The Holcroft covenant

Starrring: Michael Caine

One of the architects of Hitler's Third Reich leaves a bequest wich may fall into the wrong hands.

Single paced thriller with Michael Caine playing a German born architect who has lived in New York since he was a baby and sounds like Michael Caine. The script is cliched, the acting is extremely poor and the attempted humour falls way wide of the mark. Only the press conference at the end that neatly ties up the ends saves this movie. Not Michael Caine's finest hour.     4 /10

Invitation to a gunfighter 1964

Starring: Yul Bruyner

A small-town tyrant hires a smooth gunfighter to keep down the farmers he has cheated.

The sort of gunfighter for hire Western that has been made a 100 times. The difference with this is Yul Bruyner. He is close to charismatic throughout most of the movie as the plot slowly simmers towards the inevitable shootout. No great surprise but not bad.           5/10

Gentlemen prefer blondes 1953

Starring: Marilyn Monroe

A dumb blonde and a showgirl go to Paris in search of rich husbands.

Glitzy Hollywood musical comedy. Jane Russell & Marilyn Monroe both look great and certainly make this worth watching. Not hilarious but short enough that it doesn't matter and the scene with Monroe dressed in a rug with the young lad beneath it was very amusing. The term dumb blonde could have originated from this movie & Monroe's voice was particularly grating. The musical number 'Diamonds are a girls best friend' is one of the classics.

Harmless froth        6/10

The Way ahead 1944

Starring: David Niven

Adventures of a platoon of raw recruits during World War 2.

Very much a character driven film which gives adequate time to learn of the inner thoughts and feelings of newly called up squadies. This certainly makes you care about the characters and also makes you route for them. I understand that this was made as a 'flag waver' and I'm sure it did its job. Obviously, not so relevant now but still thought provoking.      6/10

Our man in Havana 1959

Starring: Alec Guinness

A British Vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana allows himself to be recruited as a spy, and wishes he hadn't.

Any spy film has to be measured against James Bond and I'm afraid this just didn't work for me. I never really bought the premise of this man being recruited barely without argument and therefore none of what cam after, worked for me. It was a bit wordy and single paced with only the occasional scene standing out. Guinness was certainly competent in his role & his daughter brought a breath of fresh air whenever she was in a scene. Not dreadful but certainly non memorable.      4/10