Fate is the Hunter (1964)

A film with surprising depth and heart.

An airliner crashes shortly after take-off with a near complete loss of life. With no technical reason for the crash detected, suspicion falls on the pilot Jack Savage (Rod Taylor) who had a bit of a reputation and was spotted in bars the night before. 

His old war buddy Sam (Glenn Ford) is investigating the crash and doesn't believe Jack was to blame, as he unravels Jack's complicated life, he discovers more and more surprising facts about his friend.

This is a film that surprises you, it starts with a tense air crash and then develops in unexpected ways, with wartime flashbacks helping to reveal more and more about Jack's life. A very well constructed story with superb performances and multi-dimensional characters.

The Adventures of the Masked Phantom (1939)

A rather poor if unintentionally funny Western.

The Barton gold mine is being used to launder gangster gold bullion. When Barton (Matty Kemp) discovers the nefarious scheme of the foreman Murdock (George Douglas) he threatens to go to the law, though obviously a foolish move as  Murdock and his gang make him their prisoner. 

Meanwhile, Alamo (Monte Rawlins) hears the tale of the Masked Phantom and becomes that Phantom to fight Murdock's gang and rescue Barton...

This isn't a good film by any means, being rather shoddy and cheaply made. However, it is funny at times (if not always intentionally) and has some charm, plus some reasonable Western tunes. Boots the wonder dog is the real star of the show of course.

Chopping Mall (1986)

A simple but effective horror film, perfect if seeing a killer robot wipe out annoying young people is your thing.

A shopping centre has deployed a number of rather sinister looking robot sentries to guard the centre at night. The manufacturers of course reassure people that nothing can go wrong but we all know something will. A lightning strike on the central computer turns the sentries into homicidal maniacs.

Meanwhile a group of young shop workers are having an after hours party. As they have fun including lots of sex they are unaware the robots are on the way. Soon the group, led by Alison (Kelli Maroney), Ferdy (Tony O'Dell) and Rick (Russell Todd) are having to fight for their lives as the robots pretty unstoppable...

A highly enjoyable film. The human characters are probably as annoying as the robots are sinister with their red wrap around vision and arsenal of weapons (including laser cannons for some reason). The plot is pretty straight forward but the thrills are well delivered with some impressive horror high-spots. The title is great as well.

The Shanghai Cobra (1945)

A reasonable though oddly at times somewhat sombre entry in the Charlie Chan series.

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is called in to help investigate a mysterious murder caused by cobra venom. Chan links the crime to a similar murder which took place in Shanghai a few years before. The suspect had escaped that time so maybe this new crime was caused by the same man. A nearby bank where a fortune in radium is held is linked to the crime and this mysterious murderer who is known only by his name not his appearance...

This is a decent crime drama with some interesting twists. However, some of the actors including Toler seem a bit down in the dumps at times which robs the film of some energy, though we do get a couple of excellent examples of Charlie Chan's cod-Chinese philosophy. Benson Fong plays Chan's son this time and Mantan Moreland is also on hand with his usual comedy antics.

Interestingly a telephone jukebox is a major plot point in this film, as it was in the film X Marks the Spot. Though in the case of the Shanghai Cobra the jukebox is augmented by the new technology of closed circuit television...

The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955)

Standard 1950s monster fare, not that good but it could have been worse!

A strange radioactive glow in the water is followed by an attack by a bizarre looking creature. Dr Stevens (Kent Taylor) arrives to investigate and finds that local scientist Professor King (Michael Whalen) is acting suspicious. Stevens also romances the Professor's daughter Lois (Cathy Downs) of course! 

So, this is pretty much all you expect from the genre. The monster doesn't look too bad and isn't over shown but the rubber suit was obviously a bit clumsy for the actor wearing it. In one scene where it attacks a diver the monster looks more like a nervous teenager doing some awkward fumbling than a mutant killer beast! The story is a bit slow but ticks all the usual genre boxes. 

Perfectly acceptable time waster.