hercules against the moon men (1964)

aka Hercules vs The Moon Men.
"To fight against the mysterious powers of the monsters. no one has ever dared to do that!"
The evil Queen Samara (Jany Clair) is working with some alien invaders, who demand her subjects deliver up their children as sacrifices, in a bid to awaken the moon goddess. Then some of the people rebel and send for Hercules (Sergio Ciani). He will help them rid their lands of these moon men!
Some how this just didn't capture me as some of the earlier Hercules films, Sergio, or Steve as he's known in the credits, just didn't seem to command the screen as previous incumbants did. Otherwise it was a passable peplum.

bowery at midnight (1942)

"I've great plans for you."
Bela Lugosi lives a double life, by day a criminologist, by night a kindly soup kitchen manager. A mission that is really a front for his underworld gang. But then some of the crooks end up as zombies in the cellar!
Lugosi truely seems to have fun with this role, giving him more to do that to camp it up as a vamp or mad scientist.

last woman on earth (1960)

"I've so little to say and nobody who'll listen."
A rich businessman, Harold Gern (Antony Carbone), is supposedly vaccationing in Puerto Rico, with his young and bored wife Evelyn (Betsy Jones-Moreland). But for him business is never far away and here is no exception, with his young attorney in attendance, Martin joyce (Robert Towne). Then one day they surface from a diving trip to find the world changed. A catastrophe has killed everyone but them. Now they must learn to live with each other...
A brooding psychological study in differing peoples wants and needs. Spoilt only by the speedy ending!

bluebeard (1944)

"What would Bluebeard want with me?"
A serial killer of women is on the loose in Paris, and all women are on their guard. Whilst everyone tries to descern who the killer is Lucille (Jean Parker) is introduced to Gaston Morrell (John Carradine), a puppeteer and painter. She is taken with him, and him her, and they strike up a relationship, and he tells her he is giving up painting. But why would he give up his livelihood?
Carridine gives a sterling performance, unfortunately its in a poverty row production, which cannot live up to his acting.

the monster maker (1944)

"I just like seeing the dead return to life."
Dr Markoff (J. Carrol Naish), is your typical Mad scientist, who becomes infatuated with the daughter of a concert pianist, Patricia (Wanda McKay). But when she spurns his advances he decides on a different approach to win her affections. He injects her father with the acromegaly virus, which causes him to become hideously deformed, and promises a cure if she will marry him.
Cheap, but enjoyable b movie, but why does every mad scientist seem to have a pet gorilla?

fear in the night (1947)

"Last night I dreamt I killed a man..."
Vince Grayson (DeForest Kelley) dreams he kills a man, in a mirrored room. Whats more, his body is covered in the physical signs of a struggle. His family dismiss the story. Until one day they shelter from the rain in an abandoned mansion. A mansion with the exact same mirrored room!
A minor, but entertaining noir, where we watch a man's mind unravel.

the front page (1931)

"Tell her nothing. She's a woman you fool!"
Journalist Hildy Johnson (Pat O'Brien), is leaving his post to marry Peggy Grant (Mary Brian) and move to New York. About to leave, he looks in on his old colleagues one last time, as they wait for news of the hanging of Earl Williams (George E. Stone). But then Williams escapes and falls into the lap of Johnson. Unfortunately this plays into the hands of Johnson's editor Walter Burns (Adolphe Menjou), who wants him to stay, and Burns does everything he can to prevent Johnson from leaving both the story and the paper.
A fantastic farce, with Milestone giving dyanmism to the camera. Nine years later this was re-vamped, twisting the casting, and renamed as His Girl Friday, producing an even better comedy.

the lost world (1925)

"Why didn't you say that before!"
Professor Challenger (Wallace Beery) returns to London full of stories of Dinosaurs in the South American jungle. Inevitably no-one believes him, but a newspaper is prepared to fund another expedition, as long as a reporter Edward Malone (Lloyd Hughes) and hunter Sir John Roxton (Lewis Stone) are allowed to tag along.
The first filmed adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel, and fascinating due to its age and how well they've adapted the material.

mad monster (1942)

"Even now he would like to be at his work."
A mad scientist, Dr. Cameron (George Zucco) changes his handyman (Glenn Strange) into a werewolf, to prove transfusion of blood between species is possible. Once changed into a wolf, the handyman also comes in handy as an instrument of revenge.
PRC try their hands at a Universal style Wolfman, on the cheap, and come up with this atmospheric campy effort. Though they could have done with picking up the pace a little.

minority report (2002)

"You have a choice."
In 2054 the pre-crime unit uses pre-cogs (three humans who can predict murders), to prevent homicides occuring and convict people, before they get a chance to kill. Then one officer, John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is accused of a pre-murder. Is it possible that the pre-crime unit is not as infalable as it says it is?
Intelligent drama, that provides a few twists along the way to keep the ride interesting.

king of the zombies (1941)

"Just wait until you see the zombies!"
1940 and a light aircraft is blown off course in a storm, ditching on an unknown Caribbean island. The two passengers, Bill (John Archer) and his servant Jefferson (Mantan Moreland), along with the pilot Mac (Dick Purcell), take refuge in the house of Dr Sangre (Henry Victor). But Jefferson isn't happy and is convinced the Dr isn't on the level, especially when he finds out about the zombies!
Apart from suffering from some dated and unpc material, this has some genuinely funny lines, giving the black comedian, Mantan Moreland, the chance to steal the show in this otherwise run of the mill comedy. Something that never happened in American films of the time.

The Incredible Petrified World (1958)

"You just listen to me, Miss Innocent. There's nothing friendly between two females. There never was. There never will be."
Professor Wyman (John Carradine) sends a crew down to the ocean depths, but there is an accident and the diving bell is lost. They survive, and find themseves stranded in an undersea cave. Then they mean someone else trapped there. Meanwhile on the surface the rescue attempt continues...
Overly talky flick that sucks all the adventure and drama out of the participants predicament.

the hunchback of notre dame (1923)

"Have you so little misery that you must create more?"
Medieval Paris and the deformed Quasimodo (Lon Chainey) watches from his bell tower with scorn on those who mock and torment him. He is then drawn into a web of intrege surrounding men's lust to possess Esmeralda, the ward of the king of beggars, that eventually leads to tragedy.
A love story, which has a suitable tragic ending, better than the Disneyfied travesty, and almost as poetic as the Hugo novel.