The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story (1988)

A tense TV movie about a real-life hijacking that took place just a couple of years before.

Chief flight attendant Uli (Lindsay Wagner) thinks her next flight will be a run-of-the-mill run from Athens. However, soon into the flight two Hezbollah terrorists hijack the flight. Castro (Eli Danker) threatens to blow up the plane unless the crew do as they say. 

The plane is soon travelling backwards and forwards between Beirut and Algiers, Uli and the rest of the crew are trying to keep their passengers safe, especially their Jewish ones and US servicemen, while the terrorists demand the release of prisoners...

An excellent film, the low budget helping to keep everything low-key and very believable. The terrorists are brutal, violent but also humanised to build out the characters and not making them 2-D cardboard cut-outs as so often happens with characters like this on screen.

The Greene Murder Case (1929)

An early Philo Vance talkie.

The Greene family are that staple of interwar American families on screen: rich and hate each other! They live in the family ancestral pile and must live there for fifteen years otherwise they won't get a share of the late Mr Greene's wealth. 

After two of the family are killed within a few minutes of each other, Philo Vance (William Powell) is called in by the baffled police (Eugene Palette) to help, but even he is confused by the various possible suspects, though it helps that the possible suspects are being whittled down by being murdered too! 

A good film. Technically interesting especially with some of the camera angles in the final act and the peril on the roof. The story is good with some interesting psychological aspects to it. Although an early talkie the sound recording and acting isn't too bad.

Operation Bikini (1963)

A rather strange film that is a mix of wartime drama and pop video!

Captain Carey (Tab Hunter) is tasked with transporting an underwater demolition team to Bikini Atoll which is held by the Japanese, and a US Navy submarine with top secret technology is currently sunk on the seabed and must be blown up before the Japanese can find it. Among the demolition team is Malzone (Frankie Avalon) who dreams of being a 1960s crooner and hanging out on a beach amongst young women!

This isn't a great film but it is a very strange one. The war scenes are not bad though the sort of anti-submarine warfare seen before (and probably better). The songs and weirdness take the film to a whole other level, which is either awful or brilliant or maybe a bit of both.

Time Travelers (1976)

An enjoyable TV movie, if you can overcome the rather ridiculous premise.

A new disease is in danger of getting out of control. The only way to fight the disease is apparently to... travel back in time to Chicago 1871 where the disease once rose before but was successfully treated by a now long dead doctor. Earnshaw (Sam Groom) and Adams (Tom Hallick) are sent back in time. Unfortunately, there is a slight miscalculation and they are sent just days before the great Chicago fire which will destroy everything...

OK, you obviously will consider that if the US government possesses time travel technology you may wonder why a mere virus is now a problem. However, if you suspend enough disbelief than this is a fine little film.

The Thirteenth Chair (1937)

A detective story set in the "mysterious" East and involving seances, could a film be any more from the 1930s?

After the murder of a man in Calcutta, Inspector Marney (Lewis Stone) is bought in to investigate this baffling case. "Help" comes from an unexpected direction as Madame La Grange (May Whitty) to performance a seance with a group of people linked to the victim, one of whom is probably the murderer. 

However, during the seance another man is murdered! Marney investigates the case, this time he is sure the murderer is in the room, and a number of secrets are revealed...

This is a highly enjoyable crime film with tasty additions of Eastern mystery and mysticism. Not as witty or intelligent as an Agatha Christie type of story but not bad at all. The crime itself and how it is solved is a lot more down to earth though. Some great twists and a good character mix make this a pretty good film.