The Mysterious Mr. Valentine (1946)

A complicated crime drama involving blackmail and murder.

Janet (Linda Stirling) is driving at night when one of the tyres on her car blows out. She asks chemist John Armstrong (Tristram Coffin) for some help, but this begins a nightmare for Janet involving John's jealous wife Rita (Barbara Wooddell), a hit and run Janet becomes involved in, a disappearing body and blackmail. 

Private detective Steve Morgan (William Henry) helps Janet out, though often he needs some help himself from the police (Thomas E Jackson)...

The story is a little hard to follow at times but this is a fine drama, underpinned by a developing relationship between Janet and Steve which is very cute. Fast moving and squeezes a lot of plot into a short running time.

I Eat Your Skin (1971)

Playboys head off to a weird voodoo island for hijinks.

The publisher (Dan Stapleton) of a playboy novelist Tom (William Joyce) head off to Zombie Island (great name) to get inspiration for a new book. After just about managing to not crash their plane into the sea, Tom and the others discover a mad scientist (Robert Stanton) trying to cure cancer. 

Obviously, the existence of murderous zombies, with eyes which look like ping pong balls stuck to their faces, on the island has something - i mean nothing to do with him...

This isn't a great film though the kitsch feel and the generally off-beat approach does help with the watchability a lot. The voodoo scenes are very entertaining too though it is too ridiculous to be that scary a horror film. 

The best/funniest part of the film, being an author myself, is the idea of a novelist being a happy-go-lucky bed-hopper irresistible to women!

Sleepers West (1941)

Private detective Michael Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) has to bring a witness back by sleeper train, but a number of people want to thwart him.

A high profile trial is taking place in San Francisco but the testimony of Helen (Mary Beth Hughes) can put the rich defendant away. Shayne is tasked to bring Helen back from Denver, but the defendant has hired various men to try and stop them. 

Helen meanwhile is tiring of her role in the spotlight and falls in love with Everett (Louis Jean Heydt) who is having a mid-life crisis. Shayne also has to handle his journalist old flame Kay (Lynn Bari) meddling in his affairs...

A great crime B-movie that takes place mostly in the claustrophobic confines of a railway train. A lot of story is packed into these railway cars too. The story moves as fast as the train does.

Flashman (1967)

Before they started taking themselves too seriously, super hero movies tended to be cheesy and fun. This Italian film certainly is both of those!

Rotten criminals in old London town steal the formula for invisibility from a (mad) scientist. The Kid (Ivano Staccioli) uses this new power to steal cash from a bank, though is foiled by Flashman (Paulo Gozlino) - a super hero who is also a member of the Royal Family! What makes things more complicated is that the stolen money is worthless, it was all counterfeit spread by a gang of gorgeous female forgers led by (Claudie Lange)...

This film is silly and makes little sense. The camp factor is high and the action is ridiculous, the invisible man scenes are often quite laughably poor. As long as you don't take it seriously then it is a fun, if at times a little too over the top, watch.

The Shadow Laughs (1933)

A rather disjointed and awkward comedy crime drama.

A murder/robbery takes place in the bank, though the police do not seem to be getting anywhere. Luckily reporter Robin Dale (Hal Skelly) is on hand to take over the investigation! 

How he is any better than the police is unknown though he does have plenty of the usual "snappy" dialogue that reporters of the 1930s and 1940s had to have by law, though to be honest you'll see a lot snappier dialogue in many other films of the period...

Indeed, there were many films like this from the 1930s and unfortunately that means there are many other films to compare it against and unfortunately this film isn't that good! The pacing and dialogue is awkward and the story doesn't really make a lot of sense. The film isn't without some lightness but as a drama it doesn't have much going for it.