The Boys in Blue (1983)

The comedy duo star as a couple of police officers, it certainly is a crime scene.

Sgt. Cannon (Tommy Cannon) and PC Ball (Bobby Ball) are a couple of bumbling police officers who comprise "The Force" in a sleepy village. There is little crime in their village, and so the police big wigs (Eric Sykes and Jack Douglas) are looking to close down the station. Cannon and Ball decide they need some crime to justify their continued employment and so plot to steal the painting of a local businessman (Roy Kinnear). But real art thieves are hiding out in the village...

Now, i did enjoy the comedy of Cannon and Ball on TV but this big screen outing really is wretched stuff. Cannon and Ball's comedy simply did not work in this situation and it destroys the film, despite the excellent supporting cast which also includes Jon Pertwee and Arthur English. Even a whole host of solid film comedy veterans can't compensate for the failure of the stars and the rather average execution and storyline. It really is a shame.

The Crimson Canary (1945)

Time for some cool jazz, and a murder mystery.

Danny Brooks (Noah Beery Jr) has a jazz band that are preparing to head onto San Francisco. However, the corpse of singer Anita Lane, who had fractious relationships with most of the band, (Claudia Drake) is discovered in the dressing room. 

The band, not knowing what happened or who killed Anita though Johnny (Danny Morton) was also in the room but discovered out cold and not knowing what happened, decide to run for it. Club owner Vic Miller (Steve Geray) calls on detective Roger Quinn (John Litel), who just so happens to like cool jazz, is on the case and after the band...

This is a decent crime film with a Noir-ish edge. A solid (if not spectacular) piece of police work interspersed with a number of jazz songs. 

Gamera vs. Giron (1969)

The rocket firing giant turtle who protects children is back!

Ako (Nobuhiro Kajima) and Tomoko (Miyuki Akiyama) chance upon a landed flying saucer and naturally, being small boys, go on board. The saucer takes off and goes into space. Aliens kidnap the boys to find out what is in their brains, and if they don't find anything interesting they'll eat their brains instead. 

Gamera heads into space to rescue the boys and has to fight the monster Giron who has a gigantic knife sticking out of his nose...

So, this is quite an odd film and definitely aimed at children. The plot is nonsense and it includes the usual destruction of model buildings by people in monster suits. Giron with his big knife is an interesting foe for Gamera for sure and pretty menacing too.

The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957)

The long and unwieldily title is only the start of this film's weirdness.

With their men having sailed away to not return, a group of Viking women (including Abby Dalton and Susan Cabot) decide to head off in a ship and look for them. They encounter a sea serpent in a far off sea and end up shipwrecked and the prisoners of a strange race... who have enslaved their missing men folk! 

Despite the rather unpromising premise, this isn't that bad a film despite the obviously minute budget. It is a bit cheesy, campy and unlikely but is plenty of fun. 

Everyone looks like they walked off a California beach of course, not the ancient Scandinavian hinterland. The serpent is a bit of a let down though.

Airport (1935)

A superb slice of pre-war nostalgia about London's international airport, no it wasn't Heathrow back then it was at Croydon! This film looks back at the operations and activities at the airport as international air travel first got going in earnest. 

From the aircraft themselves, to maintenance, and the various other support services. Everything was optimistic and exciting as the world was beginning to open up. No one really thought or knew about the dark storm clouds soon to be on the horizon though the swastikas on the inbound flights from Germany could give you a clue. An excellent film from the Shell Historical Film Archive.