The Music Box (1932)

A hilarious comedy short as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are tasked with delivering a piano. The problem for the guys is that they have to carry the heavy crate containing the piano up a long flight of stairs. Various mishaps occur (of course) resulting in the crate ending back at the bottom of the stairs.

Finally the crate reaches the top of the stairs but the house owners are not in, Laurel and Hardy decide to basically break in and install the piano, cue more mayhem and destruction. When the house owner Professor von Schwarzenhoffen (Billy Gilbert) arrives home he is less than impressed with the piano never mind what has happened to his home...

A very funny film packed full of terrific slapstick and nonsense. Wonder too, despite many mishaps and crashing back down the stairs several times the piano is still undamaged when it is removed from the crate. It obviously was packed very well.

This film is an example (and there are plenty of others too) of Laurel and Hardy at their best. The staircase that causes them so much trouble still exists and is Los Angeles, you really wouldn't fancy carrying a piano up there.

The stair case, on Google Street View

False Faces (1919)

The story of a criminal (the Lone Wolf played by Henry B Walthall) who is tasked by the Allies in the First World War with stealing a cylinder containing vital information from behind the German lines. German agents are aiming to stop him of course, with the usual twist in movie land the head of the German agents (Lon Chaney) is the man who earlier killed Lone Wolf's sister and nephew...

Unfortunately this isn't that great a film despite the promising story. The film, made so soon after the end of the war, suffers from veering too much into propaganda. The Germans are portrayed as vicious animals, the Allies are perfect good guys of course. Most characters are fairly one-dimensional. The plot is also rather incoherent with a lot of back and forth shenanigans which have little end product. The scenes aboard a submarine are ridiculously unrealistic. 

An interesting watch from the point of view of an early war film but thats it! The film has some interesting ideas, such as the use of ghosts to portray guilt and torment but the execution is usually pretty flawed.

The Adventures of Tartu (1943)

A truly excellent wartime espionage film. Terence Stevenson (Robert Donat) is a bomb disposal officer dealing with unexploded bombs during the Blitz. As if that isn't dangerous enough he is chosen to head to Eastern Europe to infiltrate a German factory in Czechoslovakia which is producing a new deadly chemical weapon. Unfortunately for Terence, who uses the cover name Jan Tartu, his contacts are captured by the Gestapo before he can make contact.

He takes board at a house but quickly discovers that there is more than meets the eye to Maruschuka (Valerie Hobson) and Paula (Glynis Johns) who he both suspects are involved somehow with the underground. However, Maruschuka thinks Terence/Jan is a Gestapo agent and tries to get the German officer sweet on her (Walter Rilla) to kill him! Luckily she discovers that Terance/Jan is the real deal just in time but as the Germans are getting ready to produce the first shipment of gas can a successful sabotage mission be staged?

The film travels at a fast pace and leaves little room for much subtly but has an exciting plot with plenty of twists and turns. Although the film has unmistakable propaganda touches, it also has room for a great deal of shade. Is Maruschuka a collaborator or an agent herself? Does Terence really know what he is doing? The chemical factory sets are very impressive and wartime footage is cleverly interwoven into the film. 

The Challenger (1979)

High octane if somewhat repetitive kung fu action. Chin (Norman Chu) is working his way through all the martial arts schools in the lands, challenging the masters in order to find the man he wants to kill. Yu (David Chiang) is also challenging people left, right and centre but because he wants money. Yu notices that Chin is loaded and challenges him, their fight ends in a draw...

Wei Ching-Fung (Lily Li), the madam of the casino/brothel, gets involves with both men but unknown to them she is the woman of the man Chin is looking for, Master Pao (Philip Ko). Wei hires Yu to get rid of Chin but they end up uniting in order to fight Pao in a final epic showdown...

The film has a lot of fighting scenes, and they are good, especially the final battle. However, a little more plot might have helped to space the fights out. The film has a number of comedy numbers which verge between cringe and awful. A good if uneven kung fu film with impressive and charismatic performances by the principles.

The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935)

An enjoyable Ellery Queen murder mystery. Ellery (Donald Cook) and Judge Mackin (Berton Churchill) head off to California on holiday. Immediately they are drawn into a crime mystery as Stella (Helen Twelvetrees) is found bound and gagged in their chalet after her uncle has been apparently kidnapped. When they return Stella to her parents' home they find the first of a number of murders has been committed...

While Sheriff Moley (Harry Stubbs) stumbles his way through the crime scene, Ellery pretends he is not interested in the situation though he is very interested in Stella. He, of course, manages to discreetly steer Moley away from arresting everyone on sight while finding the real culprit...

A very agreeable country house mystery with a number of possible culprits and red herrings. A seasoned crime film watcher will probably quite quickly realise what is really going on but this is a well made little murder mystery.

The Fourth Protocol (1987)

A tense and layered spy drama. The head of the KGB has a dastardly plan to split NATO apart. They send Petrofsky (Pierce Brosnan) to the UK with a very important mission: to build and detonate a nuclear bomb at a US airbase! The mission is above top secret with a string of permanently silenced agents left behind as Petrofsky gets ready. MI6 are already on the trail though with Preston (Michael Caine) investigating the smuggling in of nuclear material...

Caine plays a great role here as the agent hated by his superior and under an official cloud, but will save the world anyway. He does this with plenty of surveillance, wading through records and not a small amount of violence. 

Brosnan also plays a good role as the cold and smooth agent whose only real weakness is that he is rather horny. Ned Beatty and Ian Richardson also star as senior and double-dealing officials on either side.

The Earth Dies Screaming (1964)

A very low-budget science-fiction horror film but does an amazing job with what it has. Tough American pilot Jeff (Willard Parker) arrives in an English village to find everyone dead. Finally he comes across a small number of survivors including Peggy (Virginia Field) and the mysterious Taggart (Dennis Price). Jeff thinks the Earth has been hit by a gas attack, he and all the other survivors all had reasons to evade the gas (aircraft, oxygen tent, air raid shelter). Then Jeff sees some cranky looking robots staggering through the village...

The motley crew of survivors do not get very far, They have a pregnancy to deal with, and alcoholism from one of their members. Finally Jeff discovers that the robots, and dead people bought back to life as zombies, are being controlled by a nearby transmitter. He and Mel (David Spenser) head off with a Land Rover full of explosives...

The film drips with suspense and a moody atmosphere and shows that you don't need a big budget and a wife range of sets and locations to produce an effective science-fiction film. The robots are rather ridiculous, who look like they have been made out of any junk which was handy, the mystery of Taggart is not really explained but our plucky survivors manage to defeat the robots and go home happily for tea.