House of Mystery (1934)

House of Mystery is at times terribly corny and dated but at others hilarious. It is a horror-murder mystery involving ancient curses and killer apes.

Many years before a drunken archaeologist Mr Prendergast (Clay Clement) accidentally kills a monkey in a Hindu temple in India and is cursed by the fakir. Twenty years later his investors are after their share in the loot from his expedition but he tells them a tale of woe and death as the curse has followed him and is slowly killing him.

He challenges his investors including Ed Lowry and George Hayes to spend a week in the house. As they do so the killings begin...

To be honest the film is completely ridiculous and full of dated oriental stereotypes and the occult: seances, incense and mysterious drums. It also has a man in a rather unconvincing ape suit and the mysterious Chanda (Joyzelle Joyner). It is all terrific fun.

My Breakfast with Blassie (1983)

Comedian Andy Kaufman and legendary wrestler / manager "Classy" Freddie Blassie sit down for breakfast and... well that's pretty much it! They talk for an hour about various topics including personal hygiene and their respective careers over the poached eggs and toast and whatever else they had.

A rather strange little film, itself a skit on the also a bit strange My Dinner with Andre (1981). Why was Kaufman hanging around with an old wrestler? The film was made just after Kaufman had entered the wrestling scene himself and had a legendary feud with Jerry Lawler which broke wrestling into the mainstream for awhile a couple of years before Hulk Hogan...

The film makes for pleasant if unsubstantial viewing. Freddie Blassie just oozes charisma as the seasoned flamboyant old hack. Andy Kaufman is somewhat edgy and awkward. They played to their characters very well.

Fog Island (1945)

Fog Island is an interesting film. Ex-con Leo (George Zucco) who was convicted of stealing a fortune invites the people who shopped him to his foggy island, one of his guests also being the one who killed his dear wife. The guests who include Lionel Atwill and Sharon Douglas are each given a random object. After a weird dinner party they begin their search for the fortune their host once stole and which they think is still around.

Fog Island is an ex-pirate lair with secret passages, hidden compartments, underground vaults and booby traps. Manipulated by Leo most of the guests end up in a locked room which begins to fill with water...

Interesting and enjoyable film with noir touches though it doesn't make a lot of sense. Everyone is backstabbing everyone else (sometimes literally), even lovely step-daughter Sylvia (Veda Ann Borg) isn't wholly above reproach.

Law of the Underworld (1938)

Law of the Underworld is a bizarre little crime film with people acting so strangely sometimes you wonder if it's supposed to be a comedy. Tommy (Richard Bond) and Annabelle (Anne Shirley) are a naive young couple who are robbed by the local hoodlums led by Rocky (Eduardo Ciannelli) in the park. When they try to get their money back (by robbing the gangsters!) they naturally get caught.

Gangland boss Gene (Chester Morris) has plans for them and an obsession with trying to become respectable and avoid violence. Hot-headed Rocky meanwhile is growing resentful about his boss' business direction... and is knocking off Gene's moll (Lee Patrick).

Although an enjoyable film the naivety of Tommy and Annabelle is a little too much to believe as they get dragged more and more into the crime underworld. Rocky and Gene give good performances though but Gene's nice-guy gangster character is also a bit hard to believe.

High Voltage (1929)

An entertaining early talkie. A bus carrying passengers across a snow bound Sierra Nevada is stuck in one snow drift too many. The passengers hole up in in a remote church, which has an inhabitant already...

The bus has an interesting mix of passengers including Carole Lombard as a prisoner being taken back East by a deputy sheriff Owen Moore and a pompous banker played by Phillips Smalley. Their survival may depend on a hobo in the church (William Boyd) but does he have a darker secret?

The film has decent dialogue including plenty of good one-liners. Despite being an early talkie the acting has a natural feel to it at times though the film can drag a bit as the snow storm continues. Overall this a good film but what exactly does High Voltage have to do with the storyline?

The Leopard Fist Ninja (1982)

The funny thing about Leopard Fist Ninja is that it doesn't actually include any ninjas...

Much of the film is a reasonable but unexceptional kung fu film set in the mysterious Chinese past... apart from the random appearance of the occasional black and white fighter.

The plot is (as you might expect) a bit hard to follow and not exactly original. The Japanese (who are evil of course) had invaded our heroes' land when they were children and killed their parents. Then they are sent to learn martial arts so they can avenge them. Et cetera...

Of course these films are generally not viewed for the story (which is just as well) but for the fighting so luckily there is a lot of fighting in the film and it isn't bad action at all.

As a film Leopard Fist Ninja is OK though adding "ninja" to the title was obviously a cash-in on the 80s ninja craze and seems a bit silly. The film was directed by Godfrey Ho (which explains the ninjas) though he didn't do his infamous trick where he spliced the film with footage from another completely different one. Which in this case is probably a shame.

The Corpse Vanishes (1942)

The Corpse Vanishes is a fantastically cheap and macabre horror starring Bela Lugosi as Dr Lorenz, a mad doctor who drugs and steals young women (for some reason doing so during their weddings as that obviously is the least suspicious time). He does this in order to create drugs to treat his degenerating and rather unstable wife the Countess (Elizabeth Russell).

Perky young reporter Patricia (Luana Walters) thinks Dr Lorenz is behind a string of stolen corpses of young women and head to his home - which is full of every horror  film cliche imaginable including dwarves, thunder and lightning outside, a deformed hunchback and of course Dr Lorenz plays the organ at night.

Obviously Patricia should be running away as fast as she can but instead elects to stay a night in the house. She finds the Countess prefers to sleep in a coffin...

So you get the idea. The film is complete nonsense of course but is so much fun. The film is cheap and at times so obvious it hurts but... it is wonderful.