The Boat (1921)

Buster Keaton has built a boat in his house and intends to take his family on a trip. What could go wrong? Apart from everything.

First of all the boat is too big to get out of the house, the boat is finally removed from the house but not without demolishing the house! Buster's wife (Sybil Seely) is not that impressed naturally though shows admirable restraint. When the family do get to the sea, the boat it sinks (of course) leaving them in peril! He could probably do with another hobby to be honest.

This is a good slapstick comedy but with some subtle humour too. So much is packed into this short film, you might even think a little too much? A great film from a comedy master. 

These Girls Are Fools (1950)

Many try their luck in Hollywood, some succeed and others... take their clothes off apparently.

Sheila Anderson is a naive beauty queen who wins a part in a "Hollywood" film. Unfortunately for Sheila its a bit of a con, really the film turns out to be a low-rent soft core porn film where she has to take her clothes off and do some nude swimming. Unfortunately her chances of a real career as an actress are now ruined as no one wants to hire a "porn actress". It doesn't end well for Sheila, viewers may have a happier ending.

The film narration tries to paint this little film as a public service film warning young ladies about Hollywood, yeah right its actually a pubic service film serving up some female flesh and sexploitation. Terrible trash obviously, so blatant it is quite amusing.

Burn 'Em Up Barnes (Serial) (1934)

Burn 'Em Up Barnes is a highly successful racing driver, not someone who often crashes as you might imagine from that name!

Barnes (Jack Mulhall) and his mate Bobby (Frankie Darro) help Marjorie (Lola Lane), the owner of a bus company, who also owns a plot of seemingly worthless land. Of course the land isn't really worthless, it contains rich oil reserves which crooked race promoter Drummond (Jason Robarbs) wants for himself. He will stop at nothing to achieve his evil plans in a series of death defying cliff hangers!

Unfortunately it all gets a bit repetitive after about half a dozen episodes though the stunts are often amazing (though the speeding up of racing footage is obvious at times). Not the best 1930s serial but an enjoyable romp all the same.

Thunderball (1965)

A classic James Bond film, with much underwater action.

SPECTRE steal two British atomic bombs and hold London to ransom, James Bond (Sean Connery) is one of a number of agents sent to find out where the bombs are, naturally James' assignment is to the Bahamas and not, say, Hull. Naturally James does not do much actual spying, preferring to appear in plain sight and let SPECTRE boss Largo (Adolfo Celi) come to him.

Largo of course has a swanky mansion complete with a pool of sharks. James, with the help of Domino (Claudine Auger) - Largo's mistress whom James soon seduces, manages to foil the SPECTRE plot to nuke Miami after a long (maybe too long to be honest) battle underwater...

A highly enjoyable film though not without flaws, at times the action is rather slow. However, the story and SPECTRE plot is top notch making this a very good entry in the Bond canon.

Daughters of Satan (1972)

A rather average Satanic horror film though makes the best use of a limited budget.

James (Tom Selleck) is an art dealer living in the Philippines with his wife Chris (Barra Grant). One day he finds a mysterious painting at an antique shop owned by Ching (Vic Diaz). The painting appears to show the burning of some witches, one of which looks exactly like his wife! The painting freaks Chris out, and James too as she seems to know a lot about what the painting shows...

More mysterious events begin to occur. Some elements of the painting disappear, and their likenesses appear in real life. These include a vicious black dog and a stern maid (Paraluman). James begins to think the painting is possessed, Doctor Dangal (Vic Silayan) knows there is witchcraft at play but the coven led by Kitty (Tani Guthrie) deal with him. Now she wants Chris to deal with James...

The film has plenty of suspense and creepy moments. It also has some rather racy scenes involving naked women being whipped. Ultimately the plot is a bit disappointing especially towards the end, however this is a reasonable watch. 

His New Profession (1914)

An early Charlie Chaplin short comedy. An interesting if not especially brilliant stepping stone on the road to greatness.

Courting couple Charlie Chase and Peggy Page are having their date ruined by a crippled uncle (Jess Dandy) they are supposed to be looking after. They see Charlie and decide that of course that he would be the perfect person to outsource their care for uncle to! 

Much antics follow, including Charlie taking advantage of the uncle to beg for some money and gets into a fight over a girl...

Chaplin was still learning the ropes and also his Tramp character was still in it's very early days. It is by no means the best Chaplin film, the main character is a bit too mean and aggressive. A fine historical piece nonetheless.

Hurricane Smith (1952)

A tale of treasure and freebooters on the South Seas which gets mired in calm seas.

Hurricane Smith (John Ireland) and his crew are marooned on an isolated island in the Pacific (why is never quite explained, it feels like they missed the first 20 minutes of the script out) but escape by stealing the ship of slaver Raikes (Emile Meyer). Later in Australia, and badly in need of coin, Smith's boat and crew is hired by Gorvahlsen (James Craig) to explore the flora and fauna of the South Seas but really Gorvahlsen is after gold.

Obviously because it makes perfect logical sense, Smith has pressganged Raikes into his crew, the two of them want the gold for themselves. The beautiful young Luana (Yvonne De Carlo), whom Smith falls for, also complicates matters of course.

Filmed in Technicolor, the film looks gorgeous and has plenty of swash buckling action and a fast moving plot but despite the bright blue skies ultimately the film is a bit dull. The film isn't very original and lacks a spark, though is a reasonable watch.