The Bride and the Beast (1958)

A strange tale of past lives and jungle antics. An Ed Wood Jr creation that is surprisingly good.

Newly wed Laura (Charlotte Austin) is surprised to discover that her husband Dan (Lance Fuller) has a gorilla (Ray Corrigan in a gorilla suit of course) in his basement. However, as Dan is a big bang hunter maybe it is not that strange after all. Laura is strangely drawn to the gorilla and vice versa. When the gorilla escapes that night he is all tender with Laura, though Dan shoots him anyway!

Through hypnosis it is discovered that Laura has a past life as a gorilla! Despite all that, their honeymoon to Africa to shoot animals goes ahead anyway. Over in Africa, two escaped tigers throw Dan and Laura into peril, and Laura meets more gorillas...

Not a bad film but padded out with a little too much animal footage. The story is quite strange and has a very unexpected ending. The story drags a bit but is just enough to keep you interested.

Howard the Duck (1986)

This is either something completely awful or a work of genius (twisted admittedly).

Howard (voiced by Chip Zien) is just an average duck on a world of ducks but then he is bought to a world of humans (Earth!) when a science experiment by Dr Jenning (Jeffrey Jones) goes wrong. Howard is trapped in a strange land, the only friend he has is Beverly (Lea Thompson), the singer in a failing rock band. 

With the help of Beverly and her friend Phil (Tim Robbins), Howard tries to find a way to get home but that might be the least of his troubles when the experiment goes wrong again and unleashes an extraterrestrial evil on the world...

This is a really crazy film, the star being a sarcastic anthropomorphic duck! The special effects, especially Howard's puppetry and suit work, are pretty decent and the film has some good action set pieces including a microlight chase, some good sassy humour, and even a human-duck sex scene! Once you reassure yourself that you are really seeing such a film and not having an acid trip then there is much here to enjoy, and occasionally cringe over. 

Mr. Mean (1977)

Blaxploitation goes to Italy, and has a cool old time.

Mr Mean (Fred Williamson), a former gangster, is hired by the Mafia in Italy to do a hit... on one of their own in Ranati (Stelio Candeli) who has bought shame on the Mafia (apparently) by indulging in the wrong kind of criminal activities. Mean is successful in his task of course but then he finds himself the target of a Mafia hit...

Williamson made this film whilst making another film, keeping it's existence a secret from the other's film's producers. Honestly, it does show. It is all rather ineptly made and frequently confusing. However, despite that it is a fairly entertaining film (though some scenes do drag) that certainly has plenty of 70s cool and some decent funky tunes. Williamson plays a good tough and butch role.

The Mysterious Miss X (1939)

This is an often silly but enjoyable murder mystery with some interesting twists.

Actors Keith Neville (Michael Whalen) and Dan Casey (Chick Chandler) are heading to New York after performing in a crime play. They stop off in a small town and immediately get involved in a murder that takes place in their hotel. Keith manages to get out of being a suspect when the honourable if unimaginative local police find his play props and think he really is a famous detective from Scotland Yard!

Reluctantly acting as a detective to try and avoid trouble, he ends up getting in deeper than he is comfortable with and gets involved with local girl Julie (Lynne Roberts), whose father is also a suspect in the murder. Much complicated and red herring filled crime drama follows.

This is a perfectly reasonable crime B-movie, the concept of actors accidentally becoming real detectives is an interesting one. There is a fair amount of humour but it just about strays the right side of the line between enhancing and destroying the plot. Whilst the film is mostly well trodden territory, the film is well worth your time.

Doctor in Clover (1966)

Traditional British comedy in a hospital, maybe this is like a prototype Grey's Anatomy?

Dr Grimsdyke (Leslie Phillips) is released from prison (where he was the prison doctor not a convict!) He is immediately snatched up by Sir Lancelot Spratt (James Robertson Justice) to work in his hospital. Grimsdyke is fairly uninterested in this, though interested in French physiotherapist Jeannine (Elizabeth Ercy) a lot! 

Meanwhile, a new matron (Joan Sims) has arrived at the hospital and has begun a reign of terror. Sir Lancelot thinks the iron maiden can be melted with a love interest and gets Grimsdyke to try and hook her up, though he didn't think that he would be the one Grimsdyke would get Matron interested in!

So, this is a silly comedy in the great British way. We get lots of farces, a little bit of innuendo and plenty of light humour. It is all nonsense of course but very silly inoffensive fun. Don't expect much in the way of medical realism, do expect people being accidentally injected up the backside.