Tag Archives: Edgar Wallace

The August Monthly Review Club

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August has been a funny old month. On one hand, it’s felt like there’s been no time to get anything done — just like every month nowadays, really. But on the other, it seemed very long — it feels like ages since I wrote the July monthly review.

In a similar vein, whereas I struggled (and ultimately failed) to hit my viewing targets in July, I made it past ten new films this month without even particularly trying. Considering I’ve both been extra busy at work and had a host of other options and distractions taking up my free time — some of them excitingly new, as well as the old favourites — it’s a minor miracle. Indeed, I’d basically written off getting to ten films this month (once you’ve failed once, what does failing again the month after matter, eh?), only to succeed regardless. Wonders will literally never cease.

As for how this month’s viewing translates specifically to my Challenge… read on.



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#65 Candidate for Murder (1962) — Series Progression #9
#66 The Power of the Dog (2021) — 50 Unseen #7
#67 Gwen and the Book of Sand (1985) — Failure #8
#68 Girl, Interrupted (1999) — Blindspot #8
#69 The Road to Hong Kong (1962) — Series Progression #10
#70 The Thursday Murder Club (2025) — New Film #8
#71 Project A (1983) — WDYMYHS #8
#72 The Wild Robot (2024) — 50 Unseen #8


  • I watched 11 feature films I’d never seen before in August.
  • Eight of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge.
  • No rewatches this month, which is a shame as I’m meant to get in at least one a month. Still, it’s not the first time I’ve had to catch up on them this year, so, y’know, these things happen. (Should I be injecting more fake jeopardy into my commentary when I fail like this?)
  • I needed to get to #74 to be a whole month ahead of pace again. Obviously that didn’t happen, but I’m still six films in the clear, which is a nice buffer.
  • Part of that included finishing off the Series Progression category for 2025. 40% of the qualifying films this year came from the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series of British crime B-movies, which is perhaps more than I’d’ve liked (I’ve got so many series on the go, I’d appreciate the incentive to progress some others). That said, it was almost worse: it was set to be 50%, but then I watched something else that counted…
  • To wit: I finally finished the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope ‘Road To’ series. I watched my first of those back in 2007 — this blog’s very first year. And that’s why I like (or need) a tangible incentive to get on with these things.
  • Speaking of tangible incentives, this month’s Blindspot film was the gender-bent remake of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (okay, that’s a tad harsh, and it’s not literally that… but it certainly feels like it in places), Girl, Interrupted.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film was Jackie Chan’s piratical actioner Project A.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched Gwen and the Book of Sand.



The 123rd Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
I’m struggling for standout films this year — it’s been one of those years where you begin to think, “have I just seen all the great films already?” The closest I’ve come to having my faith restored is this month’s favourite pick, cosy sci-fi animation The Wild Robot.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
Greatness may be in short supply, but there’s also nothing terrible this month — although there was plenty of mediocrity. I don’t know if it was the outright worst film I saw, but the biggest letdown was The Thursday Murder Club. So much potential, and it got some of it right, but some poor adaptation decision scuppered the overall effect.


The year’s final third begins. It’ll be Christmas before we know it…

The Tumultuous Monthly Review of October 2023

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Well, I don’t know about you, but October’s been a funny old month around these parts. On the one hand, my minor medical maladies continued when I caught Covid. Fortunately, it was no worse than a bad cold, although it managed to linger somewhat in the form of a cough and a certain amount of lethargy, which ultimately led to me missing one of the two films I’d booked at FilmBath Festival. Disappointing, but at least it was one I’ll have a chance to see again in the future. The other screening — the one I made it to — included Danny Boyle’s rarely-seen short Alien Love Triangle, so I was glad not to miss that.

Also in the “negatives” column (as far as film viewing was concerned) was my personal marathon of various media in honour of Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary. Again, that robbed time from possible film watching, but not as much as feared after the BBC announced the new 60th anniversary specials won’t begin airing until 25th November. I’d been cramming stuff in aiming for 11th November, so I gained a bit of leeway once that news broke. Naturally, some of my re-gained time has been applied to movies.

And so, after all that tumultuousness, the past month in my Challenge ended up going as follows…



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#73 Road to Utopia (1945) — Wildcard #9
#74 Partners in Crime (1961) — Wildcard #10
#75 Close-Up (1990) — Blindspot #8
#76 Flora and Son (2023) — New Film #9
#77 Nothing Sacred (1937) — Failures #10
#78 The Pigeon Tunnel (2023) — New Film #10
#79 Sing Street (2016) — Rewatch #10
#80 The Possessed (1965) — Genre #4


  • I watched 10 feature films I’d never seen before in October.
  • Yes, I’m back up to my minimum monthly target! At this point, I’ll save any more commentary on that until after we see how November and December play out.
  • Seven of those films counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
  • I completed my third Challenge category this month. After concluding Series Progression in August and Physical Media in September, this month it was the turn of the Wildcards. So much for them possibly being useful in December! The final two were spent on, funnily enough, a Series Progression and a Physical Media. Don’t expect any more to be crossed off until December now — two of them can’t be, due to their own rules; two of them shouldn’t be, because they’re designed to be paced throughout the year; and the other one is just too far off being done.
  • This month’s Blindspot film was Abbas Kiarostami’s drama/documentary line-blurrer Close-Up.
  • No WDYMYHS film this month. More on that in the “next month” section.
  • From last month’s “failures” I only watched Nothing Sacred.



The 101st Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
There are multiple possible interpretations of “favourite” in this context. The usual one is “best”. Another might be “most enjoyable”, which is more what I actually aim for. This month, I’m slightly realigning that to be “one I’m most glad I’ve seen”. I may have seen ‘better’ movies this month, but Danny Boyle’s short Alien Love Triangle was really good and, thanks to its extreme rarity, I’m pleased I even got the chance to see it. I hope it’s made more widely available sometime, because it’s fun and deserves an audience, and because I’d like to see it again.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
I guess this goes to the Edgar Wallace Mystery Partners in Crime, which wasn’t bad — as a series of B-movies, they’re mostly solidly entertaining — but everything else I watched this month was slightly better.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
My continued lack of posting in between these monthly reviews means this category was once again a two horse race. Although, as if in a vain attempt to keep things moderately interesting, this month it was September’s Failures that was victorious. Neither set the chart alight, mind — it’s still my old TV columns that do most of the business.


As we head into the final 50 ‘useable’ days of the year (approximately. It’s family and Christmas stuff that take out the rest), I’ve got 20 films to go to complete my 2023 Challenge.

That includes four for both Blindspot and WDYMYHS. Sounds pretty equitable, right? Ah, but not all films are created equal! Those four WDYMYHS noirs have a combined running time of just under 7 hours, while the four remaining Blindspots add up to a little over 18 hours. Yeah, I’ve accidentally saved the three longest for last, again. Oops. History suggests I’m going to fail to pull it off, but you never know…