F.P.1 Doesn't Answer (1933), an Anglo-French-German aviation adventure thriller (with a hint of sci-fi) shot simultaneously in three versions in three languages. With cool 1930s aircraft. Character-driven and an interesting oddity.

Here's my review.


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Union Depot (1932). A hobo (Douglas Fairbanks Jr) plays at being a gentleman with stolen money and clothes. He falls for a line from Joan Blondell. Offbeat romance with crime, light comedy and pre-code naughtiness (Blondell is more or less an amateur whore). Charming fun.

Here's my review.


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Don Siegel's The Beguiled (1971) is more gothic melodrama than western. A wounded soldier is rescued by a houseful of women, but maybe rescued is the wrong word. A superb story of loyalty and betrayal, deceit and manipulation, and jealousy.

Here's my review.


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Grand Hotel (1932), wonderful pre-code melodrama. Glossy but with a dark and cynical edge. There's more than just MGM glitz and glamour to this movie. Garbo and John Barrymore are superb. But Joan Crawford walks away with the acting honours.

Here's my review.


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Ossessione (1943), Luchino Visconti’s adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Nicely sweaty and desperate but like every attempt to adapt James M. Cain's novel it's a misfire. It's dull and overlong and it falls apart spectacularly.

Here's my review.


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Body Heat (1981), one of the great neo-noirs. You can smell the sweat, the sex and the desperation. A classic loser meets femme fatale tale. A dumb guy who thinks he's smart. No noir shadows here, just stifling heat and sunshine and lust.

Here's my review.


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Endless Night is an intriguing, stylish, enigmatic and clever 1972 British thriller based on Agatha Christie's novel. Great performances by Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett and Britt Ekland. A penniless driver falls for the richest girl in the world. Disaster follows.

Here's my review.


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The Second Woman (1950) starts with an obvious Rebecca reference. There's an architect with a strange house and a secret in his past and a woman with too much curiosity. A great psychological thriller with some horror and gothic flavourings.

Here's my review.


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Devil and the Deep is a 1932 pre-code melodrama that takes some delightfully crazed bizarre turns. Charles Laughton (as a paranoid jealous husband) and Tallulah Bankhead in top form. Things get really crazy when they're both aboard the sub.

Here's my review.


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