The Looking Glass War (1970)

An excellent Le Carre adaptation, though one which differs from the book somewhat. The Department is a fading section of British Intelligence desperate to recapture former glories. When they find out about apparent Russian missiles in East Germany they see the chance to regain their standing by sending a man in to verify the information...

Polish layabout Leiser (Christopher Jones) is whom LeClerc (Ralph Richardson) and Avery (Anthony Hopkins) find to infiltrate the Iron Curtain. Leiser doesn't care about politics, he just wants to live in the West and chase girls. However he is trained to be a killer and some basic spycraft and then sent over. What could go wrong?

A lot in fact, from the start the operation is bungled and the East Germans are never far away from Leiser, who hooks up with local girl Anna (Pia Degermark) and travels across Germany in an old lorry leaving the odd body behind...

Dark and bleak but also having a touch of "Swinging London". Leiser is a bit of a blank slate, his motivation is rather vague, his characterisation a bit undeveloped. The film looks beautiful though and has a cynical edge to the glamour and sunshine.

Dogora (1964)

A rather confusing film. Although this is a Toho movie and involves a monster destroying perfectly made minature buildings, the main focus of the film is a crime story involving diamonds. Though the monster, a giant jelly fish from space, likes eating diamonds (and coal) so the stories are linked!

The crimes (and monster) is being investigated by Inspector Kommei (Yosuke Natsuki) and gaijin Mark Jackson (Robert Dunham), as well as bearded scientist Dr Munakata (Nobuo Nakamura).

The problem with the film is that is it neither one thing or the other. Most of the film is taken up with the diamond case, which is rather confusing though the actual crimes are well done. The monster seems a bit tacked on and doesn't take up much of the film, those does provide for the opportunity for some special effects... and destruction. Not a great film but it looks good.

Dead Men Walk (1943)

A decent creepy vampire tale. Dr Clayton (George Zucco) discovers that his twin brother Elwyn has gone into league with Satan. He secretly kills Elwyn but it is no use. Elwyn is now an un-dead vampire who has a taste for the blood of his niece Gayle (Mary Carlisle). Kate's beau David (Nedrick Young) at first suspects Dr Clayton of being behind Gayle's decline.

The town folk, a motley collection of gap toothed hicks, suspect Dr Clayton as being behind the dark forces taking place in the town...

The film has some good atmosphere, especially in the cemetery scenes, though the film isn't too original. It has all the usual elements of a vampire movie including a hunchback servant in Zolarr (Dwight Frye). The film needed a little more energy, Carlisle had an easy role in this, she spends most of the film in bed!

The Devil to Pay! (1930)

Ronald Colman excels in this film as Willie, a suave and workshy man with a heart of gold, but a weakness for gambling. He returns home, penniless from Africa, to his angry father (Frederick Kerr) - though very easily charms the old man. He also meets Dorothy (Loretta Young) who is engaged to marry a rather dull aristocrat. Willie and Dorothy fall in love...

However, there is a complication of course. Willie was in love with showgirl Mary (Myrna Loy). Willie has promised Dorothy never to see Mary again, and Dorothy's father has engaged a detective agency to find out if Willie breaks his promise...

A bright and breezy romantic comedy. Colman's cad-ish charm filled the screen. It is fairly light and inconsequential perhaps but a highly enjoyable little film.

I Bury the Living (1958)

A creepy film though most of that atmosphere is generated an excellent soundtrack. Robert Kraft (Richard Boone) has been made chairman of the cemetery, his job mostly entailing putting pins into a map of the graves and telling the strange caretaker Andy (Theodore Bikel) what to do. However to Robert's surprise he accidentally puts black pins into the burial plots of two friends who die soon after...

More black pins are put into the map, some when sceptical friends challenge Robert, and more deaths soon follow. Robert fears it isn't just a load of coincidences and that he has become an angel of death...

A simple film mostly filmed mostly in a somewhat run-down cottage. The film is tense and works well with it's low budget. The film has a twist though it isn't one that will surprise you. The twist changes the whole direction of the film, for better or worse depending on your point of view.

Jack and the Beanstalk (1970)

No doubt as the drug induced haze of the end of the 1960s began to slowly disperse, the idea of making a vaguely psychedelic and low budget version of a fairy story must have seemed a good idea.

So of course the story is very familiar, Jack (Mitch Poulos) is tricked out of selling his cow by Honest John (Chris Brooks) for a handful of magic beans instead of money. Mum (Dorothy Stokes) is displeased at this and throws the beans out of the window... but lo... the beans suddenly become a "giant" beanstalk (a rope with a few leaves tied onto it!)

Jack climbs the beanstalk and enters a magical realm inhabited by a grumpy giant (Renato Boracherro). Jack steals the giant's golden hen, but of course this puts the giant on Jack's trail...

A strange film that looks more like a filmed school play. The fairy tale is slightly modernised and the dialogue has a touch of late 1960s modernisation. It is a bit groovy, not brilliant but certainly different.

Tiger on the Beat (1988)

Tiger on the Beat is not that original a film, a veteran cop and a rookie have some mis-matched adventures but all comes right in the end to face the big baddie. Sgt. Li (Chow Yun Fat) is the veteran, a tough cop who eats whole slices of ham in one go and always has an eye for the ladies. Officer Tso (Conan Lee) is the rookie, eager and ready to use his martial arts skills.

Obviously the pair do not get on, but Li needs Tso to help him bust a big case and get his career back on track. After a good deal of humour and traditional HK movie oddness we get down to a decent showdown with the criminals, including a chain saw fight with Gordon Liu.

A good fun film if a little messy at times. Like many HK action films it could do with a little less. Chow Yun Fat plays a great role, cool and cocky, with plenty of humour. Conan Lee pulled off some incredible action scenes.