Cloak Without Dagger (1956)

A modest and inoffensive, yet enjoyable little spy drama. During the war Felix (Philip Friend) and Kyra (Mary Mackenzie) were after an enemy spy but he escaped them. Now ten years later Felix is a waiter in a hotel and Kyra a journalist... and she has seen the spy again! Now he is apparently Peppi (John Heller), a dress designer. She has also seen a dead body... which quickly disappears.

Kyra enlists the help of the hotel detective Fred (Leslie Dywer) who suspects Felix is a wrong-un... much to Kyra's shock. Has Felix become an enemy agent? Everything seems to point to a secret nuclear base...

Although somewhat limited with a basic by the numbers plot the film is a decent enough watch with a fairly exciting helicopter chase as a climax. Look out for Frank Thornton in a small role as one of the spy ring, long before the days of Captain Peacock!

The Merry Couple (1981)

The ups and downs of a couple who walk the tightrope between being cute and incredibly annoying. 

Alan Tam and Joan Lim get married, and of course the in-laws want them to have children as soon as possible, as does Alan. Unfortunately Joan knows she will be fired if she becomes pregnant (obviously this film is from a time before anti-sex discrimination laws). Joan thus insists on protection but her mum-in-law has a cunning plan and pricks all the condoms with a pin (no really). Thus... Joan is in the club and out of a job.

A daughter is born, then a son. But Joan hates the housewife life, stuck at home having babies pee on her while Alan works all day as the Worst Advertising Executive in the World. So she returns to work but then Alan is the downtrodden one...

The couple are a little extreme in their emotions to make for that enjoyable a viewing and it detracts from the film quite a bit. They both get pissed off with their partner so easy you wonder how they got past the first date never mind marriage for 5+ years but there you are.

A reasonable film, you would call it a romantic comedy drama. There are some funny scenes but also a lot of tweeness.

Detour (1945)

A satisfying little noir told in flashback. Al (Tom Neal) and Sue (Claudia Drake) are working in a two-bit bar out East. Although engaged to marry, Sue decides to head to Hollywood leaving Al behind. Al finally decides to go out and join her and begins hitch hiking across the U.S...

In Arizona his luck changes. He hitches a ride with Charles (Edmund McDonald) who can take him all the way to L.A. but Charles dies of a sudden heart attack. Fearful that the police might think Al did Charles in he decides to hide the body and take Charles' identity and head to L.A. Then he makes his biggest mistake, he picks up Vera (Ann Savage) who knows Al is not Charles and begins to blackmail him...

Although a low budget B-movie this is a top quality noir. The cheapness and dinginess of the sets adding to the feel of hopelessness and dark fate. The story may have a few slightly far fetched elements but that doesn't distract from what is a masterpiece.

Treasure of Bruce Lee (1979)

Bruceploitation films are not always bad, some indeed are pretty good even if they are shameless cash-ins on Bruce Lee's name, but Treasure of Bruce Lee is pretty mediocre. Master Chen is training four pupils including Bruce Le. With the Japanese poised to invade China, Master Chen knows the importance of his ancient skills, details of which are kept in a book... which the Japanese led by Vivian Velasco are desperate to get.

Master Chen challenges his four pupils to protect the book, though one of them Cha Ya-Fan turns out to be a traitor. So far so good (if unsurprising) but then the film makers decided to splice in footage from another Bruce Le film which throws everything into confusion...

So it could have been a reasonable martial arts film but everything just goes wrong. The scenes showing kung fu training though is interesting. Everything else is... not so much.

Passenger to London (1937)

A British agent is bring some retrieved government documents back from Paris but he is being hunted by enemy agents and is killed on the train to the coast. He manages to hide the plans in the luggage of fellow passenger Barbara Lane (Jenny Laird). Frank Drayton (John Warwick) is on a mission to retrieve the plans.

Frank hunts Barbara down to a cheap hotel owned by the ridiculously haughty Dorothy Dewhurst. Frank hits it off with Barbara though finds it difficult to find the plans. The enemy agents are meanwhile also closing in on Barbara and the plans...

A fun little quota quickie. The story is a little limited, some of the characters a bit one dimensional (especially the enemy agents Vautel (Paul Neville) and Veinberg (Ian Wilmot) who are almost self-parody) but Warwick and Laird work well together. The film is short and doesn't waste much time.

Cause for Alarm! (1951)

Ellen (Loretta Young) seems to be the perfect all-American housewife in the early 1950s, doing the vacuuming in her lovely frock while also nursing her ill former serviceman husband George (Barry Sullivan). But all is not well, George thinks his wife is killing him...

Overcome with paranoia (as well as a weak heart) George thinks Ellen is having an affair with Doctor Grahame (Bruce Cowling) and slowly poisoning him. Finally George gets a gun to kill Ellen but keels over dead. But the nightmare has only just begun for Ellen. George had written a letter to the DA detailing his paranoid fears. Now with a dead George who will believe it was a delusion. Ellen must get that letter back!

So its a film about trying to get a letter back, but also so much more. In flashbacks we learn more about George's character and it isn't good. Ellen also makes herself more suspicious and guilty the more desperate she becomes... A simple but well made little piece of domestic noir. The plot stretches credulity a bit though.

Day of the Panther (1988)

There haven't been many Australian martial arts films but this is one of them and while largely unexceptional is a fun enough ride.

Jason Blade (Edward John Stazak) is a top martial artist and special branch officer in HK who comes to Perth after his partner Linda (Linda Megier) is killed investigating the criminal Zukor (Michael Carmen) by his head henchman Baxter (James Richards).

Blade joins Zukor's gang as part of his plan to get close and finally get revenge. The Perth police meanwhile want him out of town as Zukor is an important man, and a drug lord...

Well forget the plot it isn't really important. Or the (lack of) acting. These kind of films are about the fighting, and there is a lot of it. Some of it is pretty good too amid the mostly ill-judged tomfoolery and awful 80s fashions. Stazak is a pretty good fighter, which is just as well as he isn't that good an actor.