Petty car thieves stumble into a kidnapping and decide to try to nab the ransom for themselves. The kidnappers are clever enough to figure out how to track down their “rivals,” however, and the two groups end up headed for a collision. The unraveling of the crimes holds the viewer’s interest while awaiting the inevitable …
Action in Arabia (1944)
George Sanders ably handles the opposition in this story of intrigue in Damascus in the early years of World War II, with Nazi agents seeking to bring the Arab tribes into the war on behalf of the Axis, and a journalist (Sanders), aided by an off-duty American diplomat (Robert Armstrong), seeking to stop them. Complicating …
The Double (1963)
An amnesiac with vague memories of killing someone is brought back to England from Africa, where his arrival sets in motion a chain of unusual events and harrowing crimes. His intrepid nurse eagerly investigates in order to find out the truth, despite discouragement from the private detective she has hired, while her sister draws closer …
Monogram Monday: The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
A brash reporter (Wallace Ford) investigates a series of murders in Chinatown that are in some way connected with the fabled 12 Coins of Confucius, while also doing some wooing. Bela Lugosi has top billing as the titular criminal, who also masquerades as a simple spice dealer. The plot is rather muddled, and Ford (and …
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The Trap Snaps Shut at Midnight (1966)
Hijackers end up with a truckload of nitroglycerine — a sinister criminal wants it for his own purposes, while the FBI races to recover it before the unstable explosive brings death and destruction to Manhattan. Who will find the hidden stash first, and what will happen as the time before catastrophe ticks away? Can agent …
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To the Ends of the Earth (Columbia, 1948)
A U.S. government agent (Dick Powell) travels around the globe in an effort to break up a vast international drug-smuggling conspiracy. Powell does an excellent job as usual, though the episodic plot isn’t particularly memorable. Recommended. Otto finds this one pleasing enough to relax. Movie 17 for 2022.
A Bay of Blood (1971)
Rather a jumbled plot, as the murder of a wealthy woman by her husband sets in motion a series of killings, including a couple that served as inspirations for scenes in later slasher movies. There’s no one to root for, really, in the film, directed by Mario Bava and originally titled Ecologia del delitto, and …
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 …
Bulldog Drummond in Africa (Paramount, 1938)
Hugh Drummond (John Howard), together with Algy (Reginald Denny) and Tenny (E. E. Clive), and with Phyllis (Heather Angel) aboard his plane as a stowaway, dashes off to Morocco when he learns that Colonel Nielson (H. B. Warner) has been abducted by a ruthless spy (J. Carrol Naish). A hostile reception from the local British …
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Kurotokage (1968)
Female impersonator Akihiro Miwa stars as Black Lizard (also the English-language title), a notorious jewel thief who sets her sights on the Star of Egypt diamond and plots the kidnapping of its owner’s daughter to force him to hand it over. The owner turns to the famed detective Akechi (Isao Kimura) to protect his daughter …