Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle play a couple of drunken gents in this early Chaplin comedy. The gents get drunk together amid much slapstick and end up passed out on the tables in a restaurant before getting thrown out and returned to their long-suffering wives (Phyllis Allen and Minta Durfee).
This is all a bit rough and crude compared to the kind of film Chaplin would be making his name in in a few years. It is fine enough for what it is.
Ernie (Kenneth Connor) is told his rich uncle has died by a somewhat sinister solicitor (Donald Pleasance). Ernie heads off to his uncle's country pile with his mate Syd (Sid James), a lonely looking house in the moors. Ernie's fellow family members are a motley crew of weirdos. Then the deaths start happening...
Ernie, Syd and the rest, including the uncle's former nurse (Shirley Eaton) scramble to try and work out what is going on in the strange house and stop the murderer. However, they need to identify who it is first. Surely it must be one of the family members present or is it, in this house riddled with secret doors and passageways...
This is a fine film, most of the time it isn't laugh out loud funny rather than humorous and inventive but it does have it's slapstick and ridiculous moments especially with Connor and James. It has plenty of twists too, it works as a dark house crime drama as well.
The Master McAllister (Lee Van Cleef) is an American veteran who now possesses the mysterious skills of the Ninja. Along with his young friend Max (Timothy Van Platten) they aim to help out those in need. In the first episode... half of the film they help out the owner of a small airfield and his daughter (Demi Moore) against a scheming land developer and the local police who are in his pocket...
As this film is based on the first episodes of the series we do get some back story for McAllister and Max and also see Max begin his ninja training. The action is quite generic for 1980s US TV series, with the usual budget to match so doesn't amount to much. Lee Van Cleef was a little too old and creaking to play a convincing ninja but the film isn't without it's good bits. It is a fairly passable film though but you can see why the TV series did not last that long.
A satellite sent up by the US starts to act strangely and it is bought back to Earth in a team led by Dr Nelson (Peter Graves). Meanwhile, his friend Dr Anderson (Lee Van Cleef) is acting strangely and seems to be talking to... someone. That someone turns out to be a being from another world and it intends to take control of the Earth... by sending space bats to attack the local sheriff and mayor and putting them under his control...
But just wait until you see the jiggly rubber suit horror that is the alien! This is a fun film and is very familiar with all the common tropes like small town settings (very budget friendly), ridiculous aliens and nefarious plots to conquer mankind but foiled by men in open-top Cadillacs. The film is ridiculous but very watchable.
London based US reporter Michael (George Murphy) delays his holiday to Paris to look in on a strange case of an umbrella wielding criminal who has apparently done away with someone. A policeman is also shot by the mysterious man.
While taking a look, with his trusty dog (Corky), and after chasing a man with a brolly, Michael encounters Patricia (Rita Johnson) the daughter of a rich businessman (Montague Love). Somehow the businessman's house, or someone from the household in any event, is involved in the Umbrella Man case and Michael wants to court Patricia in any case. With the help of Inspector Jefferson (George Zucco), though shouldn't that be the other way around, Michael tracks down the mysterious Umbrella Man who is employing all number of tricks to stay ahead of the law...
A fine crime drama with plenty of twists and turns. London is eternally foggy and dark though that helps with the sinister atmosphere of course. The accents can be quite something, but not in a good way. The villain is very good and the crimes are inventive. Though the ending of the film is somewhat rushed.