Death Force 1978 Story by Cirio H Santiago and Robert E Waters, screenplay by Howard R Cohen, direction by Cirio H Santiago. Also know as Vengeance Is Mine.
James Iglehart is a Vietnam vet who turns crook, he's part of a three man gang that does a big deal with a crook in the Philippines. The three men cruise off in their boat. Little does James know that his pals are planning his murder for his cut of the $50K payout they just got. James is stabbed, his throat is cut and he's tossed overboard. He's not dead when his body washes up on an island where two old Japanese soldiers have been living since WW2. They save his life and he trains in the way of the samurai. He gets lessons in fighting with a katana. Eventually he's rescued and he returns to LA to get him some vengeance.
There's plenty of mixed quality action. Lots of men get stabbed and slashed when James attacks the gang that his two old partners have set up. They've been running roughshod over the local crooks and taking over their biz, the police can't seem to get anything on them. One cop helps James track down the pair.
It's about average for a Santiago movie, it's lacking much by way of production values, and stunt talent. At 110 minutes it's way too long, they could easily have trimmed a whole lot out of it. I might not bother watching it again. You can see it on YouTube at the link in the title. You might get a laugh.
The Monster Walks 1932 Screenplay by Robert Ellis and direction by Frank R Strayer.
A rich guy dies, he leaves all his money and a big old house to his daughter. He provides a place in the house for his invalid brother and a poor stipend for his house keeper. If the daughter dies all the money and house to the brother. Soon as the will is read the plotting begins. The daughter has help from her fiance but there are serious attempts on her life.
It's pretty standard old dark house stuff, the unusual story element is the big old ape locked up in the basement. The creature has it in for the daughter but he's securely chained in his cage. A hairy hand comes out of the wall behind the daughter's bed and tries to strange her. Luckily she woke up as it was groping for her. The house is said to have secret passages running through it but the invalid brother insists that they've all been sealed up.
It's touch and go for the daughter. There's plenty of running about and noise. The cast includes Misha Auer as the housekeeper's son. He turns out to be the brother's son as well. It's all been a secret and Misha feels he was cheated out of some inheritance.
One of my favorite character actors, Willie Best, plays the scared chauffeur Exodus, he's billed in the credits as Sleep n' Eat. He was credited under that name for 6 movies, he was uncredited for many more than that, he did receive credit for 77 of the 124 films he made. Sadly a drug arrest ended his film career but he continued to work in TV. He died at age 45 in 1962.
All in all I enjoyed it well enough but it's barely average. Still, I'd watch it again. It's only 57 mins and it passes quickly.
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