Michael Shayne: Private Detective (1940)

The first of a series of Michael Shayne films starring Lloyd Nolan in the lead role of the tough private detective who is often short of cash.

Indeed, Shayne is literally having his office stripped bare by debt collectors when he is engaged by Brighton (Clarence Kolb) to keep an eye on his daughter Phyllis (Marjorie Weaver), who is overly fond of a flutter. Shayne manages to get her away from the clutches of a crook. 

When that crook is found dead in Phyllis' car, Shayne has to work fast to clear the girl but he ends up being put in the frame himself by the police chief Painter (Donald MacBride). Shayne works with Phyllis and keen amateur detective Aunt Olivia (Elizabeth Patterson) to find the real culprit...

A fine crime B-movie with the usual fast changing action and maybe a little too much plot squeezed into the movie length. Nolan is an excellent Michael Shayne with the right amount of good humoured toughness and wise cracks.

Xtro (1982)

A grisly and incredibly bloody 1980s video nasty, this certainly is science-fiction horror.

Several years ago Sam (Philip Sayers) was abducted by aliens to the horror of his little son Tony (Simon Nash). Now... something has returned to Earth. A horrific looking alien that kills an innocent couple, rapes and impregnates a woman, who then dies giving birth to... Sam!

Sam returns to his family, which is a bit awkward as his wife Rachel (Bernice Stegers) has moved on, though Tony is delighted. But is Sam quite the same as before, and how is he affecting Tony (for the worse...)

After an incredibly gory start, the film does bog down a bit in the middle act as it turns into a bit of a domestic drama (with added menace). A low budget is used well, some of the scenes look amazing. It doesn't really make a lot of sense but with a film like this it probably doesn't matter too much.

Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938)

After the sad death of Warner Oland, Sidney Toler takes over the Charlie Chan character, the first of many films he would make in the series.

While Charlie Chan awaits the arrival of his first grand child, a call comes in about a murder that has taken place on a cargo ship. Number 1 son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) takes the call and decides to take the case himself. He discovers the case of a murdered man on the ship, a number of suspicious characters, a hold full of circus animals and some missing cash! Luckily, Charlie Chan turns up to save his son from being thrown overboard and he takes over the case. One complication being the rather mysterious character Dr Cardigan (George Zucco) who is acting quite suspiciously and has a live brain in a suitcase!

A great entry in the Charlie Chan series, Sidney Toler bringing some new energy to the role. The kitchen sink was thrown at the film, quite why we needed subplots involving mad science brains in jars and escaped lions is unknown. It does not spoil the film though, its superb.

A.P.E.X. (1994)

Low budget maybe but the ambition and imagination factor is pretty high.

We are in the future (2073) and mankind is sending probes back through time (quite why we don't know especially as it ends up being so dangerous). Scientist Sinclair (Richard Keats) sends a probe robot though to 1973 where it encounters a couple in a caravan and immediately trouble begins. Sinclair goes through time to make sure the robot self-distructs... but when he returns to 2073 he finds everything has changed.

2073 is now a post-apocalypse wasteland where killer robots slaughter the battered remnants of mankind. Sinclair, despite being now in a changed timeline, remembers his old timeline and seeks out his old lab to see if he can restore the timeline and see his beloved wife Natasha (Lisa Ann Russell) again.

An interesting film. Although it is rather cheap and the special effects a bit average (though the robots look good), this film isn't that bad. It has some good ideas and does a decent job to make the most of what it has to try and carry them out. The plots has some holes, but it seems so does time.

The Spider Returns (Serial) (1941)

The second serial involving the rather bizarre character, The Spider. 

The Spider is the secret crime fighting identity of socialite Richard Wentworth (Warren Hull), doesn't sound like Batman at all! In this serial, Richard/The Spider battles the mysterious (and ridiculous) Gargoyle who had launched a wave of attacks on the US war effort (naturally as we are early in the Second World War). 

This is a perfectly decent serial, including plenty of cliff hangers and fast action, though the Spider fight scenes are a bit ridiculous. The Gargoyle's henchmen are pretty useless if we are going to be honest which does rob the serial of some of the peril.

Biggles (1986)

The iconic World War 1 flying ace Biggles stories would seem to be perfect for a translation to the big screen, unfortunately this wasn't it.

New York advertising executive Jim (Alex Hyde-Wright) is working on a dreary advertising campaign when he is suddenly zapped through time and witnesses a plane crash, an old biplane. Later, he is visited by the mysterious Air Commodore Raymond (Peter Cushing) who tells Jim that he is linked to an aviator from the First World War, James Bigglesworth aka Biggles (Neil Dickson)!

Soon, Jim and Biggles are zapping to and fro each other's times. Biggles encounters the oddness of 1980s London, and Jim the trenches and aerial combat (so it seems Biggles got the better deal). Soon, they must work together to defeat a powerful German secret weapon which could win the war and change history...

If you have read a Biggles story you will wonder why they had to do the story this way, and turn it into a fairly generic time travel story. It isn't that bad a film, indeed the action sequences are often pretty good, but you can't help but feel a bit disappointed.

Split Second (1953)

A Noir with a plutonium twist!

While reporter Larry Fleming (Keith Andes) prepares to cover the latest nuclear bomb test in the desert, he is called away to cover the escape of two dangerous convicts from prison including the gang leader Steve Hurley (Steven McNalley). Larry, and young hitchhiker Dottie (Jan Sterling) are among the hostages taken by Hurley. Hurley takes them all to the ghost town which is due to be nuked in a few hours time! Will Hurley let them escape in time in the question and it isn't looking too hot on that score...

A wonderfully dark little hostage drama with the hostages knowing that they are mere hours from a dose of instant sunshine. The film has some good (if sometimes uneven) performances and plenty of tension. The film is let down a bit by the actual nuclear blast though, some details of the weapon and it's effects were probably still classified at the time.