptoe's death and claim the insurance...

The film is a reasonable watch but it just doesn't seem to be that funny. The situations are comical, and there are some good guest stars including Diana Dors, but the magic just seems to be missing and, with most sitcom movie conversions, the ideas just get overstretched. That is not to say the film isn't worth a watch, the view of a soon to vanish London is fascinating and the greyhound is a lovely dog.

Fatty Joins the Force (1913)

Fatty Arbuckle thinks joining the police will sort him with his beau.

Fatty's girlfriend Dot Farley likes a man in uniform. When a child falls into the lake she encourages Fatty to save it, by pushing him in after it! Happily Fatty does save the child after much splashing about and it turns out that the child is the daughter of the Police Commissioner (George Nichols). Fatty is rewarded by being made a police officer. However, he soon finds out that being a police officer and tackling criminal types isn't that much fun...

A perfectly fine if unexceptional little slapstick comedy film. Not all the gags work but Arbuckle does a decent job with the material he is given.

Dark Tower (1987)

A rather strange horror, not without some bright spots though few and far between.

Carolyn (Jenny Agutter) is the architect of a rather horrible looking new skyscraper in Barcelona. Mysterious happenings which result in grisly deaths and plenty of gore. Investigator Dennis (Michael Moriarty) brings in a paranormal investigator in Dr Gold (Theodore Bikel) after he suspects something really weird is going on. Dennis thinks that Carolyn's missing presumed dead husband might be behind the evil spirit...

Not the best horror film by any means, the film is rather cheap and not very cheerful. It is also rather disjointed and illogical. The horror thrills though are frequently quite exciting if ridiculous.