Two Dollar Bettor (1951)

A neat if modest cautionary tale of the evils of gambling.

John Hewitt (John Litel) is a respected bank official with a couple of young daughters and a seemingly idyllic life. However, on a day at the races he is seduced into betting on the horses and sees this as a seemingly perfect way to make the money to buy his daughters a new car.

However, his winning streak soon ends and his gambling debts start to build up. Desperate, he starts to steal funds from the bank but the losses continue as do the debts. The bookmaker's secretary Mary Slate (Marie Windsor) who has been leading John on tells him about a dead cert, all he needs is $20K from the bank...

A reasonable film though somewhat sentimental at times. This does give a good contrast between the sweet home life of John and the noir doom his gambling is leading him to. Cheap but does the job.

Colossus: the Forbin Project (1970)

A complete geek fest of retro computing and a very relevant warning for today.

The US have handed over control of their nukes to a computer designed by Dr Forbin (Eric Braeden) called Colossus. No sooner is Colossus activated then things start to deviate from Forbin's carefully worked out plan. Colossus tells them it has a counterpart in the Soviet Union called Guardian. Colossus demands to be able to contact Guardian. This is allowed but when the two computers start to communicate using their own language humans cannot understand then the communications are cut off. Colossus and Guardian launch nuclear missiles and tell the humans to restore communications or else...

The two computers are now in control, Forbin kept under constant surveillance by Colossus. Forbin has to resort to having Dr Markham (Susan Clarke) pretend to be his girlfriend so she can give him information via some naked pillow talk, the only way for Forbin to communicate without Colossus knowing. The US and Soviets devise a secret plan to stop the computers but the computers are always steps ahead...

This is a great film, full of tension as Forbin and Colossus play the ultimate cat and mouse game, unfortunately for Forbin he is definitely the mouse. The ancient computer hardware is a treat but in a world where there are real fears about AI and what it could do to us the story resonates today. 

Booked on Suspicion (1945)

Part of the long running good guy criminal turned amateur detective Boston Blackie series.

Blackie (Chester Morris) helps out his friend Arthur (Lloyd Corrigan) who has purchased a book store, the store relies on auctioning rare books for the majority of it's revenue but the famous book expert and auctioneer Wilfred (George M Cartleton) falls ill just before the auction of a rare Dickens first edition. Blackie, a master of disguise, steps in and pretends to be Wilfred for the sale of the book.

Unfortunately though the book turns out to be a forgery. Blackie tries to find the original owner of the book (and forger) before the money disappears without trace. He is assisted by Gloria (Lynn Merrick), not knowing she is the criminal mastermind's (Steve Cochrane) wife and accomplice. Blackie soon finds himself accused of murder and is hunted by his nemesis Inspector Faraday (Richard Lane)...

This is a good fun film, short and snappy with plenty of storyline and antics squeezed in. An enjoyable film with plenty of surprises.

Devil Dynamite (1987)

A very very strange film. Imagine the strangest film you have ever seen, multiply that strangeness by a million. This is twice as strange.

Steven Cox (Tseung Ha) is a gambler who was sent to prison for ten years because of crime boss Mary (Angela Mao). Now back out of prison he wants revenge. Police officer Alex (Ling Yun) is also after Mary but he has a secret, he turns into a kind of super hero with a silver painted helmet and an outfit made out of tin foil! Mary employs the help of an evil Taoist priest to provide an army of Chinese zombies. There are also some ninjas who get involved in various fights and a child who can vanish...

This makes no sense what so over, but when you realise this is a Godfrey Ho project which mashes up a number of earlier films you can quite understand why this is as characters who are supposedly working together are actually from completely different films!

The story is quite simply bizarre and confusing but the fights between Alex, the zombies and ninjas (which occur a number of times) are actually quite good in a completely over the top cosmic kung fu sense.

Sued for Libel (1939)

A very good crime drama which also has an interesting look at the radio industry in the classic pre-TV days.

A murder trial is coming to an end, will Pomeroy (Morgan Conway) be found guilty of killing the husband of Muriel Webster (Lilian Bond), she insists he is innocent. Meanwhile, at radio station NYEB Steve Lonegan (Kent Taylor) waits for the verdict so he can dramatise it on his highly popular radio show. However, due to a trick by reporter Maggie (Linda Hayes), Steve is told the verdict is guilty even though Pomeroy is acquitted. NYEB is left with egg on it's face and a lawsuit from an angry Pomeroy.

Lonegan is still investigating Pomeroy however, he thinks the man is guilty and also involved in an earlier murderer of a young woman. Muriel proves to be an unexpected information source after the murder of a doctor involved in the case but is everything as it seems?

This is a good drama with a complicated but logical plot and some real surprises in store. The radio scenes are also interesting, though dramatising real news events is rather cheesy, Keye Luke is the man with all the voices - though he is obviously dubbed!