Night People (1954)

A static but tense Cold War drama.

A young US serviceman is snatched off the streets of West Berlin, Colonel Van Dyke (Gregory Peck) is tasked with retrieving the man, though has to content with political pressure from home as well as the dark antics of the Soviets. Van Dyke isn't sure who he can trust as more details emerge of the price that must be paid to return the soldier...

This is a good film that relies on good dialogue and tension rather than action, indeed for much of the film not a lot is happening at all! That doesn't matter though as the story is slowly revealed. A dark tale of double agents, betrayal and intrigue where people are mere pawns of the major powers and completely disposable.

Assault on Dome 4 (1996)

Low budget science-fiction action nonsense, and it is great!

Notorious terrorist Windham (Bruce Campbell) seizes an off-world base and forces the scientists to build bombs for him. 

Luckily, space policeman Chase Moran (Joseph Culp) just happened to be on the station at the same time (to surprise his wife Jocelyn Seagrave) and now he is on-hand to stop Windham and his mad and murderous scheme to take control of an alien world...

This is pulp nonsense which involves a lot of running around a space base and endless fights. Moran is the one-man army who whittles down Windham's squad one by one. It isn't very original, and has cheap special effects, but is a fun and frequently ridiculous watch. The cheese factor is high.

Satan's Triangle (1975)

It is the Bermuda Triangle with a twist!

A boat issues an SOS and a US Coast Guard helicopter is despatched crewed by Pagnolini (Michael Conrad) and Haig (Doug McClure). Haig ends up stranded on the boat due to a storm, and he finds there is a survivor Eva (Kim Novak). 

She tells him of horrible events which took place on the boat after a priest was rescued from the open sea, which resulted in the deaths of the rest of the crew. Yet, what really happened?

An excellent TV movie which presents the familiar (and cool in the 1970s) Bermuda Triangle mystery and gives its an extra supernatural bite. The dark twist at the end elevates this into a movie well worth your time.

SOS Coast Guard (Serial) (1937)

An exciting though familiar action serial.

A scientist (mad of course) called Boroff (Bela Lugosi) has developed a disintegrating mist and wants to sell it to rival powers of the good old USA. Coast Guard Lieutenant Kent (Ralph Byrd) and his reporter girlfriend Jean (Maxine Doyle) gets involved with the hunt for the fugative Boroff and also has to tackle Boroff's brutal thug Thorg (Richard Alexander) who really makes this serial with his impressive and menacing physicality.

A succession of death defying cliff hangers to follow. This serial is well made though pretty familiar fare. Although Lugosi is the main villain, Thorg is the most memorable one. The rest of the cast do a competent though unexceptional job though this is well worth a watch.

Falling from the Sky: Flight 174 (1995)

A gripping telling of a true story of a near disaster in the air.

Captain Bob (William Devane) has a routine trip taking his new Boeing 767 across Canada. Unfortunately, there is a problem. Canada has switched to metric and this has confused the ground crew. Therefore, Bob and his fellow crew and passengers discover that their airliner is about to run out of fuel...

Bob has to demonstrate all of his flying skills to get his now-glider safely down on the ground. Meanwhile, the motley collection of stereotypes amongst the crew and passengers face the danger in many different ways.

A good film though padded out a bit. The soapy elements do add a bit of human interest to the film and to heighten the stakes but maybe slightly over done. A neat little cameo is made by the real Captain Bob Pearson who plays an examiner who assures some trainees that it could be done!