Shameless Self Expression

Set during WWII and based on a book by Bernard Newman, Michael Rennie stars as a Polish schoolteacher recruited by the Polish resistance to be the inside man in an attempt at sabotaging a rocket built by the Nazis (The ‘V-1’ of the film’s title). Patricia Medina plays Rennie’s wife, Sir Christopher Lee plays a German prison camp officer.   Good, solid work by George Pastell and Patricia Medina still doesn’t do much for this dull WWII flick from 1958 also known as “Missiles From Hell” . Directed by Vernon Sewell (who went on to direct “Curse of the Crimson Altar” and “The Blood Beast Terror” for Tigon British) and scripted by Jack Hanley and Eryk Wlodek (neither of whom have extensive IMDb credits), the film actually starts rather well. The opening 20 minutes are stark and terrifying stuff. Sadly, after that it becomes a bog standard ‘let’s try and outsmart the Nazis’ rah-rah film with heavy use of stock footage. Also not helping things is the boring Michael Rennie as our lea...

Cocoa (Veteran Vegas entertainer Lola Falana) was jailed for contempt of court, refusing to testify against her gangster ex-boyfriend. After some time behind bars she’s had a change of heart, so cops Ramsey (Alex Dreier) and Doug (Gene Washington) are tasked with escorting her to a Vegas hotel awaiting her court appearance. Sounds simple, right? Not so. Cocoa is a petulant and hostile diva, and there’s a couple of hitmen (one played by ‘Mean’ Joe Greene) sent out to snuff her before she gets to court. Millie Perkins turns up as one half of a honeymooning couple in town.   A nice little surprise, this obscure 1975 blaxploitation film from director Matt Cimber ( “The Black 6” , co-starring Gene Washington and ‘Mean’ Joe Greene) and screenwriter Mikel Angel (who also scripted “The Black 6” ) doesn’t come with glowing reviews or scores but I must say I rather enjoyed it. Yes it’s really cheap-looking, but so are most of these films – because they were made cheaply. It’s also got...