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Anno zero - Guerra nello spazio (1977)
Terrible
More like "war in the dimly lit caves" than war of the planets. I was expecting exciting space battles between waring space ships, but I got none of that.
Terrible in every way possible and with a very low budget £100? At the most. Very badly dubbed on top of all the other terribleness of it all.
The uniforms well all the same with no rank markings which must have made it difficult for the soldiers, who to salute etc?
Not worth watching for any reason even for lovers of bad Sci-Fi films as I am. The spacemen had permanent five o'clock shadow in an attempt to make them look more manly, this failed.
The Cassandra Crossing (1976)
A very average disaster film.
Chuck a number of veteran very well known actors and actresses into a confined space, add some lesser known ones, put them into a dangerous situation and await developments, this was the standard formula for the flood of "Disaster Movies" in the 1970s.
They are usually fairly long, over two hours, and this one was which was too long as the main disaster was very late in arriving. It's compulsory for Disaster Movies to contain at least one nun as we had in this one, also at least one dodgy character up to no good again as we had in this one.
Not worth seeking out as it's too long for the scenario.
Time Warp (1981)
It's a spoof!
Low scores from who viewed this as a serious attempt at making a Sci-Fi film but it's clearly a spoof with deliberately very bad exterior shots of the spaceship in flight with it veering from side to side all over the place.
Many instances of low quality stock NASA footage being used also intentionally of poor quality and well past its use by date.
Adam West was a great choice and he hams it up gloriously mutch in the same way he did as Batman.
Watched as being serious Sci-Fi film it's a one star but as a spoof it's a well deserved ten stars.
Watch it and enjoy the intentional terribleness of it.
The Last Escape (1970)
A "B" movie for certain
Watchable enough but very far from being a gripping all action war film. Set during the war but the blonde lady was wearing a hair style and a mini skirt very much of the time the film was made, 1968, the men's hair styles were also of 1968. The mud applied to the very obvious very clean vehicles was, as always, unconvincing as being dirt picked up as a result of normal vehicle use.
Strange to see Mike Baldwin of Coronation Street (UK) fame in a Nazi uniform but he had just a few lines. Plenty of colourful explosions to be admired, possibly too many. Worth a watch with the brain in neutral gear.
Minesweeper (1943)
Wartime propaganda.
The version I saw on TV was very dark, even with exterior scenes or were they also shot in the studio? And with poor sound so either a poor copy, many around it seems, or the film has degraded over the many years.
Not as good as expected as we could have done with seeing more of the training and more mine sweeping work. There was no explanation as to how the sweeping was actually organised, a serrated cable between two boats? This film probably did the job at the time as a flag waver and it would have been an acceptable offering in 1943.
One of the poorer film made during the war as a morale booster.
12 to the Moon (1960)
Cheap and cheerful but not very good.
Fans of 1950s/60s Sci-Fi films have a lot of entertaining ones to watch but this is not one of them. I love cheaply made Sci-Fi but this one is not great to watch as the plot makes zero sense even for a Sci-Fi film. The cast were all previously unknown to me, well one looked slightly familiar, but none were good actors and moved about the set in an awkward way, possibly not helped by bad directing.
The spaceship was a bit on the large side and the engine seemed to run constantly in space, not necessary of course, so the large ship was probably 90% fuel tank.
Not worth seeking out but watch it if you come across it.
Hands of a Stranger (1962)
Great
Not really a horror film as expected, the hands of a serial killer taking over a pianist and then going on a killing spree rampage against his will did not happen.
It was more of a psychological thriller than a blood soaked horror one but very enjoyable. Great scenes with the annoying piano playing kid and at the funfair all very well shot with odd angles a la Alfred Hitchcock.
Odd that it was released two years after it was made as this usually happens only with bad films and this was not a bad film.
Very well worth watching, the leading man had a look of Ray Liotta about him and a similar acting style.
Der schweigende Stern (1960)
Everything good except the plot and script
It appears that 90% of the budget was spent on sets, costumes and (very impressive for the time) special effects leaving just 10% for the writing. It comes as no surprise to read in the trivia section that "The writing process involved three writing teams and 12 screenplays before a final script was acceptable to the studio and the government."
This film is a disappointment due to saying that "anything done by a committee is bound to fail" was ignored resulting in a poor plot and script.
Still worth watching however for the glorious colour, great sets and special effects. Also one of the best looking spaceship ever to appear on film.
Gritos en la noche (1962)
A most enjoyable mad scientist horror film.
Beautifully filmed, all the better for not being in colour, very atmospheric and the sets were wonderfully built. Great casting and acting all round and the bonus of a bevy of beauties to be admired.
This must have been very well received back in 1962 and the poor dubbing into English just adds to the strangeness of it all.
The doctor was quite an awful person but the film isn't in any way awful. The English title is a bit odd and could have been improved upon to attract more patrons to the cinemas.
Highly recommended and especially for lovers of very well made creepy black and white films.
A Ghost Story for Christmas: A Warning to the Curious (1972)
Excellent.
Great filming locations and atmosphere throughout. In no way was this a horror film, it wasn't meant to be of course, but a very well put together horror film, keeping the audience guessing in the same way as was done in the excellent original "The Wicker Man" film, give the later version a wide berth of course unless you are a fan of very bad acting that is, Nicolas Cage, say no more, the world's worst actor ever.
Short but this helped to keep the viewer interested as no time was wasted with padding it out a bit.
Very well worth watching so do so if you can, currently on Talking Pictures TV in the UK now.
The Big Day (1960)
A great film.
Great character all very well acted. Three very different candidates after the plum position and willing to use dirty tricks to get it. Very short and as it was so good it would have been even better if it had been a bit longer. A bit odd that it was so short. A very enjoyable watch and an interesting look at late 50s early 60s office life with not a PC or laptop in sight but plenty of typewriters clicking away.
A strongly recommended watch as a good film and a look at a time long since passed, unfortunately. Not seen by many, which is a shame, going by the low number of reviews so see if if you get the chance.
Night Shadows (1984)
A not very good zombie flick.
Nothing new in this as everything in it has been done many times before and done a lot better than this very poor effort. The leading man was a bit annoying as he very seldom closed his mouth even when speaking his lines.
Not much in the way of suspense and a total lack of novel ways of killing the zombies. The acting wasn't up to much, and not just the zombies.
Not worth watching for any reason other than having a strange desire to see the worst zombie film ever made. Some bad films are worth watching as they are entertainingly bad but this film is just a plain and simple very bad all round.
First Comes Courage (1943)
Great propaganda piece.
Every bit as good as "Commandos Strike At Dawn" and WWII films made while the war was still going on tend to a very good watch. Merle was very "cool" as she would be described these days, and very elegant.
I know someone who is half Norwegian with his father having travelled to Scotland on the "Shetland Bus" which was fishing boats, at great risk to the crew, that transported Allied personnel from Norway to Shetland, and the other way of course. Norway did a lot to fight the Germans even after occupation unlike that country famous for the capital having a large steel tower in the middle of it.
Highly recommended to watch.
Fortune Is a Woman (1957)
Runs along very nicely
Never any slacking in this film as there's always something going on in it. A great British mystery/crime film with a great cast especially Jack Hawkins who smokes almost non stop and of course this leads to him having his voice box removed, he continued to act after this with his voice being dubbed by another actor. £30,000 in 1957 is about £861,000 in 2024.
Christopher Lee's part was of the blink and miss it variety but he get pushed up the billing when the film is shown on TV to encourage his fans to watch it.
Well worth watching but don't let your attention wander at any time as there a few twists and turn to keep track of.
The Gorbals Story (1950)
Impressive.
First off, the person complaining about "thick Glasgow accents" has obviously never hear a Glaswegian speak in "their native tongue" as the actors in this were speaking "drama school Scottish" with no accent of any kind, if they did speak Glaswegian of course very few outside of Scotland would understand much of what was being said, not a good thing for a film of course.
The poor living conditions were not an exaggeration of any kind as conditions then, and for many years later, were really that bad, several documentaries are available on youtube to watch.
An extremely gritty kitchen sink drama featuring a few actors who would go on to bigger and better things, one of them played Little John in the 1950s TV series Robin Hood.
Laboratory (1983)
Not many reviews.
Fortunately it seems that very few have endured this film as it's quite terrible. I love low budget Sci-Fi as very often they can be highly entertaining but this one is in a class of its own and not in a good way. The alleged "music" was torture as it consisted of tuneless electronic peeps and beeps and it would have been much better if the non musical soundtrack had been left out.
It was an interesting plot with the aliens testing the character etc. Of humans but this has been done so much better in some Star Trek TOS TV episodes.
The special effects were terrible and deserved to win some kind of award.
Full Moon in Blue Water (1988)
Not wonderful.
A bit on the slow side, well very slow actually, but it's worth sticking with it to the very end, but only just worth it. Great acting from all concerned and with a very interesting mix of very odd characters. I would not have liked to have paid to see this in the cinema as it's so slow that my interest in it would have lapsed well before getting to the end, it's an OK watch on TV however.
Even for fans of Mr. Hackman it not a must see film of his so if you are one you are not missing anything great by never seeing it.
I'm struggling a bit to get to the required 600 character so this is just filler to get there.
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (1973)
Even better than the original series.
Very few sitcom sequels are better than the first series, and the first series of this was great, but this one is. Bob's social climbing and Terry's determination to stay working class has plenty of comedy opportunities in it and all three main characters are very well cast.
The theme tune is brilliant as are the starting and ending sequences. Bob and Thelma's house is still standing and I wonder if any fans hang about outside and take pics of it.
One of the best ever UK TV sitcoms which cannot be recommended highly enough. It's a comedy must watch, being repeated on TV now, on "that'sTV", 150 on Virgin.
Deathsport (1978)
A Corman classic
If you enjoy well written, well plotted, well acted and with great special effects films then this is.............not the film for you. If on the other hand you like films that are so bad that they are good then this is very well worth watching.
Bad in every way, including the music and sound effects, but nice explosions, but a highly enjoyable piece of nonsense. The similarity of name to Deathrace 2000, and with the same leading actor, probably led to more paying to see it but it's not as good as Deathrace 2000.
Well worth watching as a Roger Corman must see film, a fantastic bad/good film.
Spellbound (1941)
A warning?
A terribly terribly posh film where the main characters speak in a very silly odd posh accent with has largely died out now, thank goodness.
Due to large number of recent deaths being on the horizon, WWII having just started, this may have been an attempt do discourage those who may have been tempted to get involved in spiritualism not to do so and thus avoid being ripped off.
As a warning of the dangers it was a bit of a soft approach, the leading male character should have been made to suffer a bit more mental anguish and not have had a happy ending.
Well worth watching even if the acting is very wooden most of the time.
The Balloon Goes Up (1942)
WWII propaganda comedy
A wartime reminder that while working with barrage balloons may not have been the most glamorous job in the war they did play their part in the victory.
A type of humour very popular back then but not so much now, it has not dated very well at all. I had never heard of the leading ladies but they appear to have been well known in the music halls. The style of acting in this looks very awkward now, all bit too quick fire.
Not very funny to a modern audience but worth watching for curiosity value. Not many reviews so far but it can been seen in the UK on Talking Pictures TV who specialise in showing old films not to be seen elsewhere.
Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942)
Great WWII propaganda film
Nazi propaganda films concentrated on the might of the German armed forces destroying all opposition quickly and destroying as much as possible as quickly as possible. British WWII propaganda films highlighted how nasty the Germans were and how brave the the people they were trying to conquer were. They always have a few tear jerking scenes usually involving the male hero and a fair maiden. There is commonly a traitor to be uncovered and given a suitable punishment.
This would have gone down very well with audiences at the time and it's still very well worth watching eighty plus years later, see it if you get the chance.
Duty Free (1984)
Oddly compelling to watch
Is this in the top ten best ever UK TV sitcoms? No it's not. Is it in the top 100 best ever UK TV sitcoms, no again. I watched this first time round and while it's not exactly in the same class as Only Fools And Horses or Faulty Towers I do find it to be a compulsive watch.
I understand completely the low scores given by some but I can't help it I have to give it a high score. It's currently being rerun from the first episode on UK TV and I'll be watching every one of them, only at episode two so far.
The sillyness of it all, especially David constantly fawning over Linda, and their spouses reaction, keep me watching it.
Death of an Angel (1952)
A B movie
Made as a B movie but not too bad for a B movie. I found the sound to be very muffled so I had to watch it with the subtitles on. An interesting plot with a good twist but the acting was not very good. Not massively exciting or tension building as it just ran along so a bit boring to watch.
Not really worth making any great effort to find it on TV schedules as it's not very good at all. Interesting to see the old lady from the wonderful "The Ladykillers", the original not the later dire remake that I could only bear to watch for ten minutes as it was so very bad. It's on TPTV in the UK if anyone wants to see it.
The Cheap Detective (1978)
Not great
Far too much effort went into making this a clever film and not enough effort went into it making it a funny film so it's not all that good to watch. Older viewers, and fans of Humphrey Bogart films, would get most of the clever stuff but it would fly over the heads of those who are neither.
It was deliberately confusing which just made it even less enjoyable to watch. A waste of the acting talent in it and I suspect that it was a vanity project for Mr Simon. "Look at me and can still write witty and funny stuff", no he couldn't.
Not worth watching I'm afraid to say not even by those who like clever films.