One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942)

A superior WW2 propaganda film. The cheekie chappie crew of a Wellington bomber bail out over the Netherlands after their plane is hit (though it continues on without them to eventually crash into a pylon back home!) The air crew, led by Haggard (Hugh Burden) and Corbett (Godfrey Tearle), meet up with Dutch locals and an English speaking teacher (Pamela Brown) who helps them get to the coast and evade the German patrols. However, the journey is fraught with danger, from the Germans and collaborators.

Finally they end up at the home of de Vries (Googie Withers), who at first appearance is a collaborator but is really fighting the Germans behind the scenes. She helps the air crew get a boat and they reach the North Sea and (eventual) safety...

A tense wartime drama, although made for propaganda purposes it is elevated by the shades of grey, realism and an attempt of some humanisation of the enemy. The Germans are still the bad guys but some attempt is made to make them more than cardboard characters. Our heroes are normal chaps who are trying to do their best not chisel jawed super men. A good film though a little slow at times. Notable for being Peter Usinov's film debut, though he is hardly recognisable until he speaks!

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968)

As with Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, this is an edited version of the Soviet science-fiction film Planeta Bur with added footage of mysterious women of Venus led by Mamie van Doren who wear sea shells and have some silver paint on their bellies! The astronauts, which include Gennadi Vernov and Georgi Zhzhyonov, are supposedly American but don't ask why their space ship has red stars on it!

Venus is a strange world inhabited by various rubber monsters including a flying reptile the Venus women regard as their god. However, when the astronauts kill the creature the Venus women call up a volcano and earthquake...

The film is very surreal. Despite the fact the film is made from two completely different ones the result is reasonably coherent though does at times drag slightly. The film is dubbed and the dialogue is sometimes rather clumsy to match the original Russian speaking lips!

The Finishing Touch (1928)

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are tasked with finishing a house in record time by Sam Lufkin, what could go wrong? a framework Actually let us rephrase that, what would go right? Because a building site is just an endless opportunity for slapstick mayhem. The poor policeman Edgar Kennedy gets dragged into the destruction, a hilarious scene sees him covered in tar and then a load of roof slates fall on him and stick to him!

To make matters worse, the nurse (Dorothy Coburn) of a hospital next door is demanding that Stan and Ollie make as little noise as possible. As you can imagine this is a forlorn hope...

This is a very funny and very silly film, the story is pretty basic and largely a framework for a series of comedic situations. The slapstick doesn't always work but the film races along a such a pace that you don't have time to dwell on it when it doesn't.

Twins of Evil (1971)

An excellent Hammer horror. Twins Freida (Madeleine Collinson) and Maria (Mary Collinson) are sent to live with their Uncle Gustav (Peter Cushing) in the countryside. Unfortunately their uncle is the leader of a fanatical Puritan sect who hunt for witches and burn them alive. The girls also live in the shadow of the castle of Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas), who really is a servant of Satan.

Despite the pleadings of the teacher Anton (David Warbeck) that their methods are flawed, Gustav's Puritans continue to pursue and burn young girls. Meanwhile the Count inducts Freida into the dark path of the vampire. Her insatiable lust for blood really does turn the village upside down...

Although nothing too original, this is a fun Hammer horror and vampire film which takes advantage of real identical twins for some big bosomed identity switching. The film has plenty of fake blood, dubious "Satanic" rituals and a big slice of cheese. All you really want from an early 1970s Hammer horror.

Terror Train (1980)

A slasher killer loose on a steam train! A group of college kids hold their end of year party on a sleeper train, much debauchery is planned at night. What isn't planned is their ex-classmate Kenny (Derek MacKinnon), whom was sent to an asylum a few years ago after a prank went wrong, also joining the party and beginning his revenge with the help of various sharp objects.

While Alana (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Doc (Hart Bochner) are watching The Magician (David Copperfield), the body count starts to add up much to the consternation of the train conductor (Ben Johnson). Once the actions of Kenny are known a bitter and bloody battle for survival begins aboard the train as it steams through the night...

Although the slasher revenge theme is not too original, the setting is quite novel and adds an interesting dimension to the thrills and scares. The Magician adds a bit of mystery and cheese.

Brats (1930)

Sheer comic invention. With the wives away Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are looking after the boys, who look remarkably like exact mini versions of their Dads. However, while Stan and Ollie are trying to play a quiet game of draughts the boys are always up to mischief. Finally they are sent to bed but this is where the problems and destruction go up another level!

This is an incredibly inventive little film. All of the props were made twice, one normal size and the other larger so Stan and Ollie can realistically play children. 

The slapstick and visual gags are standard Laurel and Hardy fare but done so well, they are easily able to carry this film on their own.

The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961)

A gritty war film. Mitchem (Richard Todd) is leading a British Army patrol in the Malayan jungle with the Japanese closing in. His motley group of men fulfil various British stereotypes including the anti-establishment cocky cockney Bamforth (Laurence Harvey) and the touchy, proud but conflicted Scotsman (Ronald Fraser). Mitchem's main problem seems to be with Corporal Johnson (Richard Harris) who questions his orders.

Holed up in a hut the men capture a Japanese soldier (Kenji Takaki), Bamforth forges a friendship with the man and ends up defending him when Mitchem decides the man must die, and Johnson shows a rather bloodthirsty desire to carry out that order. When it is established the Japanese are a lot closer than expected the patrol tries to retreat but is it too late?

Although studio based (with some stock footage of wild animals) the film makes the most of it's limited sets and budget to produce a realistic view of war, and it's effects on humanity. No daring chisel jawed heroes here, more like ordinary men hurled into extraordinary times and how the true man behind the facade emerges when the pressure is on.