711 Ocean Drive (1950)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Joseph M. Newman
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

Edmond O'Brien uses the electrical skills he learned at the telephone company to improve communications at the local bookie complex. Before long he quits his job and muscles his way into running the joint. The national syndicate takes over, but he finds out they are taking more than the agreed cut. He hires a hit man to murder his main opposition, but the hit man ends up blackmailing him. So, he has to bump him off but now the police are on his trail. Gritty little noir that uses the Hoover Dam for a somewhat overblown ending.

The Falcon Takes Over (1942)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Irving Reis
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

The perpetually-engaged-but-never-married playboy and amateur sleuth Gay Lawrence, otherwise known as The Falcon, helps out his sidekick "Goldy" when he gets carjacked by "Moose Malloy" in front of a nightclub. A pretty newspaper reporter and beautiful necklace owner provide romantic interests for the wandering Falcon. At least this entry has a better mystery and less comedy than previous ones, but still can't shake its prurient tendencies.

Thunder in Carolina (1960)

Howco International
Directed by Paul Helmick
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, VCI Entertainment)

Stock car racer Rory Calhoun befriends garage owner John Gentry after a crash puts him out of action. He agrees to teach Gentry how to drive in exchange for a job, room and board. However, he spends most of his time going after Gentry's pretty wife. Well, Gentry is a fast learner and soon is making headlines at the races. The friends have a falling out when Gentry joins a rival racing group, leading to the inevitable duel in the big race at the end. Location shooting around Darlington, South Carolina, and plenty of racing footage are highlights, but the production and acting are strictly amateur. Alan Hale, Jr, "Skipper" from Gilligan's Island, is a mechanic in pit row, but "Stoogie" steals the show as a redneck grease monkey.

Portrait of Jennie (1948)

Selznick Studios
Directed by William Dieterle
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

Starving artist Joseph Cotten becomes inspired when he meets young girl Jennifer Jones in the park one day. The mysterious girl is living in the past, some 50 years before the present time, and only he can see her. Each time they meet she ages a few years as she tries to catch up to his age. He sells a sketch of her to art dealer Ethel Barrymore, who convinces him to paint Jennifer's portrait at their next meeting. He falls in love with the girl but she stops appearing, so he goes in search of her. This leads to the final scenes, tinted in color, which take place during a hurricane at a remote light house. The central relationship between Cotten and Jones is underdeveloped and really seems more like a father-daughter relationship, especially given the large differences in their ages at the beginning.

The Night the World Exploded (1957)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Fred F. Sears
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

A scientist invents a machine that can predict earthquakes. Unfortunately it predicts one will strike the same day he unveils it, but nobody believes him until it is too late. He goes to the Carlsbad Caverns in the hope that putting the machine deep into the Earth will allow them to find the cause of the quakes. It turns out there is a new element which expands and explodes in contact with air, but can be controlled with water. So, to save the Earth they create rainfall with dry ice and blow up a dam. In addition to the questionable science on display, there is a tired romance with his assistant Kathryn Grant (Mrs. Bing Crosby in real life). The special effects aren't very special, mostly stock footage of unrelated weather disasters or miniatures from previous movies. Typical drive-in fodder from the producer-director team of Sam Katzman and Fred Sears, who brought us such masterpieces as The Giant Claw and The Werewolf.

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)

United Artists
Directed by Ossie Davis
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

Two NYC cops on the beat in Harlem investigate a Reverend who takes money from the people by selling passage on a ship back to Africa. Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques are good as the idealistic cops determined to return the money, which is stashed in a bale of cotton. The good Reverend has women problems which ultimately leads to his downfall on-stage at the Apollo Theater. Genial action-comedy is a bit boring at times and relies too much on stereotypes, both black and white, for its characterizations, but location shooting in Harlem is a major asset.

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Peter Medak
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

A London couple deals with the disability of their young child with humor and fantasy. At first, this may seem to be inappropriate and insensitive, and indeed that is the reaction of outsiders. However, as we slowly learn of their history, through flashbacks, and the grim realities of their daily life, we begin to understand. The husband (Alan Bates) has reached a breaking point and contemplates murder, or at least letting the child die by withholding vital medication. When he can't go through with it, he takes another option. It is too easy to judge or label his act as cowardly without having lived it ourselves. A complex and difficult film, broaching subjects that are nearly taboo in today's politically correct society.

A Date with the Falcon (1942)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Irving Reis
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

George Sanders returns for the second installment of The Falcon. The playboy is engaged again, but his womanizing draws him into a fake diamond and kidnapping plot. This is really closer to a screwball comedy than a mystery. You've got identical twins, bumbling cops, a dumb sidekick, last second escapes from window ledges, etc. The Falcon's detective skills rely more on coincidence and luck than anything else. It's set in generic hotel lobbies and big city apartments so lacks atmosphere, but still good fun.

Ring of Bright Water (1969)

Cinerama Releasing Corporation
Directed by Jack Couffer
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

A London bachelor tiring of the rat race adopts an otter from the pet store. After his apartment is turned upside down, he moves to a remote Scottish cottage by the sea, otter in tow. While he contemplates writing a book the otter enjoys swimming in the berm for eels. The first crisis occurs when the eels leave and he must find food for the otter. He gets help from pretty doctor Virginia McKenna. Unfortunately, as in most animal films, the inevitable tragedy occurs which sours the whole experience. Still, it does end on a hopeful note and is beautifully filmed on the Scottish seaside.

Salesman (1968)

Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Criterion Collection)

Door-to-door Bible salesmen peddle their wares to suburban housewives with no money. The film eventually focuses on one of them, "The Badger", who is having a particularly hard time making sales. The constant rejection has placed him in a vicious circle of negativity. Many of the in-home sales pitches become uncomfortable: the salesman desperate to make a sale, but the homeowner obviously in desperate financial straits. It makes you question their profession and provokes a sort of anger towards the local churches which condoned this kind of activity, even if it did occur nearly a half century ago. As a side note and distraction, I have never witnessed so many people constantly smoking cigarettes in any movie.

Hooper (1978)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Hal Needham
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Warner Bros.)

Aging Hollywood stunt man Burt Reynolds feels pressure from rising stud Jan-Michael Vincent and his girlfriend Sally Field to quit the business. The producer and director of his latest movie convince him to perform one last big stunt, a jump across a bridge in a rocket car, before he retires. This amiable action-comedy is filled with stunts of course, but also behind-the-scenes glimpses at movie-making. The chemistry between Reynolds and Field is palpable, a reflection of their real off-screen romance at the time, though it would end shortly afterwards.

Son of Samson (1960)

Medallion Pictures
Directed by Carlo Campogalliani
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, RetroMedia)

Mark Forest is the friendly muscle man who helps the poor slaves of Egypt in their rebellion against the Pharaoh and Queen who abuse them. He performs super-human acts of strength to save slaves in distress. He fights lions and alligators with no weapons. Finally gaining access to Queen Smedes, he falls for her seductive dance of veils. The Pharaoh is under her control by wearing a "necklace of forgetfulness" so he doesn't remember that he too was once a common man. Once Maciste removes the necklace, the fall of the Queen will follow. Typical entry in the "peplum" genre, spiced up by a fair amount of bloody combat and slave torture.

Edge of Eternity (1959)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Donald Siegel
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

This compact little thriller set in the Grand Canyon area is greatly enhanced by spectacular aerial photography of the canyon. Cornel Wilde, more subdued than usual, plays a laid-back sheriff's deputy in the sleepy town of Kingman, Arizona. When bodies start showing up, he is pressured by a politician to solve the murders. His investigation isn't really going anywhere until a local girl discovers a vital clue. The final fight takes place on a "dancing bucket" gondola over the canyon, although the rear projection effects are unconvincing.

The Bad Bunch (1973)

Dimension Pictures
Directed by Greydon Clark
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, VCI Entertainment)

Director Greydon Clark stars as a white Vietnam veteran who returns to his home town of LA. He looks up the father of his war buddy who was killed, a black man, in Watts to return his last letter. Instead he meets a neighborhood gang who spend the rest of the movie making his life miserable. It's supposed to be a dramatization of race relations, but it is so ineptly written, directed and acted that it becomes a farce of now politically incorrect attitudes of the early 1970s. Clark gives himself not one but two women, with numerous bedroom scenes, and a pool party with gratuitous nudity. Somehow old pros Jock Mahoney and Aldo Ray ended up in this as racist police buddies.

Address Unknown (1944)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by William Cameron Menzies
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

A San Francisco art dealer moves to Germany and sends purchases back to his partner. However, he quickly becomes swept up by the Nazi movement, rejecting his former associate, a Jew, and refusing to shelter his daughter when she is pursued as a traitor. After she is shot and killed on his doorstep, his wife leaves him and he starts receiving mysterious letters from America written in code. The Nazi censors intercept them and accuse him of treason. Menzies' masterful use of the black and white medium transform this from routine drama to paranoid horror: the portrait of a man descending into madness. However, German stereotypes abound making it difficult to accept as anything other than anti-Nazi propaganda.

Hi-Riders (1978)

Dimension Pictures
Directed by Greydon Clark
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, VCI Entertainment)

City boy beats biker dude in a drag race, but biker does not pay up. He chases him out in the country where he lives with the rest of the gang on a deserted set for old western movies. He beats the biker dude again to get his money, but he and his girlfriend decide to hang out with the gang for awhile. They go to a nearby town to hustle the locals in drag racing, but spend most of their time in a run down bar guzzling beer and dancing with chicks in daisy dukes and bikini tops. After their first race leads to tragedy, they are hunted down and massacred by rednecks in pickup trucks with shotguns. The survivors have to convince the police to help them. It's not high art, but it is entertaining, especially if you can picture yourself at a 1978 drive-in.

Milano Calibro 9 (1972)

Directed by Fernando Di Leo
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, DVD, Raro Video)

Ugo is picked up by his old gang the day he is released from prison. They want $300,000 in cash he allegedly stole from their money running racket. Rocco is the heavy who follows him around, threatens him and beats him to a pulp whenever he gets the chance. Ugo takes refuge in the pop art apartment of his go-go dancer girlfriend. The police pick him up on a daily basis but don't have anything to hold him. Ugo may or may not have the money, but the plot twist ending is no surprise for smart viewers. Despite its reputation, this is a talky drama only occasionally interrupted by fairly tame violence.

Lianna (1983)

Directed by John Sayles
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

Linda Griffiths is an unhappy wife and mother of two. Her husband is a self-absorbed film professor and the two have little in common. After she discovers he is having an affair, she starts one of her own with a woman, the teacher of her night class. She falls in love without thinking through the consequences. Soon she is living in a run down apartment and working as a cashier at the supermarket. She becomes a stranger to her own kids and deals with the stares of neighbors and former friends who don't approve of her new lifestyle. It turns out her lover has some issues of her own and the relationship deteriorates. A rather depressing look at relationships of all kinds, but it is well-written and feels real.

Young Winston (1972)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Richard Attenborough
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

Uneven account of the childhood to young adult years of the famous British politician. His school boy days consist of being ignored by his father and sent off to boarding school. He gets poor grades and is spanked by the schoolmaster to the point of falling ill and withdrawing. Meanwhile, poor old dad has syphilis and is slowly going mad. As a teenager, he gets into a military academy and is sent off to war in India and South Africa. He gets captured, sent to a POW camp and makes a dramatic escape. He rides the fame of his exploits into parliament, and the rest, as they say, is history. I just wish it wasn't all so dreadfully boring. Running narration by an older Churchill is an unnecessary distraction, and in an accent that is practically unintelligible.

The Gay Falcon (1941)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Irving Reis
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

George Sanders is a playboy and detective, usually in that order, who gets involved with jewel thieves in the first entry of the Falcon series. Jewels are disappearing at high society parties, so he takes his current fiance along to one of them to investigate. Mistaken for one of the gang, he is slipped a diamond ring. Soon bodies start showing up and he could be next. The police are not too bright, but he gets help from another young and willing girl. His playboy adventures are tiresome and the mystery not very interesting. It all takes place on rather bland and generic stage sets. It's not the best start to a series which would go on for 12 films, although Sanders would star only in the first four.

Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Ennio De Concini
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend Films)

Accepting Alec Guinness as Adolf Hitler, with his distinctive accent only partially suppressed, is a major obstacle to overcome in the enjoyment of this film. It took at least an hour for my suspension of disbelief to kick in, but once it did I was very impressed with Guinness in a most difficult role. It takes place almost entirely in the confines of a Berlin concrete bunker, where Hitler, his highest officers and a few women and children come to the gradual realization that Germany is losing the war. While chaos reigns outside, they enjoy lavish meals, fine drink, music and dancing. After it becomes apparent Hitler's military options are over, he plans a mass suicide in the bunker. Most accept this with pride as their final patriotic duty, even when it applies to children, while we watch with disgust and horror. It's not all grim, though, with a bit of irony and humor for the ending.

Houdini (1953)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by George Marshall
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, DVD, Legend Films)

Hollywood biography may take liberties with the life of the real Houdini, but it is still entertaining. Struggling sideshow  magician Tony Curtis falls in love with innocent school girl Janet Leigh. They impulsively marry, then hit the road as a husband and wife magician act. It is not until Houdini escapes from a London jail that he gains fame. However, he must try more and more dangerous escapes to satisfy his audience.

Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Norman Foster
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Fox)

Mr. Moto, an international importer who practices being a detective "as a hobby", is sent to Mongolia to find a missing scroll. It's part of a set that is actually a map to the treasure of Genghis Khan. The trail leads to Peiping and more murder and intrigue. Moto gets shot at least twice, but always has some way of surviving. Despite his diminutive size his fighting skills are impressive. Heavy in Oriental atmosphere, but also stereotypes, it's harmless fun.

Z.P.G. (1972)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Michael Campus
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend Films)

Oliver Reed and Geraldine Chaplin are a married couple in the not-too-distant future where overpopulation leads to a government edict that there will be no more child births for 22 years. Instead, couples line up for talking plastic mannequins to satisfy their cravings for children. It's a poor substitute. Chaplin decides to get pregnant and Reed hides her in the atomic bomb shelter until the baby is born. Their neighbors find out and blackmail them into sharing the baby. They go along with it for awhile, but the neighbors decide they want the baby all to themselves. Reed and Chaplin take a lifeboat down the sewers, across the ocean and settle on a radioactive island. It's never credible, quite dated and the mannequin kids are ridiculous. A disappointment from Max Ehrlich, author of the much better Reincarnation of Peter Proud a couple of years after this film.

Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Norman Foster
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Fox)

The first Mr. Moto picture tries to establish Peter Lorre as a Japanese version of Charlie Chan. Is he with the police? A bad buy? A detective? His background is a mystery and you are not sure if you are supposed to root for him or not. He's got an amazing array of talents, from card dealing to magic tricks, and is a deadly fighter, well at least his double is a deadly fighter. There are occasionally atmospheric locations in San Francisco and Shanghai, but otherwise Moto is off to a rocky start.

Where Love Has Gone (1964)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Edward Dmytryk
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, DVD, Olive Films)

Trashy Harold Robbins soap opera with so many bad lines and ridiculous situations it becomes a parody of itself. Joey Heatherton is terrible as the 15-year-old daughter who seduces her mother's lover, only to end up murdering him one night in a jealous rage, at least that's what we are lead to believe. In a long flashback that takes up most of the movie, we relive the doomed romance between boozy Mike Connors and sculptress Susan Hayward, a couple obviously wrong for each other from the start. Bette Davis is the stereotypical domineering mother who controls everyone's lives behind the scenes. There is a trial, a conviction, psychiatrists, blackmail over love letters, a shocking turn of events and the inevitable suicide. If it wasn't all so funny it would be pathetic.

The Pied Piper (1972)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Jacques Demy
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend Films)

The Black Plague is carried by rats to a typical medieval German village. Inside its walls, politicians conspire to raise taxes to build a pointless cathedral. A friendly alchemist and his assistant heal the sick and try to come up with an ointment to stop the plague. However, he is put in the dungeon for refusing to make fool's gold to pay off soldiers for the rulers. Tried and found guilty for heresy by a ruthless, immoral church, he is burned at the stake. It is up to a simple piper to rid the city of the rats. A realistic portrait of life in the 14th century.

Three for the Show (1955)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by H.C. Potter
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

Betty Grable ends up legally married to two husbands when Jack Lemmon, assumed to be killed in action, returns home alive and well. She decides to keep them both, leading to some unfunny and immature scenes between the "love triangle". The romance aside, there are some good songs and energetic dancing since the trio are actually hard working Broadway stars. It never takes itself too seriously, so ultimately it's a likeable, if unmemorable, musical, Grable's penultimate film appearance before going to Broadway full-time herself in real life.

Untamed Women (1952)

United Artists
Directed by W. Merle Connell
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, VCI Entertainment)

A bombardier crew crashes in the ocean and ends up on an island inhabited by an ancient race of women descended from the Druids, poor guys. The leader of the women doesn't trust them and they are banished to the remote part of the island. They fight dinosaurs, really armadillos and lizards on miniature sets, but the untamed women save them. Soon they are getting rub downs and figuring out how four men can be divided amongst so many women. However, paradise is disrupted when a tribe of "hairy men" attack. Luckily their spears are no match for guns, but when a volcano erupts all may be lost. On the other hand, the whole movie might be the hallucinations of a patient in the psycho ward.

Assault of the Rebel Girls (1959)

Directed by Barry Mahon
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, VCI Entertainment)

Errol Flynn and his teenage girlfriend join Cuban revolutionaries! They are ill-equipped for jungle fighting: the girls worry about how they are going to bathe, while smuggling guns in the country just for the fun of it. Flynn narrates the proceedings, including addressing the camera from his hotel room at the end, expressing support for young revolutionaries everywhere!

Fingerprints Don't Lie (1951)

Lippert Pictures
Directed by Sam Newfield
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, VCI Entertainment)

This one just might earn the distinction of worst noir ever made. Poor Richard Travis is a police investigator who testifies against an artist for the murder of the mayor. Fingerprints on the murder weapon appear to make this an open and shut case. However, things look a little too perfect and Travis begins to backtrack on his testimony. The real killer is painfully obvious, and the "scientific" investigation a travesty. The soundtrack is completely inappropriate, mostly church organ music, occasionally broken up by angelic choirs. Comedy relief comes in the form of newspaper photographer Sid Melton, a freeze frame of his mug ends this dreadful picture.

Cinderella Liberty (1973)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Mark Rydell
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Fox)

Sailor James Caan picks up Marsha Mason in a barroom pool game. Caan, an aging sailor in search of a family, befriends Mason's teenage son, of mixed race. It's really their relationship, not Caan and Mason's, that holds them together. When Mason turns out to be pregnant again, Caan accepts it and proposes marriage. The inevitable tragedy eventually follows. However, the ending turns out to be hopeful, bucking the trend of the usually downbeat endings from the 1970s.

Phantom from Space (1953)

United Artists
Directed by W. Lee Wilder
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend Films)

An alien crash lands near LA. The first thing he does it commit several murders. Eyewitnesses describe the suspect as wearing a jumpsuit and diving helmet, but no head, so he should be easy to spot. Using sophisticated radar equipment, he is tracked by the police to the local observatory and planetarium where friendly scientists try to make contact. When he is finally cornered it turns out that he does indeed have a head, but it is just invisible. He escapes again leading to the usual invisible man gimmicks. Only the final scene, where the alien is fully visible, contains any real shock value, the rest is low budget, 50s sci-fi schlock, which could be just what you are looking for in the right mood.

The Busy Body (1967)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by William Castle
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend Films)

Sid Caesar gets involved with Chicago mobsters and is tasked to recover a million dollars hidden in a blue suit. First he digs up a body, but no suit and no body. He spends the rest of the movie trying to find the suit or its owner. Good for an occasional chuckle, and a look at some early roles for Richard Pryor, Dom DeLuise and other character actors.

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)

United Artists
Directed by George Stevens
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

Director George Stevens' colossal attempt to present the life story of Jesus almost collapses under its own weight. First, there are too many cameos by famous Hollywood actors. This is an unnecessary distraction, the story should have spoken for itself. Max von Sydow has the thankless role of Jesus, an almost impossible task. He decides to play it somber, probably in reverence to the material, but it makes for a boring and unexciting film. If Jesus is not inspiring in a film about his life, one has to conclude it was a failure. On the other hand, the location shooting, all in the United States but mostly in Utah, is spectacular and stands in nicely for the Holy Land.

Zarak (1956)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Terence Young
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

A son (Victor Mature) is sent into exile when he is caught with his father's favorite wife. He spends the rest of the movie leading rebels against the occupying British Army in India and Afghanistan. It's almost wall-to-wall action, in fact a little too much action, with character development almost an afterthought. The rebels, played mostly by Caucasians, wear obvious dark makeup to make then appear to be native Indians. Anita Ekberg gets to show her navel and most other body parts in sensuous, if ridiculous, dances that could only come out of 1950s period epics. It does benefit from location shooting in Burma, India and Morocco.

Dogora, the Space Monster (1964)

Toho
Directed by Ishiro Honda
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Tokyo Shock)

Toho schlock about an outer space monster that is sucking up the world's supply of coal, and diamonds, for food. Much of the plot revolves around gangsters, you know they are gangsters because they wear suits, white gloves and sunglasses, who are unhappy about the threat to their diamond smuggling operations. The monster is only briefly glimpsed, a giant jellyfish in the sky, mostly we see tornado-like swirls on the ground as it sucks up the coal, reeking havoc on the population. It's up to a scientist, and his lovely assistant Yoko Fujiyama, to figure out that wasp venom is what is needed to stop the monster, which the military then proceeds to drop on it by parachute.

Framed (1975)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Phil Karlson
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend Films)

Lurid southern melodrama from the makers of Walking Tall. This time Joe Dan Baker is a gambler who ends up on the wrong road in the middle of the night. He beats a police officer to death and is sent to prison, but he claims it was self defense. It's hard sympathize with his plight after seeing what he did to the cop. In prison, he makes friends with the mafia, and they help him get revenge after release. Filled with over-the-top violence, this is audience manipulation at its nadir, though I was probably rooting for the wrong guy.

The Chinese Ring (1947)

Monogram Pictures
Directed by William Beaudine
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Roland Winters takes over the role of Charlie Chan after the unfortunate death of Sidney Toler. Winters' Chan is bit more mellow, exuding an air of sophistication, confidence and dare I say aloofness. Mantan Moreland and Victor Sen Young continue their supporting roles in the long-running series. The main problem here is the mystery, it's simply uninteresting. A Chinese princess is murdered in Chan's home. She was running some kind of illegal arms and airplanes racket, and the suspects are those involved with her in the scheme. A couple of intrepid newspaper reporters and a bumbling police detective complete the stereotypical cast.

Four Fast Guns (1960)

Universal-International Pictures
Directed by William J. Hole, Jr.
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, VCI Entertainment)

The wild west town of Purgatory, where the welcoming sign reads, "Ride into Purgatory, say goodbye to God", needs a "town tamer" to take care of its problem with outlaws. James Craig is a former outlaw himself with a fast gun, so when he shows up they hire him on the spot. Paul Richards runs the town from the Babylon Saloon, a cripple who spends his time collecting European art. He hires three of the fastest guns in the west to take care of Craig. One by one they show up: a Mexican bandit, a straw-chewing farmer with a super-fast draw and the proverbial "kid in black", who turns out to be Craig's brother! Of course it all ends with a shoot-out, and a woman gets involved. This one will quench your thirst for an old-fashioned, gritty, entertaining western.

$ (1971)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Richard Brooks
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony)

Warren Beatty uses his position as a trusted bank security expert to pull of an elaborate inside job. Goldie Hawn is his accomplice who uses sex to get valuable information from their victims. Beatty stages a robbery that results in his getting locked in the bank vault, where he steals the cash crooks have stashed in safe deposit boxes. They almost get away with it, until the crooks figure out what happened and come looking for their money. A long, somewhat implausible, chase ends the movie. Goldie and Warren are hard to take seriously as bank robbers, but it is undeniably entertaining.

Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Arthur Lubin
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

Abbott and Costello go to a dude ranch. A fake western hero and rodeo star goes with them to learn how to become a real cowboy, and falls in love with pretty western gal Anne Gwynne. Lou's antics include: becoming engaged to an Indian girl, milking a cow, a dream sequence in a sanitarium and a wild car chase for the big finale. Universal's western B-movie star Johnny Mack Brown is the ranch foreman, just for a little authenticity.

Keep 'Em Flying (1941)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Arthur Lubin
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

Abbott and Costello go to flight training school. Their usual hijinks include Lou riding a runaway torpedo, Lou walking on an airplane wing, flying upside down, walking on Bud's parachute, etc. Subplots include Martha Raye as twins and a cocky pilot trying to adjust to the Army's way of flying. Since this was made as America was entering WWII, there is plenty of propagandist patriotism.

The Trap (1946)

Monogram Pictures
Directed by Howard Bretherton
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

In Sidney Toler's last appearance as Charlie Chan, someone is strangling young girls at a Malibu beach house. They are on vacation with a band leader, a doctor and some other guys playing the roles of red herrings. Mantan Moreland is back, along with Number Two Son Jimmy, to provide the usual amateur sleuthing and comic relief.

Hold That Ghost (1941)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Arthur Lubin
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

Abbott and Costello spend the night in a run-down hotel they inherit from a gangster. Some friends who take a taxi with them also are stranded. The best scenes involve gimmicks: the moving candle, the bedroom that changes into a gambling joint. Joan Davis may be better than Bud and Lou in a supporting role as a radio screamer, her dance routine is pretty good too. Ted Lewis' big band schtick is not only tired but offensive when he has a black man mirror his moves for a performance of "Me and My Shadow".

The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969)

United Artists
Directed by Stanley Kramer
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Fox/MGM)

A small Italian town hides its stock of over a million bottles of wine before the occupying Germans arrive to steal it. Anthony Quinn is the town's mayor who organizes the effort required to move them to abandoned caves. Hardy Kruger is the German officer assigned to find them. They have a sometimes tense battle of wills. However, characters are not well developed and too often fall into Italian and German stereotypes. A romantic subplot involving Virna Lisi adds little to the film other than extending its already too-long running time.

Dangerous Money (1946)

Monogram Pictures
Directed by Terry O. Morse
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Charlie Chan is on an oriental cruise when a man standing right next to him is killed by a knife thrower. Chan methodically questions most of the people on board, while amateurs Number One Son Jimmy and assistant Chattanooga Brown attempt to uncover clues. Most of the time is spent on static ship-board sets, or in a tropical Samoan restaurant. The solution to the mystery is rather far-fetched and unsatisfying.

Broken Sword (1971)

Directed by Yang Sun
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Crash Cinema)

Master An is given a scroll with important information for the government by a dying man in a cave. He is tasked to deliver it safely, but must deal with attacks from rivals who will stop at nothing to get it. Master An is an overweight, jolly fellow, not very good at fighting, in fact he carries a sword that regularly falls apart. Luckily two women, expert sword fighters, take up his cause and protect him. A bounty hunter of sorts gets involved and considers taking the huge reward offered for Master An's head. The fight scenes are rather routine, if bloody, and characters are not well-developed, in other words a typical early 70s martial arts product out of Taiwan.

Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)

United Artists
Directed by Billy Wilder
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

On the way home from Vegas, Dean Martin, essentially playing himself, gets stranded in the desert town of Climax, Nevada, when two aspiring songwriters tamper with his car. Ray Walston is a perpetually jealous husband, together with his partner that owns the gas station across the street, hatch a plan to audition their songs by switching his wife with a floozy from the Belly Button Bar to lure Dino. Instead, he ends up in bed with her while his real wife spends the night with Dino in her trailer. Littered with TV show rejects, it plays like a naughty episode of Peyton Place. Walston is almost unbearable as the lead, impossible to take seriously and unfunny as a comedian. The motivations for the mutual unfaithfulness committed by husband and wife are trite and unconvincing.

There's Something About a Soldier (1943)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Alfred E. Green
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

Seventeen weeks at an Officer's Candidate School in North Carolina is the setting for this wartime picture. Cocky Wally Williams (Tom Neal) likes to boss around his peers and show off in front of the girls, making enemies of the more personable Frank Molloy (Bruce Bennett). They divide their time between the rigorous training at the school and courting a base secretary. Interesting for a look inside the training school, it combines real footage and back projection for the stars, who were obviously never in North Carolina. Williams' transformation from heel to self-sacrificing hero is not particularly convincing.

Valerie (1957)

United Artists
Directed by Gerd Oswald
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM Limited Edition Collection)

Brooding account of an unhappy marriage between rancher Sterling Hayden and lovely immigrant Anita Ekberg. The film opens with a startling murder and subsequent trial. The back story is told in a series of flashbacks from different perspectives of those involved in the murder trial. This plot device is often confusing, since the story is not told in chronological order and you never know if you are getting a true account of events. At its best when exploring the theme of small-town closed mindedness, but just as often falls into sordid relationship melodrama. Ekberg struggles with her English which can be distracting, but it does fit her character. Cinematographer Ernest Laszlo has a fine eye for composition which is a pleasure to watch, even when the on-screen drama does not share the same artistry.