The Head (1959)

A very strange science horror film, obviously involving heads!

Professor Abel (Michel Simon) has developed a serum that can keep the severed head of a dog alive. He recruits a new assistant Dr Ood (Horst Frank). 

Abel dies of a heart attack but Ood takes the opportunity to remove the professor's head and keep it alive with the serum. Ood forces the professor to assist him with a bizarre experiment to give a hunch backed nurse a new body from a stripper...

A very strange film with a ton of atmosphere, though at times a little too odd however the film is certainly compelling enough to keep you interested. The soundtrack is particularly good and eerie. 

The Gay Falcon (1941)

The first in the Falcon series, about a reformed jewel thief who uses his skills to fight crime and support young ladies in trouble.

A society lady Maxine (Gladys Cooper) has trouble with her charity parties where jewels are stolen in an insurance scam. When a socialite is murdered at a party, after she passes a valuable ring to Gay Lawrence (George Sanders) aka The Falcon. The Falcon and his assistant Goldie (Allen Jenkins) investigate the killing with the help of Helen (Wendy Barrie) who is hot on the Falcon, much to the annoyance of his actual fiancée Elinor (Nina Vale) who has one of the most bizarre accents ever heard in the cinema.

A fast moving crime B-movie, Sanders plays the Falcon with a smooth assurance like he'd played the role half-dozen times before, though this is the first in the series. (Probably because Sanders had played a very similar role in The Saint series!) The film has plenty of fast moving action and storyline and sharp dialogue which helps makes it very entertaining. 

Thunderbirds Are Go (1966)

A successful TV series hits the big screen, so often this can be a miss, but in the case of Thunderbirds they just about pull it off.

The mighty Zero-X rocket is about to head off the first manned mission to Mars but an agent from (well that is never established) causes the spaceship to crash. Two years later the replacement ship is ready to go to Mars, International Rescue is called out to make sure the agent can't cause another failure. The Thunderbirds and Lady Penelope manage to save the day.

But on Mars the Zero-X crew run into trouble from strange aliens. Finally, on their return to Earth the Zero-X malfunctions which means International Rescue are called out again to save the day. Alan Tracy ends up the hero after feeling a bit of a spare part earlier in the film, and having a rather weird dream sequence involving Cliff Richard...

The bigger budget has made the already superb looking Thunderbirds action and sets even more spectacular, however the story is a bit lacking and we could have done with a bit more of actual rescuing. We never even get to see Thunderbird 4! But it does the job, FAB!

The Mysterious Mr. Valentine (1946)

A complicated crime drama involving blackmail and murder.

Janet (Linda Stirling) is driving at night when one of the tyres on her car blows out. She asks chemist John Armstrong (Tristram Coffin) for some help, but this begins a nightmare for Janet involving John's jealous wife Rita (Barbara Wooddell), a hit and run Janet becomes involved in, a disappearing body and blackmail. 

Private detective Steve Morgan (William Henry) helps Janet out, though often he needs some help himself from the police (Thomas E Jackson)...

The story is a little hard to follow at times but this is a fine drama, underpinned by a developing relationship between Janet and Steve which is very cute. Fast moving and squeezes a lot of plot into a short running time.

I Eat Your Skin (1971)

Playboys head off to a weird voodoo island for hijinks.

The publisher (Dan Stapleton) of a playboy novelist Tom (William Joyce) head off to Zombie Island (great name) to get inspiration for a new book. After just about managing to not crash their plane into the sea, Tom and the others discover a mad scientist (Robert Stanton) trying to cure cancer. 

Obviously, the existence of murderous zombies, with eyes which look like ping pong balls stuck to their faces, on the island has something - i mean nothing to do with him...

This isn't a great film though the kitsch feel and the generally off-beat approach does help with the watchability a lot. The voodoo scenes are very entertaining too though it is too ridiculous to be that scary a horror film. 

The best/funniest part of the film, being an author myself, is the idea of a novelist being a happy-go-lucky bed-hopper irresistible to women!

Sleepers West (1941)

Private detective Michael Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) has to bring a witness back by sleeper train, but a number of people want to thwart him.

A high profile trial is taking place in San Francisco but the testimony of Helen (Mary Beth Hughes) can put the rich defendant away. Shayne is tasked to bring Helen back from Denver, but the defendant has hired various men to try and stop them. 

Helen meanwhile is tiring of her role in the spotlight and falls in love with Everett (Louis Jean Heydt) who is having a mid-life crisis. Shayne also has to handle his journalist old flame Kay (Lynn Bari) meddling in his affairs...

A great crime B-movie that takes place mostly in the claustrophobic confines of a railway train. A lot of story is packed into these railway cars too. The story moves as fast as the train does.

Flashman (1967)

Before they started taking themselves too seriously, super hero movies tended to be cheesy and fun. This Italian film certainly is both of those!

Rotten criminals in old London town steal the formula for invisibility from a (mad) scientist. The Kid (Ivano Staccioli) uses this new power to steal cash from a bank, though is foiled by Flashman (Paulo Gozlino) - a super hero who is also a member of the Royal Family! What makes things more complicated is that the stolen money is worthless, it was all counterfeit spread by a gang of gorgeous female forgers led by (Claudie Lange)...

This film is silly and makes little sense. The camp factor is high and the action is ridiculous, the invisible man scenes are often quite laughably poor. As long as you don't take it seriously then it is a fun, if at times a little too over the top, watch.