The Silent Witness (1932)

Melodramatic at times but this is a pretty solid crime and court room drama.

Naive young fool Anthony (Bramwell Fletcher) is wrapped around the finger of his manipulative lover Nora (Greta Nissen) and her scheming husband Blake (Weldon Heyburn). Finally, he snaps and he thinks he has killed Nora. His father Sir Austin (Lionel Atwill) decides to take the blame to save his son from the gallows. In the court room the case against him begins to unravel putting Anthony back in peril... but did he kill Nora after all?

Anthony is an incredibly annoying character who drags the film down at times but when he is kept away from the story then things develop nicely into a very solid crime story and some good court room scenes with some good British humour and characters. The story is very good and Greta Nissen steals the film with her sexy performance. An excellent film.

American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950)

The Japanese have conquered the Philippines, but the Americans haven't given up yet!

After Palmer's (Tyrone Power) patrol boat is sunk during the Japanese invasion, he and his crew are trying to get back to the US Navy. 

However, their attempts fail and Palmer begins to work with US personnel and Filipinos to fight back against the Japanese and prepare for the return of the US forces led by General MacArthur...

This is an enjoyable war movie with some classic tropes as well as plenty of jingoism but that is to be expected from a Second World War film made so soon after the events being recounted. 

The Doomsday Flight (1966)

One of the best TV movies ever made, an excellent tale of high drama at high altitude.

A flight takes off bound for New York, the usual collection of stereotypes is aboard including the arrogant celebrity Ducette (John Saxon). 

However, the flight captained by Anderson (Van Johnson) soon runs into trouble as a mysterious man (Edmond O'Brien) rings the airline to tell them there is a bomb aboard! The bomb is air pressure sensitive, so will explode if the plane drops below a certain altitude. With time running out, FBI Agent Thomson (Jack Lord) battles to try and catch the bomber, though the bomber is getting drunk and throwing everything into chaos...

This is a truly excellent film with a lot of tension and plot twists and turns. Great performances and a well paced and staged plot make this film very highly recommended.

Canal Zone (1942)

Although full of cliches, this is an interesting war film that approaches a somewhat neglected aspect of the conflict.

Bombers need ferrying from the US mainland out to the forces fighting in the East, this requires flying them from Panama across to Africa, a highly dangerous job. Despite this, barely trained pilots are being recruited and Hardtack Hamilton (Chester Morris) has his work cut out to get them ready. The new pilots are a collection of stereotypes, but the one which causes the biggest headache for Hardtack is the arrogant playboy Ames (John Hubbard) who takes risks in the air and is trying to muscle in on Hardtack's girlfriend Susan (Harriet Nelson)!

Ames' risk taking soon results in a disaster after a fellow pilot is killed. Ames falls into despair at what he has done. Now Hardtack and Susan must try and drag him back to the obvious redemption arc!

An enjoyable film, though fairly predictable, it is well made and has some good performances. The aerial scenes are obviously done with models and are not very realistic but it does not ruin the film.

The Swiss Conspiracy (1976)

A superb crime drama, though it does seem intent in shoehorning every Swiss cliché into it that is possible.

Swiss banks are famous for their secrecy and discretion, however someone is putting that at risk by black mailing the customers of the bank operated by Hurtil (Ray Milland). 

Former US agent Christopher (David Janssen) is bought in to investigate, but soon tangles with mobster Hayes (John Saxon) and the rather more lovely Abbott (Senta Berger). There is an insider behind this conspiracy, the identity of which is quite a surprise...

A very good film, though leans rather more heavily on the "Swiss-ness" of the setting than maybe it should. At times it does risk becoming self-parody but luckily the strong plot and good performances save the day and make this a very worthwhile film indeed.