THE REBEL’S SON (1938) Harry Baur, Anthony Bushell, Roger Livesey. In the 16th century the Cossacks revolt against the Polish government.  They are led by Taras Bulba, played brilliantly by Baur.  Just as good is Bushell in the role of his educated but wayward son.  The final battle scenes are terrific and the climactic confrontation between Baur and Bushell is very memorable...

(1964) Jim Davis, Don 'Red' Barry, Margo Woode, R. Wayland Williams, Tris Coffin.  An inexperienced army lieutenant grabs five volunteers for a dangerous mission from which they may not return.  Their task is simple:  take out the North Korean mortar position that's been pounding U.S. supply convoys and preventing them from reaching the troops at the front line...

(1958) Boris Buzancic, Djurdja Ivezic, Antun Vrdoljak, Vanja Drach.  This highly unique thriller centers around two vehicles—a bus and a truck—that are speeding towards each other along a wet, narrow two-lane highway on a stormy night.  Right from the start we learn that the two vehicles will eventually collide because of the actions of a reckless driver.  It’s even pointed out which seats will spell death for their occupants...

(1952) Mesiha Yelda, Turan Seyfioglu, Cahit Irgat.  This epic Turkish action thriller starts off with the main hero (Seyfioglu) meeting up with  Genghis Khan, whom he helps in his battle against an adversarial warlord.   The Khan is grateful for this (he saves the Khan’s life) and wants Seyfioglu’s allegiance, offering him a spot as one of his top lieutenants.  But Seyfioglu refuses and wanders through a series of swashbuckling adventures...

(1940) Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Greta Gynt, Charles Oliver, Gordon McLeod.  Radford and Wayne reprise their Lady Vanishes roles as Charters and Caldicott, a couple of well-seasoned yet naïve British world travelers.  By the random act of ordering certain items off a menu, they find themselves the unwitting carriers of a phonograph record filled secret Nazi info.  Of course the Nazis try everything possible to eliminate them...  

THE KASHMIRI RUN (1969) Pernell Roberts, Alexandra Bastido, Julián Mateos, Gloria Cámara, Leonard Bell.  Post-Bonanza Roberts plays a former mountaineer hiding out in the wilds of Tibet.  Ahead of an onslaught by Chinese troops, who have occupied most of Tibet, Roberts tries to smuggle a noted scientist and a good-looking girl (of course) across the border to safety...

Special 35mm Edition (1932, RKO) Joel McCrea, Delores Del Rio, John Halliday, Skeets Gallagher, Lon Chaney, Bert Roach.  Don’t let this pansy-sounding title fool you, this is one of the greatest adventure epics of the 1930s, complete with jungle islands, erupting volcanoes, bloodthirsty natives, whirlpools, mighty sailing ships, killer sharks, giant sea turtles, etc...

THE GREAT WALL—Widescreen Edition (1962) Shintarô Katsu, Fujiko Yamamoto, Ken Utsui, Hiroshi Kawaguchi.  The time is 221 BC. The place is ancient China.  Warlord Qin Shihuangdi becomes emperor and rules over most of China. This lavish epic depicts the history of Qin's exploits, including the building of the Great Wall.  It’s filled with action and intrigue in the best traditions of epic filmmaking...

(1930) Louis Wolheim, Jean Arthur, Robert Armstrong, Hugh Herbert.  Wolheim plays a hard-nosed boss of a railroad yard who befriends a young drifter, who previously was a railroad man himself.  Soon things get dicey when the boss’ girl starts to fall for the handsome newcomer.  The high speed train sequences are pretty amazing for the time... 

FANTOMAS VS. THE IRON CLAW (1969) Demir Karahan, Nebahat Çehre, Yildirim Gencer, Feri Cansel.  This likeable piece of Turkish shlock is about two masked adversaries:  The Iron Claw fights for justice, while the other, Fantomas, is a master criminal.  They do battle while the world watches on.  There are tons of shoot-outs, fistficuffs, and nightclub numbers featuring belly dancers...

SLAVE GIRLS OF SHEBA (1961) José Suárez, Linda Cristal, Cristina Gaioni, Hélène Chanel, Walter Barnes.  Much of this action thriller deals with the Saracen pirates of "Black Eagle" who attack Christian strongholds along the coast of Spain.  Things get very tense though when they stop off in Sheba to re-up their supplies, and also pick up a bevy of female slaves...

A WOMAN OF EVIL (1954, aka QUEEN MARGOT) Jeanne Moreau, Armando Francioli, Robt. Porte, Françoise Rosay, Andre Versini, script by Abel Gance. This Euro-thriller is filled with a nice blend of action and intrigue.  Included are scenes depicting the massacre of the protestants at St. Bartholomew; also Huguenot women being put to the sword by...

(1974, aka MARTIAL ARTS) Wai-Man Chan, Chin Hu, Fung-Lan Li.  This Kung Fu drive-in epic follows the ups and downs of a young martial arts aficionado with a plethora of high octane fight scenes thrown in for good measure.  The fight choreography is excellent with plenty of those hokey kung-fu-blow sound effects throughout...

(1962) Kyôko Enami, Shiho Fujimura, Kôji Fujiyama, Kôjirô Hongô.  This film could almost be in our fantasy or horror sections.  Once a year a small Japanese fishing village is terrorized by a gigantic whale, which has taken the lives of many of the villagers.  The whale is twice the size of a normal whale and is seemingly invincible in an almost supernatural sense...

(1963, Parade, Aka CAVALRY COMMAND) John Agar, Richard Arlen, Pancho Magalona, Myron Healey.  Here’s something not too common:  an old fashioned western set in the Philippines.  In 1902, Agar leads a Calvary troop against rebels who infest the surrounding jungle...

(1977) Stuart Whitman, Woody Strode, Gheorghe Dinica, Tony Kendall.  An exciting thriller about a big, out of control oil field fire out in the wilds of the Sahara desert.  Whitman plays the oil fire expert who’s sent in to put out the massive blaze...

(1958) John Slater, Christopher Warbey, Richard George, Joan Newell.  Slater’s quest is to re-acquire his family’s fishing boat, which the family was forced to sell to help pay funeral costs.  Unfortunately, the boat, The Cascade, is owned by three swarthy fishermen who plan to wreck the boat and claim insurance money...