After Midnight with Boston Blackie (1943)

Boston Blackie gets involved with the hunt for missing diamonds.

Ed Barnaby (Walter Baldwin) leaves prison after the theft of diamonds which were never recovered. He knows the mob will be after him and the loot so sends his daughter Betty (Ann Savage) to enlist the help of his old pal Boston Blackie (Chester Morris). Herschel (Cy Kendall) and his thugs end up killing Ed and then kidnapping Betty in order to force Blackie to give them the diamonds. Hapless Police Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) as, as always, a few steps behind.

This is another fast moving, rich yet straight forwardly plotted, crime romp with plenty of good humour including a side-plot of The Runt (George E Stone) trying to get married. A highly enjoyable film.

The Brain Machine (1972)

Confusing and with a low budget, this is probably not going to go very well.

A group of people (including James Best as a priest) are selected to take part in a mysterious experiment led by Dr Roth (Doug Collins), the purpose of this experiment is never made clear but the fact the previous head of the programme ran away and ended up being executed by government agents does not bode well. 

During the experiment the patients are trapped in a room and then things take a turn for the worse, as the experiment is hijacked by secretive government agents. The patients are driven crazy, and in some cases want to kill...

The film does not make much sense, it probably needed a good edit and a bit of clarity in the plot. The paranoia builds nicely though and psychological terror in the last act is quite effective though but it takes a deal of tedium and many static shots of a swimming pool (for some unexplained reason) to get there. The IBM computer equipment is probably the real star of the film (for me anyway).

Light Blast (1985)

An insanely violent 1980s crime/science fiction film.

Dr Soboda (Ennio Girolami) is a renegrade scientist who has developed a death ray. He uses it to blow up a train and melt the unfortunate couple getting it on inside a boxcar. Soboda wants millions of dollars from the San Francisco authorities otherwise he will use his death ray again. He indeed does use this at a race track to deadly effect.

Supercop Inspector Ronn (Erik Estrada) is tasked with stopping Soboda. His investigations consists of getting into a string of fights including in a morgue! In fact there are a lot of fights in this, many many fights and many many deaths.

This is a fun 1980s action romp, full of stunts and action scenes and doesn't make a lot of sense. Not a film for character development, much in the way of plot or any logic. But the film is highly enjoyable as a mindless action romp so who cares?

Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937)

Charlie Chan against the glamour and sleaze of Broadway.

Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) and Number 1 Son (Keye Luke) are travelling to New York via ocean liner, also aboard is Billie Bronson (Louise Henry) who is returning from exile. Someone seems to be very interesting in getting their hands on something in her possession for sure as her cabin has been ransacked. It is discovered that Billie has information on her which could blow open a criminal racket in the city.

In New York, Billie heads to a club to confront owner Burke (Douglas Fowley) but is later found dead in his office. A man is later found dead in her hotel room. Charlie and the police (Harold Huber) try to discover who is behind the crimes, reporters Joan (Joan Marsh) and Speed (Donald Woods) are also close behind. Maybe too close?

This is a fine entry in the Charlie Chan series, with plenty of clues, red herrings and potential suspects. The actual culprit turns out to be a bit of a surprise too. The rather dubious night club where male patrons can take photographs of the girls dancing is hilarious.

Thief (1981)

A gritty crime drama on the mean streets of early 1980s Chicago.

Frank (James Caen) is a successful safe breaker but he always works for himself. Unfortunately when he crosses paths with the mob led by Leo (Robert Prosky) and is forced to work for him instead. 

Life is going well for Frank though, he is married to Jessie (Tuesday Welt), has a nice house and an adopted child (which Leo arranged). The big diamond heist in California goes well but when Frank wants to quit, Leo doesn't take no for an answer. To escape, Frank has to put everything at risk...

A highly enjoyable film and involving film, especially the safe cracking scenes. Appearances by Jim Belushi and Willie Nelson are also very welcome.

The Cosmic Man (1959)

An interesting, if well worn, sci-fi tale. The story has been seen before, usually with a bigger budget!

A mysterious globe arrives on Earth near a US military base. Dr Sorensen (Bruce Bennett) is tasked with trying to discover what this globe is and if it contains any secrets which can help the US military. Colonel Matthews (Paul Langton) becomes impatient as Sorensen and his team continue their painstaking investigation. Meanwhile, a mysterious shadowy figure begins to terrorise the local town. A mysterious man (John Carradine) also makes an appearance and shows a lot of interest in what is going on...

This is a perfectly reasonable science fiction tale, the story of a visitor arriving from outer space is of course very familiar. This film lacks any whizz bang special effects though can be a little more thoughtful than films of this genre at the time often were. It does lack much in the way of any real excitement or drama but is a decent watch. 

One A.M. (1916)

An early Charlie Chapin short comedy, the first in which he appears (mostly) alone.

A drunk (Chaplin) returns home from some sort of event which included booze, indeed a lot of booze as Charlie is very drunk indeed! After many awkward slapstick antics he manages to get out of his taxi allowing Albert Austin to finally drive off. Charlie's next job is to get into his house...

Well we have all been there! This is solo slapstick of the highest order as everything becomes a near insurmountable obstacle to negotiate past. A short and simple film which just about manages to not out live it's welcome. Don't ask why the film is called "One A.M." yet it is bright sunlight outside!