Gang Smashers (1938)

Somewhat baffling at times but fast paced gangster action in this race movie.

Laura (Nina Mae McKinney) is a gangster's moll and singer at his (Laurence Criner) club. However, all is not what it seems. Really she is an undercover agent seeking evidence to bring down the Harlem racket once and for all. Naturally this is a very dangerous enterprise, but she might have an unexpected ally.

This is a highly enjoyable film with plenty of cool swing and jazz. It also includes Mantan Moreland in an unusual role for him as a gangster's henchman, though he still plays it light to add some humour to the film. 

The low budget and iffy acting can make the story a little hard to follow at times but this is a solid film with an exciting action packed ending.

Alice's Day at Sea (1924)

One of the earliest Walt Disney films, this is a comedy short which mixes live action and animation.

Alice (Virginia Davis) and woken up by Peggy the dog and heads off to the seashore. When she is there she hears a story of an old shipwreck and then dreams of visiting a mysterious world under the seas including an underwater zoo!

Although not the first to be made this was the first Alice film to be released and is a fun little thing with it's mix of styles. There isn't much to it but it has a bit of charm. It is probably most notable for historical reasons though. 

Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986)

You can't beat a bit of violent 1980s cheese.

Nick (Rutger Hauer) is ex-CIA and now a bounty hunter plying his trade in the inner city war zone that is 1980s Los Angeles. He lives in an industrial unit full of guns and various junk. 

He is employed to track down a terrorist called Malak (Gene Simmons) who has arrived in town and started to blow things up. Malak plans to cause a major disaster by blowing up a chemical plant in LA. The hunt for Malak is complicated by the meddling of the CIA, soon Nick's nearest and dearest are in the firing line...

An enjoyable film though fairly generic in many ways. The violence is fairly low budget but decently done and there is quite a lot of it. 

The Missing Lady (1946)

One of a short movie series featuring the masked crime fighter, The Shadow, not that he is in costume very much.

Lamont Cranston (Kane Richmond) a.k.a. The Shadow is looking for a missing jade statuette. His investigations lead him into sleazy bars, a doss house and then into a murder scene in his own apartment block! Lamont finds himself accused of the murder though he gets off after outwitting Police Inspector Cardona (James Flavin) - to be honest a piece of cheese could probably do that.

Lamont and his assistant Shrevvie (George Chandler) investigate a complicated plot which the local hoodlum (Jack Overman), his gal (Claire Carleton) and a glamorous model (Jo-Carroll Dennison) seem to be involved in... 

It is all fine B-movie detective work and can be a bit Noir-ish at times, what does detract from the movie a bit though is the repetitive humour such as Cardona's stupidity and Lamont's and Shrevvie's jealous girlfriends (Barbara Reed and Jennie Delaney) getting involved to various degrees of non-assistance. 

In the Year 2889 (1969)

We are in the future, actually no we arn't. In fact this is a rather low budget slice of nonsense set firmly in 1969.

World War 3 has occurred, radiation is killing everyone but smug Captain John (Neil Fletcher) has a plan in his remote house protected from the fall out by geographical oddities. Unfortunately his remote house doesn't turn out to be that remote after all after a number of unwanted guests come to join him and his daughter (Charla Doherty). While some of the visitors including Steve (Paul Petersen) are benign, Micky (Hugh Feagin) is a wrong-un just waiting to cause trouble. There also appears to be a radiation mutated monster prowling in the gardens...

Low budget and low thrills, it also has a distinct lack of good acting (though Doherty isn't bad). The story is a bit slow and stilted and sometimes you wish for the radiation to put us all out of out misery. The title by the way has nothing to do with the film, but is taken from a Jules Verne short story. That probably is the most interesting thing about this disaster.

Gun Lords of Stirrup Basin (1937)

Romeo and Juliet on the range, a great Western.

Trouble is brewing between the ranchers and the homesteaders, the trouble being caused secretly by greedy crooked lawyer Bowdre (Karl Hackett). Son of the ranch boss Dan (Bob Steele) and daughter of a homesteader Gail (Louise Stanley) only have eyes for each other though. But when the guns start firing and the bodies start falling, newly married Dan and Gail find themselves caught between the two sides...

One of the better B-movie Westerns with a good story (maybe inspired by Shakespeare, i guess we'll never know) that isn't overshadowed by endless speeded up horse riding and fights - although you will get some of these. Super little film. Strange title though.

Edge of Fury (1978)

Complicated kung fu action in flares.

Fang (Bruce Li) is the chauffeur for a rich man who ends up being arrested for drug offences in Thailand and eventually executed. Fang, who seems pretty naive at times, ends up tangling with his boss' young wife Mrs Chen (Dana Tsen) who seems more interested in inheriting her executed husband's money more than anything. He also finds himself under attack by his boss' main man King (Yasuaki Kurata) who is trying to find the opium cache of his boss...

This is quite complicated for a HK action film, using flashbacks to fill in Fang's back story and why he is loyal to his boss. We also find out why King is keen to stop Fang. The action scenes are good (if not out of the ordinary), though sometimes the gap between them drags a bit. 

This isn't a great HK film though is a reasonable watch. The most fun thing about this film is the fashions. Kung fu in flares is great!