1984 (1956)

The George Orwell classic, remember Big Brother is watching you.

In a future dystopia, Britain is now ruled by a totalitarian regime which ruthlessly controls it's citizens via propaganda, rewritten histories and facts and endless lies (backed up by secret police and torture if that doesn't work!) Winston Smith (Edmond O'Brien) is a low level functionary of the regime whose job is to rewrite history to reflect the "truth" which Big Brother wants. However, in a land where love is forbidden (unless it is for Big Brother) he rebels by falling in love with fellow regime officer Julia (Jan Sterling).

The pair maintain their secret affair away from the prying eyes of Big Brother, they also get recruited by high ranking official O'Connor (Michael Redgrave) who apparently is part of an underground resistance. Unfortunately, this is a lie too, Winston and Julia are arrested and end up being brutally tortured and reconditioned. What will happen when they meet again?

A bleak and brutal tale, a crushing and cruel tale always under the watchful eye of Big Brother. It couldn't come true of course, well it hasn't yet anyway. 

Quiet Please: Murder (1942)

An enjoyable crime caper involving murder and valuable books.

Jim Fleg (George Sanders) steals a valuable book from the library after killing the guard. He has copies of the book made and sells these via his accomplice Myra (Gail Patrick). Private detective Hal (Richard Denning) is investigating the case, he encounters Myra who falls in love with him but she still leads him into Fleg's trap at the library! 

This film has an interesting plot involving stolen valuable books, naturally as its war time the valuables are wanted by the Nazis to help them after they lose the war and need to flee! The relationship between Hal and Myra (and indeed Fleg and Myra too) is a roller coaster with Noir undertones. The war time setting adds interest to the film, including the plot device of an air raid black out. A good film.

Ninja Strike Force (1988)

Another Godfrey Ho cut and paste martial arts film mixing an older Asian film with new ninja footage. 

Gordon (Richard Harrison) is a ninja who discovers that his master (Edowan Bersma) owns an ancient sword which bestows great power. However, that doesn't stop the evil Black Ninja from killing the master and taking the sword! Gordon vows to avenge his master, first though he must warn the leader of the five ninja clans and warn them not to be killed by the Black Ninja else he will become unstoppable...

Meanwhile we also have a rather tedious older Taiwanese film starring Eagle Lee which has been added to pad the film out, clever editing giving the veneer of the characters of the two films interacting. 

Unfortunately while some of the films of this type like Ninja Terminator actually end up being pretty good, Ninja Strike Force doesn't really work. The ninjas having headbands which have "ninja" written on them really doesn't scream quality and the older film is a bit boring. The modern ninja fighting footage is campy but fun making the film watchable but not much more.

Sing Sing Nights (1934)

An interesting premise, let down by a somewhat patchy execution.

When famous war reporter Cooper (Conway Teale) is found shot dead, no less than three men claim they carried out the murder! Cooper's body indeed does have three bullets in it but which man was the first to fire (and thus the actual murderer). All three men are found guilty but Professor Varney (Ferdinand Gottschalk) heads to prison with a lie detector to try and find out who is the true murderer.

Trude (Hardie Albright), McCaigh (Jameson Thomas) and Krenwicz (George Baxter) take turns to explain why they hated Cooper enough to kill him. Cooper's facade as a respected journalist is soon stripped away as he is revealed to be a cheat, a womaniser and a crook. Varney has the results of the lie detector test, and he has two pardons to hand out...

This film has a great (if slightly suspect in legal terms) plot though the film is rather poorly made at times. However, the story flows well and has some decent suspense.

Two Dollar Bettor (1951)

A neat if modest cautionary tale of the evils of gambling.

John Hewitt (John Litel) is a respected bank official with a couple of young daughters and a seemingly idyllic life. However, on a day at the races he is seduced into betting on the horses and sees this as a seemingly perfect way to make the money to buy his daughters a new car.

However, his winning streak soon ends and his gambling debts start to build up. Desperate, he starts to steal funds from the bank but the losses continue as do the debts. The bookmaker's secretary Mary Slate (Marie Windsor) who has been leading John on tells him about a dead cert, all he needs is $20K from the bank...

A reasonable film though somewhat sentimental at times. This does give a good contrast between the sweet home life of John and the noir doom his gambling is leading him to. Cheap but does the job.

Colossus: the Forbin Project (1970)

A complete geek fest of retro computing and a very relevant warning for today.

The US have handed over control of their nukes to a computer designed by Dr Forbin (Eric Braeden) called Colossus. No sooner is Colossus activated then things start to deviate from Forbin's carefully worked out plan. Colossus tells them it has a counterpart in the Soviet Union called Guardian. Colossus demands to be able to contact Guardian. This is allowed but when the two computers start to communicate using their own language humans cannot understand then the communications are cut off. Colossus and Guardian launch nuclear missiles and tell the humans to restore communications or else...

The two computers are now in control, Forbin kept under constant surveillance by Colossus. Forbin has to resort to having Dr Markham (Susan Clarke) pretend to be his girlfriend so she can give him information via some naked pillow talk, the only way for Forbin to communicate without Colossus knowing. The US and Soviets devise a secret plan to stop the computers but the computers are always steps ahead...

This is a great film, full of tension as Forbin and Colossus play the ultimate cat and mouse game, unfortunately for Forbin he is definitely the mouse. The ancient computer hardware is a treat but in a world where there are real fears about AI and what it could do to us the story resonates today. 

Booked on Suspicion (1945)

Part of the long running good guy criminal turned amateur detective Boston Blackie series.

Blackie (Chester Morris) helps out his friend Arthur (Lloyd Corrigan) who has purchased a book store, the store relies on auctioning rare books for the majority of it's revenue but the famous book expert and auctioneer Wilfred (George M Cartleton) falls ill just before the auction of a rare Dickens first edition. Blackie, a master of disguise, steps in and pretends to be Wilfred for the sale of the book.

Unfortunately though the book turns out to be a forgery. Blackie tries to find the original owner of the book (and forger) before the money disappears without trace. He is assisted by Gloria (Lynn Merrick), not knowing she is the criminal mastermind's (Steve Cochrane) wife and accomplice. Blackie soon finds himself accused of murder and is hunted by his nemesis Inspector Faraday (Richard Lane)...

This is a good fun film, short and snappy with plenty of storyline and antics squeezed in. An enjoyable film with plenty of surprises.