Down I go again !

 

Broke my glasses again.  Don't really know how it happened.   Last year when I had my first bad fall, I could sort of understand it -- I was walking uphill in the dark when I lost my balance.  But this time?  I went out to vote on Friday, got out of my car, took two steps and down I went.

I hit my nose when I went down, so a gratifyingly large number of people appeared from all directions when they saw me lying there bleeding profusely.  At the hospital, they gave all the usual tests - scans, X-rays, blood tests, and the old "I'm going to shine this light in your eye" standard.   A paramedic asked me if I knew the date and I replied less than enthusiastically "Yes, it's Friday the 13th !"

One young nurse leaned over me and said "I want you to grasp my hands and pull me towards you..."   I thought my luck had changed, but she was just testing me.

Later, when I was beginning to feel very dry, two nurses came in and one said
"You might be a bit dehydrated.  Could you drink these two bottles of water in thirty minutes?"   I said "I'll give it a go!"  I must have had a gleam in my eye because I heard the other nurse murmur "Challenge accepted."

They finally let me go home about 7.15  -  as I sat in the cab going home, I was vaguely surprised to see the sun was only just going down.  it felt like I'd been in the hospital for a whole day.  Needless to say I took two paracetemol and went to bed early.

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Once again I thank You Tube and the Internet Archive for uploading so many great movies.

 AGAIN THE RINGER  [1965]  Neues vom Hexer
Another German movie based on Edgar Wallace's novels.   This one features Heinz Drache as Inspector Wesby, the previous sleuth having been married off in the last movie.   A rich but unlikeable man is murdered and the killer tries to blame the crime on the notorious vigilante The Ringer.   Any reader of thrillers will know this is a bad idea and the Ringer is on the next plane to London to clear his name.  Two notable things  -  firstly, two of the leading ladies are played by Barbara Rutting and Brigitte Horney (really!) and secondly how did they do that scene where a young boy is locked in a room full of tigers but he makes friends with them???

PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES  [1966]
Hammer Films' only zombie movie and one of their better thrillers.  A visit to Cornwall in  1860 by an eminent doctor ends in the discovery that a local squire is using the reanimated dead to work in his tin mine!  Good perforances by Andre Morell and Jacqueline Pearce [pictured] who madc this movie back-to-back with THE REPTILE.  Michael Ripper is the village policeman.

 

RAID ON ENTEBBE [1977]
TV movie based on the 1976 hijacking of an airliner.  Packed with familiar faces.    There have been three or four movies based on this incident -- at two and a half hours this one is a bit long and I wasn't surprised to hear that 20 minutes were cut for the theatrical and home video releases.

LONDON BY NIGHT  [1937]
Amiable little mystery B-movie featuring George Murphy, better known for his song and dance roles.  Here he's an American newsman in foggy London who becomes involved in the hunt for a serial killer known only as The Umbrella Man.  With the help of his dog, a beautiful socialite and Scotland Yard man George Zucco, he tracks down the killer.   All Is Not What It Seems.

MAN BEAST [1956]
Reputedly the second movie ever made about the  Abominable Snowman, and debut production for director Jerry Warren.  Lots of stock footage spliced into the mountain scenes make this movie look better than any ultra-low-budget film has a right to.  Vexingly, the start of one vital scene seems to be lost (but you can guess what was said without much trouble).

THE SLIME PEOPLE   [1963]
A group of refugees battle for survival after Los Angeles is invaded by a subterranean race of reptiles.   Robert Hutton starred and directed, but the result is a thoroughly generic horror flick.   Most of the budget seems to have gone on the fog machine and the nasty-looking creature suits.

FROM LIFE  [2018]
Could you make a version of THE SIXTH SENSE that only runs 8 minutes?  Director Uli Meyer has done it.  See it on the Omleto channel on You Tube.

INVADERS FROM SPACE  [1965]
One of four "movies" edited from the Japanese television show about super-hero Starman.   This one is supposed to be the best of the four  -- heaven help us if that is true!

SHARKNADO 3
Following on from the inexplicably successful tongue-in-cheek action movie SHARKNADO,  it's clear that the law of diminishing returns has set in, as it often does with movie series.  Probably the stupidest film I've seen this year.

BRIDE OF THE GORILLA [1951]
Jungle film noir !  Barney  (Raymond Burr) kills his elderly employer in order to get to his beautiful wife (Barbara Payton). However, an old native witch witnesses the crime and poisons Barney, who soon after finds himself turning nightly into a rampaging gorilla. But is it real or is it all in his head?  Director Curt Siodmak also wrote the screenplay, perhaps harking back to his script for the first Wolfman film.  Also starring are Lon Chaney (the original WOLFMAN)  and Tom Conway (who had similar problems in THE CAT PEOPLE).    Tolerable B-movie stuff.

GHIDORAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER   [1964]
Lots happens in this one, but basically a princess prophecies the arrival of space monster Ghidorah and the possible doom of humanity.  Can Mothra persuade Godzilla and Rodan to unite and save the Earth?   Considered by some to be one of the best of the early Godzilla movies.

POLICE DOG  [1955]
Both my sisters would have loved this movie.  They were big fans of the TV series INSPECTOR REX.  In fact the dog in this one is also called Rex!  Supporting cast includes John Le Mesurier and a young Christopher Lee.

HOUSE OF THE DAMNED [1963]
Marketed as a horror movie, but actually a suspense story about a supposedly haunted house.  Ron Foster and Merry Anders are pleasant as the leads, and black-and-white Cinemascope makes the movie look good.  This is one of three movies director Maury Dexter made at the Greystone mansion in Los Angeles.

MURDER IN TIMES SQUARE  [1943]
Edmund Lowe is a struggling playwright who finally has a hit on Broadway.  But an irascible old woman puts a curse on him and he's soon implicated in a string of "snakebite murders".   Passable B-movie thriller with some telling dialogue about the nature of fame.  Imagine if Damon Runyon and Edgar Wallace had met and decided to write a script together......