The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)

Evil Cromwell (Richard Lynch) enlists the help of a demonic sorcerer Xusia (Richard Moll) to help him conquer the world. The young son of one of the kings he slays makes off with a fancy (and massive) triple sword that can shoot blades. Years later the son (Lee Horsley) is back as a mercenary called Talon...

Meanwhile Princess Alana (Kathleen Beller) and her brother Mikah (Simon MacCorkindale) are the last hold outs against Cromwell. Though they end up his prisoner, can Talon save the day and the world?

It is rather goofy sword and sorcery nonsense, laying the blueprint for the likes of Hercules and Xena. Expect well oiled muscles and shiny swords indulging in well choreographed semi-comedic violence. Don't expect much plot line sense though it is a lot of campy fun.

Windjammer (1937)

Bruce Lane (George O'Brien) is tasked with handing a subpoena to Commodore Selby (Brandon Evans) who is taking part in a yacht race along with his lovely daughter Betty (Constance Worth) and ends up stowing away. When he is discovered he ends up in the centre of peril when the yacht gets lost in the fog, and ends up getting rammed by a gun running cargo ship run by Captain Morgan (William Hall) who seems a bit of a rum fellow...

Bruce is rather cocky in his role but also seems to be the only person on the yacht who isn't incredibly naive. However sooner or later they all get wise to Morgan and his ship and realise they are in great danger.

An entertaining yarn on the high seas in the (latter) days of sail. The scenes aboard ship are very well done. Overall the tone is fairly light, the main characters a bit pantomime but it suits the film.

The Frightened City (1961)

A tough British gangster film with Noir-ish touches. Waldo (Herbert Lom) is a crooked accountant who has a masterplan to form a huge crime syndicate by merging smaller firms in London with the help of Harry (Alfred Marks).

Paddy (Sean Connery) is hired as the main muscle (though in a refined menace rather than ultra violent sense) but soon he finds himself drawn into something more than he bargained for when they take advantage of him to get rid of a friend (David Davies) who has fallen out with the syndicate...

The story is a little predictable but is nicely done with a bit of early 60s London style and sleaze.

Sean Connery is great in this film, it has been said (who knows it may be true) this role helped to get him the James Bond gig the following year.

Crashing Through Danger (1936)

A drama and love triangle involving electric company linemen. Truly there was no subject untouched in the 1930s. Torchy (Ray Walker), Slim (Guinn Williams) and Eddie (James Bush) are three happy-go-lucky lads who work on the electric company power lines, fool about and chase after dames. Their supervisor Pop (Robert Homans) forever reprimanding them... though always with a tear in his eye.

Unfortunately on Pop's final day he is killed due to negligence by the trio. They decide to look after his daughter Ann (Sally Blane) though soon they all have the hots for her and the love rivalry splits up their friendship. Though when a storm strikes and the power to the hospital is in danger of being disrupted will they pull together again?

It is a pretty familiar plot if we are to be honest, the only novelty being the guys are electric linemen and not some other profession. Competent if not spectacular, one could say it might lack a bit of spark...

Hot Summer in Barefoot County (1974)

Before the Dukes of Hazzard there was this... the babes of Barefoot. Stella (Tonia Bryan) and her three daughters including Mary Ann (Sherry Robinson) are making hooch in a secret still in the woods and running moonshine across county lines in hot rods - basically living one version of the American dream! The hapless and heavily bearded sheriff Bull Tatum (Charles Elledge) tries his best to stop them but usually ends up in the ditch in disgrace. However the Feds in the state capital are starting to get impatient...

Agent Jeff (Don Jones) is sent undercover to try and discover what is going on but he gets run off the road when he reaches Barefoot. He is injured and nursed back to health by Mary Ann and her daughters. Jeff falls in love with one of the daughters / suspects and falls foul of the local imitation hard case Culley Joe (Jeff MacKay)...

It isn't a great film by any stretch of the imagination, being rather poorly made and a bit predictable, but is fairly harmless trash. If you like seeing beat up hot rods being chased down country roads by police cars with a banjo soundtrack then this is the film for you.

Fun and Fury (1992)

A fast paced action comedy of the type HK churned out by the score in the 1980s and early 90s.

Leon Lai plays a Singaporean cop who is in love with Vivian Chow... who is the daughter of Kent Cheung, a HK Triad boss! Well of course daddy doesn't want a son-in-law who is a cop so he concocts a plan to frame Leon as a womaniser using the rather fetching young wench Sharon Kwok... 

So Leon and Vivian fall out and Leon has to enlist the help of his buddy Frankie Chan to mend matters. But while all this is happening another Triad boss (whose brother was killed by Leon or something like that - its not fully explained, these films do tend to have complicated and convoluted plots) moves in and with the help of a large black man wielding an RPG and a kung fu blonde babe with an assault rifle proceed to kick ass...

The plot is very simple and predictable but the action is great with some really good inventive kung fu fights and plenty of explosions especially in the cool final showdown. The film doesn't take itself too seriously which is why it works.

Dick Tracy (Serial) (1937)

A wonderfully over the top action serial, just how a comic hero adaptation should be of course. In this serial version of the comic story Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) is a federal agent and battling The Spider Ring crime organisation...

Now The Spider Ring which is led by the Lame One has some cool toys, including a sonic weapon he has mounted aboard a fabulous looking flying wing, though their plans seem rather suspect and often easy to foil. The Lame One is assisted by the rather sinister Doctor Moloch (John Picorri) who performs surgery on Dick's own brother George (Richard Beach) to turn him into a brainwashed thug (Carleton Young)...

Dick has plenty of help, and needs it as the evil plots come thick and fast. Among his assistants are Gwen (Kay Hughes) - who plays the Tess Trueheart role - and Mike (Smiley Burnett).