A Study in Scarlet (1933)

A decent Sherlock Holmes mystery. A Study in Scarlet has the same title as one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mysteries but the plot has little to no relation to it (the film makers bought the rights to the title and characters not the story!) Reginald Owen plays Holmes, only a year after he played Dr Watson in an earlier Sherlock Holmes film!

Holmes and Watson (Warburton Gamble) investigate a series of murders. Someone is bumping off members of a secret society. The notorious blackmailer Merrydew (Alan Dinehart) is involved, he collects the assets of deceased society members and then redistributes them to the others...

This is an enjoyable but frequently ridiculous romp involving murky dealings in Limehouse, secret meetings and coded messages, and a high death toll. Owen plays a decent - though somewhat different to the usual - Holmes, the supporting cast does well too and includes the always exotic Anna May Wong and June Clyde.

Jesse James meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)

An example of the rather niche and obscure genre of western/gothic horror crossover. Jesse James (John Lupton) is still on the loose with his butch but dumb henchman Hank (Cal Bolder).

After a failed raid on a stagecoach carrying lots of cash Jesse and Hank end up in the clutches of Frankenstein's grand-daughter (Narda Onyx) (not daughter as the title says - obviously was too long to fit in the extra grand!) She is using local peasants for her depraved experiments to try and replace human brains with artificial ones to create a slave.

Frankenstein decides that Hank will be perfect for her experiment and finally help her achieve her goal...

So it sounds like the most ridiculous idea for a film ever but what makes this nonsense actually fairly enjoyable and watchable is that it is played quite serious and straight. It has many flaws though including the tiny budget. As a western it is mundane and as a horror film it is limited but the sheer strangeness of the premise carries it. Veteran of many Roy Rogers films Estelita Rodriguez plays a nice role as Jesse's love interest though sadly she died at an early age just after making this film.

The House of Secrets (1936)

Americans have always seem to have been obsessed with English heritage and ye olde history, it plays a big part in this film. Happy-go-lucky Barry (Leslie Fenton) is a broke American who makes it to England - after he saves young lady Julie (Muriel Evans) from a fresh guy on the ferry. When he reaches London he finds he is the sole heir to an old estate and he has to sign an ancient agreement to take over the estate in blood.

Only when he reaches his estate he finds it already occupied, including by the girl on the ferry Julie (what a coincidence eh?) For some reason they are very keen to buy his estate and keep him away...

Barry begins to investigate the mysterious goings on and gets entangled with gangsters, hidden treasure, secret formulae and screams in the night at the mysterious house. This is a fairly entertaining film with a good story and some snappy dialogue, though at times is a bit slow and frustrating and you just wish they could have progressed the plot a bit faster. The stiff old English lawyer being bamboozled by Barry's American slang is very amusing.

Robbery Under Arms (1920)

An early Australian tale of bushranging in the Outback (though amazingly already in 1920 the third adaptation of the novel Robbery Under Arms, there were films in 1907 and 1911 too - two more were made after this one). What are bushrangers? They were outlaws in the Australian outback who were at their height in the nineteenth century, the most famous being Ned Kelly of course.

This film stars Kenneth Brampton as Captain Starlight who is a "gentleman robber", a nicely ambiguous character - a criminal but also a hero seemingly in the Australian tradition. He gets involved with two brothers Roland Conway and S.A. Fitzgerald who join him on his escapades.

The escapades are pretty epic too with plenty of action scenes against a superb backdrop. The Australian countryside being the real star of the film. After many shoot outs and horse chases the gang face the music. The moral angle is played heavily at the end (presumably to get over a ban at the time in parts of Australia for films depicting bushrangers). Crime doesn't pay, apparently.

Murder on the Campus (1933)

Murder on the Campus is an enjoyable if fairly unlikely murder mystery - though does keep you guessing.

Charles Starrett is Bill, a reporter who is near the scene when a university student is murdered in a bell tower. How the murder got away is unknown but the police detective (J. Farrell MacDonald) is on the case. Though for some reason he is happy to have Bill along with him for questioning suspects and discussing the clues. Things get hairy for Bill though when one of the prime suspects turns out to be his squeeze Lillian (Shirley Gray).

With things looking bleak for Lillian Bill enlists the help of college professor and criminologist Hawley (Edward Van Sloan) but has Bill made a fatal error?

Although quite low budget and static (there isn't a great deal of action - such that there is is often off-camera) the plot is pretty decent and has a good twist.

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).