The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)

This entry in the sword-and-sorcery genre stars Lee Horsley as the hero out to avenge his parents’ deaths upon the wicked king (Richard Lynch) who called forth a demon to strike down his opponents, but it also features, in the form of the protagonist’s triple-bladed swords, one of the silliest of wonder weapons. Particularly entertaining …

Monogram Monday: Monte Carlo Nights (1934)

A young man-about-town (John Darrow) captures the heart of an heiress (Mary Brian), but their plans for wedded bliss are put on hold when the playboy is arrested for murder. Fortune favors the fellow, however, and he escapes to find the real killer — his only clue a roulette betting system involving the numbers 7, …

The Invisible Ray (Universal, 1936)

Karloff and Lugosi are in fine form in this Universal picture, with the former essaying the not-unusual role of a scientist gone mad (here driven murderously so by exposure to the dreaded Radium X) and the latter a humanitarian doctor who saves the scientist’s life but must eventually face the consequence of his action. Well …

The Peking Medallion (1967)

A freelance photographer (Robert Stack) ends up in possession of a medallion that provides a key to hidden treasure, and others (most notably crooks led by Nancy Kwan) are after it. And can the photographer trust the purported widow (Elke Sommer) of the man who entrusted him with the item? Stack’s protagonist is effective in …

Cyclone Fury (Columbia, 1951)

Steve Reynolds (Charles Starrett) and Smiley (Smiley Burnette) come to the aid of an Indian boy who has inherited a contract to round up wild horses for the Army, which he can keep only so long as he manages to deliver 300 head within a month’s time. The nefarious Grat Hanlon (Clayton Moore) deploys his …

Tarzan’s Savage Fury (RKO, 1952)

Tarzan (Lex Barker) finds a young boy (Tommy Carlton) and brings him home, while at the same time he and Jane (Dorothy Hart) receive a visit from a man purporting to be Tarzan’s cousin (Patric Knowles), though in fact one of two crooks (the other played by Charles Korvin) who have murdered the real cousin …

Monogram Monday: Spook Busters (Monogram, 1946)

The Bowery Boys, newly graduated from exterminator college (all save Sach), get their first job tackling pests in a reputed haunted house… and soon end up tangling with a mad scientist (Douglass Dumbrille) with designs on Sach’s brain. There are some good gags involving various members of the group. I tend to like the boys’ …