Gun Lords of Stirrup Basin (1937)

Romeo and Juliet on the range, a great Western.

Trouble is brewing between the ranchers and the homesteaders, the trouble being caused secretly by greedy crooked lawyer Bowdre (Karl Hackett). Son of the ranch boss Dan (Bob Steele) and daughter of a homesteader Gail (Louise Stanley) only have eyes for each other though. But when the guns start firing and the bodies start falling, newly married Dan and Gail find themselves caught between the two sides...

One of the better B-movie Westerns with a good story (maybe inspired by Shakespeare, i guess we'll never know) that isn't overshadowed by endless speeded up horse riding and fights - although you will get some of these. Super little film. Strange title though.

Edge of Fury (1978)

Complicated kung fu action in flares.

Fang (Bruce Li) is the chauffeur for a rich man who ends up being arrested for drug offences in Thailand and eventually executed. Fang, who seems pretty naive at times, ends up tangling with his boss' young wife Mrs Chen (Dana Tsen) who seems more interested in inheriting her executed husband's money more than anything. He also finds himself under attack by his boss' main man King (Yasuaki Kurata) who is trying to find the opium cache of his boss...

This is quite complicated for a HK action film, using flashbacks to fill in Fang's back story and why he is loyal to his boss. We also find out why King is keen to stop Fang. The action scenes are good (if not out of the ordinary), though sometimes the gap between them drags a bit. 

This isn't a great HK film though is a reasonable watch. The most fun thing about this film is the fashions. Kung fu in flares is great!

Arizona Stage Coach (1942)

Another in the long-running Range Busters series, with the usual B-movie shenanigans. 

The Range Busters (Ray Corrigan, Dusty King and Max Terhune) are hanging out on their new ranch when they are visited by their friend Larry (Forrest Taylor) and his niece Dorrie (Nell O'Day). A gang of outlaws are menacing Larry's town. To make matters worse Dorrie's brother (Riley Hill) has been framed as being the outlaw where really it is Laughlin (Stanley Price) who is using Larry's ranch as cover for his banditry...

Its up to the Range Busters, assisted by the slightly sinister puppet Elmer, to save the day of course though plans do not go smoothly as usual. Nothing too out of the ordinary but this is a perfectly fine B-movie Western.

Climb up the Wall (1960)

Some very strange stuff, it must have been cool in 1960 (well you would hope anyway).

A rather surreal and formless variety show hosted by cardigan and tie wearing Jack Jackson. It jumps between comedy sketches and oddness and some music performances including by George Calypso Browne, some of which are pretty good as well. File footage including Elvis in US Army uniform is also included. 

It is all light nonsense (incredibly it was directed by Michael Winner of all people) and can be hard going at times being rather cringe worthy. However, if you give it a chance then it can be fun (sometimes even intentionally), and fascinating at the same time. 

Captain Scarface (1953)

An interesting plot though the execution is not without it's flaws.

Sam (Leif Erickson) is desperate to escape South America for reasons. At a hotel he finds a group of people waiting to head to the US on a freighter. Clegg (Paul Brinegar), the radio operator from the ship, turns up wanting money from a man named Kroll (John Mylong), who has turned up at the hotel with Dr Yeager (Rudolph Anders). Clegg shoots Kroll but gets shot himself, Sam takes the opportunity to take Kroll's identity and get aboard the board.

However, there he discovers the boat has a false registration and the Captain (Barton MacLane) plans to detonate an atomic bomb with the help the reluctant Dr Yeager - his daughter Elsa (Virginia Gray) held hostage to force him to comply - and destroy the Panama Canal...

Not a bad budget B-movie though limited when it comes to action, the film also ends rather abruptly. However, the story is solid and is pretty well told.