Long hu shao ye (1981)

This Shaw Brothers action comedy (English title: The Treasure Hunters) focuses on two guys compete against a much more sinister rival in a search for a hidden treasure, while themselves attempting to stay out of the clutches of a cross-eyed police chief. There’s plenty of broad humor, and the fights are pretty good, but the …

The Local Bad Man (Allied, 1932)

To cover a shortfall in their bank, the Murdock brothers come up with a scheme to ship money out by rail and then rob the train — thereby putting the railroad on the hook for the sum while keeping the cash themselves. Local rancher Jim Bonner (Hoot Gibson) and his pals throw a wrench into …

The Castle of the Living Dead (1964)

A troupe of entertainers is invited to visit the castle of Count Drago (Christopher Lee). They proceed despite a warning from a strange woman to avoid the place, and death and terror follow, as the count, who practices taxidermy, has plans for them. This Italian horror film, originally titled Il castello dei morti vivi, is …

The Gunman from Bodie (Monogram, 1941)

In the second of the entertaining series of Rough Riders movies from Monogram starring Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, and Raymond Hatton, Buck poses as a wanted killer, with Tim as the marshal on his trail, while Sandy (Raymond Hatton) works as a cook, all to foil a criminal plan to gain water rights for a …

Savage Mutiny (Columbia, 1953)

The Cold War looms large in 1953’s Savage Mutiny, as Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) undertakes to persuade a tribe to move to permit atomic testing, while enemy agents aim to trick the tribe into staying put and suffering the adverse effects of the radiation from the tests. The machinations of the foreign spies and the …

Tales of Terror (American International, 1962)

Vincent Price heads the cast in this anthology movie with three stories based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe, taking an important role in each — in “Morella,” as a father reunited with the daughter he blames for the death of her mother many years before; as an expert wine taster who cuckolds a …

City of Missing Girls (1941)

Low-budget crime drama centers on a talent school that is a front for more nefarious activities, perhaps including responsibility for the disappearance of several young women, and the efforts of the police, led by Captain McVeigh (H. B. Warner), an assistant district attorney (John Archer), and a crusading reporter (Astrid Allwyn) to put an end …

No One Can Touch Her (1979)

A blind young woman (Chia Ling) hopes to use her drunken-style martial arts to avenge her father’s murder, though she presumes she has lost all other opportunities for happiness. The movie, originally titled Zui quan nu diao shou, is packed full of action, with good fights, and the romantic subplot adds to the interest as …

The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date (Columbia, 1940)

Enjoyable entry in the Warren William Lone Wolf series from Columbia has Michael Lanyard (William) in Havana to acquire a stamp for his collection and ending up involved with a young woman whose fiancé is in jail for a murder he did not commit. Of course, the Lone Wolf lends a hand, but then himself …