Hell and High Water (1954)

A superbly tense Cold War drama, with a difference. A mysterious nuclear explosion occurs in the North Pacific, this film explains how it happens. Former submarine captain Jones (Richard Widmark) is recruited by a covert group, which includes the famous nuclear scientist Montel (Victor Francen) - who had recently been reported missing. They want him to command a former Japanese World War 2 submarine to investigate what is going on on some islands in the North Pacific...

Along with Montel and the rather more comely scientist Gerard (Bella Darvi), the submarine heads North. Only escaping an encounter with a Red China submarine by the skin of their teeth. When they reach the island they discover an ingenious plot to crash a former US bomber with a nuclear bomb in Korea...

This film combines submarine warfare with Cold War escapades and does it really well. The characters may be a bit one dimensional perhaps but the film is packed with so much action there probably wasn't the time.

Helpmates (1932)

Oliver Hardy's wife (Blanche Payson) has been away and the house is a complete wreck, when he finds out that his wife is on her way home today he panics and calls on Stan Laurel to help him clean up the house. Naturally calling on Stan's help results in complete chaos and much destruction. 

Finally the house is in something vaguely resembling tidy Oliver heads to pick up his impatient wife at the station, Stan decides to light the fire so all is nice and warm and comfy. However, as the fire will not light he gets some paraffin, what is the worst that could happen?

The humour and slapstick is pretty obvious, you can see the situations coming a mile off but they are all executed perfectly. A great comedy short.

Let George Do It! (1940)

Hilarious early wartime nonsense. When the ukulele player at an orchestra in Bergen, Norway is murdered, we discover that he was a British agent investigating the band leader Mendez (Garry Marsh), Mendez is a suspected Nazi agent sending the locations of British ships to u-boats. The British send another ukulele player / agent as a replacement but due to a mix-up in the blackout George Formby is sent instead!

George is completely hapless of course and has no idea what is going on when his contact Mary (Phyllis Calvert) tries to get him to help. George is spurred on to his patriotic duty and Mary's disappointment and, amid mayhem in a bakery, discovers how Mendez sends his codes (quite ingeniously it must be said). Mendez also discovers something, that George is a spy and he concocts a devious scheme to get rid of him...

Complete pantomime farce of course, especially George's dream sequence where he ends up punching Hitler! The slapstick mayhem is dialled up to eleven in the final act aboard the u-boat. To be honest if we'd have a few more George Formbys the war would have been over by 1941 one way or the other! Very funny indeed. Mother!

Atragon (1963)

The ancient Mu Empire, from under the seas, is launching an attack on the world above. They are trying to seize engineers and experts, which brings them to the attention of Japanese photographer Susumu (Tadao Takashima) and retired Admiral Kusumi (Ken Uehara). The agents of Mu also try to kidnap Kusumi and Makato (Yoko Fujiyama), the daughter of the Admiral's former comrade Jinguji. Makato thinks her father was lost in the war but Mu seems to think he is alive and building a new super submarine...

Kusumi admits it is true and they go to find Jinguji, taking along in tow a reporter (Kenji Sahara) who is so overtly a Mu agent it is ridiculous! On a remote island in the Pacific they find Jinguji (Jun Tazaki) and he shows them the incredible flying submarine he has developed in secret. However, as Mu begins it's attacks on the world above and turns a big chunk of Tokyo into a crater... Jinguji won't help! He says his submarine is only for the glory of the Japanese empire! Can Kusumi and Makato persuade Jinguji to change his mind before the mighty forces of Mu led by the Empress (Tetsuko Kobayashi) conquers the world?

Very good Japanese sci-fi / monster nonsense (Mu has a living god sea serpent though it is beaten rather easily). The film drags at times and some of the storyline doesn't make a lot of sense but this is a fun film overall full of terrific special effects and mayhem. Jinguji's tension, torn between duty and his love for his daughter adds a welcome bit of depth to the film.

Quatermass 2 (1957)

Excellent science fiction horror thrills. Dr Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) is annoyed because Whitehall has canned his plans for a Moon base. Meanwhile, strange meteorites are landing in the countryside. When Quatermass goes to investigate, he discovers a secret base, just like his plans for a Moon base! His assistant (Brian Forbes) is afflicted by an exploding meteorite and suddenly strange men in masks appear and seize the assistant and send Quatermass packing...

Quatermass knows something weird is going on. He gains access to the base with the help of an MP (Tom Chatto) friend, but his friend dies covered in a bizarre substance and Quatermass narrowly avoids capture and probable zombification. 

With the help of another friend, Police Inspector Lomax (John Longden) and a reporter (Sid James), Quatermass tries to enlight the help of the men of a local village. At first they are hesitant, but when a local girl is hurt by a meteorite, they rise in rebellion and storm the base. Quatermass knows that an unimaginable alien horror lurks in the giant steel tanks...

Although the effects are dated of course the film is chilling, the Quatermass films were always able to portray inhuman horror and science terror perfectly.