An American western directed by Robert Emmett Tansey, starring Sterling Holloway.
A pair of horse catchers catch a good horse.
This was hokey to the core! A Hank Williams soundtrack would have been appropriate. Besides being banal, boring and hokey, there were disruptions. Audio and video artifacts and distortions were frequent and more entertaining than the actual film. People talking and then multiplying themselves while doing a techno remix of what they're saying can do that. I rate this poor because it was representative of the time period in which it was made, but technical problems and being boring are unforgivable.
An American western directed by Sam Newfield, starring Buster Crabbe.
A good cowboy has a bearded friend who runs a shop. There is an outlaw who breaks matches and a romantic interest as well.
This was standard and badly presented. The plot and characters were not clear, except for the leading man and his friend. The style looked more like 1925 than 1945 to me and the pacing didn't really matter. I didn't like it, but it wasn't annoying. I'll rate it poor.
An American mystery thriller directed by Terry O. Morse, starring George Zucco.
A man lives on an island surrounded by fog with the daughter of his murdered wife. He invites business associates there and gives them clues to solve a puzzle with the promise of treasure. The guest fight amongst themselves, trying to find the treasure.
This was a little on the shitty side. When the camera can't even be kept still to film a shot, something is definitely wrong. The plot was standard '40s intrigue that would also qualify as standard 2010s in-fighting. The characters were not developed at all. The audio had that signature dead air hiss that we all know from the 1940s and seemed a little muffled, although it was treble-biased. Style was nonexistent, with all aspects of the film falling into standard, stock methodologies. I'm going to have to rate this poor because it was not painful to watch, but extremely lacking in any value of any kind. Being mostly distracted by other tasks for the entire duration may have led me to rate this better than it deserves. You may want to skip this one.
An American comedy drama directed by Hal Walker.
A rich man is saved from drowning by a young woman. The rich man tries to repay the woman by giving her unlimited credit at stores and a nice apartment, but she abuses the privileges. When her boyfriend returns, he finds her rich and hanging out with the old man.
This was alright at best. I didn't find the humor very funny, but the plot and characters were adequate. The treble biased audio did not compliment the woman's singing voice and the music was very old fashioned. It may have been unintentional, but the old man seemed to constantly be staring at the young woman's breasts. However, no female anatomy points were earned. The editing was good and helped continuity. Overall, not bad, but not good. I rate it o.k.
An American crime film directed by William C. Thomas.
The body of a notorious criminal who is supposed to have been dead for 5 years is found recently killed. A reporter, wax museum staff and the police argue over where the corpse is.
This is probably the worst production value I have ever seen in a film. The editing was extremely sloppy, cutting off dialogue and making the video seem to jump. The audio quality was terrible and the video was full of artifacts. The blips and dots never end and at one point, I believe that there was a hair on the actual film itself or a place where it was torn and mended badly (picture). Is that something poking him in the eye or coming out of his nose? The plot was confusing and I was under the impression that there were more characters than there actually are. The whole mess just reeked of unprofessionalism. I rate it shit. DO NOT WATCH!
An American adventure film directed by Sam Newfield.
Alerted by the diary of a deceased explorer, a group enter a jungle in Africa to search for a white gorilla.
The audio was absolutely horrible, being muffled and mid-range heavy. The video was a little on the blurry and grainy side. The plot and characters barely kept my attention and although the story was easy to follow, I would say that the presentation was bad. I've seen jungle crawl films (kind of like "dungeon crawl" games) before and they all tend to be very similar, making them uninteresting. The gorilla costumes were actually not too bad. Even though I could easily tell that there was a human inside, they looked like gorillas. I rate this poor because it's just more rough in the way of my diamond search.
A Swiss war film directed by Leopold Lindtberg.
A pair of soldiers escape from a battlefield in northern Europe where their regiment has been annihilated. They seek refuge in a small town where a priest is hiding other refugees who are also hiding from the Germans. When the German army draws near, all of the refugees and soldiers try to make it to a safe area before they can be caught.
This film was in 8 languages and the subtitles were absolutely the worst I have ever seen. The simple plot helped to render some of the dialogue superfluous and I was somehow able to follow the story. The characters were the shallowest I have ever seen, with no back-stories and no development. The editing was sloppy, there was no style and the pacing was slow. I have better things to do than rip apart crappy, old movies. I rate this bad. Don't watch it.
An American action adventure directed by Rowland V. Lee, starring John Carradine.
A pirate poses as the captain of a regular ship in order to be sent out on a diplomatic escort mission. He recruits a crew from a pirate jail, along with a nobleman who is totally out of his element. As soon as the ship sets sail, the captain begins killing off those who he views as adversaries.
At least this kept my attention. The plot and characters were good and the costumes were awesome. It was very clearly presented, although there were some spots where the audio got a little on the lo-fi side. I saw a lot of Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean) in Captain Kidd's mannerisms. If you're looking for an old public domain movie that is watchable, this would be a good one to check out. I'm rating it adequate.
A drama directed by Billy Wilder, based on a book by Charles R. Jackson.A man who likes rye whiskey too much skips a weekend in the country with his brother so he can drink. He does not have as much fun as he had planned.This is one of those alcohol demonization movies that show horrible things happening to booze hounds. Some of it (like the fake bat on a clearly visible string) was funny, some of it (like the typewriter walk) was sad. The character in the movie does horrible things that normal people with a little common sense wouldn't dream of. I'm rating it poor because it's a little far fetched and I've been giving too many good reviews here.
