Tiger On The Beat 2 (1990)

Tiger On The Beat was an excellent HK action movie starring Chow Yun Fat and this sequel is... well not really a sequel at all. In fact as far as I can tell it has nothing at all to do with the original.

The only connection to the first movie is that it also stars Conan Lee (though not playing the same character) and is a crime/action film set in HK. It's not a bad film by any means though it is a bit disjointed.

There is a plot (of sorts) involving an error prone HK cop (Danny Lee) and his lazy American born nephew (Conan) who is visiting him, plus a prostitute (Ellan Chan) and a stolen ring. Don't let the plot worry you too much though, it is often fairly incidental in these kinds of films.

The first half of the film has that strange though enjoyable HK movie mixture of comedy and ultraviolence and the usual goofy characters.

In the second half though the action ups a gear and the final action showpiece is pretty spectacular (martial arts on a bus, i loved that obviously). Tiger on the Beat 2 is enjoyable if uneven film and not that original, it probably would have been better to have given it a stand alone title but lets not worry too much about that.

Postal Inspector (1936)

A light hearted musical crime film where Ricardo Cortez plays Bill Davis, who has made the rather dull bureaucratic job of being a post inspector into some kind of butch all-American hero. Bill crosses paths with singer Connie (Patricia Ellis) who sings in a club owned by the short of cash Benez (Bela Lugosi).

She lets slip that there is a shipment of $3 million worth of retired bank notes set to be sent back to Washington. Benez schemes to steal the cash during a flood disaster which engulfs the city...

It is a confusing film, it seems a bit unsure at times what kind of film it is. is it a crime film, a comedy, a disaster film, a musical? It is obviously sponsored by the US Postal Service and the propaganda is laid on a little thick. The flood scenes are well done and Connie's singing is pretty decent too. It ends with a pretty exciting speedboat chase! Despite it's shortcomings this is an enjoyable film.

The Terror of the Tongs (1961)

The Terror of the Tongs is a crazy film, set in HK in 1910 and involving a secret society called the Red Dragon Tong. Historical accuracy and Chinese stereotypes are somewhat suspect.

Geoffrey Toon is Captain Sale, a steamer captain unwittingly drawn into a Tong plot when one of his passengers (played by Burt Kwok - obviously he would be in this film) is killed at port but not before he has passed a list of names to Sale's daughter Helena (Barbara Brown). However the Tong, led by Christopher Lee, want this list no matter the cost, even if the cost is Helena's life...

It is hard to really judge this film, obviously the racial stereotypes are way off and the story is often complete nonsense but despite the madness it is compelling and it is so often hilarious (unintentionally of course). Christopher Lee is superbly sinister as the Tong leader.

Hell Harbor (1930)

A rather strange film. Anita (Lupe Velez) is a lovely girl who dreams of leaving her sleepy backwater island and moving to Havana (this is Cuba way before the revolution of course).

Unfortunately her father (Gibson Gowland) is a rather unpleasant individual who wants to "sell" his daughter in marriage to a sleazy merchant (Jean Hersholt) for a fist full of pearls. Obviously Anita is rather keener on Plan A.

A handsome young American (John Holland) arrives on his yacht and makes things even more complicated. Well that's really the plot, it's a sometimes silly and sometimes annoying movie that doesn't really go anywhere (not even Havana) but is not without charm - nearly all provided by Velez.

The Racketeer (1929)

An early talkie, with the usual problems of the times: dialogue being disjointed and slow, scenes being static. However the film is worth persisting with because of an interesting story: it's a mixture of love triangle and gangster movie.

Robert Armstrong is Keane, a tough NY gangster. He falls in love with Rhoda (Carole Lombard) who seems to be a bit of a sucker for a loser as she left her rich husband for drunk violinist Tony (Roland Drew). Keane helps Rhoda and the bum out, drying him out and getting him a top gig. All he wants is Rhoda's hand in marriage, though she can't deny her love for Tony but will Keane's past finally catch up with him?

So it is fairly unrealistic, in reality Tony would have ended up in concrete wellies. Keane also seems fairly small fry despite being considered the top dog. However the story is quite unusual and the film is better than the sum of it's parts. For some reason the film was banned in the UK on original release though a cut version called Love's Conquest was allowed the following year.

Police Patrol (1933)

Mack McCue (James Flavin) and Bob Larkin (Pat O'Malley) are a couple of detectives and rivals, they end up fighting over the same girl - gangster moll Lil Daley (Madge Bellamy) who is involved with the gangster  the detectives are investigating for murder. The detectives get demoted to the riot squad.

Meanwhile the daughter of the judge in the case gets kidnapped and there is blackmail too. Well it is all rather confusing but more or less makes sense.

The problem with the film is that it just isn't very exciting (until the final act) despite all of the above, everything is rather awkward, slow and stilted including most of the dialogue. However it isn't all bad, Bellamy is great. Really expressive as you would expect a silent movie star to be. The final act of the film has some action (at last!)

Top of the Bill (1971)

Before the TV and movie star, even before the radio and record star was the music hall star. This charming (and frequently rather odd) documentary celebrates the days of music hall, variety and vaudeville which even in 1971 was passing into fading memory (some of the members of the public with memories of music hall were in their eighties).

There is sadness as Ben Warriss and Ken Goodwin give us a tour of former music hall venues which are now bingo halls, shopping centres or even just piles of rubble. Also quite sad is when Ben interviews young passers by and they don't know who he is!

The memories are interspersed by example music hall acts by the likes of Sally Barnes, Charlie Chester performs as Max Miller and Ken Goodwin who does a George Formby impression. Not only has music hall now gone, but the London in this film is largely unrecognisable. Well it was indeed a lost world and it was wonderful.