On the Spot (1940)

A fun little crime caper romp, part of a series starring Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland.

Frankie (Darro) is a budding young scientist, biding his time working for a small town chemist before he heads to NY. He and Jefferson (Moreland) get involved with a gangster who tries to tell them a secret, where some stolen loot is hidden, before he dies of gunshot wounds. Unfortunately the man dies before he can tell them. 

The problem for Frankie and Jefferson is that no one believes that they were not told the secret and now everyone is after them, including gangsters and the law!

Darro and Moreland were a great double act and they help make this film highly entertaining. As a crime drama it works pretty well, once you get over the zaniness.

Rocketship X-M (1950)

Man sends it's first rocket ship to the Moon, only it ends up on Mars instead. Well we all makes mistakes.

The Rocketship X-M is the first manned rocket into space commanded by Dr Eckstrom (John Emery). Once in space things go wrong and the rocketship goes out of control. Soon it ends up in orbit around Mars so they land there instead! Eckstrom and the crew which includes Graham (Lloyd Bridges) and Van Horn (Osa Massen) explore this strange barren new world. 

They quickly discover the ruins of an advanced civilisation, with evidence that they destroyed themselves in a nuclear war. Now the savage survivors throw big rocks at their human visitors!

A perfectly decent 1950s space romp, the warnings about the danger of nuclear war and the rather downbeat negative ending makes the film stand out. The film is black and white but switches to a red tinted film for the Martian exterior shots which is a nice touch.

Meet the Hollowheads (1989)

A very strange sci-fi comedy, incredibly 1980s looking.

We are in a very strange future where a Jetsons like family live in a world of pipes, strange gadgets and mysterious punishments for misbehaving. Henry (John Glover) is trying to impress his boss to get promotion, at home though Miriam (Nancy Mette) is trying to control their unruly children including Cindy (Juliette Lewis) preparing for a rave party. Brother Bud (Lightfield Lewis) is practicing his music instrument which seems to also be a kind of mutated chicken.

Cindy is later bought home by the police after being caught intoxicated by softening cream. Henry's boss (Richard Portnow) comes for dinner, but he isn't there to be buttered up by Henry, rather he is interested in sexually harassing Miriam...

Honestly this is more like a fevered dream than a film, and has a real late 80s music video look and feel. Of course it doesn't make sense, but it isn't really supposed to. Incredibly imaginative though maybe sometimes you can take it a little too far. Certainly memorable even if it does become a bit tough going at times.

Murder in the Private Car (1934)

A highly entertaining crime drama that turns into a thrilling runaway train caper.

Ruth (Mary Carlisle) is working as a telephone switchboard operator, she doesn't know much about her past. But then she discovered she is the long lost daughter of a rich railway owner. This puts a big target on her back but an attempt to kidnap her is foiled by the slightly strange Scott (Charles Ruggles) who turns out to be a kind of a private detective.

Ruth and party head off on a train to meet her father, Scott also tags along. After a few escapades including a murder and an escaped gorilla, the private railway car they are all in is set free - packed with explosives - to kill everyone...

This is a fun film that proceeds at a fast pace (like a runaway railway car). The story is also very varied, the humour can be a bit goofy at times but it does not spoil anything. A highly enjoyable film.

I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)

A troubled teenager is hypnotised into becoming a hairy beast.

Tony (Michael Landon) is always getting into fights and treating his girl (Yvonne Lime) badly. Finally, he agrees to let the psychologist Dr Brandon (Whit Bissell) hypnotise him to help cure his troubled mind...

Unfortunately, Brandon is using Tony for his illegal experiments in human regression. He causes Tony to regress to becoming a werewolf and goes on the rampage...

Low budget teen horror nonsense of course but this film was very influential to the genre, leading to many copycats. With it's mix of teen delinquency, rock and roll and horror scenes it is cheap but undeniably entertaining. Michael Landon plays a good role.