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Hands of a Stranger (1962)
Great
Not really a horror film as expected, the hands of a serial killer taking over a pianist and then going on a killing spree rampage against his will did not happen.
It was more of a psychological thriller than a blood soaked horror one but very enjoyable. Great scenes with the annoying piano playing kid and at the funfair all very well shot with odd angles a la Alfred Hitchcock.
Odd that it was released two years after it was made as this usually happens only with bad films and this was not a bad film.
Very well worth watching, the leading man had a look of Ray Liotta about him and a similar acting style.
Der schweigende Stern (1960)
Everything good except the plot and script
It appears that 90% of the budget was spent on sets, costumes and (very impressive for the time) special effects leaving just 10% for the writing. It comes as no surprise to read in the trivia section that "The writing process involved three writing teams and 12 screenplays before a final script was acceptable to the studio and the government."
This film is a disappointment due to saying that "anything done by a committee is bound to fail" was ignored resulting in a poor plot and script.
Still worth watching however for the glorious colour, great sets and special effects. Also one of the best looking spaceship ever to appear on film.
Gritos en la noche (1962)
A most enjoyable mad scientist horror film.
Beautifully filmed, all the better for not being in colour, very atmospheric and the sets were wonderfully built. Great casting and acting all round and the bonus of a bevy of beauties to be admired.
This must have been very well received back in 1962 and the poor dubbing into English just adds to the strangeness of it all.
The doctor was quite an awful person but the film isn't in any way awful. The English title is a bit odd and could have been improved upon to attract more patrons to the cinemas.
Highly recommended and especially for lovers of very well made creepy black and white films.
A Ghost Story for Christmas: A Warning to the Curious (1972)
Excellent.
Great filming locations and atmosphere throughout. In no way was this a horror film, it wasn't meant to be of course, but a very well put together horror film, keeping the audience guessing in the same way as was done in the excellent original "The Wicker Man" film, give the later version a wide berth of course unless you are a fan of very bad acting that is, Nicolas Cage, say no more, the world's worst actor ever.
Short but this helped to keep the viewer interested as no time was wasted with padding it out a bit.
Very well worth watching so do so if you can, currently on Talking Pictures TV in the UK now.
The Big Day (1960)
A great film.
Great character all very well acted. Three very different candidates after the plum position and willing to use dirty tricks to get it. Very short and as it was so good it would have been even better if it had been a bit longer. A bit odd that it was so short. A very enjoyable watch and an interesting look at late 50s early 60s office life with not a PC or laptop in sight but plenty of typewriters clicking away.
A strongly recommended watch as a good film and a look at a time long since passed, unfortunately. Not seen by many, which is a shame, going by the low number of reviews so see if if you get the chance.
Night Shadows (1984)
A not very good zombie flick.
Nothing new in this as everything in it has been done many times before and done a lot better than this very poor effort. The leading man was a bit annoying as he very seldom closed his mouth even when speaking his lines.
Not much in the way of suspense and a total lack of novel ways of killing the zombies. The acting wasn't up to much, and not just the zombies.
Not worth watching for any reason other than having a strange desire to see the worst zombie film ever made. Some bad films are worth watching as they are entertainingly bad but this film is just a plain and simple very bad all round.
First Comes Courage (1943)
Great propaganda piece.
Every bit as good as "Commandos Strike At Dawn" and WWII films made while the war was still going on tend to a very good watch. Merle was very "cool" as she would be described these days, and very elegant.
I know someone who is half Norwegian with his father having travelled to Scotland on the "Shetland Bus" which was fishing boats, at great risk to the crew, that transported Allied personnel from Norway to Shetland, and the other way of course. Norway did a lot to fight the Germans even after occupation unlike that country famous for the capital having a large steel tower in the middle of it.
Highly recommended to watch.
Fortune Is a Woman (1957)
Runs along very nicely
Never any slacking in this film as there's always something going on in it. A great British mystery/crime film with a great cast especially Jack Hawkins who smokes almost non stop and of course this leads to him having his voice box removed, he continued to act after this with his voice being dubbed by another actor. £30,000 in 1957 is about £861,000 in 2024.
Christopher Lee's part was of the blink and miss it variety but he get pushed up the billing when the film is shown on TV to encourage his fans to watch it.
Well worth watching but don't let your attention wander at any time as there a few twists and turn to keep track of.
The Gorbals Story (1950)
Impressive.
First off, the person complaining about "thick Glasgow accents" has obviously never hear a Glaswegian speak in "their native tongue" as the actors in this were speaking "drama school Scottish" with no accent of any kind, if they did speak Glaswegian of course very few outside of Scotland would understand much of what was being said, not a good thing for a film of course.
The poor living conditions were not an exaggeration of any kind as conditions then, and for many years later, were really that bad, several documentaries are available on youtube to watch.
An extremely gritty kitchen sink drama featuring a few actors who would go on to bigger and better things, one of them played Little John in the 1950s TV series Robin Hood.
Laboratory (1983)
Not many reviews.
Fortunately it seems that very few have endured this film as it's quite terrible. I love low budget Sci-Fi as very often they can be highly entertaining but this one is in a class of its own and not in a good way. The alleged "music" was torture as it consisted of tuneless electronic peeps and beeps and it would have been much better if the non musical soundtrack had been left out.
It was an interesting plot with the aliens testing the character etc. Of humans but this has been done so much better in some Star Trek TOS TV episodes.
The special effects were terrible and deserved to win some kind of award.
Full Moon in Blue Water (1988)
Not wonderful.
A bit on the slow side, well very slow actually, but it's worth sticking with it to the very end, but only just worth it. Great acting from all concerned and with a very interesting mix of very odd characters. I would not have liked to have paid to see this in the cinema as it's so slow that my interest in it would have lapsed well before getting to the end, it's an OK watch on TV however.
Even for fans of Mr. Hackman it not a must see film of his so if you are one you are not missing anything great by never seeing it.
I'm struggling a bit to get to the required 600 character so this is just filler to get there.
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (1973)
Even better than the original series.
Very few sitcom sequels are better than the first series, and the first series of this was great, but this one is. Bob's social climbing and Terry's determination to stay working class has plenty of comedy opportunities in it and all three main characters are very well cast.
The theme tune is brilliant as are the starting and ending sequences. Bob and Thelma's house is still standing and I wonder if any fans hang about outside and take pics of it.
One of the best ever UK TV sitcoms which cannot be recommended highly enough. It's a comedy must watch, being repeated on TV now, on "that'sTV", 150 on Virgin.
Deathsport (1978)
A Corman classic
If you enjoy well written, well plotted, well acted and with great special effects films then this is.............not the film for you. If on the other hand you like films that are so bad that they are good then this is very well worth watching.
Bad in every way, including the music and sound effects, but nice explosions, but a highly enjoyable piece of nonsense. The similarity of name to Deathrace 2000, and with the same leading actor, probably led to more paying to see it but it's not as good as Deathrace 2000.
Well worth watching as a Roger Corman must see film, a fantastic bad/good film.
Spellbound (1941)
A warning?
A terribly terribly posh film where the main characters speak in a very silly odd posh accent with has largely died out now, thank goodness.
Due to large number of recent deaths being on the horizon, WWII having just started, this may have been an attempt do discourage those who may have been tempted to get involved in spiritualism not to do so and thus avoid being ripped off.
As a warning of the dangers it was a bit of a soft approach, the leading male character should have been made to suffer a bit more mental anguish and not have had a happy ending.
Well worth watching even if the acting is very wooden most of the time.
The Balloon Goes Up (1942)
WWII propaganda comedy
A wartime reminder that while working with barrage balloons may not have been the most glamorous job in the war they did play their part in the victory.
A type of humour very popular back then but not so much now, it has not dated very well at all. I had never heard of the leading ladies but they appear to have been well known in the music halls. The style of acting in this looks very awkward now, all bit too quick fire.
Not very funny to a modern audience but worth watching for curiosity value. Not many reviews so far but it can been seen in the UK on Talking Pictures TV who specialise in showing old films not to be seen elsewhere.
Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942)
Great WWII propaganda film
Nazi propaganda films concentrated on the might of the German armed forces destroying all opposition quickly and destroying as much as possible as quickly as possible. British WWII propaganda films highlighted how nasty the Germans were and how brave the the people they were trying to conquer were. They always have a few tear jerking scenes usually involving the male hero and a fair maiden. There is commonly a traitor to be uncovered and given a suitable punishment.
This would have gone down very well with audiences at the time and it's still very well worth watching eighty plus years later, see it if you get the chance.
Duty Free (1984)
Oddly compelling to watch
Is this in the top ten best ever UK TV sitcoms? No it's not. Is it in the top 100 best ever UK TV sitcoms, no again. I watched this first time round and while it's not exactly in the same class as Only Fools And Horses or Faulty Towers I do find it to be a compulsive watch.
I understand completely the low scores given by some but I can't help it I have to give it a high score. It's currently being rerun from the first episode on UK TV and I'll be watching every one of them, only at episode two so far.
The sillyness of it all, especially David constantly fawning over Linda, and their spouses reaction, keep me watching it.
Death of an Angel (1952)
A B movie
Made as a B movie but not too bad for a B movie. I found the sound to be very muffled so I had to watch it with the subtitles on. An interesting plot with a good twist but the acting was not very good. Not massively exciting or tension building as it just ran along so a bit boring to watch.
Not really worth making any great effort to find it on TV schedules as it's not very good at all. Interesting to see the old lady from the wonderful "The Ladykillers", the original not the later dire remake that I could only bear to watch for ten minutes as it was so very bad. It's on TPTV in the UK if anyone wants to see it.
The Cheap Detective (1978)
Not great
Far too much effort went into making this a clever film and not enough effort went into it making it a funny film so it's not all that good to watch. Older viewers, and fans of Humphrey Bogart films, would get most of the clever stuff but it would fly over the heads of those who are neither.
It was deliberately confusing which just made it even less enjoyable to watch. A waste of the acting talent in it and I suspect that it was a vanity project for Mr Simon. "Look at me and can still write witty and funny stuff", no he couldn't.
Not worth watching I'm afraid to say not even by those who like clever films.
The Fly (1958)
Fabulous.
I've seen this film a few times and I watched it again today and it's still great. A bit odd that the event that caused the problem is not seen but it was seen in the Geoff Goldblum remake, and it was well done but I still prefer this original to the Goldblum remake.
A treat that it's in colour and the colour still looks OK now and has not deteriorated. This has to be the film with the longest on screen time where the leading actor is not seen properly.
An absolutely 1950s Sci-fi classic that will never grow old. All Sci-Fi fans must see this film at least once in their lifetime, many will want to see it every few years.
The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
An enjoyable watch
Amazing special effects for 1940 which must have greatly impressed audiences at the time. I found it odd that Vincent Price's voice in this was unrecognisable when compared to the voice we are used to hearing, is his well known voice not his real voice but his acting voice?
Plenty of invisible man shenanigans to keep the audience amused especially the scenes with the drunk man. As mentioned elsewhere an invisible man would have to be blind but this has to be ignored or there would be no film.
Well worth watching and nicely atmospheric and the many plot holes and goofs are best ignored by viewers.
The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair (1983)
They should have stayed retired I think.
Not as bad as expected but both actors looked far too old to play their old characters especially Robert Vaughan. In common with the excellent original TV series this was a bit tongue in cheek but it didn't work as well in this film as it did in the TV series.
Many nods to James Bond, too many perhaps, in the sets and having James Bond in one sequence. The final fifteen minutes or so was 100% James Bond.
It's no wonder that this film failed to lead to a new TV series.
It's worth watching for oldies for nostalgia reasons as it is a bit of fun but a younger audience probably won't like it very much at all.
First Man Into Space (1959)
I've seen a lot worse
Not a great film but not a terrible one either. Passible acting, but only just, with plenty of dials on the imposing machinery much loved by the makers of 1950s Sci-Fi films.
An interesting plot but the wet suit with cereals? Attached was not the best of monster costumes. As noted elsewhere a lot of stock footage was used to keep down the cost of making it. A bit of a love triangle going on and this is a common plot feature in this type of film involving a pair of brothers, a touch of "I married the wrong brother" going on.
I love 1950s Sci-Fi films, even the very bad ones, but this effort was passable and it is worth watching.
Bride of the Monster (1955)
It's an Ed Wood..............
.....so we know what to expect to get. Not as good/bad as Plan 9 From Outer Space, one of my all time favourite films, but not too far away. Badly made of course in keeping with all Ed Wood efforts but this is part of the enjoyment, cheaply made but good to watch which is better than expensively made but bad to watch as if often the case with recently made films.
Not much chance of any Oscars being won, but many Oscar winning films are terrible to watch, so this is not a way to judge it.
Well worth watching and not just by fans of Ed Wood, a master of bad film making, good fun from start to finish.
The Vengeance of She (1968)
Quite bad.
If this had been a Hammer sole production and not a co-production it would probably have turned out to be a lot better than it did as has to be the worst film that Hammer has ever been involved in.
Considering the plot there was not a lot of action in it and it just plodded along at a snail's pace. The leading lady was not much of an actress so it's no surprise that she did not go onto world wide acting fame. As has been mentioned by others those who have not seen "She" would have no idea what was going on in this film.
There are just two reasons to watch this film and that is the leading lady.