That Riviera Touch (1966)

A pleasant if unremarkable comedy, That Riviera Touch was the second of three attempts by Morecambe and Wise to make it as big screen stars in the 1960s.

The pair play a couple of London traffic wardens, forced to take an impromptu holiday in the south of France after Eric nearly gives the Queen a parking ticket. Once there, they become unwittingly involved in a jewel theft caper when the robber decides to use them to smuggle some stolen cargo out of the country. Along there's a sinister villa, disappearing bodies and a beautiful girl for Eric and Ernie to fight over.

The main problem with That Riviera Touch is that it doesn't feel like a Morecambe and Wise vehicle. If anything, it feels more like an Abbott and Costello film, with Eric as the bumbling, prat-falling, wisecracking Lou Costello and Eric as the smooth lady chasing straight man Bud Abbott. This is noticeably different to their TV personas, where Eric is more self-assured and quick-witted, and Ernie is the bumbler.

Nevertheless, the pair do the best with what they are given and breath some much needed life into the script. It's no classic, but there's enough entertaining silliness to make it worth a look, especially for fans of the duo.

The Secret of Marrowbone (2018)

The Secret of Marrowbone has some atmospheric moments, but too many boring stretches, predictable plot twists, haunted house clichés and jump scares make for an underwhelming film.

In late 60s rural America, Rose moves herself and four children from England to Marrowbone House, her childhood farmhouse, to escape her violent husband. Unfortunately, Rose's poor health catches up with her, and she dies leaving 20-year-old Jack in charge, who decides to keep her death a secret until he turns 21 so that the family can stay together. Jack falls in love with the local librarian Allie (Anya Taylor-Joy) but has a rival in the shape of a creepy lawyer, who thinks something isn’t quite right at Marrowbone House. And, he may have a point, given the creepy noises coming from the attic.

The chief problem lies with the script by Sergio Sánchez, which gives us a potentially intriguing premise but never really delivers a satisfying payoff. When the plot twists come, they are often telegraphed in advance, and too often ludicrous. In addition, it never properly establishes the characters or gives us chance to feel any emotion towards them.

Sanchez also directs, so the blame lies with him for the shrill overacting from the main characters, and the reliance on jump scares and other stale hackneyed elements (spooky mirrors, bricked up rooms etc).

On the plus side the locations look wonderful, with the lush countryside and the Grey Gardens style dilapidated farmhouse contrasting with the white picket fence suburban world that Jack and the others have cut themselves off from.

The Pink Angels (1971)

A unique entry amongst the biker films of the late 60s and early 70s, The Pink Angels feels like a zany send up of the genre. The stereotypes may seem a little jarring to twenty-first century eyes, but there is a good-natured feel to the film and a sly humour undercutting the standard machismo, all of which is ruined by the revolting final scene.

The meandering plot involves half a dozen bikers heading across California, accompanied by endless time-padding montages of them riding their choppers, a la Easy Rider (with a sub Easy Rider twee folk-rock soundtrack). 

At first, they seem like a standard bunch, with long greasy hair, denim jackets and Nazi memorabilia. However, these have more in common with Priscilla Queen of the Desert than Easy Rider as, rather than a drug-fuelled orgy, they're all on the way to a drag convention in Los Angeles. They much prefer food fights to fist fights, and when women throw themselves at them, our heroes are more interested in the dresses they are wearing. 

The gang may be little more than limp-wristed stereotypes, but they are also by far the most likable characters in the film. In addition, they do not seem in the slightest bit phased or intimidated by the cops or fellow bikers who try to harass them. Indeed, much of the humour comes from the pranks the Angels pull on them, pranks designed to undercut and mock their machismo.

Sadly, the film is ruined by a sub plot involving a man dressed in a General's military uniform who seems to be heading up a shadowy militia organisation, unhappy with the sort of degenerate sixties scum who they think are taking over the country. His scenes seem disconnected from the rest of the film and suggest they were shot at a different time, possibly as an afterthought. This sub-plot leads up to the genuinely distressing ending, jarring and tasteless, given the light generally light-hearted tone of the rest of the film.

Drunken Wu Tang (1984)

Relentlessly kinetic, largely incomprehensible, and great fun, Drunken Wu Tang feels like fifty different films edited together at random.

There is a plot buried in there somewhere, something about a lecherous old drunk Kung-Fu master trying to find an adolescent boy who is a virgin (or "Cherry Boy") for a religious ceremony, probably best not to dwell too much on it.

Instead, focus on the insane stream-of-consciousness that assaults your senses for ninety-odd minutes, with the drunk Kung-Fu master tearing around on a buck toothed Go-Kart, the same actor in drag playing the "Cherry Boy's" pipe smoking Grandmother, and the infamous Watermelon monster, a giant black ball with big red lips, sharp teeth and a nipple fetish

The tone is relentlessly shrill and the comedy very broad indeed, but this is not a film where the entertainment comes from sneering at the incompetence behind the camera. The well choreographed fight scenes and breakneck speed editing sets belie any such claims. So many shots involve people leaping into or out of the frame, which help underlie the feeling of perpetual motion, even if you have no idea where this is leading. Don't go in looking for plot, characters or logic, instead just enjoy the energy and adrenaline rush of a truly original piece of unhinged cinema.

8 1/2 (1963)

Films about films is a long established genre, going back at least as far as Buster Keaton. 8 1/2 is Federico Fellini's attempt to explore the difficulties of the creative process. Unfortunately, for me, the film is uninvolving and self indulgent, with inventive and surreal situations overwhelmed by stodgy pretentious dialogue and dull characters.

Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni), is a famous Italian film director (based on Fellini), suffering from writers block while working on a science fiction film. Struggling for ideas and with a messy private life involving his wife and mistress, he retreats into fantasies involving things like being hounded to death by the press or using a whip to keep his imaginary harem at bay.

There is little plot beyond that, which is fine in itself as strong narrative isn't the only way to tell a story. However, there is very little else to go with it. It's a character study of someone who seems to have little character, certainly little to engage the audience with. It's a film about film making, but by the end I felt I knew nothing about his creative process or struggles. Some of the surrealism is funny and surprising, but some feels forced and torpid.

Perhaps I'm missing something, as 8 1/2 has been praised repeatedly and regularly crops up as a favourite of both directors and critics, so it might be worth a second chance, but my main memory is the feeling of joy as the end credits appeared.

The Funhouse (1981)

While not a classic, The Funhouse takes some of the standard 1980s slasher tropes and mixes them with a unique setting and some occasionally imaginative filmmaking.

The plot sees teenager Amy (Elizabeth Berridge) going on a double date with Buzz (Cooper Huckabee), Richie (Miles Chapin) and Liz (Largo Woodruff) to a carnival. Once there, they ride the rides, eat dodgy looking food and, being teens in a slasher film, smoke pot, and make out. Richie has the bright idea that the four of them should spend the night in the funhouse. What they don't realise is that they are locked in with a deranged carnival employee who has already murdered the fortune teller.

There's plenty of genre clichés, such as nudity drug use, a POV shot from behind a mask (with a creepy - not in a good way - punchline). There's also not a whole lot of action on the first half of the film, with the emphasis on the creepy unwholesome end of the carnival, the freak shows, burlesque dancers and mutant animals. The carnival is almost a character in itself and there is very much an "us and them" attitude of the carnival workers to the outside world, reminiscent of Leatherface and his family in Hooper's earlier classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The shocks and suspense come once the teens come under threat, with director Tobe Hooper makes the most of disorienting location helped by dizzying editing and photography that plays up the lurid colours in the climactic confrontation. Kudos also to Rick Baker's gooey mutant creature work and John Beal’s orchestral score.

The Music Box (1932)

One of their best known and best loved Laurel and Hardy films, The Music Box is a perfect example of them taking a simple idea and getting the most from it.

The pair play deliverymen who have one job, which is to get a box containing a player piano to the house of its new owner. Unfortunately, the house in question is at the top of a very long flight of stairs indeed, and they also must contend with obstacles like a vengeful nanny, a bad-tempered policeman and their own blissful incompetence. 

The film is perfectly structured with the repeating joke playing like variations on a theme, and, rather than being unconnected from each other, link together to set up a new hazard for the duo.

The box itself is as sometimes as much of a star as the Stan and Olly, seemingly possessing a sentience that gives their efforts an air of people trying to wrangle a difficult wild animal.

The Music Box went on to win the 1932 Oscar for Best Short and remains a brilliant example of Laurel and Hardy at the height of their powers.