Blind Warrior (1987)

Completely over the top magical martial arts action, extraordinary and fantastic.

In the days of ancient Indonesia, the brutal warlord Baden Parna (Advent Bangun) is terrorising local villages, enslaving the men to toil in his gold mine and taking the women to his bed. 

Only one man can stop the evil warlord... a wandering blind warrior called Barda (Ratno Timoer)! He has supernatural fighting skills and brings the fight back to Parna...

This is a crazy film, violent yet frequently ridiculous martial arts mixed with a lot of mysticism and magic. The plot is basic, and often doesn't make a lot of sense. But this is a glorious watch and a huge amount of fun, and exotic sleaze.

Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (Serial) (1941)

Everything is thrown at this Dick Tracy serial, which is wonderfully over the top.

A deadly crime boss known as The Ghost has the ability to become invisible. He uses this skill for crime of course. When he wants to deal with his underlings he wears a rather creepy black mask which looks pretty cool. 

Only Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) can stop him (and reveal which of the potential suspects he is) after many cliff hangers and death defying stunts... 

This is pretty good stuff and one of the better movie serials of the 1940s. Nothing is spared and the actions is fast and frequently ridiculous. It is a comic strip bought to life on screen which is exactly how Dick Tracy should be of course.

The Wild Blue Yonder (1951)

A standard training for war film which has few surprises but has some great footage of the iconic B-29 bomber.

The B-29 is coming, but this is a more highly advanced and complicated new plane than has come before and requires a lot of training. Major West (Forrest Tucker) is leading the training, Captain Calvert (Wendell Corey) one of his charges. They are (of course!) rivals for the affections of the same woman Landers (Vera Ralston)! 

After a lot of effort, trouble and revealed dark secrets, the bombers are sent into combat and an explosive ending...

Quite a reasonable film though overly relying on stock footage (some of which is a bit sloppy). The story is a bit hackneyed but the technical details of getting the B-29 into service are very interesting.

The Great Hotel Murder (1935)

A quintessential 1930s murder mystery with the crimes investigated by a fast talking sassy crime novelist!

A mysterious death, later found to be murder by poison, takes place at a hotel during a convention of doctors. Hotel detective McCabe (Victor McLagen) is on the case, unfortunately for him the rather annoying crime novelist Blackwood (Edmund Lowe) also wants to be on the case and competes with McCabe to solve the case. As the hotel is full of doctors who know the poison involved that means that are no shortage of potential suspects...

An enjoyable film with a well matched pair tackling the crimes, with a good mixture of suspects and red herrings. The film can be a bit confusing at times and does seem to end rather abruptly.

The Iron Curtain (1948)

Another film about the notable Soviet defector Igor Gouzenko (see also 1954's Operation Manhunt), but this one details exactly how he defected in Canada.

Gouzenko (Dana Andrews) is posted to the Soviet embassy in Ottawa as a cypher clerk during the war. It is here that he learns that the Soviets are already planning for the post-war period and are sending their agents into the Canadian state and learn about the atomic bomb so they can dominate the world. 

Gouzenko's wife Anna (Gene Tierney) gives birth and Gouzenko begins to feel that he doesn't want his son to grow up in such a world of Soviet domination and seeks a way to escape the paranoid Soviet machine...

A decent film, though there is a propaganda edge to the semi-documentary style. Some good performances add to the tension especially in the final scenes.