The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

A man and his wife receive a clue to an imminent assassination attempt, only to learn that their daughter has been kidnapped to keep them quiet. (IMDb)

Technically, it’s aged badly, as poor sound editing and awkward scene cuts abound. An ill-paced story (see the sudden jump back to London) with a muddy premise (why did they need to kidnap her again?) and scenes more confusing than tense (see the unintentionally funny chair fight) don’t help, and neither does the mediocre acting (Lorre is a good villain, but the protagonists don’t grab you). A terribly repetitive climactic shoot-out scene is redeemed only slightly by its surprising female hero.

4/10 (Bad)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

When the Earth is threatened by a burning Van Allen Radiation Belt, US Navy Admiral Harriman Nelson plans to shoot a nuclear missile at the Belt using his experimental atomic submarine, the Seaview. (IMDb)

An undersea sci-fi adventure that loses its credibility as soon as a global disaster comes out of left field in the form of a terrible looking sky on fire. The world-saving submarine mission established henceforth (featuring a tiresome repeated external sub shot) is just as outrageous and poorly written, with the crew and captain melodrama within the visually superior indoor sets offering only slight consolation. It’s a film that’s never substantial, and only occasionally entertaining.

5.5/10 (Poor)