Inside Job (1946)

Eddie Norton (Alan Curtis) is an ex-con trying to go straight but reduced to acting as a mannequin in a department store window, also working in the store is his wife Claire (Ann Rutherford) who has to endure the company of her lecherous old boss in order to get paid properly. Eddie is recognised by crime boss Bart Madden (Preston Foster) who wants Eddie to relieve the store of all of it's cash...

For someone who is supposed to want to go straight Eddie decides almost in an instant to do the job himself and cut Bart Madden out of the action. Claire also needs little persuading in helping Eddie out with his crime. Eddie and Claire are soon on the run from the police and Bart Madden...

An enjoyable noir crime drama. It doesn't hang around and the audiences' feelings are played with to an extent. The Nortons fall into crime very easily but are seen gaining a huge amount of redemption through their future actions. However crime doesn't pay, well in Hollywood anyway.

A Shot In The Dark (1935)

A college student (James Bush) is found hanging from the balcony of his dorm room however it soon transpires that he was already dead when the rope was put around his neck... another boy who knew some information dies soon after.

The father (Robert Warwick) of the murdered student's friend Ken Harris (Charles Starrett) is in town and as he has in interest in criminology takes over the case, even the local police agree to it! The murderer is using some kind of weapon to shoot needles into the brains of their victims...

A complicated but enjoyable murder mystery with some Golden Age touches. Is the victim's sister Jean (Marion Shilling) mixed up in it? Family secrets and inheritances are eventually discovered to be the motive and there is a great twist in the end. The film has some good performances though as is usual with films set in universities from this period the "students" all look a little old...

They Call Me Bruce (1982)

A hilarious send-up of martial arts movies. Johnny Yune is a Korean cook working for the mafia (though completely unaware of any wrong doing), everyone calls him Bruce and thinks he can do kung fu...

Unfortunately "Bruce" has no martial arts ability at all but gets involved in delivering drugs for the mob alongside Freddy (Raf Mauro) all the time being tailed by the Feds (Pam Huntington) and being used to capture the big boss...

It is all very silly with lots of slapstick and corny gags (but delivered excellently). It knows the subject it is sending up very well and if you get the references then it may indeed be one of the funniest films you'll ever see.

Betsy Ross (1917)

A film about Betsy Ross (Alice Brady) who was the woman who made the first American flag.

This is a charming though not exactly enthralling little period piece about her life from strict religious upbringing to chasing after a British officer (Frank Mayo). However before she can marry him her beau is struck down in a duel with her sister Carissa's (Lillian Cook) husband.

Later she is commissioned to create the flag by Washington (George MacQuarrie) but there is some trouble with her brother-in-law but everything ends up well in the end and they all go home happily for tea. The film is a bit light if we're going to be honest, but improves as time goes on. It all looks pretty lovely.

Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935)

Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) is in Egypt investigating stolen ancient artifacts. While there Chan discovers the head of the expedition (George Irving) dead in a Mummy's sarcophagus...

Who killed the professor, was he the victim of the curse of the Pharaoh? Certainly there are lots of strange goings on and eerie sightings... There is also a hidden chamber in the tomb though guarded by a man with a gun not ancient demons.

A decent crime drama but expect dated stereotypes, so many of them they could fill a pyramid! The mystery is not as complex as some Charlie Chan films but the exotic setting of Luxor and the mysteries of the ancient Pharaohs adds so much to the film. Look out for Rita Hayworth in one of her early roles (billed as Rita Cansino). As none of Chan's "sons" are in the film, Stephen Fetchit is there to provide "comedy relief" though fails miserably with his rather awful "coon" act.

The Villain (1979)

The Villain is quite a strange film. It is a comedy western full of capers, more like a live action version of a Road Runner cartoon, with the "Coyote" in the shape of Cactus Jack (Kirk Douglas) trying to stop the "roadrunner" (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ann-Margret) with a series of increasingly deranged and hopeless ambushes.

There is a plot, evil schemes concocted by Jack Elam involving bank loans and seizing a mine, but these seem rather incidental as the failed ambushes continue. The film is very silly and completely unrealistic, Cactus Jack somehow avoiding injuries despite his various accidents. His performing horse Whisky also does a good role. However once you treat the film as intended then it works.

As well as the wacky action the film has some good lines and goofy humour. Look out for Mel Tillis as a telegraph operator who tricks Arnie out of his steak!

Beast of Berlin (1939)

Anti-Nazi films were rare even by 1939, this film was banned and censored in parts of the US even as armies prepared for war in Europe. So this is a significant film though not that good a one.

It follows a group of anti-Nazis including Alan Ladd, Roland Drew, Greta Granstedt and Steffi Duna. They are printing pamphlets and spreading dissent, all the while scared of betrayal and being caught by the brutal SS. A complication is that one of their number, Hans von Twardoski, is a member of the SS but wants out before liquor consumed in a Nazi booze-up loosens his tongue...

The propaganda is laid on heavy, as heavy as a Tiger tank. For some reason the actors speak English with a vague German accent interspersed with a few actual German words like Ja and Auf wiedersehen. At times it is a bit Allo Allo, though darker. At times very dark indeed.