The California Reich (1975)

Directors:  Keith Critchlow, Walter F. Parkes

Composer:  Craig Safan

Starring:  Allen Vincent, Ken McAllister, Paul Raymond, Wayne Raymond, Fred Surber, James Surber, Arnie Anderson

More info:  IMDb

Plot:  A rare look at American crackpots. Young children give the "Sieg Heil," addle brained housewives bake swastika-decorated cakes, and hate-filled brown shirts march along American streets.

My rating:  7/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

It's interesting seeing a documentary presented like this where there is no narration.  What you see and here are the subjects talking about their beliefs and seeing a little into their world.  If you're against the subjects then this will solidify how much you hate them.  If you're for what they believe, it'll make you proud.  JESUS CAMP (2006) is like that.  These people are scary in how deep their hate is.  Watching these people is tough, especially when small children are Nazi saluting and saying how much they hate "niggers" and "jews".  It's revolting.  But there is hope as later in the film another small boy says he only does the saluting and dressing up only because his father likes it.  He says he won't be like that when he grows up.  It's the one brief moment of hope.  It's fleeting because of other things he says.  He is his father's son, after all, and he's learning to be a racist.  I came across this when looking at film composer Craig Safan's filmography and seeing this was his first film score.

The Black Parachute (1944)

Director: Lew Landers

Writers: Paul Gangelin, Clarence Upson Young

Composer: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Starring: John Carradine, Osa Massen, Larry Parks, Jeanne Bates, Jonathan Hale, Ivan Triesault

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Meet a Two-Fisted Yank Who's No. 1 Man in a Band of Balkan Guerrillas!

Plot: An imprisoned King must be rescued from the Nazi general holding him captive.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I'm guessing due to the film's short running time of 64 minutes that this was made as a lower budget B picture to accompany a higher budget A picture.  I'm OK with that.  They don't often transcend their goal of giving the ticket buyer a little more time at the movies but as long as they're entertaining, I don't care.  This one isn't too bad.  The lousy quality print I watched was distracting especially in the night scenes, but I was still able to enjoy it a bit.  This flick doesn't have grand ambitions but what it does it does fairly well.  There's action sprinkled every once in a while and there's enough going on that the pacing moves fast enough to keep boredom from setting in.  The plot has more going on than you'd think given the film's modest budget and length.  And the last act has a few surprises for those who haven't abandoned it by then.  It's not too bad but it's not a picture that's going to be remembered.

Angel of Death (1987)

Original title: Commando Mengele

Director: Andrea Bianchi

Writers: Georges Friedland, Marius Lesoeur, Jesus Franco

Composer: Norbert Verrone

Starring: Christopher Mitchum, Suzanne Andrews, Fernando Rey, Howard Vernon, Jack Taylor, Dora Doll, Jean-Claude Lerner, Shirley Knight, Antonio Mayans, Anthony Parker

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The blood of millions is on his hands...The power of evil is on his side.

Plot: A Jewish commando unit hunting Nazi war criminals tracks down the infamous Dr. Mengele in the jungle, and find that he is torturing nubile young virgins and performing horrible medical experiments on the locals. They prepare to battle their way past Mengele's hordes of fanatic Nazi bodyguards in order to get to him.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

This might be an amateurishly made picture in many respects, complete with some bad acting, dialogue, fight scenes and so on, it's not boring and that's partly due to the poor quality of the movie.  The director and three writers went under pseudonyms (even Jesus Franco) and none of them are known for anything that's good except for Franco who had a couple of decent credits among the 200+ he directed.  This is a so-bad-it's-good movies but not so much that you'll have a great time, even with friends and bottles of liquor sauce.  The first third has A LOT of flashback exposition that drags the modern story down but there's a lot of unintentional laughs within it with the acting, dialogue and so on.  I try to find something positive in everything and with this picture it's the music and the last five shocking minutes.  With the ending you could tell they couldn't wait to show you.  It's batshit and fun but it's also too late because the previous hour and a half isn't good.  But still, I'll take it over a typical bland ending any day.  As for Norbert Verrone's synth score, it's his second of only two films he made.  All I can find online about him is that he played synthesizer on an album in the 80s and he has a net worth of $250k.  His music for this picture isn't unlike most low budget 80s synth scores except he's got some catchy tunes that don't get old after hearing them for the 20th time before the picture ends.  I rather enjoyed it.  

'Allo 'Allo! (1982) TV series

Creators: David Croft, Jeremy Llod

Starring: Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Vicki Michelle, Richard Marner, Kim Hartman, Guy Siner, Kirsten Cooke, Richard Gibson, Rose Hill, Arthur Bostrom, John D. Collins, Nicholas Frankau

More info: IMDb

In WW2 France, Rene Artois runs a small café where Resistance fighters, Gestapo men, German Army officers and escaped Allied POWs interact daily, ignorant of one another's true identity or presence, exasperating Rene.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I'm a HUGE fan of a lot of the shows made by Croft & Lloyd and for at least a couple of decades I've been meaning to get around to this one.  It's regarded as a classic.  The show lasted for nine seasons so I had pretty high hopes for it.  I'm down with some WWII comedy (HOGAN'S HEROES was a childhood favorite) but this show didn't click for me.  I tried, too, and gave it a shot by watching the first season (7 episodes) but I barely laughed.  I can see why this was so popular but the laughs weren't there for me and that's important.  I suppose a lot of it is just too silly and everyone is essentially playing a caricature or a cartoon character.  That doesn't necessarily mean it's a recipe for disaster because I sometimes like that but it wasn't working for me on this one.  I think the first time I laughed was in the third episode when the chickens (who had eaten grain mixed with nitro glycerin) started exploding one by one behind a bush with feathers flying up into the air.  Unfortunately each subsequent episode had about a one laugh limit for me despite some otherwise mildly amusing moments.  I'm always looking for some great British TV comedy and it's unfortunate I didn't find that in this show.  The only other Croft & Lloyd show that didn't do it for me (and I also gave it a season before quitting) was IT AIN'T HALF HOT MUM (1974) which I watched twenty years ago.  I dug the premise and some of the characters but the laughs weren't there.

The Battle of the Damned (1969)

Original title: Quella Dannata Pattuglia

Director: Roberto Biacnhi Montero

Writers: Roberto Biacnhi Montero, Arpad DeRiso, Giovanni Scolaro

Composer: Marcello Giombini

Starring: Dale Cummings, Maurice Poli, Herb Andress, Lex Monson, Maurizio Tocchi, Fabio Testi, Luciano Catenacci

More info: IMDb

Plot: After landing in North Africa in World War II, a group of soldiers led by Capt. Bruce Clay is assigned to attack an enemy position in order to destroy a large oil storage cellar in the desert.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

The first three and a half minutes is stock WWII footage.  Then it's people hanging around an Army base mixed in with people talking in meetings and Col. Bruce Clay (wow, that name doesn't roll off the tongue, does it) getting all romancy with his woman.  25 minutes our small group of soldiers is on the move in Jeeps across the desert for their mission.  Some things happen that delay them from reaching their target and that's an hour in when they get there.  Twenty three minutes to go.  It's a very slow watch and it's the pacing that killed it for me.  The characters are cliches and there's nothing done with them that makes me care about them or even like them more than I'd like any other humans.  They're the good guys so I'll like them for that reason but I'd switch sides if the Jerrys had nice personalities.  The action is of the run and gun type which is all mediocre.  It's average with nothing much to offer.

The Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz (2013)

Director: Ursula Macfarlane

Starring: Warrwick Davis, Perla Ovitz

More info: IMDb

Plot: Warwick Davis presents the story of the Owicz family and their ordeal during WWII. From a successful musical act to being tortuously experimented on by Dr. Josef Mengele in a concentration camp. This story might have been lost to history if it weren't for the family's diminutive size, which made them both a novelty as well as an inspiration.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I'm only giving this a 5 because this documentary shed light on something of the Holocaust I was unaware of.  Otherwise I'd give it much less.  Why?  When watching a documentary I don't need to know how the narrator feels about the subject.  It's not Warrwick Davis's fault.  It's the filmmakers.  The subject is the Owicz family of seven dwarfs who were sent to Auschwiz to die.  Their ultimate fate is surprising to say the least. Far too much time is spent with Davis (serving as the narrator) as he journeys from one place to another discovering what he can about the family before, during and after the war.  Unfortunately we see Davis A LOT.  There's one point where he's being shown documents of the family's time in the camp and the camera is on Davis begging for a shot of him looking sad.  That's horrible and pathetic.  We learn more about Mengele and other things that aren't the family that it makes me wonder if the filmmakers really cared that much about the family instead of using them almost as a gimmick to frame a show around.  All of the time should've been spent talking about the family.  What's more, there's enough time not talking about them that you wonder if this is a two-parter (which it isn't).  I'm obviously very disappointed with this episode of PERSPECTIVES.  And I get it that the show's gimmick is that each episode is hosted by a well known celebrity as they talk about one topic that's close to them.  That's not lost on me.  I've not seen any other episodes but I can only hope that they don't have the same M.O. as this one as it focuses too much on the celebrity leaving less time to focus on what's really important.  Color me pissed.  I'm going to have some wine now if you'll excuse me...

Frankenstein's Army (2013)

Director: Richard Raaphorst

Writers: Richard Raaphorst, Miguel Tejada-Flores, Chris W. Mitchell

Composer: Reyn Ouwehand

Starring: Robert Gwilym, Hon Ping Tang, Alexander Mercury, Luke Newberry, Joshua Sasse, Mark Stevenson, Andrei Zayats, Karel Roden, Klaus Lucas, Cristina Catalina

More info: IMDb

Plot: Toward the end of World War II, Russian soldiers pushing into eastern Germany stumble across a secret Nazi lab, one that has unearthed and begun experimenting with the journal of one Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The scientists have used the legendary Frankenstein's work to assemble an army of super-soldiers stitched together from the body parts of their fallen comrades -- a desperate Hitler's last ghastly ploy to escape defeat.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I love the concept but jesus fucking christ, stop it with the fucking shaky cam already.  The film is graded dark and it's at its worst in the first twenty or more minutes until the Rooskies leave the dreary landscape to the underground bunker where all the goodness starts.  The creature effects are outstanding.  They are freaky as shit.  There's lots of gore, too.  There's a lot of first person footage which gets old very fast.  It's not until minutes from the end did the camera stand still for a while.  That was welcome but the movie was almost over.  I dug the ending but it's the usual thanks but you're too late.  I already checked out.  I REALLY wanted to like this.  It could've been so much better but I'm one of these guys that's getting tired of the shaky cam and grading the color darker.  And the thing is, it didn't have to be that way.  Not for this one.

The Young Lions (1958)

Director: Edward Dmytryk

Writers: Irwin Shaw, Edward Anhalt

Composer: Hugo Friedhofer

Starring: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange, Barbara Rush, May Britt, Maximilian Schell, Dora Doll, Lee Van Cleef, L.Q. Jones, Gordon Mitchell

More info: IMDb

Tagline: 20th CENTURY-FOX PRESENTS ALL THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF the Young Lions

Plot: The destiny of three soldiers during World War II. The German officer Christian Diestl approves less and less of the war. Jewish-American Noah Ackerman deals with antisemitism at home and in the army while entertainer Michael Whiteacre transforms from playboy to hero.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

I first saw this more than twenty years ago and I remember that I liked Martin, I liked Brando's character arc and I didn't like Clift at all.  Now that I've seen it again, I feel the same way.  Martin's got charisma in spades and he was well cast to add some charm and happy go lucky but grounded humor.  Brando with bright blonde hair makes for a great looking German officer.  Then there's Clift who offers up the mental and emotional struggles of a soldier but he's got the added weight of representing today's youth who don't want to fight and he has hopes and dreams beyond what he's forced into.  He also constantly looks like he's in pain and that he's carrying the weight of the world. This also has him looking like he's trying to hard to act.  Martin and Brando make it look so easy.  It's a good story, following these guys around, but it's easy to grow tired of the Noah Ackerman (Clift) thread as his drama slow the picture down.  The movie's almost three hours long and it's short on action.  I liked the ending where the three characters we've been following merge.  That's a powerful moment.  The 20th Century Fox DVD looks fantastic in anamorphic widescreen.  For extras, you get a lousy trailer for 20th Century Fox war pictures, the theatrical trailer for this film (anamorphic widescreen) and more trailers.

The Bitch of Buchenwald (2009)

Director: ???

Writer: Gerry Mahr

Composer: ???

Starring: Peter Morgan Jones (narrator), Ilse Koch (archive footage)

More info: Amazon

Tagline: A history of Buchenwald death camp & its notorious commandante, Ilse Koch

Plot: Ilse Koch has won a diabolic kind of immortality as the lady with the lamp made of human skin. She was never convicted for having owned this possession, but there was still enough against her for her to be jailed for life, released, and then jailed for life again. This groundbreaking program puts her career in the context of Nazi Germany, with the SS to which she belong in control, and the social life that as the wife of a concentration camp commander, she was to grow accustomed. This life, financed mainly through embezzlement, and her criminal activities saw her brought before 3 courts: that of the SS, the American Military Tribunal, and finally the German High Court.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Before seeing this, I'd only heard the most basic information about Koch in that she was the sadistic wife of a concentration camp commander and the stories about her having lampshades made from the tattooed skins of the prisoners.  That and that she was the inspiration for the entertaining as hell, ISLA: SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1974).  What I liked about this 80 minute documentary is that it exists at all and it was a chance to learn more about her than just boring old reading about her.  This film doesn't spend hardy any time with her life prior to arriving at Buchenwald but it covers the essentials for what you need to know.  It spends most of the time at the camp with the rest on the events that led to her and her husband's getting in trouble with the law (SS) and the aftermath including her trials and death.  One thing that I found interesting was something I'd never thought about and that's how the Nazis dealt with their own who broke the law.  This film spends a few minutes on how this pertained to the Kochs.  

Visually we see lots of photographs, some video (none of Ilse), and footage of locations as they were at the time this was made.  A few of the photos are used so frequently that you'd think there aren't many available.  That gets old.  The only voice you hear is the narrator's so there are no experts or anyone else chiming in.  And the narrator's voice is closer to monotone.  There are a few facts that are repeated unnecessarily.  All of this combined makes for a dry film.  There's such a lack of variety in all areas that this ends up being a straightforward telling of events.  Now there's nothing wrong with that in theory.  I'm not looking for fancy graphics, sound effects and punchy editing.  I hate that sort of thing.  It's just that everything they used in this picture was so dry and on the dull side that I found myself drifting away and that's not something I do when watching documentaries of this type.  I was eager to learn more about this woman and I came away thinking that I would've been better off spending a few days reading a book (which translates into many hours keeping me away from movies).  It's not easy finding out much about this film and I get the impression that this is probably something that you'd find in the camp's gift shop.  Someday I'd like to visit some of these sites and learn even more.

The Train (1964)

Director: John Frankenheimer

Writers: Franklin Coen, Frank Davis, Rose Valland

Composer: Maurice Jarre

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau, Suzanne Flon, Michel Simon, Wolfgang Preiss, Albert Remy, Charles Millot, Richard Munch, Jacques Marin

More info: IMDb

Tagline: It carried their hopes, their nation's honour!

Plot:  In 1944, a German colonel loads a train with French art treasures to send to Germany. The Resistance must stop it without damaging the cargo.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Oh, yes!

Man, do I love this picture!  It's gritty and brutal.  The Nazis are efficient and despicable and not the usual baddies you'd see in pictures of the day.  Lancaster once again shows how much of a badass he is without overdoing it.  He's a friggin' machine.  He's the kind of guy you'd want to be in a situation like this.  The B&W photography is brilliant.  It helps the picture a great deal.  There's very little music and that works to the film's advantage as well (and mine since I'm often at odds with Maurice Jarre's work) and that ending!  WOW!  It's quiet and what the pictures show us is deafening.  The Kino DVD comes with a commentary track from Frankenheimer and I'm looking forward to listening to it.

Swing Kids (1993)

Director: Thomas Carter

Writer: Jonathan Marc Feldman

Composer: James Horner

Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, Frank Whaley, Barbara Hershey, Tushka Bergen, David Tom, Julia Stemberger, Jayce Bartok, Noah Wyle, Johan Leysen, Douglas Roberts, Martin Clunes, Jessica Hynes, Jeremy Bulloch, Sean Pertwee

More info: IMDb

Tagline: In a world on the brink of war. You either march to one tune or dance to another.

Plot: A close-knit group of young kids in Nazi Germany listen to banned swing music from the US. Soon dancing and fun lead to more difficult choices as the Nazis begin tightening the grip on Germany. Each member of the group is forced to face some tough choices about right, wrong, and survival.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I've now seen this twice in the past 20+ years and I think for the last time.  The best part about it is the great period music re-recorded for the film and it sounds fantastic in stereo.  What stuck with me the first time (and this time) is the cheesy ass sentimental yet tragic ending with the little kid, Willy, chasing after the truck yelling, "Swing heil!"  OMG it's so bad.  I'm sure most people find it touching and fitting but I can't help but roll my eyes.  It feels manipulative.  But I do dig parts of the movie and I like the cast.  The picture does ask that you know the basics of Nazi German regarding the Nazis' motives and how far their hatred went, etc.  Add swing music to that list.  I'd never considered the Nazis hating swing music.  I didn't think it was possible to hate them any more and this comes along.  Bastards!  It's not a home run but it's good enough to watch even if the emotions are forced.  I would've dug it more if that had been handled more subtly.  The Hollywood DVD presents the film in anamorphic widescreen with no extras.

The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler (1943)

Director: James P. Hogan

Writers: Fritz Kortner, Joe May

Composers: Hans J. Salter, William Lava

Starring: Ludwig Donath, Gale Sondergaard, George Dolenz, Fritz Kortner, Ludwig Stossel, William Trenk, Joan Blair, Ivan Triesault, Rudolph Anders, Erno Verebes, Merrill Rodin, Charles Bates

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Is he dead?

Plot: A man who does a good Hitler impression is made to look like Hitler as a decoy for assassination attempts.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I LOVE the premise of this picture but the problem is in the execution.  The acting is so over the top it's hard to watch and often dull.  The performance pendulum swings from Anna Huber (Sondergaard), the wife of the impersonator, Franz Huber (Donath), who is so melodramatic that I wanted to yell at the screen, "Come on, already!".  Then on the other side you've cartoonish performances from the Nazis.  It's really bad no matter how long the picture is and this one is a short 74 minutes.  However, Donath in the dual role of Huber and Hitler is fantastic and his is the most important role in the picture.  They did right by casting this guy.  The Austrian born actor did 9 pictures in '43!  Aside from Donath, the best part of the film is the great story and amazing climax.  It's worth watching for that alone.  Director Hogan, who died shortly after making this picture, had a prolific career directing 61 movies in 23 years.  It looks like it's all low budget B-pictures but that's still impressive.  This one was made by Universal but had they given this more money and better talent, this could've been one knockout of a picture.  I'm surprised this is as good as it is despite its major flaws.  If you can get past the dull spots and the WTF acting then you'll probably find this reasonably entertaining. 

Most (1969)

AKA: The Bridge

Director: Hajrudin Krvavac

Writers: Predrag Golubovic, Djordje Lebovic

Composer: ???

Starring: Velimir 'Bata' Zivojinovic, Slobodan 'Cica' Perovic, Boris Dvornik, Relja Basic, Sibina Mijatovic, Boro Begovic, Jovan Janicijevic-Burdus, Igor Galo, Wilhelm Koch-Hooge, Hannjo Hasse

More info: IMDb

Plot: In order to check German offensive, Partizans send elite team of explosive experts to blow up strategically important bridge. Besides being heavily guarded, that bridge is almost indestructible and the only man who knows weak spots in the construction is the architect who built it. He is, however, reluctant to cooperate because he doesn't want to see his masterpiece destroyed.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

This is probably the first Yugoslavian war movie I've ever seen.  I'm not going to go out and have a beer and some pie or anything.  I just don't have a frame of reference for what the output quality was from there around this time.  That might help.  Still, it's an OK WWII action flick.  The version I saw was a pretty good anamorphic widescreen print nicely dubbed in English.  The flick offers some decent WWII action with the small demolition team.  The best of which is in the marsh, but here's the deal.  It's one of those pictures where the good guys gun down hundreds of Nazis over the course of the movie.  The grenades kill 8 guys, every bullet finds its target and so on.  It's as ridiculous as one guy out in the open guns down 20 guys from his far left to his far right.  It's ludicrous.  Along the way they pick up the architect of the bridge and he doesn't want to play.  You can easily figure out what's going to happen well before the end credits roll.  The ridiculousness of preparing the bridge for demolition took me out of the film, too.  It's clumsy action in an attempt to mimic a big Hollywood production.  The scenery is nice but you need more than that.

Border Street (1948)

Original name: Ulica Graniczna

Director: Aleksander Ford

Writers: Jan Fethke, Aleksander Ford, Ludwik Starski

Composer: Roman Palester

Starring: Mieczyslawa Cwiklinska, Jerzy Leszczynski, Wladyslaw Godik, Wladyslaw Walter, Merzy Pichelski, Tadeusz Fijewski, Jozef Munclinger, Robert Vrchota, Stefan Srodka, Eugeniusz Kruk, Jerzy Zlotnicki, Dionizy Ilczenko, Maria Broniewska

More info: IMDb

Plot:  This covers the events that led to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in which a small but heroic band of Jews, herded into a ghetto by German occupation forces, chose to resist the Nazis rather than to face deportation to Auschwitz or Treblinka.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

Talk about efficiency in character introductions!  The filmmakers did a bang up job in dropping us into the lives of a variety of people living on one street in 1930s Warsaw.  I was astonished at how well everyone is covered and memorable and there are a lot of players in this picture.  Another surprising aspect is how well the passage of time is handled.  The film begins days before the German invasion on September 1, 1939 and ends with the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in April, 1943 and there are moments where you discover a year has passed without the story being interrupted.  There's no hand holding in this film.  The performances are very good and it's a well shot, well made film.  There are few moments of brutality but they are effective when they happen.  It's even more powerful knowing that this was made a few short years away from the actual event.  That and it was filmed in Poland and by Poles where even the youngest actors in the movie would have memories of the uprising.  Much of the film takes place outside of the Ghetto and when we go inside it, the Ghetto looks authentic.  The ending is satisfying and gives hope to those who are fighting the Nazis who have begun their attack to eradicate the Ghetto of the remaining Jews, while stopping before the resistance was stopped.  The story of the Ghetto is horrifying enough but this film juxtaposes that by letting us see it through a child's eyes, being forced to grow up after very little time on this Earth.

Kung Fury (2015)

Director: David Sandberg

Writer: David Sandberg

Composers: Johan Bengtsson, Lost Years, Patrik Oberg

Starring: David Sandberg, Jorma Taccone, Steven Chew, Leopold Nilsson, Andreas Cahling, Per-Henrik Arvidius, Erik Hornqvist, Frank Sanderson, Eleni Young, Helene Ahlson, Yasmina Suhonen, Magnus Betner, Bjorn Gustafsson, Eos Karlsson, David Hasselhoff

More info: IMDb

Tagline: It takes a cop from the future to fight an enemy from the past.

Plot: In 1985, Kung Fury, the toughest martial artist cop in Miami, goes back in time to kill the worst criminal of all time - kung fuhrer Hitler.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Fucking hilarious, creative and fun as hell!  Director/writer/star Sadnberg nails the 80s vibe while throwing in funny all over the place and filling it with entertaining action and comedy.  The character names are brilliant and practically write the jokes themselves.  For example: Kung Fury (Sandberg), Kung Fuhrer and Triceracop.  This shit is a blast and it's simply an insanely fun genre mix of action and laughs.  Oh, and the special effects are great and cheesy bad in all the right ways at all the appropriate times.  Those of us who were around for the awesome 1980s should really dig this newer blast from the past.  I'm not so sure those who were around for Hitler's 1930s and 40s would appreciate it nearly as much.  It's only a half hour long which feels like a big teaser for something more to come.  There has been a sequel announced for 2018 and I really hope that happens.  In the meantime enjoy the bonkers music video below.  Not only is the song a great representation of the kinds of songs we got for action movies in the 80s but it's also a damn great tune that easily stands alongside the best of them.  I love this song and the video to boot.

UFO - Secrets of WWII German Flying Saucers (1991)

Director: Christopher McIlrath

Writer: Mario Pranther

Composer: Visions of a Nomad

Starring: ???

More info: IMDb

Tagline: ???

Plot: A documentary which delves into alternative theories of UFOs, specifically supposed development of similar crafts under the Third Reich.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again?  Nope.

I'm not buying what this guy's selling at all.  Showing a bunch of blurry photos doesn't prove anything.  They could easily have been doctored with some kind of Nazi Photoshop.  That's just one part of what's wrong with this.  Everything shown and said is meant to be taken at the film makers' word so you'll either believe it or be skeptical about it.  The narrator talks in detail about the Nazis making anti gravity engines and all kinds of otherworldly crafts (and succeeding, too) as well as the secret Nazi UFO bases in the Antarctic.  I'm skeptical of the whole thing and I'm willing to bet that most of this is just a load of horseshit that's been passed around and talked about so much that people started to believe it.  It doesn't help that the quality of this film is in the ballpark of VHS and it's a dull film even if they do a nice job of compiling a massive amount of pictures of documents and UFOs.  Plus the music is mixed loudly, making it difficult to sometimes understand what the narrator is saying.  It really requires to you pay attention.  The music is at times too busy to be used under talking anyway.  I must admit that I did find some of the tracks quite good and I wouldn't mind hearing them just as music and away from this film.  I couldn't find out much about this film.  Only part of it is the above YouTube video.

It Happened Here (1965)

Directors: Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo

Writers: Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo

Starring: Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw, Bart Allison, Reginald Marsh, Frank Bennett, Derek Milburn, Nicolette Bernard, Nicholas Moore

More info: IMDb

Tagline: What would have happened if the German army had crossed the English channel

Plot: In 1940, the Nazis invade Britain and transform it into a fascist state where some Britons collaborate and others resist.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

I've seen this twice now and the second time is just as good.  The black and white photography really brings out the harshness of the story.  It doesn't feel like there are many trained actors involved but the all do a very fine job.  The two writer/directors began making this film when they were teenagers and it took them eight years to complete.  It's got that documentary/newsreel vibe which helps sell the realism.  With this and their other storytelling techniques, I was struck by how easily someone could get wrapped up in all of this.  These events forced people to accept their new way of life or live hard fighting for their old way.  Everything builds to the bleak final half hour.  It's a good picture and one most people will live their entire lives having never heard of it.  Don't make that mistake.  Of special note to STAR WARS fans, actor Sebastian Shaw played Anakin Skywalker in RETURN OF THE JEDI and cinmeatographer Peter Suschitzky was the DP on THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

SS Operation Wolf Cub (1983)

Director: Joseph W. Sarno

Writer: Joseph W. Sarno

Composer: ???

Starring: Harry Reems, Inger Hedlund, Gunnar Ernblad, Goran Lofgren, Elisabet Frohling, Hans Westerberg, Mats Hedlund, Lena Ohrn, Anna-Lena Rosen

More info: IMDb

Plot: Harry Reems plays an American mercenary hired to infiltrate a neo-Nazi group in Sweden.

My rating: 3.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.



This unusually non-soft or hardcore porno film from both writer/director Sarno and Harry Reems could've used some of the ole in-and-out. It's an obvious low budget affair from the start.  98% of the picture is in one location, a wooded area with a lake and the odd cabin or two.  The acting is no better than adequate with Reems being the best of them.  He's pretty likable and he looks like he should've had a better career as a B-movie action star outside of the porn industry if he had better vehicles than this one.  It's pretty bad.  There's some nudity which helps but the film suffers from being in the same place for too long and an all around amateurishness in the production.  There's a lot of talking and filler without much action and what action is there is weak.  Take a pass on this one unless you're a big fan of medium shots and cameras that don't move.  Or if you like your Harry Reems shirtless...with and without a gut.

Whoa there, buddy.  Suck that stomach in!

Women in Bondage (1943)

Director: Steve Sekely

Writers: Houston Branch, Frank Wisbar

Starring: Gail Patrick, Nancy Kelly, William Henry, Tala Birell, Gertrude Michael, Alan Baxter, Maris Wrixon, Rita Quigley, Felix Basch, H.B. Warner, Anne Nagel, Mary Forbes, Frederic Brunn, Roland Varno, Ralph Linn, Nanette Bordeaux, Aune Franks, Gisela Werbisek, John Merton, Wally Patch, Hermine Sterler

More info: IMDb

Tagline: BLUEPRINT FOR SHAME... womanhood's most sacred ideals and rights... stripped away in a reign of uncurbed fearfulness!

Plot: Margot Bracken returns home to Germany after several years of absence, and is horrified at the degraded status which has been forced on the women of her homeland. Toni Hall is prevented from marrying her sweetheart. Both women speak out against the terrorist reign and are imprisoned. Pagan baptisms, "mercy" killings, sterilizations, government-encouraged vice and the cruelties of the Gestapo are only a few of the practices they see or endure.

My rating:  6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Twice is enough.

Boy howdy, they really tried to sell the salaciousness of the title, didn't they?

You wouldn't think it by the title but this is all about getting us Yanks fired up to go whoop some Nazi butts.  The movie covers the different types of Germans you'd expect.  You've got the died in the wool evil Nazis, then you've got the blind followers that see the light when shit doesn't go their way and they see the Nazis for what they are and then you've got the ones that don't like this Nazi business one bit.  The baddies do bad things and they're at least trying for a German accent (except for one SS guy who sounds as German and Dobie Gillis, which is good for campy fun) and good ones mostly have accents that are no different than Judy Garland's.  This isn't some ill-conceived rush job B picture.  This is a thought out piece of propaganda with an exploitative goosing from the marketing department.  It's better than average flag waver that showed the Nazis were bad and us Yanks are good.  For mid-level entertainment/propaganda/commentary, this works very well.  It's impossible now but I wonder how this played back then, when we didn't have decades of horror stories of what it was like living in the Third Reich.  Now gather your pitchforks and lets go give that Hitler what fer!

Foxhole in Cairo (1960)

Director: John Llewellyn Moxey

Writer: John Llewellyn Moxey

Composers: Douglas Gamley, Ken Jones, Wolfram Rohrig

Starring: James Robertson Justice, Adrian Hoven, Niall MacGinnis, Peter van Eyck, Robert Urquhart, Neil McCallum, Fenella Fielding, Gloria Mestre, Albert Lieven, John Westbrook, Lee Montague, Michael Caine

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The Greatest Spy Story of the Desert War!

Plot: A German agent in Libya is allowed to get back to Rommel with false information.

My rating:  6/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably not.

This average British WWII thriller can get a little ho-hum but there are some things that are worth your while.  Michael Caine has a few lines and minutes on screen, the very scrummy Gloria Mestre belly dances a couple of times and provides a little skin, there are some nice moments in the story that kept me alert and it plays out like a procedural but set in WWII North Africa.  Oh, and this guy is the British leader kick some ass and do it with class:

Minor spoilers but you know this is going to end with the Brits winning the day against the Nazis, the best moment in the picture is at the end when he storms into the room, slapping the Luger out of the bad guy's hand and gives a rousing, air punching speech to the woman he saved from death.  It's one of those, "We've outsmarted the Jerrys and Rommel has a surprise coming when we push him and his nasty boys back to the Rhineland" kind of speech.  It's hilarious and super fun.  But then it's at the end of 75 minutes but it's not a bad 75 minutes and that should be enough to justify watching it.