Wings Over Africa (1936)

A bright and breezy quota quickie set in the jungles of ...er.. Shepperton. 

A skeleton is discovered by Tony Cooper (Ian Colin) and Dalton (James Carew) in the African bush. With the skeleton is a letter to Wilkins (James Harcourt) in London. Cooper naturally makes the very long trip to act as the postman. Wilkins, an ornithology obsessed clerk, says the letter is from his brother and that he discovered a fortune in diamonds in Africa.

Cooper and Wilkins recruit Trevor (James Craven) and Carol (Joan Gardner) to fly them to Africa. The natives are friendly though the other white men already there not quite so. Dalton is also rather annoyed at Cooper who he thinks has tricked him out of the diamonds. The diamonds are discovered but then the deaths begin. Who is killing off the party to keep the diamonds for themselves? 

A straightforward film with a basic story padded out with plenty of wild animal and native footage. More a murder mystery than a jungle adventure though you pretty much guess who it is before very long. Not a bad little film at all.

The Life Story of David Lloyd George (1918)

A bio-pic made on an epic scale of the wartime prime minister (and hero), but never shown at the time and thought lost until discovered 75 years later and finally shown to the public.

This film had the blessing of Lloyd George and his family, it starts off with photos of his birth certificate and him as a baby! We see the actual house he grew up in and various scenes from his life are dramatised by actors. Some scenes are on a massive scale with thousands of extras!

The film is quite propaganda-ish in feel at times (despite that the Liberal Party had the film suppressed for fear of harming Lloyd George before the election). Obviously being a silent movie quite a lot of the impact of various dramatic speeches he made are lost! The film is a remarkable achievement, though watchable mostly due to it's historic value and novelty more than anything else.

The Scarecrow (1920)

An enjoyable and highly inventive comedy from the legendary Buster Keaton.

Buster Keaton and Joe Roberts are poor farmhands who manage to survive in very inventive ways, including reusing the same coin over and over again in the gas meter! They are both interested in the farmer's daughter Sybil Seely. Buster disguises himself as a scarecrow to cause trouble for Joe and soon he and Sybil are engaged. But of course they get married in a madcap road scene while on a motorbike and sidecar combination!

A great comedy, inventive (the hut they live in at the start with all the hidden gadgets and tricks is brilliant) and slipstick which culminates in a frenetic and fairly spectacular final scene. 

Paul Temple's Triumph (1950)

Frenetic crime fighting antics from Paul and Steve Temple.

A scientist (Andrew Leigh) is kidnapped by the mysterious criminal Z. The scientist's daughter (Anne Hayes), a friend of Steve (Dinah Sheriden), asks for help but she is later found dead. Paul Temple (John Bentley) and Steve begin to investigate, their search taking them into the countryside but where Z's organisation seems to have agents everywhere...

A fast moving film that stretches a small budget as far as it can go, unfortunately a lot of the film takes place in hotel rooms or driving around country lanes (though Temple drives an early Aston Martin which is interesting). The film is based on a radio serial and has that feel with regular cliff hangers. Basic but effective.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

This isn't just Bond, it is Bond at it's most bonkers. Total genius!

British and Russian ballistic nuclear submarines go missing. James Bond (Roger Moore) joins forces with a top KGB agent in the Bond-friendly form of Major Amasova (Barbara Bach) to investigate. As usual the trail leads to exotic locations, in this case Egypt where Bond and Amasova first encounter the man mountain Jaws (Richard Kiel) who has a mouthful of iron.

Bond and Amasova soon discover that mega rich industrialist Stromberg (Curd Jürgens) is somehow behind the plot, he is obsessed with creating a new society living under the seas. Bond wonders why has he got a new gigantic oil tanker with a curious bow which looks like it could open. Why the tanker looks big enough to be able to store two large submarines...

It is completely over the top of course. The gadgety and gimmicks are dialled up to the max. The film includes one of Bond's most iconic cars, the Lotus that could become a submarine. So many British boys (including myself of course) in the late 70s / early 80s had model versions.

Curse of the Fly (1965)

The third instalment in the Fly trilogy, don't actually expect any flies, do expect a surprisingly good film.

Martin (George Baker) is heading home when he spies a young woman running in her underwear. Naturally he stops to help her. He falls in love with Patricia (Carole Gray) and marries her after a quick romance, even though she is on the run from a psychiatric hospital!

Martin brings Patricia home to meet his father Henri (Brian Donlevy) who is conducting mysterious experiments involving teleportation, why Henri is the son of the man who became The Fly... 

There are no flies in this film but there are hideous mutants, the results of teleportation experiments gone wrong, and kept in the stables. Henri's servants Tai (Burt Kwouk) and Wan (Yvette Rees) are also rather odd, especially Wan who takes a dislike to Patricia and tries to drive her insane. Soon the poor girl is recoiling in terror from the dark secrets of her father-in-law's house...

This is a fine film, marred only by the low budget which is felt sometimes in the effects. The film has a real feeling of doom and menace and plenty of twists, including the final deadly one.

A Night in the Show (1915)

Charlie Chaplin goes to the theatre, obviously mayhem ensues. Firstly he has trouble getting a seat he likes, and of course causes a lot of disruption changing it. Finally he gets into a fight with the conductor and is thrown out! 

Meanwhile in the cheap seats is a tramp, who looks rather like Chaplin's future iconic character, who causes even more trouble. When a fire eater is on stage he thinks the building is on fire and starts to hose down the stage... and the audience!

The film is of it's time, violent slapstick without any real story or meaning. Chaplin at this stage was randomly punching people for laughs, which in itself is sometimes funny though something better was yet to come.