The Black Doll (1938)

That old staple of 1930s crime, a murder takes place and there are many suspects!

Mine owner Rood (C. Henry Gordon) is a rather unpleasant individual who keeps his sister Laura (Doris Lloyd), her son Rex (William Lundigan) and his own daughter Marian (Nan Grey) under his thumb. Plus he has some dodgy dealings in his past. He discovers a black doll on his desk, which means he is marked for death! 

Soon afterwards he is knifed in the back by an unknown assailant. Marian's private detective boyfriend Nick (Donald Woods) is on hand to help out the case, being led by hapless detective Renick (Edgar Kennedy)...

A fairly standard crime B-movie set in a country house and with the usual fast moving plot and red herrings, the Mexican black dolls add a bit of novelty and mystery. The film is fine enough, with enough entertaining scenes to be worth a watch though you may not remember much about it afterwards. The film's main issue is that it suffers from making the enthusiastic amateur detective too clever (and a bit smug) and the professional crime fighter too stupid!

Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977)

Japanese monster mayhem, but the 70s cool is the real winner.

A young woman falls down a hole and ends up discovering dinosaur eggs. A geologist with an interest in palaeontology discovers that a plesiosaur is terrorising his old home town, soon there are pterodactyls as well! And the humans are their prey...

Somewhat different for a kaiju film, with a bit more graphic violence than the usual cartoon like mass destruction of model buildings. 

It isn't a very good film though with a confusing, slow moving but rather generic storyline. The best parts about the film are it's late 1970s cool feel (at times) and a Japanese funk soundtrack.

Meet the Wildcat (1940)

An enjoyable crime drama involving art thefts, undercover agents and deception.

A notorious art thief called the Wildcat has ripped off another gallery in Mexico City. Magazine photographer Ann (Margaret Lindsay) spots a man stealing a painting from a frame and tells the police. The man, Brod (Ralph Bellamy) is supposedly a detective though Ann is unconvinced. She investigates Brod who she thinks is a shady customer. She gets him thrown in jail, but then is tricked and forced into helping him escape!

However, unknown to Ann, Brod is a real undercover agent and his arrest and escape was all staged in order for Brod to join the gang of the real Wildcat. But Brod and Ann are soon in real danger from the Wildcat and his gang of thugs as they prepare their next big heist...

A fairly complicated plot but a good one, this is a 1940s crime B-movie with a difference as it involved art theft and undercover work. Fast moving with good interplay between the leads and certainly plenty of charisma.

It's a Bikini World (1967)

A decent late 60s beach bikini film, plenty of young people frolicking in their swimwear, and even some plot too!

Delilah (Deborah Walley) turns up on the beach where beefcake Mike (Tommy Kirk) holds sway. Naturally, she quickly becomes a target for Mike's affections though she finds him arrogant. Mike overhears that Delilah prefers sensible boys not jocks so he disguises him (barely) as his studious "brother" Herbert. Delilah falls for Herbert but Mike faces a struggle keeping the truth from her...

Don't expect any surprises from this film which is true to it's genre, one highlight is the appearance of The Animals to perform one of their hits. The film's finale of a cross-country race should have been the film's exciting climax but instead becomes a bit of a bore. Times were a-changing, psychedelia was coming and that would soon make films like this look incredibly dated but it is a fine enough watch.

Radar Secret Service (1950)

Radar can do everything, as this curious little film tries to prove.

Uranium has been stolen by a criminal gang, the G-men led by John Howard are on the case and tracking the shipment using radar - which has almost supernatural abilities in this film! 

However, despite the magic of radar the G-men still need to use a shapely blonde to really get the goods on the criminal gang.

This is a decent watch but the premise is pretty ridiculous, though the radar nonsense is pretty funny. Apart from that the film is a pretty run of the mill and very low budget crime drama. 

Look out for the mention of Dick Tracy by radar expert Static (Ralph Byrd) who actually played Tracy in the late 1930s and 1940s!