Betty Cooper Movies
Falling somewhere between the Beyond the Fringe school and the Monty Python league, Bedazzled is an irreverent Faust take-off, written by and starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (Moore also composed the music). Moore plays a short-order cook at a London Wimpyburger restaurant, who falls hopelessly in love with waitress Eleanor Bron. About to commit suicide, the broken-hearted Moore is approached by Satan (Peter Cook). The Fallen Angel offers to purchase Moore's soul in exchange for seven wishes--the first of which is squandered when Satan buys Moore an ice cream bar (something over which the two stars quarrel throughout the film). Enticed by living personifications of the Deadly Sins--Raquel Welch, wearing next to nothing, is "Lillian Lust"--Moore allows Satan to grant him his heart's desire, utilizing the magic words, "Julie Andrews!" But with each wish, Satan, being Satan, can't help but gum up the works with a double-cross. The desperate Moore ultimately wishes to be allowed to spend the rest of his life with Eleanor in an environment with no other men--whereupon Satan transforms both Eleanor and Moore into nuns! Finally Satan has a change of heart, allowing Moore and Eleanor to fall in love in more orthodox surroundings and permitting Moore to regain his soul. Satan hopes that God will appreciate this good deed and allow him to re-enter Heaven. But God doesn't buy this; He's satisfied with Satan remaining mankind's "necessary evil". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, (more)
A Graham Greene novel was the basic source for the British psychological melodrama Across the Bridge. Rod Steiger plays Carl Schaffner, a prominent financier who has absconded with company funds. A genius at improvisation, he plans to elude the authorities by murdering Paul Scarff (Bill Nagy) and assuming the dead man's identity. Upon arriving in Mexico, however, Schaffner learns to his chagrin that Scarff was himself an even more notorious fugitive from justice. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, David Knight, (more)
- 1957
Prejudice is a main theme in this crime drama that follows the case of a West Indian man accused of a murder because of his dark skin. A lawyer helps the boy avoid arrest until the true murderer is revealed. The killer is discovered after the lawyer saves the boy who was captured by him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1955
What was the lady-like Dame Anna Neagle doing in something called Bad Girl -- or, as it was renamed in certain regions, Teenage Bad Girl? In point of fact, the film was originally and more tastefully titled My Teenage Daughter when Neagle signed on. Neagle plays Valerie Carr, the editor of a fiction magazine aimed at the youth market. Though she considers herself "hep" to the world of the young, she has no concept of what her own teenaged daughter, Janet (Sylvia Syms), is all about. When Janet falls into bad company, her mother does what she can to help. But Janet won't pay Mom any heed until her shenanigans land her in jail. Not at all exploitational, Bad Girl is constructed more along the lines of a 1940s "woman's picture" -- tears, renunciations, reconciliations. The film was produced and directed by Neagle's husband, Herbert Wilcox. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Sylvia Syms, (more)
- 1953
Handel's "Messiah" becomes a bone-of-contention in a tiny Welsh community in this comedy. The trouble begins when the choirmaster chooses a new contralto to sing the solo. Unfortunately, this leaves out the soloist who has sung the part for the past 15 years. This precipitates a family feud the women belong to the wealthiest family's in town. To reunite the warring factions, a young couple put off their elopement, but the real solution comes when the choirmaster turns the solo into a duet. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1953
Valley of Song perpetuates the British stereotype of Welshmen as pugnacious rubes. The story involves a Welsh valley men's choir, comprised of members with lovely voices and mercurial temperaments. When Handel's Messiah is chosen as the choir's showcase piece, the members squabble over who should be the soloist. Vocal remonstrations nearly lead to physical violence, until the entire Welsh village has been polarized for or against the concertmaster's decision. Valley of Song was based on an oft-produced radio play by Cliff Gordon. Its American title was, appropriately, Men are Children Twice. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clifford Evans, Hugh Pryse, (more)
- 1952
In this murder mystery, a woman's brother is killed in a freaky accident, or so she believes. Fortunately for her, an American journalist is more suspicious and so begins roaming the London streets in search of the killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1951
Don't be misled by the title, and by the presence of Glynis Johns in the cast. The "Venus" in Appointment with Venus is a prized cow. The time is World War II: special operatives David Niven and Glynis Johns are dispatched to a Nazi-held island to rescue Venus, who for some reason or other is vital for British morale. Naturally, this isn't easy and leads to all sorts of complications. Released in the US as Island Rescue, Appointment with Venus was based on a novel by Jerrard Tickell. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Niven, Glynis Johns, (more)
- 1951
British film-favorite Anna Neagle, having previously played such great historical personages as Queen Victoria and Edith Cavell, tackles the role of Florence Nightingale in Lady with the Lamp. Based on a play by Reginald Berkeley, the film traces the indefatigable Nightingale's efforts to minister to the thousands of casualties of the Crimean War. Opposed in the uppermost circles of British government because she is "merely" a woman, Nightingale is championed by the Hon. Sidney Herbert (Michael Wilding), minister of war. Herbert pulls strings to allow Nightingale and her nursing staff access to battlefield hospitals, and in so doing changes the course of medical history. Lady with the Lamp was, as usual, produced and directed by Anna Neagle's husband Herbert Wilcox. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1951
The Dark Man is a killer who opens the film by committing double murder. This is witnessed by young aspiring actress Molly Lester (Natasha Parry). The rest of the picture concerns Dark Man's efforts to put Molly out of the way. The plot is nothing new, though the settings--a provincial repertory theatre, a military rifle range--are rather novel. It is giving nothing away to reveal that the title character is portrayed by Maxwell Reed; Edward Underdown co-stars as the obligatory Scotland Yard representative, while future "Dr. Who" William Hartnell plays Underdown's superior. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Underdown, Maxwell Reed, (more)
- 1951
In this actioner, a young British factory worker living in the 1930s chucks his job in favor of motorcycle racing. He is quite successful, becomes an egomaniac, loses his wife, and learns his lesson. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, Bonar Colleano, (more)
- 1949
Stop Press Girl is admittedly a one-joke film, though that joke is a good one. Sally Ann Howes plays a winsome British lass who has the power to stop all machinery around her for a period of 15 minutes. It must needs be that Sally falls in love with a newspaperman, thereby justifying the film's title. The plot rears its ugly head when our heroine is reluctantly involved in an attempt to sabotage a rival newspaper. Stop Press Girl is one of those British comedies that used to pop up all over the place on American TV, only to virtually disappear in the mid-1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sally Ann Howes, Gordon Jackson, (more)
- 1949
Blacklisted in Hollywood, director Edward Dmytryk managed to find work in England. Dmytryk's Obsession is based on Alec Coppel's suspense play A Man About a Dog. Robert Newton stars as Dr. Clive Riordan, the insanely jealous husband of unfaithful Storm Riordan (Sally Gray). Aware that Storm is having a torrid affair with an American named Bill Kronin (Phil Brown), Riordan kidnaps the man and chains him up in a deserted building, intending to kill him with an acid bath. The wife's dog, however, turns up at the last minute and spoils his plot. Obsession was released in the U.S. as The Hidden Room. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Newton, Sally Gray, (more)
