No Hands on the Clock (1941)

A complicated and fast moving crime drama.

Humphrey (Chester Morris) is a private detective who is good at finding people, in fact he married Louise (Jean Parker) who he managed to find! Humphrey is sent, even though he is on his honeymoon, to Reno to find a missing man. Unfortunately this new task soon involves Humphrey and Louise in a bank robbery, a kidnapping, various women with different hair colours, accused of murder, getting shot at and even hunted by the FBI!

This has a complicated plot with more suspects and angles every time you look. What makes the film is the banter and interplay between Morris and Parker. This gives the film a light and breezy air and is highly entertaining, even if its hard to really know whats going on half the time.

The Street Fighter (1974)

One of the most violent films ever made, a brutal martial arts epic.

Terry (Shin'ichi Chiba) is a master of karate and kung fu who trades his skills for evil. He is hired to kidnap the daughter (Yutaka Nakajima) of a business man by the yakuza and mafia in order to secure a lucrative oil deal. However, when the mobsters refuse his price they try and kill him. Terry instead switches sides to protect the daughter after all...

And much bloody violence ensues. The film goes out of it's way to portray the savagery of the violence including in one scene where we switch to an x-ray view to see how Terry's fist caves in his victim's skull! 

The story is rather simple but also confusing in the best tradition of 1970s martial arts film and of course ends with a final showdown. Exhilarating and also with some heart with Terry's rocky but ultimately doomed friendship with Goichi Yamada quite touching.

Love Bound (1932)

At times a bit dreary but ultimately the voyage is worth it.

Wilson (Natalie Moorhead) is a gold digger and black mailer who gets involved with older rich married men and then threatens to wreck their families by telling about untrue affairs if they don't pay up. 

Businessman John Randolph is one such victim, but his wife wants to leave him already. The son, Richard (Jack Mulhall) persuades his mum to stay as dad is innocent and then he goes in pursuit of Wilson on an ocean voyage. He decides to pose as another sucker to prove Wilson's scheme...

So, naturally the story has a simple idea with various layers of complexity and characters of varying importance laid on. The film is difficult to get going but is fair enough when the voyage is progressing and does indeed have an exciting conclusion. 

The Fat Spy (1966)

Teen drivel so intensely awful it will probably make you question your life decisions.

A bunch of teens head off, amid much surf guitar music, to a near deserted island. The owner of the island George (Brian Donlevy) doesn't want the island's secret discovered so he sends his daughter Junior (Jayne Mansfield) to see what is going on and get rid of the teens. What is the secret? Well that the island is where the fabled fountain of youth is located apparently. Junior is more interested in seeing her boyfriend Irving (Jack E Leonard) who lives on the island, though he is more interested in plants. Much inane antics and music (and a lot of dancing by scantily clad young people - being spied on by old men natch) take place...

So, this isn't a great film. It is light and cheaply made. So cheap in fact they ran out of money so didn't film the end of it. However, it isn't all bad (just mostly) - some of the music is in fact rather good.

Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

A wonderfully warm and enjoyable pirate and treasure tale by the Muppets.

Jim (Kevin Bishop) has a map revealing where a great treasure is, but he has no means to get there. Or does he? Luckily Fozzy Bear is the rather eccentric son of a ship owner and gives Jim a ship and a crew. 

The ship is captained by Kermit and is a fine ship but unfortunately the ship's cook is Long John Silver (Tim Curry) and he has plans of his own for the treasure...

A great fun film that is based on the classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale though the Muppets take a few liberties! The film is packed full of typical Muppet humour, physical as well as smart wordplay and puns. A brilliant film that will appeal to all ages.

Holt of the Secret Service (Serial) (1941)

A reasonable crime fighting serial involving counterfeit dollars.

A top engraver has been kidnapped by a criminal gang to make very good fake US dollars. Top Secret Service agent Jack Holt goes undercover with fellow agent Kay Drew (Evelyn Brent) - posing as his wife - to try and infiltrate the gang and discover their secret lair. After a lot of death defying cliff hangers of course!

This is a decent enough movie serial though does seem a bit pedestrian compared to many others in the genre. The story progresses from a secret hide out to a small island nation ruled by a maniac which is an interesting setting. 

But the serial never really progresses beyond interesting. It is decently made for a serial and Jack and Evelyn work well together but the serial just lacks that bit of spark other serials had.

Dead of Night (1974)

A superb horror film exploring some really dark territory.

The Brooks family is torn apart when their son Andy (Richard Backus) is reported killed in action in Vietnam. However, a few days later he turns up alive... and well? Well physically he seems fine but personality wise he seems to have completely changed, much to the concern of his father Charlie (John Marley). 

Andy seems to want to have nothing to do with his family or friends, he even kills the dog! He also seems likely to have killed a truck driver in a brutal attack. Well his mum (Lynn Carlin) is still happy...

A deliciously dark horror. Although there is some gore much of the menace is implied and laid on thick. Andy's descent into a blood drinking decomposing zombie is brilliantly portrayed with some great acting and great make-up.