The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)

An excellent Sherlock Holmes film.

Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr Watson (Nigel Bruce) are called to help to investigate a mysterious beast which is stalking the foggy moors. Young heir Sir Baskerville (Richard Greene) is in danger from this beast, but is the real danger from someone a bit more human...

Before the Rathbone-Bruce films entered the present day (well the 1940s), they did a couple of official Sherlock Holmes stories set in the correct period, of which this was the first. Their characters arn't quite set yet but they do a very good job with a classic story. 

Its a very atmospheric story though the foggy (and presumably chilly) moors reverberate with the sound of crickets for some reason.

Thunder in Carolina (1960)

High octane track action makes up for a bit of a stall in the plot department.

We are in the early days of NASCAR and top racer Mitch (Rory Calhoun) is out of action for awhile following a bad crash in a race. 

Mitch takes young hotshot Les (Race Gentry) under his wing, unfortunately he also takes a shine to Les' wife Rene (Connie Hines) though this only one way. Success on track goes to Les' head and he begins to make some risky choices...

This film will be a bit more enjoyable if you like watching motor racing as these scenes are pretty good, the rest of the film could do with being in a higher gear. Not that bad but could have been more.

Fighting Ace (1979)

A generic revenge kung fu story is enlivened by some top notch action.

As a boy Kao Che (John Liu) witnesses a madman kill his father (for a book), and then rape and kill his mother (just because). 

Twenty years later he learns kung fu from a number of teachers including Kwan Yeung Moon who does an incredible action set piece, and accompanied by a comedy sidekick (of course) he sets out for revenge...

Well the story isn't very original but that doesn't really matter. People watch films like this for the action and that is very good. A great film for kicks for sure and some innovative fights.

Show of Shows (1929)

It is 1929, sound films have quickly revolutionised the cinema industry and there is a hunger by audiences to hear as well as see the stars of the silver screen...

Warner Brothers created this film as a showcase of it's stars which isn't a film as such but a musical-comedy revue hosted by Frank Fay. We see top stars of the day like John Barrymore, also performances from Broadway acts and even Rin Tin Tin!

It is a lavish period piece, the comedy often falls a bit flat but the large scake spectacle is very impressive. It is worth watching for the historic value alone, but it is also pretty entertaining at times.

Deadline Auto Theft (1983)

A bit of a mess of a film, although good fun to watch as long as you don't think about it too much.

A gang of criminals led by Maindrian Pace (HB Halicki) is stealing valuable cars. After the gang steal the car of police captain Gibbs' (Hoyt Axton) fiancé, Gibbs is out to get the gang. Meanwhile, Pace has been contracted by a drug lord to steal dozens of cars for him...

This film frequently doesn't make a lot of sense, but it is actually an older film (1974's Gone in 60 Seconds) which has been edited quite heavily and has a whole new opening scene (quite a good action set piece as well although cars are crashed for no apparently logical reason apart from it looks cool). The jarring fashions of the two sources of this film are quite noticeable at times, it is all a lot of nonsense really but fun to watch.