b_moviebuff Reviews

The Wind of Change (1961)

Talky but interesting

[5/10 · 28 December 2009]

Quite an eye opener for it's day, the racist tone is played full pelt by Johnnie Briggs and his seedy gang. After harassing a black man in their local café they decide to catch him and beat him up but he dies from his injuries, and to add to the plot he had been dating Briggs's sister and she is injured in the fracas.

Rather talky at times with strong London accents it plays like an episode of Eastenders, there is lot's of protective talk from Briggs's mum who dominates the household including Briggs's father played by a rather meek Donald Pleassance.

It's not quite clear how Briggs gets caught but with these short films and low budget you tend to forgive the director for any plot holes.

Lot's of bad jive music and slangy talk in the seedy coffee bar where they hang out gives the film a "Beat Girl" type scenario.

The Impersonator (1961)

Poor British B picture

[2/10 · 16 November 2009]

A very poorly acted and scripted movie but not without interest, an American serviceman is wrongly accused of the murder of a woman, the acting in this film verges on the downright silly to very bad, the leading lady is oh so terribly posh to be bothered with men but hunky John Crawford appears on the scene, the murderer is probably the most ridiculous villain ever in a movie, in actual fact he is playing lead in the Mother Goose pantomime but in reality is a leering sex murderer, and the final scenes where he is chased up the theatre curtain is a hoot, in any case if you have the misfortune to see this film you will crease up at this final scene and think to yourself, how did the police know it was him that did it?, there is no evidence against him just an off the cuff remark from the murdered woman's little boy.

This film could have been a whole lot better if one or two scene's were directed properly as it has it's moments, quite creepy ones in the park where the murderer is stalking young women.

The Camp on Blood Island (1958)

Terrible!!

[7 December 2006]

Having waited years to see this film I was astounded just how bad it is, a Hammer production that has pure cockneys playing Japanese guards!, the acting verges on the utterly bad to utterly impossible!,take for instance long time Hammer fave Michael Ripper who as a Japanese guard bursts out laughing every time he is in a scene, the head guard who is clearly of Indian origin is another badly cast member, the commander of the camp is also another British actor hamming it up, I thought they had wandered off set from an Alladin pantomime!, the premise for all the controversy that it was brutal beyond belief had me scratching my head, i've seen worse in a Tom & Jerry cartoon.

Never Take Candy from A Stranger (1960)

Found it at last!

[7/10 · 26 October 2006]

This was one of the most controversial films of its time, I remember vividly the the bad press this movie got,but what we have here is now so relevant to today's society and Hammer should ensure this is restored and put on DVD, I managed to track a copy down from the US where it had been on television, the owner of the disc can be found on a very well known auction site, to my knowledge this has never been shown on British TV.

Starring veteran and distinguished theatre actor Aylmer, who does not breath one word in the movie by the way is accused by a young girl of being a child molester and is taken to court by the girl's father Patrick Holt, sadly Aylmer is the town's big-wig and is a much respected professor as well as owning most of the land in the town, the case against him is thrown out due to lack of evidence from the young girl.

What follows is a harrowing chase scene involving the same girl and her friend from school both chased through the woods by a psychopathic Aylmer and ultimately leads to death of one of the girls before he is caught.

Curiously set in Canada with an uneasy blend of stiff British upper lip and north American accents, talky in parts but stick with it to the end where the final scene's are shattering and every parent's nightmare, this movie should be seen by all.

Son of Samson (1960)

Not as bad as I thought it would be

[5/10 · 17 August 2006]

Well for the first half of this entry the acting is very wooden but somewhere down the line the cast start to look interested, I feared the worst when I bought this on DVD but was surprised just how good it is (in parts!), our hero saves a bunch of babes...sorry slaves from capture and unites with the people against the tyrants...well you should get the idea by now if you watch these kind of movies,as always Mark Forest looks superb as Machiste son of Samson and his muscular frame has the ladies in question in a spin, one word of warning though, some battle scenes are incredibly brutal and gory, this surprised me greatly as I don't think this would have been passed by British censors but as these epics come and go a good entry into the genre.

The Inbetween Age (1958)

Grade Z rock and roll trash!!

[1/10 · 10 July 2006]

Just where do you start with a film like this that is so toe curlingly twee and embarrassing?, having had this movie on tape for a few years the more I watch it the more it makes my cheeks go red..and thats in an empty house!!. Our story begins when a very sweet girl who wants to open a coffee bar in London's Soho district (where else),she feels so sorry for the youngsters having nowhere to go at night, so she persuades her rich aunt to buy it for her, in no time the place is up and running, meantime the son of a famous band leader and friend of the aunt's family comes on the scene (Lee Paterson's epitaph should read "he never turned down a part..no matter how bad!"), romance quickly blossoms but before that happens we have to put up with some of the worst rock and roll acts i've ever seen on the screen, with Paterson doing all the arranging for recording these "artists" you really have to see and hear some of the song's, the café resident sweeper up "Terry" is no other that English teen singer Terry Dene and its quickly realised that we have a star on our hands, some of the songs he sings are enough to cut and file your toenails!, dreadful!and you really must check out the crowd of teenagers who dance to his songs, mind boggling!, a typical sugar sweet romantic plot totally drowns the film's sheer tackiness, also check the recording studio!, amazing what they can do with a couple of tables and a curtain!. Peter Dynelly also stars as an American record mogul, Mr Washington who own Washington records and he saves the day when he rescue's Terry from a rival record company who want him for nothing.A real stinker but worth it if you like really badly made movies...and songs!.

Duel of Champions (1961)

Nice historical epic

[6/10 · 7 July 2006]

Having read about but not seen I bought this movie on DVD and as the previous reviewer said the transfer is terrible, that is a real shame as this is one of the more enjoyable sword and sandal epics. The great movie writer Steven Shuerer said that Alan Ladd appeared rather foolish in this movie, I disagree, Ladd put's in a nice performance here as one of three Roman brothers who must fight a rival three to try and put an end to years of fighting with the Albans, I think how the film works is that most of the cast are speaking in English, not badly dubbed from Italian as most of these films are, agreed Ladd looks rather tired and the effects of his long term alcoholism are evident, but I don't think he got a good deal from reviewers who concentrated more on his size and his personal problems. I do wish the makers of these films would take more time to try and restore the movie to a better print on DVD, some of these Italian epics are highly regarded by their fans, myself included so in this day and age of digital restoration these things should be brought in by them.

Dance Hall Racket (1953)

10 out of 10 bad movie!

[1/10 · 4 July 2006]

This has to be one of the worst films ever committed to the cinema, its so bad its a fabulous treat for bad movie buffs, never in the history of Ed Wood could he come up with this beauty, in fact i'd guess he saw this and went on to fame on his own. there is tough slangy talk and a hilarious cat fight and a performance by the late great Lenny Bruce that verges on the impossible, his Jerry Lewis like take just has to be seen to be believed!, I would recommend this movie to anyone who is a bad movie buff, my personal worst ever movie was Mesa of the Lost Women but this has replaced it, its available now on DVD so rush out to your local store and demand it!.

Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961)

One of the worst!

[1/10 · 16 October 2005]

Once again our Italian friends come up with sheer nonsense!,people from underground who are obviously painted white with wigs that seem to have been rescued from a blaxploitation film, the usual bad photography is evident as in most sword and sandal epics, our hero the very handsome and athletic Mark Forest battles gamely against all the odds while no doubt having one eye on his bank account to provide him with an opera singing school, something he still does to this day,if anything he was one of the best muscle men but never really got any decent films to work on in the genre although most were made almost back to back in a production line way you would think at least one or two might have had attention holding qualities.

Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun (1964)

Another history setback!

[1/10 · 6 August 2005]

History takes another setback as Hercules finds himself in the land of the Incas, shipwrecked he meets the true king of the Incas who has been deposed by a tyrant luckily for him they all speak perfect English or dubbed Italian if you prefer,very badly filmed and acted even by Italian standards and the music score just does not fit in with the film,check the sacrifice ritual dance and you will see what I mean, the only redeeming feature is the colourful Inca costumes,very poor all round,curious also to find out that our hero played by the handsome Mark Forest only took these parts to finance his opera singing!, something he still does to this day.