Date Bait (1960)

Delinquent teens twisted by drugs, rock and roll and huge cars.

Brad (Dick Gering) returns home after spending some time in rehab. He tries to get in with Sue (Marlo Ryan), who he is sweet on, but she isn't keen and is with Logan (Gary Clarke) instead. Brad and Logan have a rather limp fight in the teen bar.

Brad's older brother (John Garwood) intervenes and beats up Logan for him, he orders Brad to help him out with his drug dealing. Brad finds the lure of drugs a challenge. Meanwhile, Logan and Sue's young love runs up against parental disapproval and they decide to skip to Vegas...

This is standard teen B-movie fare. The storyline is basic, the acting also pretty basic (though fairly serviceable) and the settings and direction average. It is an enjoyable little film though, Logan and Sue are fairly sympathetic characters. The rock and roll is cool, the 1950s cars are even cooler.

Mr. Moto's Gamble (1938)

Mr Moto cross overs into the Charlie Chan universe.

A boxer dies in the ring, it is later found that he was poisoned, the poison being found on the gloves of his opponent Bill Steele (Dick Baldwin), the death was to fix the fight so gangster Nick Crowder (Douglas Fowley) could make a ton of cash out of the bookies. Japanese detective Mr Moto (Peter Lorre) proves the boxer's death was murder but the search goes on to find out who was behind it.

Meanwhile Lee / Number One Son (Keye Luke) is attending a class by Mr Moto and in his bumbling way gets involved in the investigation... not that Mr Moto really needs any help.

This is a decent detective story, more sedate than Mr Moto adventures often are... more like a Charlie Chan story indeed. That is because this was supposed to be a Charlie Chan film but Warner Oland died early in the film's production and so the film was rewritten to be a Mr Moto film. But it does mean that Mr Moto and Charlie Chan did solve crimes at the same time if we want to get all modern day movie universe about it, it is just a shame of course they didn't get to meet.

The Salamander (1981)

Not quite as good as it could have been but this is an engaging and complex thriller.

A number of prominent figures in Italian society have been murdered. Police officer Dante (Franco Nero) investigates the murders which are linked by a calling card of the figure of a salamander. Dante begins to unravel a fascist plot to stage a coup and now his life and that of Lili (Sybil Danning) is in danger...

This film has a great cast including Anthony Quinn and Christopher Lee though at times can be a bit hard going. The storyline is complicated but lacks the right amount of energy and dynamism to make this compelling and not a bit of a slog. The film is worth seeing though for the good performances and the intrigue which can be down right dark at times, especially in the torture scenes.

Battling Butler (1926)

More restrained than usual for a Buster Keaton film, the comedy coming from the story and situations rather than impressive physical feats.

Alfred Butler (Keaton) is a foppish young man sent by his father to do some hunting to toughen him up. Alfred continues his easy life in the mountains though in a luxurious tent and not a great deal of luck hunting! However, he meets a girl (Sally O'Neill) and falls in love. 

Unfortunately for Alfred, her male relatives are against the match as they think he is a bit of a weed. Alfred's valet (Snitz Edwards) tries to pretend Alfred is a boxer with the same name. Naturally soon Alfred has to enter the ring for real!

An enjoyable if subtle film. It is rather sweet and touching with good visual gags rather than manic slapstick. It is maybe not Keaton's best but it showed he had many strings to his bow.

Beyond Justice (1991)

A desert romp and also utterly terrible.

A spoilt rich kid (David Flosi) is kidnapped by his father (Kabir Bedi) and taken to the desert to become the next Emir of a violent clan in Morocco. His spoilt rich mother Christine (Carol Alt) hires ex-CIA agent Burton (Rutger Hauer) to rescue him. Christine insists on tagging along though as Burton takes on the Emir's (Omar Sharif) goons...

This is pretty poor stuff, so disjointed and confusing. The reason for this is that this is a film length version of a five hour TV mini series! Maybe the original series makes sense but this film edit so often doesn't. Hauer does his usual action hero stuff and that can be good at times, but the problem is the rest of this mess. 

You really do get the feeling Hauer, Sharif and Elliot Gould, who plays Christine's lawyer, are pretty wasted here. Fast forward between the action scenes and it is entertaining enough.