Behind That Curtain (1929)

An early talkie, the first sound film to feature Charlie Chan in fact, though his appearance is rather brief.

Eve (Lois Moran) marries Eric (Philip Strange) against her uncle's wishes and before important information on Eric's dark past can be revealed. The person who had that information is mysteriously killed before he can reveal it, Eric and Eve meanwhile elope to India. Sir George (Claude King) of the Yard is continuing to investigate the case...

In India, Eve discovers that Eric is a drunk who sleeps with the servants. She also discover the horrible secret that Eric was behind the murder. She flees with her old beau Colonel John (Warner Baxter), but Eric and Sir George are not far behind. Finally, the trail ends in San Francisco where Sir George enlists the help of Charlie Chan (EL Park) to finally unveil the truth...

As an early talkie it is unfortunately marred by awkward dialogue, especially at the start as the actors almost fight to get their lines out, and very stiffly too (though noticeably improves later on). However, this is a very decent film with some epic settings and a good involving story. You won't see much of Charlie Chan (though he is for once played by an Asian actor), though you will see Boris Karloff in his first sound role.

Lightning Range (1933)

A low budget, low quality but not totally awful Western.

Dorothy (Patsy Bellamy) needs to get married by a deadline or her family fortune goes to charity. Hester (Anne Howard) and Hezekiah (Si Jenks) plan to get their hands on her inheritance but they are foiled by Black Pete (Olin Francis) who robs their stagecoach and discovers their wheeze. Black Pete substitutes his own man to marry Dorothy. Deputy Marshal Buddy (Buddy Roosevelt) learns of their plot and ends up married to Dorothy himself!

A clumsy film, rather inept and poorly executed however it isn't that bad a film, unlike some Poverty Row Westerns it has a reasonable plot that doesn't just involve aimless speeded up riding about the country. A bit of reasonably executed humour also enlivens the film.

Karate Cop (1991)

In the post-apocalpyse future there is one remaining cop roaming the wastelands, just don't call him Max...

It is the future, gangs of men in tatty clothes fight in the streets and generally get up to mischief, including chasing Rachel (Carrie Chambers). She is saved by John Travis (Ronald Marchini), the last policeman left it seems. He lives with his dog and drives his old police car still. This is basically Mad Max 2 but in the USA.

Rachel enlights John's help to retrieve a crystal from a teleport device so she can send a group of children to safety. After battling through gang ambushes led by the hilariously inept Snaker (Michael E Bristow), John finds the crystal which is the object of worship by a weird cult. John gets the crystal and unfortunately the cult is forgotten about, which is a shame because it was one of the most interesting parts of the movie...

The gang lord Lincoln (DW Landingham) has kidnapped Rachel however, men will fight over her in a kind of Battledome though the giant champion (Michael Foley) always wins. So now we are on to ripping off Mad Max 3...

A hilariously bad film though undeniably entertaining. The action (not that much of it is "karate") isn't that bad at all. The story though is utter nonsense, it all makes little sense of course. This is a loose sequel to Omega Cop.

Oriental Evil (1951)

A rather seedy tale of crime in early post-war Japan.

Cheryl (Martha Hyer) arrives in Tokyo intent on clearing the name of her brother who was accused of smuggling and committed suicide. She meets up with Roger (Byron Michie), a suave and very tall Englishman. He agrees to help her find the man who was realy behind the smuggling and Cheryl soon falls in love with him.

Unfortunately Roger is really called Tom and is the man she is looking for. He is a disgraced ex-serviceman involved in black market smuggling and has a Japanese wife whom he treats brutally, usually after he has got drunk yet again. However, Roger/Tom has been marked by fate and his demise is inevitable...

A rather low-rent crime drama, slow moving and can drag at times though is well structured and the mystic element adds a bit of novelty. Its also amusing seeing the very tall Michie have to duck everywhere!

Assignment: Outer Space (1960)

Wobbly rockets in space in this rather odd space opera.

Ray (Rik Van Nutter) is a journalist who is blasting out into outer space to see what is going on out at the space station, his arrival does not please George (David Montresor), the space station commander who seems to be hiding something. We soon find out what, a space ship is returning to Earth out of control and, unless it can be stopped, will wipe out all life! To save Earth, Ray, George, Lucy (Gabriella Farinon) and the cool Al (Archie Savage) must head out in an apparent suicide mission in a desperate attempt to save everything...

The idea is good as is the ambition, though the budget and ability unfortunately falls pretty short. The space ships literally wobble on the end of strings and the film is full of oddness and many of the common 1950s/60s science fiction tropes including weird codenames for people. A fun film though.