I'll Name the Murderer (1936)

A neat little murder mystery about the killing of a black mailer and singer (Agnes Anderson) at Luigi's Cafe.

Being a Golden Age type story there is of course an amateur detective who leads the police a merry dance. This time it's newspaper gossip column writer Tommy Tilton (Ralph Forbes).

There are a number of possible suspects including the victim's ex (and target of her blackmailing) Ted (Malcolm McGregor), love rivals and also cafe owner Luigi (Harry Semels) himself who is in financial trouble. Tommy boasts he will reveal the murderer in his column. The problem with his boast is that he doesn't really have much to back up his bravado but the investigation is on.

An enjoyable little film, a bit creaky and low budget but the story proceeds at apace. Tommy is played with plenty of cheek. Whether a playboy is credible as an amateur detective is another question.

Silent Night Deadly Night 2 (1987)

Silent Night Deadly Night 2 is a sequel which includes so much of the first movie it means you are quite safe to start with this one. A weird kind of Christmas movie though not very festive in theme being a rather bizarre horror film / black comedy.

Ricky (Eric Freeman) is the brother of the murderer in the first movie, and is in a psychiatric hospital following murders he has committed. He recounts his brother's murders to a psychologist using recycled footage from the first movie...

Then we see Ricky's own murder spree, killing people he thinks are "naughty". Ricky then escapes from hospital, kills a Santa and steals the outfit (thus making the film festive I guess)...

It doesn't sound very funny from the description but is executed so ridiculously you can't help but laugh. The budget was so low they needed to re-use so much old footage and the new footage is pretty ropey and badly acted. Random scenes and dialogue also add to the weirdness. A deserved cult classic, the film has become quite (in)famous for the following scene (which quite frankly is the best thing about the entire film):

Death at Broadcasting House (1934)

A radio play at the BBC is being broadcast, one of the actors is "murdered" in the play and puts on a terrific performance, you'd almost think he was being murdered for real... oh he is!

The victim has a number of enemies including some of his fellow actors including Dryden (Austin Trevor) who suspiciously left the studio during the performance. And who exactly was the foolish toff (Peter Haddon) wandering Broadcasting House?

The police investigation by the Inspector (Ian Hunter) proceeds well including a rather curious watch listening scene. The acting is at times rather melodramatic (and everyone is frightfully posh - actors in broadcasts back in those days performed in top hats and evening gowns) but rather suits such a setting. A lovely film with a good cast including Henry Kendall and Jack Hawkins. It also includes a couple of songs by popular singers of the day (Elizabeth Welch and Eve Becke) and the mystery of why a tap dance routine is broadcast on the radio.

Last Woman on Earth (1960)

Last Woman on Earth has a rather interesting premise, some mysterious catastrophe has wiped out the world population apart from three people. How do they survive especially when the three people consists of two men in love with the same woman?

The action takes place in Puerto Rico. Anthony Carbone is a crooked businessman hiding out from the law with his wife Evelyn (Betsy Jones-Moreland) and his lawyer Martin (Robert Towne). They are underwater when disaster strikes, something wiping out the world's oxygen. When they return to the surface they find everyone asphyxiated, luckily plants begin restoring the world's oxygen supply before their scuba tanks run out of air.

The film then becomes a love triangle with the two men fighting to assert their superiority. Well it can't end well as you expect. The film is pretty low-budget (helped greatly by killing off everyone else apart from the three main actors of course) and sometimes a bit slow but has some great ideas and the suddenly de-populated world is rather creepy. It is just a shame the new world was not explored more, there must have been other survivors somewhere for example? One silly thing is Evelyn somehow managed to keep her perfect hairdo and supply of lovely dresses even though the two men get reduced to rags.

Tomorrow at Seven (1933)

Tomorrow At Seven is a sometimes silly but other times quite interesting murder mystery. The Black Ace is a serial killer who always kills his victims after first sending them an Ace of Spades card. Chester Morris is Neil Broderick, a novelist and amateur detective who is investigating the Black Ace. He goes to Chicago to see businessman Thornton Drake (Henry Stephenson) who is also after the serial killer.

While he is there the Black Ace sends another of his warning cards. While on a plane to Louisiana the Black Ace strikes and kills Drake's secretary Winters (Grant Mitchell). Now on the ground the investigation begins... and becomes a typical murder mystery with a cast of different characters in an old dark mansion.

Unfortunately two rather inept policemen are also around who pretty much stink out every scene they are in with some corny and misplaced humour. Apart from that the film isn't bad with a good plot though at times proceeds at a strangely glacial pace. The ending is very good though and worth the wait.

Dead Men Tell (1941)

A Charlie Chan (played by the rather non-Asian Sidney Toler) murder mystery set on a ship - though one that stays in port.

An eccentric old lady (Ethel Griffies) has found a map by her pirate ancestor but is literally scared to death by someone pretending to be a pirate ghost. Charlie Chan is luckily on hand looking for his wayward No. 2 son (Sen Yung) and investigates the case.

The murderer must be one of a motley cast of fellow passengers who is after the map (and so the treasure). It is an enjoyable little film and a neat little mystery full of red herrings though of course completely ridiculous. Chan is portrayed a most bizarrely stereotypical way in manner and speech. However his sage and calm philosophy contrasts amusingly well with his disaster prone son.

Dark Star (1974)

Dark Star is basically Hippies in space. Unstable planets need to be blown up before they get in the way of colonists so the crew aboard the space ship Dark Star are disposing of them with their talking bombs. Yes it is a rather strange film...

It is also rather good. A pretty low budget affair but very watchable. The ship is falling apart and a cosmic storm causes one of the bombs to malfunction. The crew, led by Brian Narelle, have to try and persuade it to return to the hanger and not blow them to atoms. If that is not enough there is also a rather bizarre alien which looks like an inflatable ball with claws that is running amok. The commander of the mission is dead but still able to communicate while kept in cryogenic stasis.

It certainly is one crazy film, and sometimes quite funny. It does drag at other times, just like being stuck on a space ship in deep space I guess. Unlike most science fiction films the crew of this ship are not supermen or highly trained personnel, they look like they were told to accept the job at the job centre or else. Despite it's flaws I've always liked this film, it was the very first film I ever saw on VHS...