To Trap a spy

Starring: Robert Vaughan

One of the feature length 'Man from Uncle' movies. A poor man's James Bond, but Robert Vaughan is very effective in the part, the plot was lively enough and there were enough interesting moments to keep this interesting. Not bad.        6/10

Crash dive 1943

Starring: Tyrone Power

A submarine Lieutenant and his commander love the same girl.

Basically a bit of a propaganda, feel good movie for the US. Not the most interesting of plotlines war wise, the film was at its most lively in the scenes between Power and Anne Baxter.    5/10 

Something to sing about 1943

Starring: James Cagney

A new York bandleader decides to take a fling at Hollywood.

I'm not the greatest James Cagney fan, I get a bit tired of the constant gangster thing he had going on. Occasionally in this movie, there were slight signs, but generally it was a really likeable performance in a charming little movie. Cagney was surprisingly light on his feet.         6/10

A Hard day's night 1964

Starring: The Beatles

Harrassed by their manager and Paul's grandpa, the Beatles embark from Liverpool by train for a London TV show.

Very few pop groups translate well on to the big screen. This is no exception, wooden acting and a flimsy plot. Thankfully there's lots of well known music which was good to hear.     4/10

Attack on the Iron coast 1967

Starring:  Lloyd Bridges

In World War 11, a Canadian commando unit destroys a German installation on the French coast.

Fairly flawed with a poor script and a few desperately bad bits of acting. The 'home' scenes never rang true and were a bit superfluous to the plot and the officer who got injured in training ended up looking like the Invisible man. Some good action though.       5/10

Clue 1985

Starring: Eileen Brenann

A murder game becomes reality.

Who doesn't love the board game Clue or Cluedo as it is called in the UK? Unfortunately, this doesn't work at all as a movie in what could have been a really good idea. Terrible and I mean truely terrible script, poor acting across the board and deciding to do it as slapstick was a really odd decision. I laughed twice! Disappointing.    3/10

The Dark Tower 1943

Starring: Ben Lyon

A circus hypnotist possessively controls a girl trapezist.

I'm not sure if I'd been hypnotized, but I rather enjoyed this. A little unusual plot wise and you spend the entire movie thinking that something bad is going to happen. All nonsense but good fun.      5/10

Bless this house 1972

Starring: Sid James

A suburbanite's multifarious frustrations culmintae in preparations for his son's wedding.

So often, successful TV comedy series do not transfer successfully to the big screen. But I have to say, I loved this. Nostalgic for me and great to see so many of my favourite childhood comedy actors. It was good clean fun with no swearing or sexual references. Not as dated as I expected, I spent a very happy 90 minutes watching this.       9/10

South American George 1941

Starring: George Formby

An unsuccessful singer poses as a South American opera star.

Forget the plot, which is mediocre and forget the villains who are just plain irritating, just sit back and wait for the four brilliant songs that George Formby delivers in his traditional style. There really has never been anyone like him!    6/10

The Thief of Baghdad 1960

Starring: Steve Reeves

A very moderate remake in the form of an action star vehicle

Just never got into this. Poor acting with people who didn't even look vaguely Arabian and poor special effects and weird fantasy scenes.  Below average.        2/10

Eight O'clock walk 1953

Starring: Richard Attenborough

A young barrister proves a taxi driver innocent of murder.

Quite disturbing in its subject matter although all too familiar in this day and age. Really well done with all the characters having little sub-plots that brought home their reality. Absolutely gripping and even though yo knew he was innocent, you started questioning what you thought was true.     9/10

South of Pago Pogo 1940

Starring: Victor McLaglen

Greedy white men seek riches in pearls by cheating and overworking the natives.

I felt that this was portrayed in too light hearted a way. You had the potential of a good story here and if it had been done as a straight drama/adventure I feel it would have been a lot more effective. Had a few good moments.        4/10

Take care of my little girl 1951

Starring: Jeanne Crain

A University freshwoman gets into trouble with her sorority.

Kind of the TV series Greek about 40 years earlier. Very dated and things that were portrayed as scandalous you would barely raise an eyebrow at now. Quite slow paced and not gripping, but interesting to see.        5/10

Superdad 1974

Starring: Bob Crane

A lawyer is determined to rule the life of his teenage daughter.

The thing about Disney movies is you know nobody will get hurt, they're easy to watch and leave you with a smile on your face. This was no exception, not the best I've ever seen and the scenes with Klutch didn't work for me,  but a nice little movie none the less.       6/10

Cat Balou 1965

Starring: Jane Fonda

Young Catherine Ballou hires a drunken gunfighter to protect her father from a vicious gunman, but despite her efforts he is shot, so she turns outlaw.

The ballad sung in the opening scene including Nat King Cole immediately got me on board. I loved all the ballads, Lee Marvin was brilliant and deserved the Oscar he received and Jane Fonda looked positively gorgeous throughout. Occasionally, this missed the mark, but it made me laugh on several occasions and was great fun.          7/10

Guys and Dolls 1955

Starring: Frank Sinatra

A New York gangster takes a bet that he can romance a Salvation army lady.

At times this was excellent. Great song and dance numbers and always good to look at. It just crawled around and a lot of the dialogue was 'Just gravy'. You could have comfortably lost 45 minutes and made it a real delight. Sinatra seemed strangely subdued, I've never been a fan of Brando, Jean Simmons was a delight.          5/10 

House of games 1987

Starring: Lindsay Crouse

A Psychiatrist becomes involved with a confidence trickster.

A very low key kind of movie, interesting at times although the lead actress urgently needed a personality infusion. As with most con artist movies, it goes a little too far and you're never entirely clear as to who's on which side and what's going on.     5/10

Whispering City 1947

Starring:  Paul Lukas

A Girl reporter has dangerous information

Never a good sign when your concentration has wandered within the first 2 minutes. Just never engaged with this at all.      2/10

The Amazing Mr Blunden 1972

Starring: Laurence Naismith

In 1918, a widow and her two children meet a kindly gentleman who offers them work in an old mansion. Here they meet two ghost children, discover that he is a ghost too, and travel a hundred years back in time to right a wicked wrong.

Nice to see a gentle ghost story which is a kind of family movie. Reasonably done with Lynne Frederick looking gorgeous. Some severe over-acting by the likes of Diana Dors is my only real criticism.    6/10

The Runaway bus 1954

Starring:  Frankie Howerd

Passengers at London airport are fogbound, and a relief bus driver takes some of them to Blackbushe. Incognito among them are robbers and detectives.

Frankie Howerd was a comic genius and he managed to leave me with a constant smile on my face in this one. Great fun trying to work out who the robbers are and who the detectives are, I changed my mind several times and still got it wrong. Excellent selection of characters, this was great fun.    8/10