the body snatcher (1945)

"It's like Burke and Hare all over again."
1930's Edinburgh and a poor medical student Donald Fettes (Russell Wade) becomes an assistant to Dr MacFarlane (Henry Daniell), and slowly becomes aware where the good Dr gets his bodies from for his disection classes: friendly cabman John Gray (Boris Karloff).
A fine horror, which also features Bela Lugosi as a creepy servant within the Dr's household.

the leopard man (1943)

"This is a bad town for blondes."
A publicity stunt goes wrong when nightclub performer Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks) takes a leopard into a nightclub; a rival scares the animal and it bolts. Over the next few days the leopard is blamed for a number of killings, but Kiki comes to believe that it's not the leopard that is perpetrating the maulings...
Tourneur turns in a dark thriller bringing some of his Cat People style to another feline story.

king solomon's mines (1950)

"...in the end one small pattern emerges from it all, the only certainty: one is born, one lives for a time then one dies, that is all..."
Elizabeth Curtis (Deborah Kerr) wants to find her explorer husband and engages Allan Quartermain (Stewart Granger) to lead an expedition into the uncharted African bush in the attempt. Along the way their prickly relationship develops as they get closer to finding the fabled diamond mines of King Solomon.
A classic version of the adventuring tale.

mongol (2007)

aka Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan.
"I forgive you, brother."
A dramatisation of the early life and rise to power of Temudjin (Tadanobu Asano), a man who was to unite the Mongol tribes and go on to conquer half the known world, becoming forever known as Genghis Khan.
An epic story played out impressively against the Mongolian plains, though I could do without Bodrov's ficticious additions to the Khan's biography.

thor (2011)

"Whatever I have done to deserve this, I am truly sorry."
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is bannished from Asgard by Odin (Anthony Hopkins), due to some trickery by Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and his own stubborn and warlike ways. Odin plans for Thor to learn some humility and be less warlike, but doesn't account for Loki's treachery and desire to be king. Now powerless on earth Thor is taken in by Jane (Natalie Portman), who is handily a physicist studying wormholes. Can she help him to regain entry to Asgard and save his father?
Branagh delivers a wham bam story, full of betrayal, hunks knocking lumps out of each other, and a brunette to die for.

the curse of the cat people (1944)

"I wish for a friend."
A lonely young girl, Amy (Ann Carter), has two friends, an imaginary one in ghost of her father's dead first wife Irena (Simone Simon), and Julia Farren (Julia Dean), a reclusive actress. She builds a fantasy world around them, but her father doesn't like her associating with Irena.
A beautifully realised psychological drama.

the cat (1992)

aka Wai Si Li zhi Lao Mao. Lao mao. Wisely's Old Cat. The 1000 Years Cat.
"Evil is coming to pass in this city."
An alien is wandering the city making mincemeat of the local population. Then a cat teams up with a girl and and an old man in an attempt to defeat it.
Entertaining, though mainly for the badly animated cat fights.

those glory glory days (1983)

"the only thing left was to get the tickets."
Four thirteen year old school girls in 1961 form a bond over their love of Spurs during their double season. But their joy is tempered with their anxiety at how to get some cup final tickets?
A small but nicely put together package.

detour (1945)

"I saw at once he was dead."
Al Roberts (Tom Neal) is hitch-hiking to L.A. when he's picked up by Charles Haskell (Edmund MacDonald). Unfortunately nearing the California state line Haskell dies; Roberts panics, dumping the body, and taking the car. Then he falls further into his nightmares when he picks up Vera (Ann Savage), who quickly reveals that she knows that Al doesn't own the car and is determined to chisel as much out of Roberts as she can.
A cheap thriller that becomes a taut and claustrophobic two hander, with an enthusiastically evil female character. Classic noir in other words.

george and mildred (1980)

"Sometimes when you have to do someone, you have to do them yourself."
George (Brian Murphy) gets mistaken for a hitman in this routine farce based on the tv series. It features all the tv cast, and some other familiar faces from ITV tv comedy of the time, in an episode which looks like it was made in 1974 rather than 1980.