This dull spy flick, originally titled Mister Dynamit – Morgen küßt euch der Tod and also known as Die Slowly, You’ll Enjoy It More, stars Lex Barker as a West German secret agent called in to assist the United States when a master criminal is using a missing atomic bomb to blackmail the country. The …
Read the full post →“<em>Spy Today, Die Tomorrow</em> (1967)”
A surprising ending adds interest to this Johnny Mack Brown feature, one of his Nevada Jack McKenzie series costarring Raymond Hatton as U.S. Marshal Sandy Hopkins. Much of the focus in the picture is on the title character (played by Marshall Reed), a man involved with a gang of outlaws who sets out to cross …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>The Texas Kid</em> (1943)”
Unoriginal but entertaining western has a bad man (Audie Murphy) throwing in his lot with a rancher (Paul Kelly) being targeted by the crook who originally hired him. Murphy has appeal, and the other performers are effective in their roles; though the plot is fairly standard, watching this is a pleasant way to spend a …
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 wandering cowpoke (Jimmy Wakely) who rescues an orphaned calf finds himself arrested and eventually sent on a work detail to a ranch whose owner (Kay Morley) has been facing difficulties from rustlers, sufficient to make it likely that she will lose her ranch in foreclosure. Jimmy and his fellow prisoners (including Lee “Lasses” White) …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: Six-Gun Serenade (1947)”
A Chinese schoolteacher (Anna May Wong) becomes a secret agent for her country in the wake of a Japanese bombing of her village that resulted in one little student’s death. The meat of the movie that follows is largely a mystery: A group of travelers forced to take shelter at a monastery clearly contains a …
Billy the Kid (Bob Steele) and sidekick Fuzzy (Al St. John) tackle the problem of a counterfeit “Kid” while dodging an old friend, a lawman set to arrest Billy for crimes he has not committed. Steele is his usual appealing self, and Fuzzy brings the humor one expects, though the low budget for this PRC …
Read the full post →“<em>Billy the Kid’s Range War</em> (PRC, 1941)”
This solid early surviving entry in the long-running Charlie Chan series sees the famed detective visiting England and racing against time to save a young man, convicted of murder, from the gallows — a task made more difficult by the fact that everyone save the man’s sister, and not excepting his defense counsel, believes him …
Read the full post →“<em>Charlie Chan in London</em> (Fox, 1934)”
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 …
Read the full post →“<em>The Sword and the Sorcerer</em> (1982)”
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, …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Monte Carlo Nights </em>(1934)”
