The Dead One (1961)

One of the earliest zombie movies in colour, quite terrible though reasonably interesting.

John (John McKay) and his new bride Linda (Linda Ormond) head up to the house in Louisiana which John has inherited. His cousin Monica (Monica Davis) already lives there and isn't that happy about John's arrival. She is into the voodoo cult which John dismisses as superstition in his typical bossy 1960s male way. 

At night Monica summons her recently deceased brother Jonas (Clyde Kelly) from the grave as a zombie (in a tuxedo). She sends him to kill Linda though he gets confused and kills a woman who was also staying in the house (Darlene Myrick) instead. John is still dismissive though soon realises the voodoo power is real...

A short movie though takes such an incredible amount of time to get going that it feels much longer. Not a terribly exciting story though an interesting example of a US indie film. One of the first two zombie films in colour, the other being Dr Blood's Coffin.

Doomsday Machine (1976)

A curious low-budget science fiction movie that looks like it was finished by different people than who started it, and funnily enough...

NASA is preparing for a mission to Venus, however a mysterious Chinese super weapon has spooked the rest of the world. NASA pushes the launch earlier and replaces three of the male crew with three women. As the rocket makes it's somewhat unsteady trip into space the reason for the change becomes evident. The Earth is about to be destroyed and the six crew of the mission are to head to Venus not to explore but to rebuild the human race...

But the mission runs into trouble including one crewman becoming a sex maniac and ultimately being accidentally ejected out of the airlock, various radiation dangers and mild late 1960s sexism. The film has a strange and bleak ending which kind of makes the entire film rather meaningless. It stars Bobby Van, Ruta Lee, Mala Powers and Henry Wilcoxon who do their best with the mediocre dialogue and often meaningless and lifeless scenes.

The film was started in the late 1960s but left unfinished, finally in the mid-1970s it was picked up and finished by another crew. The final scenes employ different actors to before which adds to the confusion. Its not great but unintentionally hilarious, there are some interesting ideas but rather lost in the poor execution. Ropey special effects add to the cheese.

Rogues Gallery (1944)

A bright, breezy and fairly sassy little crime drama.

Patsy (Robin Raymond) and Eddie (Frank Jenks), a reporter and photographer pair, are under a bit of pressure from their editor. They are sent to interview the head of a company which has developed a listening device (actually created by Professor Reymolds (H.B. Warner) which can eavesdrop on any conversation. They get involved in a complicated plot involving murder, corpses which vanish and reappear and stolen blueprints.

A flawed film but one that moves so fast you don't have time to dwell on it. Patsy and Eddie makes a great sassy double act. The tone is light and energetic, a great little time waster.

Beyond the Moon (1954)

Rather patchy science-fiction hi-jinks that easily betrays it's origins as a TV show.

Rocky Jones (Richard Crane) is a butch space adventurer, all rippling muscles and tight t-shirt. He is sent off on a mission with his sidekick Winky (Scotty Beckett). To Rocky's dismay he is also lumbered with a woman in the form Vena Ray (Sally Mansfield). Rocky doesn't think this is the place for Vena but considering how she is the only one to know the language of the people they are visiting she does seem quite important. The mission soon runs into trouble though when their rocket ship (which is launched from an electricity sub-station for some reason) comes under attack and Vena is locked in an airless chamber...

This does seem like it was originally separate episodes which have been bought together into a single film... thats because it was! The first three episodes of the Rocky Jones TV show in fact, so there are regular cliffhangers are regular internals. Its not a bad film, just rather half-baked and rather overtly misogynist space opera nonsense. 

Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939)

Charlie Chan battles the supernatural!

While flying to San Francisco, a friend of Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) dies on the flight. The man died after receiving a worrying message from a Dr Zodiac. Chan suspects the man was murdered and begins to investigate the mysterious psychic. With the help of his son (Victor Sen Yung) he begins to uncover a complicated plot of fake mystics, hidden chambers, blackmail and apparently real mind reading...

This is an excellent edition in the long running Charlie Chan series, a very mysterious air is given to all proceedings including good use of (a lack of) light. Dr Zodiac is a rather frightening (if ultimately fake) character. 

Allegedly the infamous Zodiac Killer got his name and parts of my MO from watching this film. Whether that is true or just more hocus pocus is something only Charlie Chan perhaps might know...