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The Riverside Murder
Albert Parker, 1935
Crime, Mystery
DVD


From TMDb:
A great rainy day/night murder mystery in a mansion that all whodunit lovers will appreciate. A woman reporter helps an inspector solve the deaths of four financiers on the eve of a group shareout. Based on "Les Six Hommes Morts" (Editions du Masque) by Stanislas-André Steeman.
Decent enough lower budget presentation of a murder mystery that has a rather light-hearted streak and, with the involvement of a lady reporter, is somewhat reminiscent of a Nancy Drew offering at times. Sadly proceedings are let down by some poor sound production (which is dreadful in a couple of places) and the mystery does eventually resolve rather hastily, but in general standards are reasonable for this type of fare and the script manages to bring a few smiles along the way. Having Alastair Sim in the cast is a bonus in my eyes, and though he might only play a secondary character here it's always a joy to see him involved in a production.





Impulse
Cy Enfield, 1954
Crime, Drama, Mystery
DVD


From TMDb:
An American realtor living in England is dissatisfied with what he believes to be his humdrum life. One weekend while his wife is out of town, he gives a ride to a woman he sees stranded on the road. One thing leads to another, and he soon finds himself enmeshed in a plot involving a diamond robbery, gangsters and murder.
British offering with slight aspects of noir that's well enough acted by the leads and has production standards which somewhat belie the obviously limited budget. Sadly though the story doesn't really carry much mystery and there's very little tension or atmosphere involved which leaves it all feeling rather dull and workmanlike.





Crosstrap
Robert Hartford-Davis, 1962
Crime
DVD


From TMDb:
In this thriller, two gangs of jewel thieves battle it out in a deserted cottage. Murder ensues when the owners of the cabin show up. Listed as lost by the BFI.
Low-budget offering which is far more televisual than cinematic with a relatively simple tale that isn't executed particularly well. It might possibly have offered a little more by way of entertainment were it not for every so often also being undercut by a jazzy score which seems mostly more interested in being 'hip' than actually matching the tone of what's on screen.





The Third Alibi
Montgomery Tully, 1961
Drama, Thriller
DVD


From TMDb:
A composer (Laurence Payne) is stuck in a middle-class marriage and finds that his affair with his wife's half-sister (Jane Griffiths) has resulted in a pregnancy. When his wife refuses to give him a divorce he hatches a murder scheme that is too clever by half.
Decent lower budget British crime thriller that manages to weave its tale rather nicely to maintain interest in watching events unfurl even though beyond a certain point there's little by way of any real intrigue remaining. It's acted reasonably well and has fairly good production values for a film of this stature whilst the addition of a song fairly early on in proceedings sung by the wonderful Cleo Laine, accompanied by Dudley Moore on the piano, is a welcome bonus for this particular viewer.





The Lost Zeppelin
Edward Sloman, 1929
Adventure
Stream - YouTube


From TMDb:
Explorers to the South Pole in an airship Zeppelin crash in the frozen Antarctic and must struggle for survival in the land of eternal snow and ice.
Low-budget early talkie that sadly isn't as thrilling as the title, poster and brief synopsis might suggest. It all starts rather poorly with weak acting and clunky dialogue that takes far too long merely to set up that the second-in-command and wife of the expedition leader have fallen for each other. Thankfully once the expedition gets underway it becomes a little more interesting (the cut backs to civilisation for exposition do begin to grate a little but are at least fairly brief) and some of the scenes set on the ice are at least fairly well managed for the obvious budgetary limitations. Unfortunately it ends similarly to how it began for a fairly predictable pay-off to the amorous dilemma. Have to give credit to the sound engineers, who at least did a reasonable job on this one for the period.





Je pourrais ętre votre grand-mčre - [I Could Be Your Grandmother]
Bernard Tanguy, 2010
Drama
DVR - Filmbox Arthouse


From TMDb:
A brilliant business lawyer finds that an old Rumanian homeless woman looks a lot like his grandmother. One night, he makes a cardboard sign for her "I could be your grandmother". Passers by become much more generous. Other homeless people request signs from him. Their demands are soon too much for him.

Nice enough short (19 mins) that appears to have its basis in reality and includes contributions from real homeless people in Paris.


+



Jackpot
Montgomery Tully, 1960
Crime, Drama
DVD


From TMDb:
Back in London after serving time, an ex-convict learns that his wife is not willing to return to him. He plans to crack a safe at a club.
Pretty decent lower-budget British crime offering that's generally acted and paced well enough. The tale isn't anything out of the ordinary but it doesn't have much by way of bloat and does hold interest up until the closing stages. Sadly those closing stages are rather disappointing and somewhat sully what has gone before, the jazz score (which up to that point had at least been used only sparingly) certainly not helping.





Chained for Life
Aaron Schimberg, 2018
Drama
DVR - Film4


From TMDb:
A beautiful actress struggles to connect with her disfigured co-star on the set of a European auteur's English-language debut.
A not-so-beautiful viewer struggles to connect with a film that for me is far more watchable when presumably deliberately trying to be bad than when it is presumably actually trying to be good.





Der Boden unter den Füßen - [The Ground Beneath My Feet]
Marie Krautzer, 2019
Drama
DVR - Film4


From TMDb:
Lola controls her personal life with the same ruthless efficiency she uses to optimize profits in her job as a business consultant. But when a tragic event forces the past back into her life, Lola's grip on reality seems to slips away.
Austrian offering (clearly influenced by the films of Haneke) that's nicely enough shot and acted and though the tale may be rather one-paced and somewhat uneventful imo it was good enough to maintain interest, even if the climactic moment is telegraphed. The drift of tone into mystery/thriller territory may disappoint some but I think was perfectly acceptable as a mechanism within its primary theme, whilst the commentary on high-pressure corporate life (and sexism) however is neither subtle nor insightful but is at least in service to the story.


+



Portrait de la jeune fille en feu - [Portrait Of A Lady On Fire]
Céline Sciamma, 2019
Drama, Romance
DVR - Film4


From TMDb:
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Period piece that's certainly very nicely made and well enough acted but sadly the slow-moving tale never really managed to draw me in enough for it to be truly effective.





The Quiet Woman
John Gilling, 1951
Crime, Drama
DVD


From IMDb:
Coastal pub proprietress is inveigled into a smuggling plot.
Fairly mundane affair up to the halfway point when the arrival of an escaped convict thankfully invests a little needed edge into proceedings. Unfortunately it never really manages very much by way of suspense or tension, with the climax especially being undercut by some pretty poor staging. Dora Bryan is always a joy to watch though and production standards for the most part are decent, with some quite nice camerawork and lighting here and there for a B-movie.





Streetkids United 3 - The Road To Moscow
Jacco Groen, 2019
Documentary
DVR - Filmbox Arthouse


From IMDb:
Streetkids United 3 - The Road To Moscow is the empowering story of 9 Indian girls who are chosen by Karunalaya Social Service Society to represent their country at the Street Child World Cup 2018 in Moscow, Russia.
As laudable as the venture of taking 'street kids' of various countries to play in their own version of a football world cup may be, this documentary sadly simply isn't the most interesting of watches. When the girls are just talking to camera about the tribulations of their lives in India its of interest but, aside from a few moments where the girls are just being typical teenagers, sadly the presentation of the trip to Moscow all too often feels like there's a distance between those taking part and those filming which can make it a rather dull/dry viewing experience. I've not seen the previous two offerings and on the basis of this one I really can't envisage that changing.





The Boys
Sidney J. Furie, 1962
Crime, Drama
DVD


From TMDb:
A night watchman at a garage is found murdered, and four teddy boys are put on trial for the crime. Witnesses and suspects give differing accounts of the lead-up to the crime, and the truth emerges.
Decent courtroom drama that's nicely cast, with plenty enough stalwarts of the British screen on show, and although somewhat drawn out in presenting its 'two sides to every story' tale is still quite an effective watch that imo plays out rather nicely.





The Andromeda Strain
Robert Wise, 1971
Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriler
DVD


From IMDb:
A team of top scientists work feverishly in a secret, state-of-the-art laboratory to discover what has killed the citizens of a small town and learn how this deadly contagion can be stopped.
Somewhat dated in terms of effects but imo mostly a beautifully paced affair with a nice premise, that gradually draws the viewer in and builds in intensity. The central cast are all decent, with Kate Reid excellent as Dr. Ruth Leavitt, and even though the closing stages do feel a little rushed (especially given the pace prior to that point) for me the whole still provides a very enjoyable watch.





Mysterious Mr. Nicholson
Oswald Mitchell, 1947
Crime, Drama, Mystery
DVD


From TMDb:
A change in a will, a murder and a mysterious letter. The police look to a former cat burglar to aid them in the investigation.
Low-budget British offering with what could be a serviceable, if somewhat unoriginal, tale but unfortunately has neither the acting, script nor direction to do it justice. That the whole achieves a little charm is possibly due to the lead character being slightly reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes more than anything the film accomplishes but even that is partly offset by the obvious padding by way of a performing dogs act that is too long and a completely unnecessary musical number.





Brides Of Satan
Joe Bizarro, 2020
Horror
Stream - Amazon Prime


From TMDb:
When a gang of satanic strippers kidnap an innocent young couple, a horrifying scenario ensues.
Low-budget, meandering affair that mixes grindhouse, a little arthouse and unfortunately a rather sizeable dollop of snoozehouse which makes it feel like quite a lengthy eighty minutes. I've seen worse but despite the (very) occasional half-decent moment it's really not that difficult to comprehend why this was totally overlooked for any of the awards at the Oscars.


+



Tradition
Damian O'Callaghan, 2019
Comedy
Stream - Amazon Prime


From TMDb:
On his last day on the bench, District Court Judge Seamus Moynihan finds himself presiding over the most controversial case his court - and his town - has ever seen.
Court based comedy that supposedly centres around a contentious refereeing decision in a GAA game but in reality much of it is little more than a series of connected skits. The script may manage to garner the occasional smile but proceedings are filled with stereotypical characters and Brian Harty mugging his way through his particular role is particularly irksome - it is nice to see longtime RTE GAA correspondent Marty Morrissey have a brief cameo though. At around an hour and a quarter this really ought to be a fairly breezy watch, sadly though there's so little variation it fairly quickly becomes tiresome rather than amusing imo.





Kamene - [Stones]
Katarína Kerekesová & Ivana Sebestová, 2010
Animation, Drama, Music, Romance
DVR - Filmbox Arthouse


From TMDb:
Men working in a quarry are visited by the foreman's wife. She yearns to have a child, but she sees how hard work has changed her husband. She realizes that the man she loves is able to kill.
Slovakian short (26 mins) that's primarily stop-motion animation which is well enough made and a reasonable watch even if I can't honestly say I fully grasp whatever the meaning is supposed to be.