Paul Henreid, perhaps best known as Victor Laszlo in Casablanca, also starred in a few swashbuckler films in the 1940s and 1950s.
THE SPANISH MAIN (1945) – In the 1600s, Dutch Captain Laurent van Horn (Paul Henreid) is using his ship to transport refugees from the current war in Holland to safety in the Carolina Colonies. Storms and other misfortunes cause the ship to go wildly off course, ultimately wrecking near Cartagena. Spanish Colonial Governor Don Juan Alvarado (Walter Slezak) imprisons Laurent and his crew, sentencing them to hang.
Captain van Horn leads his men in escaping the prison and stealing a ship they rechristen the Barracuda. Over the next five years they thrive as pirates preying on Spanish shipping and thumbing their noses at villainous Governor Alvarado every chance they get.
One day they seize the Spanish Galleon taking Contessa Francesca (Maureen O’Hara) to Cartagena to marry Alvarado. Feisty Francesca impresses Laurent with her spirit and her beauty, so when she offers him her hand in marriage if he spares the lives of her escorts he gladly accepts.
Captain van Horn and his crew take the Contessa to the port where the Barracuda and other pirate vessels hide out. A very inaccurate rendition of pirate Anne Bonny (Binnie Barnes) is jealous that Francesca has taken her man Laurent. She joins forces with pirate captains who resent van Horn’s leadership to deliver Francesca to Alvarado.
The bad guys and gals also capture Laurent and offer to turn him over to Alvarado for a big payday. Naturally, the pirate captain and the Contessa manage to defeat the villains and cement their romance. 100 minutes. Continue reading
SECRET OF THE INCAS (1954) – Considering that some of the costume and design staff members for Raiders of the Lost Ark have openly stated that they did repeated viewings of this neglected Charlton Heston film while putting together the “look” of that 1981 blockbuster I admit to being as puzzled as they are that Secret of the Incas isn’t mentioned as much as old serials are as an influence. 
Location filming in Peru greatly improves the quality of this overlooked film. Footage of Machu Pichu’s 1950s condition is fascinating and Peruvian singer Yma Sumac as priestess Kori-Tica performs a few folk songs in honor of Inca culture. Expect a movie closer to Film Noir with archeological trappings rather than an action spectacle and you may enjoy Secret of the Incas as much as I do. Beautiful Nicole Maurey plays Heston’s love interest. 
Remember when Marion Ravenwood tells Dr. Jones “You’re not the man I knew ten years ago.” Well, it’s tempting to think that Harry Steele IS what Indy was like ten years ago. Brasher than Jones in Raiders and as ruthless as Han Solo, Steele is also fluent in multiple languages, including Quechua. As a veteran relic hunter he’s also well-versed in ancient cultures and is buddies with the scholars at Cuzco’s museum. 
THE BRAIN (1962) – Freddie Francis directed this black & white film, which was the third movie adaptation of Curt Siodmak’s science fiction novel Donovan’s Brain. The characters’ names were changed and the sci fi elements were mixed with detective story elements this time around. 
Corrie and Shears discover that Max Holt is the only one of the airplane passengers still clinging to life, but just barely, and has no hope of survival. Corrie browbeats Shears into helping him get Holt’s body back to their lab, where they remove his brain to see how long they can keep it alive in one of their fish aquarium containers filled with life-preserving fluids and equipment.
ZERO TO SIXTY (1978) – Want to see Darren McGavin of all people bare his butt for the camera in two separate scenes? Want to see Darren McGavin getting his bare butt spanked by the Hudson Brothers in one of those scenes? Want to see Darren McGavin in sex scenes with Joan Collins at her smoking hot best? 
With the passing of the iconic Chuck Norris I’m taking a look at my favorite films of his. I was never the biggest Norris fan, so this list is purely from the perspective of a casual fan. 
INVASION USA (1985) – Psychotronic cinema in its purest form, Invasion USA was so firmly in the realm of fantasy that it’s ridiculous that some critics tore into it so deeply. The same type of critics probably loved the pretentious One Battle After Another, which was basically Invasion USA in reverse. 
Matt is among the people fighting back against the communist invaders in escapist, over the top action scenes. Anti-Castro Cubans fight the invaders in alliance with our main character. Red Dawn was too juvenile in my opinion, so I much prefer this Norris flick.
THE DESERT HAWK (1950) – This fun but hilariously inauthentic Arabian actioner starred Yvonne De Carlo as Scheherazade, whose father is forcing her into a marriage to the evil Prince Murad. Word of the lavish wedding reaches Omar the Blacksmith (Richard Greene) who is secretly the roguish bandit leader called the Desert Hawk. 
The real Murad is furious about the theft, so he has his men slaughter some innocents and blame it on Omar and his band in order to justify an all-out war against the Desert Hawk. Scheherazade realizes how vile the real Murad is and escapes him disguised as a slave girl. 
WAVELENGTH (1983) – This is an unjustly neglected science fiction film that stars Robert Carradine, Cherie Currie and Keenan Wynn in a very unconventional love triangle: both Carradine and Currie are fighting over Wynn. (I’m kidding!) 
DAIGORO VS GOLIATH (1972) – This neglected kaiju (giant monster) film from Japan is one of the most obscure of them all in America. That’s odd since the movie was a joint project between the creators of Godzilla AND the creators of Ultraman, two very popular characters here in the west.
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