16.8.15

one wild oat (1951)

"so I slapped his face, and after I picked myself up..."
Solicitor Humphrey Proudfoot (Robertson Hare) tries to stop his daughter (June Sylvaine) from falling for Fred Gilby (Andrew Crawford), as he considers him and his family of a lower class. But his plan backfires when Fred's father (Stanley Holloway) in turn threatens to reveal Humphrey's own shady background.
A less than humourous farce.

love in pawn (1953)

aka The Pledge.
"Are we starving better over here, or in Canada?"
A struggling artist Roger Fox (Bernard Braden) is hocked, to a pawnbroker, by his wife Jean (Barbara Kelly), as they are skint. The broker's family soon a take a shine to him, especially daughter (Jean Carson), and he settles in, as Jean tries to find the ticket, that she has lost, so she can redeem him.
Breezy little sitcom.

the final programme (1973)

aka The Last Days Of Man On Earth.
"The third wold war has been going on for years, but everyone has been so busy watching the commercials that no one has noticed."
Following the death of his father, a famous geneticist, Jerry Cornelius (Jon Finch) gets involved in the search for his fathers 'Final Programme'. A formula laying out the design for a perfect, self-replicating human being: thus creating an immortal man!
Based on the Michael Moorcock novel, this is a pop art thriller that never quite sparks to life.

blind spot (1958)

"...he asked a lot of questions about Johnny Brent!"
Being temporarily blind is very inconvenient for American Army officer Capt. Adams (Robert MacKenzie). Especially as he's itching to get off the ward and back into the real world. But when he's dropped off at the wrong address he literally stumbles over a dead body, and a mystery he's determined to solve, as obviously no one believes a word of his story.
Following a similar plot to 1950's Blackout. It lacks the charisma of the two leads that film had, but does have a bit part from a young Michael Caine.

full circle (1977)

aka The Haunting Of Julia.
"Stay with me."
Following the death of her daughter from chocking, which she was unable to prevent, Julia (Mia Farrow) has a breakdown, and flees the family home and husband, but cannot flee the sadness at the loss of a child or the ghost of a child who died in the 1950's and wants to use Julia to exact revenge.
Slow to develop, but Farrows performance keeps you watching as the disturbing events eventually arrive.

frogs (1972)

"Damn creatures are everywhere!"
A group arrive on an island estate owned by Jason Crockett (Ray Milland) to celebrate his birthday, only to find it crawling with frogs and other animals determined to get Crockett back for poisoning nature! The only one who can help is photographer Pickett Smith (Sam Elliot).
Silly eco-horror, that has you rooting for the amphibians.

the end of the line (1957)

"It doesn't pay to upset people"
American writer Mike Selby (Alan Baxter) gets mixed up Liliane (Barbara Shelley), the wife of a noted hotelier and nightclub owner (Arthur Gomez), with a sideline in jewelry fencing. Stupidly he is goaded into stealing from him, and realises how deep he's in it when he finds the fence dead.
Shelley is the cool manipulator, Baxter a plank of wood...guess where the film falls down?

you pay your money (1957)

"Well that's something we'll have to find out."
Bob Westlake (Hugh McDermott), and his wife Susie (Honor Blackman) investigate a break-in attheir employer's house, and get mixed up with a gang of smugglers, but things get really serious when Susie is kidnapped and Bob has to try and get her back.
Uninteresting and flat, would be thriller.

god told me to (1976)

aka Demon.
"Come on say it!"
New York detective Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) is first on the scene when a sniper starts taking out innocent people in the city. When questioned the man states 'God told me to', before committing suicide. Soon after he starts meeting more serial killers, who also give the same chilling reason...
Larry Cohen delivers another cheap, but interesting thriller.

high test girls (1980)

aka Sechs Schwedinnen von der Tankstelle. Swedish Sex Service. Friendly Favors. Six Swedes at a Swedish Erotic Sexations. Swedish Gas Pump Girls.
"People are coming from all over to sample the service!"
Six Swedish women inherit a village petrol station, and set about giving the customers service above and beyond the usual!
Comic sexploitation, that delves into the surreal.

hollywood high (1976)

"Well I'm getting horny honey!"
Four pupils at Hollywood High spend their free time at the beach looking for fun and hook up with a retired movie star, June East (Marla Winters), whose mansion is perfect for a little privacy...
A film with absolutely no point whatsoever.

malibu high (1979)

"I'm doing relief work!"
Kim (Jill Lansing) is a typically stroppy teenager, flunking out of school, but one night she decides to change all that. 'Starting tomorrow its going to be a whole new scene.' Which basically means she becomes a hooker! And her answer to her bad grades, is to make it with the teachers, then blackmail them!
Sold as a high school sex comedy, from the off the viewer realises this is a con, and this is one girl who didn't make the grade!

double confession (1950)

"There's a welcome there for you."
When his estranged wife is murdered, Jim Medway (Derek Farr) tries to unpick the clues to find out whodunnit. Maybe there is a link with that of a man who fell from a nearby cliff-top at almost the same time. But his wife seems to have been seeing a local gangster, which complicates things considerably.
Some great set pieces enliven an otherwise lack-luster thriller.

the house on marsh road (1960)

aka Invisible Creature.
"You might find it difficult to get anyone to come out to see you here."
Jean (Patricia Dainton) inherits a house from her estranged aunt, and moves in with her husband (Tony Wright), and is introduced to Patrick the resident ghost. But is it the ghost that is causing the unsettling events, or something or someone else?
Low key horror.

death goes to school (1953)

"There was the usual row at tea."
Ms Cooper (Pamela Alan) is found dead by one of her pupil's, and Detective Inspector Campbell (Gordon Jackson) arrives to solve the crime, as it turns out she has been strangled, but the Inspector finds a hive of intrigue as he works with the head of the school, Miss Shepherd (Barbara Murray) to solve the crime.
Crime drama that is far too sedate to deliver any thrills.

the big lift (1950)

"When you live in a sewer, you soon discover that the sewer rats are best equipped to survive."
Two Air Force sergeants, Danny MacCullough (Montgomery Clift) and Hank Kowalski (Paul Douglas) are sent to Germany to take part in the 1948 Berlin airlift. Hank dislikes the Germans, having experienced their brutality as a POW during the war. Danny is more open and is soon smitten with Frederica (Cornell Borchers), but she hids a dark secret...
A semi-documentary style acts as a history lesson pre the Berlin wall, as well as entertainment.