Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

After the high-concept science-fiction of the first Star Trek movie, Star Trek 2 was a much more straight forward action film and probably the best Star Trek film of all. A sequel to the Star Trek TV episode "Space Seed" with Ricardo Montalban reprising his role of the genetically enhanced warlord Khan.

Khan escapes his exile and gets his hands on a starship, the Reliant. He also finds out about a science project led by Dr Marcus (Bibi Besch) called Genesis that can turn a lifeless world into one filled with abundant life, Khan realised that this also makes it the ultimate weapon. He sets a trap for his nemesis Kirk (William Shatner) and the Enterprise...

Star Trek 2 portrays space travel along very nautical lines, the film could pretty easily have been set underwater with the Enterprise and Reliant as submarines. They even both have torpedo bays. Beyond the action (which is pretty decent) there are themes of ageing, friendship and humanity which are well explored. It was this which elevated Star Trek 2 beyond just another film about model spaceships blowing lumps out of each other. Great science fiction (and Star Trek) has always been about exploring humanity more than anything else and this film accomplished this more than many.

Days of Jesse James (1939)

Roy Rogers is out after the Jesse James (Don "Red" Barry) gang after a string of railway robberies and finally a bank robbery. The bank was owned by Mr Wyatt (Arthur Lott), but is everything quite how it seems?

Indeed not, Wyatt has robbed his own bank and blamed the James Gang. Rogers and grandpa Gabby (Gabby Hayes) chase after and infiltrate the James Gang to find out exactly what is going on.

Expect some run-of-the-mill Western adventure and punctuated by the rather lovely "Echo mountain" sung by Rogers. Hayes is great as the old gold miner, his dog Whiskers also plays a great role. Jesse James is portrayed as a rogue with honour (so not that realistic).

Secret Evidence (1941)

Linda (Marjorie Reynolds) is the secretary to a lawyer (Charles Quigley). When he becomes the DA he asks Linda to marry him. Now engaged she is high on cloud nine... until gangster Tony (Wade McTaggart) turns up back from jail. Tony wants Linda back though she isn't that keen...

When Tony is shot suspicion falls on Linda's brother Jerry (Howard Masters) who was on the scene... and with a gun...

An interesting little crime drama mixing some family dynamics and dark secrets. Not a bad film but could have been improved with some better writing. McTaggart is great in his role, a cool bad guy with some sharp lines. The courtroom scenes at the end of the film are good though whether the DA would really have stayed on the case involving his fiance is of course nonsense.

Penguin Pool Murder (1932)

Stockbroker Gerald Parker (Guy Usher) is found floating dead in the penguin pool at the NY aquarium, the aquarium that just happens to be owned by the guy (Clarence Wilson) he recently ripped off. Not long before that he was in a fracas with his wife Gwen's (Mae Clarke) lover Seymore (Donald Cook) and punched out cold. But did Seymore kill Parker? And who is this lawyer (Robert Armstrong) who seems so keen to help?

It falls on the police Inspector Piper (James Gleason) to try and unravel the mystery though the school teacher Hilda Withers (Edna May Oliver) seems to have more idea than the police. So this is basically a neat little Golden Age mystery with all of the common ingredients (plenty of murder suspects, bumbling police and a keen amateur).

It is a fun romp with a good cast. Gleason and Oliver make a good double act with plenty of good one-liners. What elevates the film to another level is the setting, the penguins are little stars.

The Great Train Robbery (1903)

One of the earliest surviving American movies and one of the first films with an actual plot and one of the earliest Westerns. The Great Train Robbery depicts a gang robbing a train and then being hunted down by a posse.

Although a short film there isn't a huge amount of story in it, quite a lot of time is wasted by the actors standing around seemingly doing very little. Everyone is rather anonymous too with the film largely in long shots (apart from the iconic close-up of Justus Barnes at the end) though for such an early film it is very well made. Many of the techniques used in this film such as location shooting and cross cutting, which are taken for granted nowadays, were truly innovative for 1903.

The Amazing Adventure (1937)

Cary Grant stars in this light hearted (if rather unlikely) comedy drama (which is also known as The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss). Rich playboy Ernest Bliss (Grant) is afflicted by some sort of illness, a doctor (Peter Gawthorne) prescribes it as idle-itis. Bliss bets with the doctor that he can survive for a year without his riches and live on only what he earns himself...

It doesn't turn out to be quite as easy as Bliss imagines but he soon gets a job as an oven salesman. This doesn't go down too well until he uses his money to generate sales. However he moves on to become a chauffeur but also falls for secretary Frances (Mary Brian). As the months roll on he successfully manages to survive but various shenanigans mean his life becomes... interesting... when the mob gets involved.

A charming little film, Grant's star quality making the film though the story itself is nothing special. It passes pleasantly on by.

A Stranger in Town (1943)

Supreme Court Justice Grant (Frank Morgan) heads out of the capitol, incognito, to shoot some ducks on vacation. There he finds corruption in a small town and an election contest between the incumbent mayor (Robert Barrat) and a young lawyer Bill Adams (Richard Carlson) out to take him down.

With the local judge and the police in the mayor's pocket Bill finds himself locked up, Grant decides to help Bill out - without telling anyone who he really is.

Grant is great in the role, bringing a dignified air. The film is a nice commentary of small town America with plenty of light touches, maybe a bit preachy but in these dark times maybe we do need a bit of idealism. Bill and Grant's secretary Lucy (Jean Rogers) give the film a romantic angle.