Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

Classic science-fiction thrills as Earth battles wobbly flying saucers.

Flying saucers come to Earth, they contact the scientist Dr Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and tell him that Earth must surrender to the aliens or be destroyed. Dr Marvin and his wife Carol (Joan Taylor) work to develop a magnetic weapon that can cause the saucers to drop out of the sky. 

However, time is running out and the aliens are watching. They are also preparing to attack the major capitals of the world...

This film is typical of the flying saucer attacks genre and one of the most iconic parts of it. The special effects are maybe a bit dated now but good for their day. The final battle scene is very exciting and includes plenty of destruction.

The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady (1940)

Once again the retired jewel thief uses his skills to help out those in need.

Joan (Jean Muir) is an honest working girl who is due to marry into a wealthy family. She is entrusted with some valuable jewels but soon finds herself accused of murder when someone tries to steal her jewels, but the thief is himself killed by someone else! Jean enlists the help of The Lone Wolf Michael Lanyard (Warren William) and his trusty butler Jamison (Eric Blore). 

The Lone Wolf discovers that the location of the jewels was only known to a small number of people, one of those must be the murderer/thief but whom. As usual Inspector Crane (Thurston Hall) is only interested in arresting the Lone Wolf!

This is an excellent entry in the Lone Wolf series with plenty of sleuthing and red herrings. It also has the usual humour, fast moving action and interplay between the Lone Wolf and Jamison which makes this series so enjoyable.

Mark of the Witch (1970)

Mind bending witchy nonsense on campus.

A witch is hung in England, but not before she curses her captor. Many years later a descendant of that captor now lives in the USA on a university campus. One of the students, Jill (Anitra Walsh) is obsessed with the occult after discovering an old book and performs a spell to summon a witch. 

Unfortunately, the witch summoned is the one hung three hundred years before. Now the witch has possessed Jill and seeks revenge on her professor (Robert Elston) as well as terrorising the campus...

This is a low budget shock fest but looks great and is a lot of fun. The final battle is completely psychedelic and pretty wonderful to be honest. A perfectly decent early 1970s horror.

The Puppet Masters (1994)

A surprisingly good alien invasion film.

An alien lifeform lands in Ohio and takes possession of humans by sticking it's probes into human brains. Government agent Nivens (Donald Sutherland) is investigating the reported landing of a UFO, which seems to be an obvious fake but the locals are acting strangely, quickly resorting to violence to stop any investigation. 

He and his fellow agents Sam (his son) (Eric Thal) and Mary (Julie Warner) discover that horrible fast reproducing manta ray like alien creatures are possessing people in town and looking to possess as many people as possible.

A race against time begins as the agents and military try to contain the aliens and find a way to defeat them, without killing their human hosts.

A fine film though maybe stretches the plot a little too far (plus there are some obvious flaws in the alien plans and methods which the humans fail to notice). The alien visuals are pretty gruesome at times and make good use of the modest budget. The action is frequent though can be a bit ropey at times. Overall though this is pretty enjoyable.

Illegal (1932)

Rather melodramatic perhaps but an interesting look at the murky world of illegal bars and gambling dens.

Mrs Dean (Isobel Elsom) kicks out her no-good husband (DA Clarke-Smith) but then received a windfall from the race track. She uses the money to buy a failed bar, making money with after hours drinking and illegal gambling in order to fund her two daughters' good education. She eventually gets caught but by then her daughters have grown up and taken over the club. However, their troubles have only just begun, especially when their step-father re-enters their lives...

This is actually a rather sordid film at times, even including a bit of incest! The acting is a bit erratic, though good at times. The mechanisms of a club of ill repute plus the humour here and there enlivens the film. It can't be called good, but it can be called interesting.