Hot Cars (1956)

Honest Nick Dunn (John Bromfield) is a used car salesman, naturally his honesty is a disadvantage when it comes to flogging old bangers.

Unfortunately for Nick he has a sick young son and needs a job. He takes a new job working for Markel (Ralph Clanton) who seems too good to be true... because he is. The cars Markel wants Nick to sell are stolen, but medical bills for his son means Nick has no choice but to stay. 

However, Detective Davenport (Dabbs Greer) is sniffing around and soon Nick is in a downward spiral of ever deeper trouble...

A low budget film but decent quality. The story is basic but works well enough. Entertaining without being mind-blowing. The 1950s cars are also hot in several ways.

I Live on Danger (1942)

A typically fast moving and fast talking reporter gets involved in the case of a man wrongly convicted for murder.

Jeff Morrell (Chester Morris) is a roving radio reporter who is always one quip too many away from being fired. Eddie Nelson (Edward Norris) is a young man who is accused of murder when a man is shot in his presence. 

Eddie goes on the run but is captured thanks to Jeff much to the horror of Eddie's sister Susan (Jean Parker) - and whom Jeff was becoming sweet on. Jeff now works to try and clear Eddie before it is too late...

A fast moving and breezy film. The plot is pretty basic and fairly generic, at times a bit hard to follow, but it is a great deal of fun. A film perfect for Chester Morris' character.

Planet of the Vampires (1965)

An incredibly campy science-fiction epic. 

A team of astronauts led by Markary (Barry Sullivan) land on an alien world, and immediately things start to go wrong. Crew members start to act strangely, out of control and attacking their own colleagues. 

Some crewmen die and even are bought back to life as murderous zombies on this eerie mysterious world.

Although the sets and costumes are incredibly campy (but to be fair also of the time) and the budget was pretty low, this film is actually rather good at times though let down by the dialogue. 

An atmospheric science-fiction horror. It was a big influence on Alien, which did pretty well.

The Jury's Secret (1938)

An enjoyable courtroom drama with a good twist.

After a deadly flood, the local top businessman (Samuel S Hinds) is accused of profiting on people's sorrows by his reluctant employee Walter Russell (Kent Taylor) who is threatened with being ruined if he tries to quit. Russell kills the businessman and escapes town. However, local agitator Bill Sheldon (Larry J Blake) ends up being accused of the murder and Russell returns to town. 

He meets his old flame reporter Linda Ware (Fay Wray) but then before he can elope with her he is called into jury service for Sheldon's murder trial. Wracked with guilt Russell must ensure Sheldon isn't found guilty...

A good courtroom drama, we know who the real culprit is and it is interesting to see his conflict as he tries to save Sheldon without putting himself at risk! The somewhat cynical look at small town law and justice is also entertaining.

Tobor the Great (1954)

A large robot foils enemy spies, terrific 1950s science-fiction fun!

Professor Nordstrom (Taylor Holmes) and Dr Harrison (Charles Drake) develop a robot to pilot the first rocket into space so they can find out if it's safe for mankind. The large robot can read human minds and enthrals Nordstrom's grandson Brian (Billy Chaplin). 

Unfortunately, enemy agents want the secrets of the robot, which Nordstrom has called Tobor (that is robot backwards). They kidnap Nordstrom and Brian and, in a rather brutal scene for movies of the period, threaten Brian's tender flesh with a blow torch! Luckily Tobor is on the way...

Although it does come with a large side helping of cheese, this is a great little 1950s science-fiction film. Tobor looks suitably ridiculous and the film is not overly padded out with stock footage as some of the genre suffered from.