Not a wasted second in this classic. Put this on the must see list. Alan Ladd in his first starring role in a movie based on the Graham Greene book. The screen play was co-written by W.R.Burnett, famous for “Little Caesar.” Always welcome is one of the movie’s most beautiful women, Veronica Lake.

Philip Raven (Alan Ladd) is a hit man. He’s hired to bump off a paymaster for a chemical company engaging in blackmail. He’s Albert Baker (Frank Ferguson). Raven kills him and his female companion. He grabs some papers including a formula for some gas.

He’s paid off in ten dollar bills by Willard Gates (Laird Cregar). Gates doesn’t want to know the details since he’s frightened by any kind of violence. Raven doesn’t know it but the money was stolen from a robbery and the cops have the serial numbers of the bills.

Gates goes to the San Francisco police and says his boss wants the case solved yesterday. In town from the L.A. department to help is Michael Crane (Robert Preston).

Crane’s girlfriend is nightclub entertainer Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake). She sings and does a magic act. She’s hired to work in Gates’ L.A. club. She’s met outside by Senator Burnett and asked to work undercover.

Raven buys a dress for a girl at his rooming house. He tore hers in a fit of temper when she chased a cat out of his room. The sales clerk checks the number with a list of stolen bills and calls the cops. Now Raven has to leave town.

On the train to L.A. he ends up sitting next to Ellen. Coming down the aisle is Gates. He sees the two and thinks they’re together. They don’t see him.

To go any furhehr would be loaded with spoilers.  This is one of my favorite 40′s movies and highly recommended.

Veronica Lake has a couple songs. Her voice is dubbed by Martha Mears. Mears’ voice was used in almost thirty movies including “DuBarry Was A Lady” where she dubbed Lucille Ball’s singing voice.

Character actor Frank Ferguson appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows between 1940-77. He played Eli Carson in “Peyton Place” (1964-69).

Victor Kilian appears as Drew, the man who pushes the wheelchair of the head of the chemical company. He appeared in many movies and TV shows. He’s probably best known as Raymond Larkin, the grandfather on “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” (1976-77)

Veronica Lake

Based on three stories published in Analog: “Beer Run” (1979), “A Greater Infinity” (1980) and “Which Ways To The Ends Of Time?” (1981).

A meeting of the UFO Spotters is taking place in Duncan MacElroy’s dorm room. He volunteers to go out for a beer run. With him is Jane Dugway. No one ever paid much attention to her. Her plain looks and shy demeanor kept her in the background. After stocking up on six packs Jane shoves him to the ground. That starts an adventure that crosses universes and timelines.

Jane kills a Neanderthal looking attacker with a beam gun. He takes her to his uncle’s remote cabin where they are attacked again. By this time he finds out Jane is really Jana Dougwaix, a member of the Time Watch from the Taladoran universe. They’ve been fighting a centuries long war with the Dalgiri Empire. It’s a battle for control of Paratime.

There are only specific portals between Europo-American, the name given to Duncan’s universe and the other parallel Earths. He becomes a member of the Time Watch and hooks up with Haret. They go through a portal and end up in Fyalsorn where they’ve also been battling the Dalgiri. With them is Dal Corst from the Time Watch Academy.

As things move along Duncan is on the Moon when two Dalgiri shuttles are spotted doing battle. Duncan discovers two people in a cave. One is the lovely (of course) Felira and her unconscious brother. They all go back to Felira’s home universe where it’s been doing battle for centuries.

Some good action and a light but not jokey touch make this an entertaining book. It could have had a few sequels but but it remains a stand alone.

Michael McCollum

Not much happening in this attempt at suspense. A dull first half leads to a second half with some suspense but not enough to sit through the whole thing. It’s only a bit over an hour but better movies await.

Barbara (Rona Anderson) comes back to England from Singapore. Her late father’s business partner Howard Wainwright is waiting to take her to the lawyer’s office for the reading of the will. He tells her her father’s death was judged a suicide. Wainwright knows he’s being followed by Lips Leonard.

At the office the will is read. Barbara is left practically nothing and Wainwright gets the bulk of the estate. But wait. A few days before his death her father made a codicil leaving her everything. Also making out is a charity for widows and orphans. They get some money and the use of a wing of the house. Also at the reading is Barbara’s childhood friend Robert (Guy Rolfe).

Back at the house Wainwright gets a call from someone he owes a lot of money to.  He tells him what happened with the will. He’s instructed to organize a shooting party. While everyone shoots at birds, someone will shoot at Barbara.

Someone takes aim at her. Then they hear a scream. The shooter is underwater with his hat floating along. When the police bring up the body no one knows who it is. Wainwright does. It’s Leonard. He keeps that to himself. Barbara tells Robert she recognizes him as a man who followed her to the lawyer’s office.

She also reveals to Robert that a servant, Willie (Stanley Baker), told her he discovered her father alive. With his last breath he said, “It’s in the safe at the office.” He also told her he saw Wainwright talking with the dead man.

That night Barbara and Robert sneak into the office with a safe cracking friend of Roberts’. He opens a hidden safe. So….that’s the racket. Now it picks up a little and the whole thing ends with a long chase and some flying bullets. There’s no mystery as everything is revealed. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing since it was obvious who was doing what.

Guy Rolfe played the title role in the 1961 movie “Mr.Sardonicus.” In the 90′s he made several “Puppet Master” videos as Andre Toulon.

In 1970-71 Rona Anderson played Mary in several episodes of “Bachelor Father.”

Stanley Baker as Willie

Twenty-five stories that either won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award or were nominated for it. They’re from 1956,68,73,75,79,80,82,83,84,87-93,96. Favorites:

“Breakfast Television” – Robert Barnard (1097) – While her husband hosts a live morning TV show, she’s hosting a student across the hall. She doesn’t realize her husband is also seeing her taped “show”.

“Mefisto In Onyx” -  Harlan Ellison (1993) – A deputy D.A. has her doubts after getting the death penalty for a serial killer. She asks he boyfriend to get into the man’s mind to find out for sure.

“There Are No Snakes In Ireland” (1982) – Frederick Forsyth – Edgar Award winning story about a man from India who is a medical student. He needs money so he hires on to a demolition crew in Ireland. The boss is a bigot and humiliates him. He’s out for revenge.

“Scrimshaw” – Brian Garfield (1979) – A down on her luck woman runs into an old friend who is now an artist doing scrimshaw work. She never should have visited his studio.

“Challenge The Widow-Maker- Clark Howard (1990) -A surfer in Hawaii has a crooked parole officer. After being out for five years the officer tells him to take part in a jewelry robbery with another parolee.

“Mary,Mary,Shut The Door” – Benjamin M.Schutz (1992) – A detective is hired to put everyone in his agency into researching a man about to marry a rich man’s daughter. He doesn’t have much time before the wedding.

“Too Many Crooks” – Donald E.Westlake (1989) – Dortmunder and Kelp break into a bank vault through a wall. To their surprise it’s loaded with hostages. The crooks are waiting outside.

Other authors: Lawrence Block, Liza Cody, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Stanley Ellin, Ed Gorman, Joseph Hansen, Edward D.Hoch, Wendy Hornsby, Evan Hunter, P.D.James, Gabrielle Kraft, Michael Z.Lewin, John Lutz, Joyce Carol Oates, Bill Pronzini, Ruth Rendell and Paul Theroux.

One of the best of the so bad it’s good movies. If those are your favorites, don’t miss this one. American International by way of Denmark comes up with what happens when a copper miner drills the wrong tail. As a bonus Carl Ottosen is on hand  as American General Mark Grayson with one of the screen’s worst “acting” jobs.

Sven finds blood on his drill. He and his fellow copper miners take a look. It’s a large piece of tail.  It ends up in an aquarium freezer in Denmark. Professor Otto Martens is in charge. Dr.Peter Dalby tries to put some bones together. Dimwit Petersen is hired to keep an eye on the tail. The room has to stay frozen.

A sleepy Dalby gets careless and the freezer door opens and the tail is no longer frozen. It’s growing. Joining the fun are blonde UNESCO scientist Connie Miller and General Mark Grayson (Carl Ottosen). He doesn’t want to be there. Of course he and Connie take a tour of Copenhagen and it melts his cold,cold heart…for a while.

One night during the inevitable thunderstorm the electricity goes out. Dalby tells Petersen to get the cops. Since he’s busy sleeping instead of putting his lunch under a microscope or sticking his fingers in the electric eel tank he hops on his bike. When the cops get there only Dalby’s glasses are left. Reptilicus is outta there.

So, how did he grow from a piece of tail without all that “Jurassic Park” science stuff? Because he did. That’s why.

The ninety foot cross between a reptile and a mammal visits a farm. He devours fourteen cows. Since they come with their own milk they were easy to digest. Grayson leads tanks and other heavy artillery to the scene. Reptilicus heads for the water as the firepower makes him laugh.

Later on a couple on the beach don’t see a film running behind them of Reptilicus coming out of the water. That clears the beach in a hurry. Just for kicks he spits out a green acidic slime. Its effects aren’t shown because it wasn’t in the budget. A flame thrower makes him lose his sense of humor and get back underwater. Time to call in the Danish Navy.

There he is! He’s half asleep and trying to recover. Now he’s being depth charged. He loses a claw before Otto stumbles into the lab and warns that the critter can regenerate. Otto had a heart attack while they were trying to blow Reptilicus up. He and Grayson butt heads on how to destroy him.

Now the battle for Copenhagen is on! This is one thousand percent fun. It looks hopeless. Then Sven comes up with the answer.

Reptilicus tries to find out the time

Based on a character created by Roy Huggins in the 40′s, P.I. Stuart Bailey. The show didn’t delve into its noir roots until the last season when Efrem Zimbalist,Jr. was the only cast member left. Before that the show was highly successful in its storyline of a detective agency on the Sunset Strip. Roger Smith is Bailey’s partner Jeff Spencer and Edd Byrnes got a career out of playing Kookie,a valet parking attendant at the restaurant next door. Depending on your outlook his character was hip and cool or completely annoying. His big things was always combing his hair. He eventually joined the agency. Their secretary was Jacqueline Beer as Suzanne Fabray.

Roy Huggins created a lot of successful shows including “Cheyenne”, “Maverick”, “The Fugitive” and the unfortunately not so successful “The Invaders.”

May 27,1960 episode: “Sierra” w/Sherry Jackson, Anthony George, Edward Platt, Lawrence Dobkin and Horace McMahon. – Stu is on the way to see a friend at a hunting lodge in the Sierras. He tells a gas station attendant he was almost run off the road. Further ahead there’s the car. The driver says he broke down. Stu makes the mistake of turning his back and gets hit on the head. His car is stolen.

The sound of a mountain lion brings him to. Showing up is Bart Reed. He’s hunting the animal. They see tracks and follow them. There’s the car thief…dead thanks to the mountain lion.

At the lodge, Steve (Edward Platt), tells Stu he’s worried that his daughter Ella (Sherry Jackson) is up to something. She went to a store and spent all kinds of money on supplies. He hasn’t seen any of it. The only guest at the lodge is Geology Professor Chastain (Lawrence Dobkin). They don’t know it but the prof is listening through the wall with a stethoscope. They also don’t know he packs heat.

Ella is meeting Barney Vincent (Anthony George). She helped get him the cabin where the gang is hiding out. His brother is a crook the FBI would like to meet up with. Then it turns out the dead car thief is one of the ten most wanted.

Stu calls back to the office to check on Chastain. This leads to some beyond awful “hip” dialogue from Kookie. Stu tells Kookie he’s disappointed that Chastain isn’t a phony. He was sure he was. Well guess what Stu? Chastain overhears him and admits that he’s an FBI agent hunting for the Vincent gang.

Ella goes out into the woods and one of the gang spots her and takes her to the cabin. Mobster Silva (Horace McMahon) says he’ll let her go….when it gets dark. Now Ella’s up a tree with the man eater mountain lion trying to get her.

She makes it through the night and Stu runs across her and takes her back to the lodge. Now he’s captured by a machine gun toting Silva and held hostage as the FBI has been called in. They’ll be there in six hours.

Barney is innocent in all this and wants to cut Stu loose but he’s too late. Silva and Chuck Vincent get in a Jeep and put Barney and Stu in the back. Barney cuts Stu loose and they jump. The distraction causes Silva to crash the Jeep and it blows up. That takes care of Silva and Chuck.

Barney now has a broken leg. At the lodge Bart explains that he put a bullet in the mountain lion a year ago and couldn’t find him to finish him off. That’s why the animal has turned into a man eater since humans are easier to catch.

Now we have Stu and Barney in the woods, FBI agents going after them and an angry mountain lion in between.

Sherry Jackson is well known as Terry Williams on “Make Room For Daddy” (1953-58). In this a grown up Sherry looks great. Her acting….not so great.

Anthony George starred in one of TV’s best shows with TV’s best soundtrack, “Checkmate” (1960-62). He played Don Corey.

Twenty-four tracks from one of the forgotten groups of the era. Good musicianship meets great harmony in a collection that should be appreciated.

Highlights include: “My Old Man”, “From Monday On”, “Dr.Watson And Mr.Holmes” and “Exactly Like You.”

I wasn’t expecting a whole lot but this is not all that bad. That’s not much of a compliment but the book does have its merits and has a good payoff.

Alan Burke grew up enamored with the United Star Systems. He joined the Galactic Patrol. Then his home planet was nuked and his father was killed. Alan became a pirate.

He and his men captured an old man who told them about Faroul, the planet of creation where everyone can become a god. Before dying he gave Alan the coordinates. Alan’s second in command, Poteet, betrayed Alan in exchange for a pardon. Alan ended up in a prison where most only lasted a year.

Nine years later he’s busted out with the help of Lindsay. Alan rescued him was he was a young boy and took care of him. They make their way to a tavern. Davon is a hooker that circumstances have forced her to work there. She warns Alan and Lindsay that the troopers are going to raid the joint and the three head for a starship captained by the sleazy Juarez.

Juarez wants Faroul for himself,. He commands a group of ten pirates. On several occasions he’s forced himself on Davon. Alan, more or less an emaciated old man after his nine years in prison tries to defend her. To save him she lies and says she’s cooperated with Juarez.

Juarez hates Alan, especially since he showed him up for the incompetent commander he is during a confrontation with the USS fleet. He and Alan duke it out in Davon’s cabin and Alan ends up being held prisoner.

Juarez forces him to give the coordinates to Faroul. As they near the planet another ship is hot on their trail and fires missiles at them. Alan knows it’s Poteet who covets Faroul. Alan, Davon and Lindsay escape in a shuttle and land on the planet. It’s not all it seems.

One major flaw in this book is that Alan is broken down after nine years at hard labor. That being the case, how is he able to physically overcome his adversaries who are in much better condition? If you can get past that and some sappy romance between Alan and Davon it’s a decent story complete with a few battles in space and on the starship.

William Shatner stars in this Aaron Spelling production. His rookie partner is Vince Romano (Adrian Zmed).  Two other cops are Heather Locklear as Stacy Sheridan and James Darren as Sgt.Jim Corrigan. Hooker was a Detective teaching at the Police Academy. He volunteered to go back on the street because he’s just that kind of moral guy who fights for truth, justice…never mind..that was another guy. Hooker is obsessed with doing the right thing.

The show was successful despite being just another cop show. It did wonders for Heather Locklear’s career.

October 22,1983 episode: “The Cheerleader Murder” w/Joe Penny – Hooker and Romano are joined by Stacy and Corrigan in chasing down a car thief. Of course this involves a crash through a window. Stacy looks in the trunk. There’s a dead girl in it. She’s Gloria Neely, a sixteen year old cheerleader. She was shot once in the head.

At the Black Star club George Lazlo tells Miles Dixon (Joe Penny) to shut down his porn operation unless he gets another baby doll.

An investigation discovers that Gloria was a cokehead and recently had an abortion. They track down the doctor. He lost his license and operates a weight loss clinic that’s a cover for an illegal abortion mill.

Meanwhile at the Black Star it looks like Miles has found his girl. She’s Gloria’s cheerleader friend Lisa Telford. She’s addicted to pills. She tries doing a film but just can’t do it.

Hooker’s investigation continues and he confronts Doctor Garwood. When Hooker leaves, Garwood calls Dixon and says he wants twenty-five grand to keep his mouth shut. Lazlo orders him hit. Just as the hit goes down Hooker and Romano show up and the chase is on. Hooker kills one bad guy but the other one got away.

Hooker, Romano and Stacy go to the Black Star. Stacy discovers the studio and a picture of Gloria. Lazlo and Dixon catch her but let her go when she convinces them she’s just looking for the powder room.

Hooker’s next step is to get Lisa to cooperate with Dixon so they can nab him. At the club Lazlo is again ordering Dixon to shut down when in walks Lisa. She convinces him she’s ready to give it another try….in exchange for more pills.

The movie shoot is on. Hooker and company are waiting outside. They make the bust. Now, what about Lazlo? Can you say car chase?

A man accidentally kills the brother of a multi-millionaire. Now he’s a target.

Barry Sanford was driving along with his mysterious girlfriend. He doesn’t know that much about her but he’s intrigued. All of a sudden a man jumps out in front of the car. Barry can’t stop in time and runs him over. The girl is his witness but she’s disappeared.

The incident is ruled an accident because the man was drunk. That’s not good enough for his brother King Hubbard. Three attempts were made to kill Barry. Hubbard will stop at nothing to avenge his brothers death. Barry finally takes off with a friend and ends up in Belize in British Honduras after the boat hits some rocks.

He repairs the boat and stays there. After a year Hubbard and some friends show up in a houseboat. Another attempt is made on his life. He finally meets Hubbard face to face after a threatening note is delivered. Hubbard promises to finish him off. His brother’s widow is there. It’s Barry’s mysterious girlfriend.

The police superintendent assigns Barry a bodyguard. Then Barry finds out one of the people that’s been on the island for a while is a New York P.I. Hubbard hired to find him. Now a body turns up and then another one.

Coxe has so many books out. His Kent Murdoch series is a good place to start. This stand alone is not one of the best but is an okay read if you’re looking for something that won’t take a whole lot of time.