Lightning Strikes West (1940)

Pretty decent if unsurprising Western fare.

Lightning Morgan (Ken Maynard) is a reluctant lawman who is is deputised by the Marshal (William Gould) to recapture Butch Taggart (Michael Vallon), a tough outlaw who has escape from prison. The loot from Taggart's last heist has never been found. 

Morgan disguises himself as a drifter bum and gets a job at a saloon owned by members of Taggart's gang. He discovers Taggart is indeed hiding in the saloon, planning to disguise his identity and then find the loot...

Not too original a Western, the story is pretty straightforward but very well done, apart from a few strange plot quirks such as when Taggart makes a big show of telling Morgan he can't leave the room, but he does anyway! The fighting and horsemanship are of a decent standard.

Woman Unafraid (1934)

An interesting story though not executed that well.

Policewoman Augusta Winthrope (Lucile Gleason) has a local dance hall on her beat. In the dance hall gangster Lewis (Jason Roberts Snr) is foiled by Augusta, who also rescues some of the unfortunate girls (not really elaborated on but basically prostitutes) at the dance hall. She puts them up at her own home. Lewis seeks revenge and murders one of the girls (Barbara Weeks), also manipulating local do-gooder Mrs Worthington (Laura Tredwell) to cause Augusta's suspension. Augusta's only chance to save the girls and save her job is to prove Lewis is a murderer and get him put away for good...

A decent crime story though let down by terrible pacing and a little too much padding by irrelevant characters. The film is worth sticking with, and isn't a long film (though feels a lot longer!)

Police Dog Story (1961)

A decent crime drama though as usual with these kinds of films homo sapiens is out acted by canis familiaris.

Rookie police man Edwards (James Brown) is selected for a new police dog handing department, unfortunately for him his dog is a rather boisterous Alsatian called Wolf. Despite early troubles Edwards and Wolf bond when man saves dog when he falls down a cliff. Edwards and Wolf become a formidable crime fighting duo. 

However, when Edwards gets mixed up with a crooked business owner and his old partner Bert (Barry Kelley), who is on the take, both Edwards' career and Wolf's life are in peril...

Apart from the addition of the dog, this is a fairly basic crime drama which is narrated by reporter Terry (Merry Anders), who is writing a feature on the new dog handling team and falls in love with Edwards. A decent if unexceptional film with rather dry dialogue and functional acting. Wolf is a good dog though for sure.

The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

The 1970s saw many disaster movies and this is one of the best of them.

The Poseidon is an elderly ocean liner on it's last trip across the Mediterranean when it is hit by a massive tidal wave. The ship is literally turned upside down. Preacher man Scott (Gene Hackman) takes charge of a group of survivors trapped in the ball room. He says that the only way out of the ship will be via the bowels of the ship, which are now above them!

With a motley collection of survivors including arrogant policeman Rogo (Ernest Borgnine), elderly couple Belle (Shelley Winters) and Manny (Jack Albertson) and teenager Susan (Pamela Sue Martin) and her annoying little brother Robin (Eric Shea), Scott leads his team through many dangers, not all of them surviving...

A well paced drama with just the right amount of human conflict to add to the series of dangers our heroes face. The set designs of the upside down ship are superb. An excellent film, any 1970s corniness cannot compete with the sheer adventure.

Fear (1946)

A reasonable but ultimately frustrating crime drama based on Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.

Larry (Peter Cookson) is a university student down on his luck, he hasn't got any money, he can't even pay his landlady never mind next year's course fees. He pawns a watch to Professor Stanley (Francis Pierlot) though only gets a pittance. Larry begins to consider a way out of his predicament. No one likes Stanley, maybe he could take the money from him...

Larry kills Stanley but panics and flees before he can take any money. Then he receives an unexpected windfall, but Police Captain Burke (Warren William) is on the case and is suspicious of Larry (who to be honest looks like the embodiment of guilt). To his girlfriend Eileen (Anne Gwynne) he confesses and decides to come clean to the police, but there is a last final twist to come...

Not a bad film though the ending does ruin things somewhat (and we won't spoil that). Larry starts off entitled but soon collapses into jelly. For a low budget crime film its fine, except the ending.