In Blazing Bullets, which premiered 70 years ago, in May 1951, a U.S. marshal (Johnny Mack Brown) investigating the theft of gold bullion gets involved with star-crossed lovers, a kidnapped rancher, a “haunted” ranch, an oddball prospector, and a crooked sheriff. The young couple are played sympathetically by Lois Hall and House Peters, Jr., with …
Read the full post →“<em>Blazing Bullets</em> (Monogram, 1951)”
H. Rider Haggard’s grand fantasy-adventure novel She has been interpreted for film multiple times, with varying degrees of faithfulness, and in the mid-1960s Hammer Films produced this appealing version, released in the U.S. by MGM. Screen siren Ursula Andress plays the title character, and she is a fine choice for the beautiful Ayesha, “She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed.” John …
A nightclub singer (Mae West) is pursued by several suitors, including rival crooks, but is herself attracted to a temperance worker (Cary Grant) with a secret. There’s a plot here, but the movie is really a star vehicle for West, who dominates the movie with her smoldering, saucy, and strong personality, even opposite folks such …
Read the full post →“<em>She Done Him Wrong</em> (Paramount, 1933)”
A black-clad killer with a razor is stalking the denizens of a private clinic in nineteenth-century England. A new nurse has joined the staff of the institution, which is presided over by Dr. Vance (William Berger); soon, a thief (Françoise Prévost) is made welcome at the facility, too. Secrets and strange developments add to the …
This Tom Tyler western suffers from a plenitude of faults: A far-fetched story involving the search for the man who killed his father, a man whose gang is occupying a ghost town, might have been fine, but the poorly choreographed fistfights and an overlong and dull final gun battle empty the story of interest. Tyler …
Read the full post →“<em>Terror of the Plains</em> (Reliable, 1934)”
Scientific experiments involving boosted magnetism are having unforeseen impacts, and a stranger has shown up in the vicinity of the British lab where the research is going on. Said stranger purports to be an alien warning of the devastating effect of the cosmic rays reaching Earth as a result of the experiments, resulting in aggressive …
Read the full post →“<em>The Strange World of Planet X</em> (1958)”
The final film for Buck Jones has two of the three Rough Riders (Jones and Raymond Hatton as Buck Roberts and Sandy Hopkins) continuing their roles (Tim McCoy had rejoined the Army at this point) and joined by Marshal Jack Carson (Rex Bell). The lawmen are entrusted with ensuring that railroad supplies get through in …
Read the full post →“<em>Dawn on the Great Divide</em> (Monogram, 1942)”
An American agent investigates the murder of a consular officer in Hong Kong and uncovers a much more complicated situation involving a list of agents that must be kept out of the hands of the Red Chinese government. There’s plenty of action, but overall the movie is unmemorable. Mildly recommended. Otto judiciously thinks this movie …
Read the full post →“<em>Siete minutos para morir</em> (1969)”
Aliens operating from Venus attack Earth, and the planet’s defense falls on an experimental space battleship. The forces of Earth do send a team to Venus, and there’s a weird shaggy alien with horns that for a time holds as a prisoner the daughter of the commander of the battleship. Overall, the movie (original title: …
Lightweight science fiction movie has a spaceship sent to Mars buzzed by a UFO and returning to Earth with a sample of alien spore that grows into a giant monster, which of course then begins devastating Japan. A love triangle plot among the space travelers provides more story than usual on the human side in …
Read the full post →“<em>The X from Outer Space</em> (1967)”
