Love on the dole 1941

Starring: Deborah Kerr

Life among unemployed cotton workers in industrial Lancashire between the wars.

Gritty but watchable drama set in North West England when unemployment was through the roof, factories were closing and nobody had any money. Getting more relevant again by the week!   7/10

Road to Bali 1952

Starring: Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour

In and around the South seas, with colour making the sets obvious and the gags only tediously funny.

Well I reather enjoyed it! At its best with the song and dance routines, this is packed with gags, some hitting the spot and others flying well wide of the mark. Nice to see the occassional cameo from other stars and a lotof the special effects/silliness actually worked quite well. I just need Zanzibar & Utopia for the set.        6/10

A Lion is in the streets 1953

Starring: James Cagney

An itinerant confidence trickster becomes a defender for the people, is nominated for governor, and becomes corrupt.

Cagney brings a tremendous energy to this role which starts out as a charming little family adventure and ends as a political thriller. It is difficult to like his character but he is certainly charismatic and is able supported by some strong perfromances.       6/10

The Brave little toaster 1987

Domestic appliances go in search of teir owner.

Standard cartoon stuff with some good humour and catchy songs. Couldn't watch too much of it, but once in a while it's quite good fun.     4/10

City without men 1943

Starring: Linda Darnell

A boarding house near a prison is filled with women awaiting the parole of their menfolk.

A woman fights to clear the name of her husband who was innocent of the crime for what he is imprissoned. Not the greatest print of a movie that I've ever seen made it a little difficult to watch, but it had its moments with the occassional stirring speach to raise a smile. Not bad.     4/10

The Barbarian and the Geisha 1958

Starring: John Wayne

In 1856 the first US diplomat to visit Japan meets local opposition but is helped by a geisha.

Another John Wayne film seen but a pleasant departure from his usual fayre. The historical scenario made interesting and thought-provoking viewing. The whole thing was interesting to watch and look out despite some obvious studio locations. There was little drama or excitement and yet the whole piece still worked, I did however struggle to ever buy in to the romantic storyline.     6/10

Two a penny 1967

Starring: Cliff Richard

An idle art student becomes involved in the drug racket but finally sees the light.

Cliff ateempting to be hard-hitting. It never quite works for me and although it's refreshing to see Cliff playing a darker role, he doesn't really pull off 'nasty'. Intersting to see it set aroung the Billy Graham crusades and there were nice supporting roles from Dora Bryan and Ann Holloway.     5/10

Destroyer 1943

Starring: Edward G Robinson

An old sea dog talks himself into a job on a World War 2 destroyer but works his men too hard.

Edward G Robinson is one of my favourite actors and I see his movies all too frequently. Once again, he is brilliant as the ageing naval officer who helps build a destroyer and then serves on it. Glenn Ford is unusually low key and the romantic storyline gets in the way somewhat. Overall though, a thoroughl enjoyable movie with a brilliant lead performance.    7/10

Target Zero 1955

Starring: Richard Conte

An infantry patrol in Korea os cutt off behind enemy lines.

Standard behind the lines war drama, this time set in Korea. Peggy Castle is ridiculously good looking as the female nurse also caught in the situation but adds a little glamour. Always good to see Charles Bronson. Other than that, nothing original at all.          3/10

Cast a dark shadow 1955

Starring: Dirk Bogarde

A wife-murderer marries an ex-barmaid and tries again.

You could tell that this came from a stage play where it's possibly better suited. I wasn't sure I would buy the clean cut looking Bogarde as a wife killer, but he certainly pulled the role off. Terrific support from all the other actors with Margaret Lockwood a delight and the lady playing Emmie put in a delightful performance. A nice little British thriller, the sort of which are way too thin on the ground.       7/10

Woman on the run 1950

Starring: Ann Sheridan

A man runs away after witnessing a murder; his wife is menaced by the killer.

Started okay, but I wished this had been viewable in colour. Everyone looked alike, it was all so dark as much of it was set at night and the final scene at a fairground ended up grating on my nerves.     4/10

Arch of triumph 1948

Starring: Ingrid Bergman

In postwar Paris, an embitterred refugee seeks his former Nazi tormentor and has a tragic romance with a would-be suicide.

Set just bwfore WW2, this was a real struggle. Single paced with softly spoken dialogue that was mostly extremely uninteresting. Thank goodness for Charles Laughton who was tragically under-used in the movie and yet lit up every scene he was in. Sad to say, I just didn't get on with this.    2/10

The Great Santini 1979

Starring: Robert Duvall

A crack fighter pilot has difficulty adjusting to peacetime domestic life.

A brilliantly acted and quite moving film. Duvall was so believable, but big shout-outs to Michael O'Keefe who played his son and the guy who played Toomer. Superbly filmed. this hit the spot on so many levels.       8/10

Drifters 1929

A documentary of the North sea fishing fleet

Extremely early, silent movie. Fascinating in its own way although the music go a little repetitive.     4/10

Isle of forgotten sins 1943

Starring: John Carradine

In the south seas, villains congregate in search of sunken treasure.

Such a poor print, this seemed older than 1943. Difficult to get excited about, the underwater scenes to heavenly, choral music amused me and a scene where a lady sang on a bank whilst someone did some weird type of synchronised swimmimng verged on the hiaarious. Quite liked the ending though.      3/10

Steel Magnolias 1989

Starring: Sally Field

A group of women, who gather in a small-town beauty parlour, face up to life's vicissitudes

After about 30 mins, I wondered where this movie was going, but it progresses beautifully. It made me laugh, it damn well nearly made me cry. So many big names and yet each and every one of them was brilliant and it would be wrong to pick a single name out. Terrific movie     8/10

Gidget 1959

Starring: Sandra Dee

A 16 year old girl falls for a surfer; her parents disapprove until he turns out to be the son of their best friend.

Late 1950's rom-com set around the local surfing community. Delightful charm oozes out of Sandra Dee and you can't help but watch this with a smile on your face. Makes you long for warm days by the beach, I thoroughly enjoyed it.     8/10

Against all flags 1952

Starring: Errol Flynn

A daring British seaman routs Spanish ships at the request of the King.

A rather splendid adventure with Errol Flynn at his charming, swash-buckling best. Maureen O'Hra gives sprightly support and Anthony Quinn as the villain is also particularly good. Pacy, amusing with some nice choreographed action, there was really nothing to dislike.    9/10

Valley of eagles 1951

Starring: Jack Warner

A Swedish scientist chases into Lapland after his wife and her lover who have stolen an important formula.

A movie set in Sweden where everyone speaks perfect English! What starts out as a tense little thriller, transforms into a kind of chase movie across frozen wastelands with herds of reindeer falling over cliffs, packs of marauding wolves which are eventually taken out by eagles and the inevitible avalanche. It was a bit different and I rather enjoyed it.      7/10

Jigsaw 1949

Starring: Franchot Tone

An assistant District attorney uncovers a mob stirring up racial hatred.

Formula mob drama with a couple of big name cameos. Some of the scenes were so dark and badly lit that you couldn't actually see what was going on. A movie that brought nothing original to the table, but at least kept itself to a watchable length.     3/10