Monday, August 28, 2023

The Woman Condemned (1934)

A decent if confusing crime drama that ends with an enjoyable twist.


Radio star Jane (Lola Lane) goes missing after some menacing phone calls, private investigator Barbara (Claudia Dell) is arrested after breaking into her apartment looking for clues. At court reporter Jerry (Richard Hemingway) gets interested in the case, or rather interested in Barbara, and ends up getting married to her there and then! Next however Barbara is arrested for Jane's murder, she does not seem to want to help herself or get Jerry's help on anything.

Jerry finds a phone number which leads to a private hospital where the mysterious Dr Wagner (Mischa Auer) is a plastic surgeon, and Jane is alive and well as Dr Wagner was removing a birth mark from her face. So, who is the dead woman, and what exactly is going on?

It is rather confusing though the plot has some interesting aspects, the conclusion is satisfying even if getting there is a rather choppy ride.

Friday, August 25, 2023

North Sea Hijack (1980)

The tension builds and builds in this slightly eccentric action tale.

Criminals led by Kramer (Anthony Perkins) seize an oil rig tender in the North Sea and hook up explosives to two rigs, they want millions in cash or there is going to be a rather large explosion. Admiral Brinsden (James Mason) is to negotiate with the criminals, though his assistant ffolkes (Roger Moore) is really an expert in anti-terrorist operations at sea and his team are planning an attack...

The film has a great set-up though you have to wait a long time for the big action set-piece (which probably isn't that big after all). It is worth the wait though as the tension is built up very well thoughout. Ffolkes character is superbly odd (and very unlike Moore's Bond in many ways) and adds a great deal of interest to this otherwise fairly straight forward tale.

Thursday, August 24, 2023

The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976)

The Gaulish comic hero reaches the big screen, with good effect, by Toutatis!

Julius Caesar's Roman legions have conquered Gaul, well all except a small village which is holding out against the might of Rome thanks to a magic potion created by their druid. This allows the villagers, especially our heroes Asterix and Obelix to defeat Roman attacks time and time again thanks to the super strength granted by the magic potion.

Caesar tires of the Gauls, whom some Romans call gods, and challenges them to twelve tasks a la Hercules. If Asterix and Obelix can complete all of the tasks then Caesar will surrender, if they fail then the villagers will become Rome's slaves...

This is a fun adaptation of the indomitable Gauls which stays true to the storyline on the whole and is very entertaining. An inventive story, i especially liked the bureaucratic task. Voice actors in the English version include Sean Barrett and Michael Kilgarriff and they do an excellent job. 

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Candles at Nine (1944)

A sometimes silly but interesting crime drama.


An old rich man (Eliot Makeham), who in the best traditions of the movies is mean and spiteful, is about to announce who is the sole beneficiary in his will to his assembled family and staff. However, he dies in mysterious circumstances before he can tell them. When his will be revealed, everyone is shocked to find young actress Dorothea Capper (Jessie Matthews) is not only his niece but also gets everything!

This enrages the old man's maid (Beatrix Lehmann) who wants the money for herself. She first tries to intimidate Dorothea out of claiming her inheritance then, when that fails, plans to kill her. Luckily Dorothea has an ex-detective (John Stewart) on hand to help and advise her...

A fun little film that doesn't take itself seriously, indeed at times it resembles a bit of a send-up of the mystery house genre. The light antics can be taken a little too far and the film does include a song and dance routine (which is mercifully brief). A decent and well flowing film if sometimes a bit annoying. Look-out for Patricia Hayes in one of her earliest roles.

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Carry on Spying (1964)

The dark and dangerous world of international espionage... for laughs.


STENCH (Society for the Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans) have stolen a top secret chemical formula. Unfortunately the only agent available to try and retrieve the formula is bumbling Simpkins (Kenneth Williams) and his three trainees (Barbaras Windsor, Charles Hawtrey and Bernard Cribbins). The four are sent to Vienna to look for the STENCH agents Fat Man and the Milk Man and link up with Carstairs (Jim Dale) to help, unfortunately they prove much more of a hinderance than a help!

Following more hijinks in Algiers and on a train, the four agents end up with the formula but also prisoners of STENCH and the evil Dr Crow (Judith Furse). Can they somehow save the day and foil the evil STENCH?

This is a great send-up of the 1960s spy genre, its packed full of satirical references to other films and TV series. It also has the usual double entrendres, campy humour and a bit of sauce. Not quite the best Carry On film, it lacks the energy and slapstick of the series at it's height, but certainly a good film and pretty funny.