Suds (1920)

Rags to riches to rags romantic tale, but set in a laundry so at least the rags are clean.

Amanda (Mary Pickford) works in a rather rough laundry but has a romantic imagination. She spins a yarn to her fellow workers that her fiancé is Sir Horace (Albert Austin) who she met when he bought his shirt to the laundry (which is true he did) but his father objected to her and threw her out of their castle (which isn't true). She insists that one day Sir Horace will return for her. Meanwhile, Amanda saves a horse from the glue factory, this results in her becoming homeless but her kindness results in the horse being saved and being taken to live at a rich man's estate.

Horace finally returns to the laundry for his shirt, Amanda asks him to pretend they are a couple, spurning the love of laundry cart driver Ben (Harold Goodwin). Horace isn't too keen on her after all, leaving Amanda (and Ben) distraught. But is this the end of the romance?

A fun film with some interesting effects and film techniques. A decent story with some welcome whimsy.

The Rebel Set (1959)

Beatnik weirdness doesn't quite distract from a solid crime drama.

John (Gregg Palmer) is a wannabe actor, part of the gang at a nearby Beat Generation hangout. He is recruited by mastermind beard Tucker (Edward Platt) for a daring raid on an armoured car in Chicago to steal a cool million bucks. That would pay for a lot of beard stroking and bad poetry.

John, using the cover of going for an acting trial, is forced to take his wife Jeanne (Kathleen Crowley) with him on the train. The heist goes off without a hitch but the trouble starts later on when the crooks start wanting more than their fair share in the loot...

If you can get past the ridiculous Beat Club scenes, including a loud mouth square being thrown out for interrupting some ham spouting bad poetry, this is a pretty good crime film which makes the best use of a minute budget. 

Mad Max (1979)

The start of the legend, the icon.

It is the near future (so basically the 1980s) and Australia is falling into anarchy with gangs of motorbike riding thugs roaming the land. Only the ultra violent remnants of the police force exemplified by Max (Mel Gibson) stand between civilisation and barbarians exemplified by the likes of Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne)...

However, Max wants out. He is bought off by a new V8 nitro boosted Ford Falcon XB GT (surely one of the coolest cars in movie history) but finally he heads off with his wife Jessie (Joanne Samuel) and child into the countryside. But they don't discover peace there, only Toecutter and his gang. After Max suffers a terrible loss, he returns to the garage and gets in his Falcon... only revenge on his mind.

A fantastic film, just the start of the iconic Mad Max series (and many imitators of varying quality). A hard violent film set in a dystopian wasteland. The road scenes are exhilarating. But this was just the start.

The Man from Hell's Edges (1932)

An enjoyable Western with some superb stunts.

Williams (Bob Steele) breaks out of prison and heads into the country, the authorities hot on his trail. He makes it to a small town and befriends the sheriff (Robert Homans) and becomes his deputy. He falls for the sheriff's daughter Betty (Nancy Drexel) but she discovers his real identity and both father and daughter are shocked when Williams turns up with a gang to rob them!

However, everything is not what it seems, Williams is really an undercover agent looking for the man who led a big robbery some years ago, a robbery where Williams' father was killed. Williams suspects the cocky Lobo (Julian Rivero)...

A solid if unspectacular story that proceeds at a rapid pace. Some of the horse stunts are pretty spectacular including a jaw dropping jump from a cliff into a lake.

The Cape Town Affair (1967)

A bit slow but very stylish.

Skip (James Brolin) steals a woman's purse on the bus, unknown to him the woman is being tailed by the secret service. Candy (Jacqueline Bisset) is carrying stolen plans for the Communists. When the police (Gordon Mulholland) track down Skip he refuses to play ball (and for some reason they don't search him as he has the stolen plans on him all along!) Now Skip must stay one step ahead of the police, the Communist cell and Candy...

All set against a backdrop of late 1960s South Africa, Apartheid is never mentioned but can't be ignored especially as this is a film set in South Africa with no black characters. The pacing is glacial at times and the plot a bit dull but it does have some late 60s cool. I enjoyed the British made cars and buses too.

Revenge of the Zombies (1943)

Not quite as much fun as a film about a mad German scientist creating an army of Nazi zombies should be if we are to be honest.

Scott (Mauritz Hugo) heads to a mansion in the Louisiana swamp where his sister Lita (Veda Ann Borg) lives with the scientist von Altermann (John Carradine). Or rather lived because Lita has died in mysterious circumstances. von Altermann seems in a rush to bury his wife and the corpse quickly vanishes. The reason being von Altermann is creating an army of zombies. He intends to return to the Third Reich and create an invincible army of the undead!

However, Lita being a good all-American gal isn't one to bow done to the Third Reich even if dead! She rebels against von Altermann's control, but can the zombie army be stopped?

Not a brilliant film though quite watchable, the budget is pretty low and the "swamp" scenes are obviously an indoors film set. The zombies are not very scary, just rather slow moving people. The best part is probably the comedy antics of Jeff (Mantan Moreland).

X the Unknown (1956)

Time for our 1,200th review!

A large blob of radioactive slime threatens the world in this thrilling sci-fi horror.

A fissure opens at a quarry used by the British Army for radiation training, soon mysterious and horrific radiation related deaths occur. Radioactive materials also go missing, including from the lab of Dr Royston (Dean Jagger) and the local hospital X-ray department. Despite scepticism from his director Elliot (Edward Chapman), Royston thinks the thefts and deaths are due to some kind of inhuman force or life form from the bowels of the Earth.

Along with McGill (Leo McKern) from the Atomic police, Royston devises a plan to neutralise the radiation in the blob. However, with the blob's appetite for radiation growing is it too late?

Low budget but decent thrills. A very Quatermass like sci-fi horror, and quite gruesome at times. The plot is quite familiar and standard for films of the genre, but the script is taut and efficient and the film is rather good.