Rogue of the Rio Grande (1930)

Not without some appeal but largely a bit of a run-of-the-mill Western.

El Malo (José Bohr) robs the bank of a small town. However, El Malo is a Robin Hood figure who gives the stolen pesos to the poor of the town. El Malo manages to evade capture but falls for the charms of the cantina singer Carmita (Myrna Loy). El Malo then witnesses the robbery of a stagecoach by real outlaws using his name, their leader turns out to be the mayor (Gene Morgan) of the town...

This is a fairly standard and unsurprising Western though has some music thanks to Carmita (but not that good) and is played light, with bad guys stopped by sitting on cactuses rather than bullets. An early talkie with typical sound issues including awkward dialogue at times. It is probably most interesting for being early in the careers of both Bohr and Loy who went onto much bigger and better things either side of the Rio Grande.

Bullet to Beijing (1995)

It is the end of the Cold War, and Harry Palmer is out of a job!

Retired by MI5, Palmer (Michael Caine) is recruited by a Russian called Alexei (Michael Gambon) to stop the North Koreans getting ahold of a biological weapon that could kill millions. Palmer is helped by Nikolai (Jason Connery) in a rather confusing mix involving former operatives (from both sides) and the Russian mafia.

Much of the film takes place on a Russian train to Beijing, though Palmer and Nikolai end up marooned in Siberia and have to get back to their train by various forms of transport in some kind of bizarre Top Gear-like sequence. There are various double crosses made, the trip to Beijing seems rather pointless in the end as they head straight back to Moscow by plane. By now, though, Palmer knows there is more to this than a weapon, and Alexei can't be trusted...

It doesn't make a huge amount of sense (and can't really be compared to real Harry Palmer films based on actual Len Deighton books) but makes the most of post-Soviet Russia for all sorts of crumbling Soviet nonsense including rusty old Aeroflot airliners and a car chase with Ladas! All highly enjoyable if you like that sort of thing!

Rats: Night of Terror (1984)

One of a number of Italian Mad Max rip-offs, though this time the gang of raggedy marauders from the bad lands, in their beat up old vehicles, have to face... rats?

The group, led by Kurt (Ottaviano Dell'Acqua), arrive at a mysterious abandoned town that seems to be only inhabited by rats. They discover an underground science base with fresh food and flashy light bleepy tech. However, then the rats start to attack. In various gruesome ways too, the gang desperately battle for survival with their guns, tankettes and flamethrowers. Unfortunately as the gang seem to collectively have less brain cells than bullets the rats outwit them time and time again. Help is on the way, well they think anyway...

This really is a strange film, the gang really are inept. Characters like Deus (Tony Lombardo) and Duke (Henry Luciani) are pretty one dimensional and wouldn't last five minutes against the New Barbarians for example. Video (Gianni Franco) provides some moments of really strange humour. Violent, rather nasty and pretty weird.

You Only Live Twice (1967)

One of the best James Bond films, so wonderfully over the top.

An American space capsule is gobbled up by a mysterious other capsule and disappears, the Americans accuse the Soviets but British Intelligence think the other capsule landed near Japan. Bond (Sean Connery) is sent to work with the Japanese secret service led by Tiger (Tetsuro Tanba). Bond discovers a link to a chemical company and a ship which makes an unusual cargo stop at a volcanic island...

Along with local diver Kissy (Mie Hama) - whom James tries to seduce of course, having already managed with Japanese agent Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi) - Bond discovers a secret base hidden in a volcano and a plot by Blofeld (Donald Pleasance) to start the Third World War... 

The film is completely ridiculous of course. but so much fun with incredible action scenes. Connery disguised as a Japanese fisherman is nonsense of course but so much else is in this film. Which makes it so superb.

Krasner, Norman: Beloved Husband of Irma (1974)

This is the first in the series about Norman (Douglas P McIntosh), one of life's born losers. Here he proves even going to the toilet is impossible for him without various disasters including getting his foot stuck down the toilet and accidentally groping the man in the next cubicle. All filmed in a found footage style grainy black and white. It is all rather cringey and weird. Perhaps the shame of flooding out the toilet meant that he had to go into hiding for 5 years until 1979's Welcome back Norman!

Lady of the Night (1925)

An enjoyable melodrama with a great performance by Norma Shearer.

Two baby girls are born very close together but also so far apart. One is Molly, the daughter of a man (Lew Harvey) sent to prison for a twenty stretch, and the other is Florence, the daughter of the judge (Fred Esmelton) who put him away! Eighteen years later the two young women (both played by Norma Shearer) have left their respective schools. Molly has become an escort, after a fight at a club she is rescued by an inventor called David (Malcolm McGregor) and falls in love, though David doesn't see it the same way...

With Molly's help, David decides to use his invention that can open any safes for good and not crime. Florence then meets David and starts dating him. However, she realises that Molly really loves him...

It is all wrapped neatly in a way the class conscious 1920s would accept of course. A sentimental film but very well done. The acting is natural and subtle and the story well told. Shearer does very well playing two roles, and two very different characters.

Die Monster Die! (1965)

An enjoyably creepy horror film.

Stephen (Nick Adams) arrives in a remote English village, asking for directions to the country house where his fiancé lives... but no one will tell him! He somehow finds his way there anyway and receives a cold welcome from his future father-in-law Witley (Boris Karloff) but Susan (Suzan Farmer) insists Stephen stays. The house is a really weird one, with ghastly howls and mysterious movements at night.

Finally, Stephen and Susan discover a greenhouse full of enormous plants and hideously deformed creatures. Stephen suspects radiation from a strange glowing green rock is causing the mutations...

The film is a grower, the horror and suspense starts off low-key and implied rather than shown. The film loses some of it's power when we do see what is behind the horrifying noises to be honest as they sometimes look a bit ridiculous. A decent horror film from the period though with a little room for improvement.