Great Guy (1936)

He might be holier than thou in this role but James Cagney really scores in this role... as a weights and measures inspector!

In New York the weights and measures inspectors make sure citizens are not short changed. Small cheats lead to big profits and thus the inspectors are under fire. Johnny (Cagney) is put in charge of the department after the head is put on the shelf in a suspicious accident. Johnny discovers that everyone in business wants to be his friend, and want him to look the other way in return for a bribe. 

Even though Johnny plans to marry Janet (Mae Clarke), he remains firm. Though unfortunately one of the crooked businessmen is Janet's boss and this soon puts his relationship under trouble as well as his safety...

This is a great little film, one of a couple of B-movies Cagney made for smaller studios when he was between major studios. His character is maybe a little too good to be true at times but Cagney pulls it off in his usual energetic and charismatic style, of course. 

The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988)

The last of a series of Dirty Dozen sequels, by now everything was wearing a bit too thin.

It is 1943 and secretly the Nazis believe the war can't be won, thus twelve young Nazi hot shots are going to be sent to the Middle East to lay the foundations for the Fourth Reich. Major Wright (Telly Savalas) recruits another bunch of condemned and hopeless convicts for another suicide mission to go deep into Nazi held eastern Europe and kill the Nazis before they can reach Istanbul.

To make things more complicated, one of the Major's Dirty Dozen is a Nazi spy and is intent on sabotaging the mission. The Major thus changes his plan on the fly though this could mean his men become targets of the RAF!

A rather by-the-numbers TV movie, it has the usual tired tropes of crack SS stormtroopers not being able to shoot straight plus the premise doesn't really make a lot of sense. It is fine enough to watch if you just want some wartime action and not worry too much about quite why!

Double Exposure (1944)

Fast moving crime with added comedy and romance.

Larry Burke (Chester Morris) is the editor of a trashy magazine always looking for good photographers. He finds one in Pat (Nancy Kelly) and he has feelings for her, but her boyfriend Ben (Philip Terry) kind of gets in Larry's way! 

Meanwhile, the latest wife of playboy Sonny Tucker (Charles Arnt) is found dead, just after Pat staged a very similar photoshoot herself for another feature. Pat gets the blame for the murder, unfortunately Ben can't provide her with an alibi as Larry tricked Ben to get on a boat on a wartime convoy which has been sunk! 

Light and fast moving fare, Chester Morris plays his usual charismatic character which makes the film. Although the film does include a murder, it is mostly a comedy with some rather zany characters and snappy dialogue.

Child Bride (1938)

Some films from the interwar period could not be made nowadays due to changes in social attitudes, even thinking about making a film like this one nowadays would probably get you put on a list! This film tackles the thorny issue of ..er.. tweenage girls marrying older men.

The concept of the age of consent has yet to reach the rural mountain communities of 1930s America. Very young girls are regularly married off to much older men, though the teacher Miss Carol (Diana Durrell) wants to get the practice outlawed. Unfortunately, one of her pupils, 12 year old Jeannie (Shirley Mills) has caught the eye of Jake Bolby (Warner Richmond) and he is willing to go to any lengths to get his hands on her including murder and blackmail...

A rather dark and mildly exploitative film to say the least, though not that sleazy (thank God!) It is a rather interesting film though ultimately pretty distasteful. Happily, Bolby doesn't get his evil way with Jeanie and instead gets punished for his misdeeds, i'm sure you won't mind these spoilers!

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.