To Love Ferrari (1994)

The Ferrari in the title being a girl played by Vivian Chow not a car. Though she does get to drive one at the end of the film.

This is really half film half early 1990s cantopop music video, even down to a bizarre fight sequence where the heroes can only fight while listening to Grasshopper. And when the ghettoblaster is destroyed Vivian leaps onto some oil drums to hammer out the beat so they can fight on. No really.

Vivian plays a girl who dreams of being a singer, she is loved by two guys. They fight, balls get released onto the floor of a dancefloor and Vivian ends up going head first into some electric lights. She ends up blinded, her dreams of being a singer are shattered. Her brother's club gets involved with some minor hoodlums and Vivian is kidnapped. Of course she gets electrocuted again and cured. If only the world of real medicine was as miraculous as in the movies...

Nonsense of course but very watchable and typically cross genre like many HK films. If you like early 1990s cantopop then the soundtrack is great. The film is worth watching just for the tunes and the zaniness of HK pop culture back then.

Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

The notorious Alcatraz was the most secure prison ever built, no one escaped from it... until three men did. Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood) has arrived in the prison after a conviction for bank robbery. With the Anglin brothers John (Frank Ward) and Clarence (Jack Thibeau) he decides to escape the jail when he finds that salt water (the prison is an island in San Francisco Bay) has made the concrete around the ventilation grill in his cell weak and he begins to chip away...

Over long months a careful plan is formed, amid harassment by the Warden (Patrick McGoohan) and violent fellow cons. Frank and his compatriots will chip away at the concrete around the grills, remove the grills and then slip away. They then try and escape the prison in roughly fashioned rubber dinghies...

The film is based on a true story and implies the escapees got away (their ultimate fate is still unknown). An intelligent film full of details and suspense. It has some great performances especially by Clint Eastwood.

The Ghost of Monk's Island (1966)

A delightful Children's Film Foundation film. Four children (Pierre Bedenes, Lucinda Jackson, Peter Bartlett and Robert Bartlett) are allowed off to sea on their own but run into trouble. They eventually land on tiny Monk's Island which, they are told by Eli (Conrad Phillips), is now uninhabited... except for the ghost of a monk.

While the search for the children continues news comes in that a convict (Jerold Wells) has escaped gaol and has been seen in the area. Meanwhile why does Jacob (Ivor Salter) seem to want to discourage Eli from checking Monk's Island? Meanwhile on the island the children (who seem to be able to find anything they need including string in abundance) start seeing the ghost of a monk...

A wonderfully nostalgic film when kids could be left to play all day on their own, and when boys carried knives it was to help them make kites, stockades and other boy scout antics. The film is full of the sort of things that used to fascinate children like abandoned houses and mysterious tunnels in a simpler, more civilised age...

Flight to Mars (1951)

A fairly generic early 1950s science-fiction film (evil aliens, rockets seemingly lashed up in a back yard, strange alien windows) though one with superb set design. A group of scientists set off on a mission to Mars but their rocket is damaged en route so they end up crashing on the planet... luckily right next to the entrance of the Martians' underground city.

The humans which include Steve (Cameron Mitchell), Carol (Virginia Houston) and Dr Jim (Arthur Franz) are met by Ikron (Morris Ankrum) the leader of Mars. The Martians have an advanced society and offer to help the humans repair their rocket ship. But Ikron secretly wants to steal the technology so he can conquer Earth. Luckily Martian lovely Alita (Marguerite Chapman) warns them of the plans...

So the plot has little surprises, though is fast moving. The futuristic set designs and weird fashions (the women wear outfits which looks like a mix of elf costumes and early Star Trek dresses, the men pseudo-fascist uniforms) look superb. Enjoyable sci-fi nonsense where (of course) the universe can be saved by an all-American fist.

Beauty and the Barge (1937)

A rather low energy but not unappealing comedy. Ethel (Judy Gunn) is engaged to marry but she hasn't seen her fiance for a few years and has changed her mind, though her father locks her up. She manages to escape just in time before the fiance shows up. She meets a young lieutenant (Jack Hawkins) who becomes smitten with her.

Ethel is helped by a Thames barge captain (Gordon Harker) who has a beau in every port and tavern along the river. He is smitten with Ethel though is also involved with Margaret Rutherford. A light farce follows.

The film is based on a play and this really shows at times as the dialogue often sounds like its being directed at a live audience. Not a laugh-a-minute comedy but enjoyable nonsense with one-dimensional stereotype characters. The now lost world of the Thames sailing barge is also interesting.

Arabian Adventure (1979)

A fun adventure romp. Evil magician Alquazar (Christopher Lee) is seeking the rose which will grant him ultimate power. Handsome young hero Prince Hasan (Oliver Tobias), after escaping Alquazar's dungeon, is tasked with finding the rose in return for hand of the lovely daughter Zuleira (Emma Samms). Hasan gains the help of the rather dodgy Khasim (Milo O'Shea), the boy thief Majeed (Puneet Sira) and a flying carpet!

Their adventure features all the usual Arabian fairy tale tropes including faces in mirrors and genies in bottles. But also fire breathing metal dragons! Hasan has been set up to fail, part of the evil plans of Alquazar. And who is the trapped soul in the mirror?

It is light and fun, the special effects are maybe a bit dated these days though add to the nostalgic feel of a classic children's adventure. The cast is good with some notable cameos from the likes of Peter Cushing and Mickey Rooney. Plenty of magic and plenty of swash buckling.

The Upturned Glass (1947)

A superb noir-ish crime drama. James Mason is a neurosurgeon who relates a story of murder and revenge to students... of course he is speaking about himself. Dr Joyce (Mason) meets Emma (Rosamund John) when he is treating her daughter Ann (Ann Wright). A romance begins between Joyce and Emma though they decide to end it for the sake of the husband. Then later Joyce hears Emma has thrown herself from a window...

Joyce can't believe she committed suicide and begins to look for the truth. His suspicion falls on Ann's sister-in-law Kate (Pamela Mason). Kate is a rather unpleasant selfish and money-grabbing young woman. Joyce begins a relationship with Kate with the aim of killing her the same way she caused Emma's death...

Not everything goes to plan of course. The film ends with a number of twists, it maybe ruins in some way the noir film film by becoming a bit of a melodrama. The performances are superb especially by Mason portraying a man who assumes he is sane and dispensing justice and not a crazed criminal but is he really any different? At the end we know the answer.