Night tide 1961

Starring: Dennis Hopper

A sailor falls in love with a fairground freak show girl who may be a real mermaid.

Sometimes movies just hook you from the start & this was one of those. Is the girl a real mermaid or is something more sinistor going on. A quiet paced mystery with Hopper exuding a certain, endearing charm. Dated nut interesting to see.    7/10

The Way to the stars 1945

Starring: John Mills

World War 11 as seen by the guests at a small hotel near an airfield.

Not a whole lot of plot but somehow, absolutely charming. Very dated for obvious reasons but the despair & resignation to tragedy is brilliantly portrayed.    7/10

the Pumpkin eater 1964

Starring: Anne Bancroft

A compulsive mother of eight children finds her third marriage rocking when she gets evidence of her husband's affairs.

Dull & dreary. Good soundtrack though.        2/10

Bang the drum slowly 1973

Starring: Michael Moriarty

A baseball star finds that he is dying of leukemia.

Occasionally this hits home but generally is too single paced and talkative. I found my attention waning and found that the tragedy kind of passed me by.     2/10

Marjorie Morningstar 1958

Starring: Natalie Wood

A New York Jewish girl has great ambitions for herself but ends up a suburban housewife.

A light-hearted melodrama that is a delight when Natalie Wood is sneaking across the lake as an 18 year old. The movie loses its way as she becomes older and the tortured minds and egos of the stars become a little tiresome. Classic Hollywood that overstays its welcome.    6/10

On the beat 1962

Starring: Norman Wisdom

A Scotland Yard car park attendant manages to capture some crooks and become a policeman.

There is something endearing about Wisdom and there are a few delightful moments in this movie. Unfortunately , the whole thing drags on for way too long & I wish a little 'less is more' had been considered. Still the scene write at the beginning was great, as was the scene with the young lads playing football & the scenes with his Italian girlfriend.     6/10

Internal affairs 1990

Starring: Richard Gere

A duel to the death develops between an honest and a corrupt cop.

Gritty, tense and violent. This is well acted by Gere & Garcia although I struggled to see when Gere actually did any police work. As well played as this was, every one of the characters was unlikeable to me & for that reason alone it left me with few feelings at its conclusion. Not bad though.    6/10

Algiers 1938

Starring: Charles Boyer

A romantic Casbah thief makes the mistake of falling in love.

Started well enough with good scene setting but descended into a too single paced, talkative style with little atmosphere and I never felt you got a true feel for the Casbah. Lead actor gave a good performance and the random song was bonkers.     3/10

Torpedo run 1958

Starring: Glenn Ford

A US submarine in World war 11 destroys a Japanese aircraft carrier in Tokyo bay.

Typical submarine war drama. Ford & Borgnine were both good & a reasonable attempt was made to show the human side of their characters. I would have liked to have got to know the crew a bit more but a reasonable drama with good action sequences. 6/10

She's gotta have it 1986

Starring: Tracy Camilla Jones

Three men woo the same woman

Strange movie filmed in short scenes, the rest of the time taken up with talking heads. Somehow it was still fascinating mainly due to the superb performances by all the actors. Filmed in Black & White except for one dance scene where the colour leaps off the scree. As entrtainement, it's not up to much but as an artistic piece of work, it's spot on. 6/10

The Final Countdown 1980

Starring: Kirk Douglas

An aircraft carrier on manoeuvres near Hawaii passes through a strange storm and finds itself back at Pearl Harbor.

Forget the daft sci-fi concept & dodgy special effects. Forget the fact that having travelled through time, they arrived at the exact moment that Pearl Harbor was about to become famous, forget the historical impossibility of it all. This was a good, fun yarn with an interesting mix of naval hardware. Having loved aircraft carriers since I was a kid, this was right down my street. 8/10

The Fat man 1950

Starring: J.Scott Smart

The murder of a dentist leads to the circus

Rather dull murder mystery. Occassionally it grabs the interest but is too conversational and the plot is the same as can be found in thousands of similar movies. 3/10

The Hindenburg 1976

Starring: George C Scott

In 1937, sabotage causes the airship Hindenburg to crash on arrival at New York

Intersting to get some flesh on the bones of this disaster however true/untrue this version may be. Slow to start with little building of characters and dialogue delivered in a monotone, uninteresting way. The tension built well however and the disaster at the end was quite well done. 5/10

The Amazing Mr X 1948

Starring: Lynn Bari

A widow seeks comfort from a fraudulent medium.

A sort of ghost story which turns out to be a dodgy medium which turns out.....

Surprisingly engaging with good atmosphere created by thoughtful lighting & a well thought out score. I guess the gadgets were ground-breaking in their day. Quite an interesting little thriller. 7/10

Terms of endearment 1983

Starring: Shirley Maclaine

An eccentric widow fends off suitors while interfering with her daughter's marriage: but all is forgiven when the daughter dies

Brilliant performances by Maclaine & Debra Winger. At over 2 hours, this movie seemed too short due to the period of time it covered. So underplayed in many ways, made the film seem more realistic. Tragic at the end and it's always the children that suffer. Danny De Vito had about a dozen lines and was still billed above Jeff Daniels who played the under-appreciated husband - Explain that! 7/10

A lesson in love 1954

Starring: Gunnar Bjornstrand

A Gynaecologist and his wife grow bored and turn to other partners, but are reconciled.

I remember recently seeing a list of favourite jokes from different countries around the World. It proved that humour doesn't really travel or translate. This wasn't a terrible film & the subtitles helped to retain my concentration. But it was a bit sreamy & shouty and I don't think I even smiled once. 4/10

The Black shield of Falworth

Starring: Tony Curtis

The film in which Tony Curtis says "Yonda lies the castle of my fodda" (or something like it) is an amiable romp which alternates between comic strip dialogue and a surprisingly convincing sense of medieval custom. The training scenes are as sharp as the romantic asides are pallid.

Great stuff. Tony Curtis was perfectly cast as the athletic, strong-willed knight. The script is fun, the locations & costumes are spot on and all the fight scenes have a huge fun factor about them. Boys-own stuff. 8/10

Sunset Boulevard

Starring: Gloria Swanson

A luckless Hollywood scriptwriter goes to live with a wealthy older woman, a slightly dotty and extremely possessive relic of the silent screen

An interesting but slightly over-long movie. Swanson is superb but the best scenes for me were between William Holden & Betty, a lovely chemistry. Cecil B De Mille was spot on with his cameo. My main problem is that a lot of the film has Holden narrating. I hate that & have never really seen it work. When it was just played as a straight film, it wasn't at all bad. 5/10

One frightened night 1935

Starring: Charles Grapewin

Relatives assemble in a spooky house in the hope of inheriting an old man's wealth

So grainy and dated now that it wasn't easy to watch. This was about as frightening as a soggy tissue and as suspenseful as an episode of 'Murder she wrote'. The occasional moment was okay & they did try to include a little humour. 3/10

I don't want to be born 1975

Starring: Joan Collins

An ex-stripper gives birth to a monstrous baby which goes on a murderous rampage.

Deeply unpleasant horror movie with constant baby screaming, unpleasant scenes and an exorcism. Quite what Joan Collins, Ralph Bates & Donald Pleasence were thinking about is beyond me. Collins at lease gave a solid performance, it was 5 minutes into the film before I realised that Bates was trying to do an Italian accent - Why not hire an Italian actor!! Nostalgic views of 1970's London was the only interest. 3/10