Scott Harold Movies

Alec Guinness has one of his finest comic roles in this Ealing satirical comedy about a much patronized amateur scientist whose latest invention creates an uproar in the British textile industry. In the British manufacturing country of Northern England, factory owner Michael Corland (Michael Gough) is showing competitor Alan Bimley (Cecil Parker) around his plant, hoping to borrow some money and marry off his daughter Daphne (Joan Greenwood). They come upon a curious contraption that turns out to be an experiment by employee Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness). Being a lower class worker, Sidney is summarily fired from his job. Sidney ends up working at Bimley's factory, where he is befriended by militant worker Bertha (Vida Hope). Daphne spots Sidney at the factory and he explains to her the results of his experiment -- a material that is indestructible and impervious to dirt. Bimley discovers this project and throws Sidney out. But Daphne, impressed by his experiments, funds Sidney, installing him in his own laboratory. After a few false starts, Sidney develops a pure white material that can't be dirtied or ruined. But it seems Sidney's invention is too brilliant and effective; if a material is marketed that will last forever, textile mills will go out of business and workers will lose their jobs. Suddenly, poor, luckless Sidney has both management and labor banding together to combat his new invention. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The Anglo-American co-production Britannia Mews was released in the U.S. as The Affairs of Adelaide, then reissued as Forbidden Street, the title it carries today. Set in the Victoria era, the film focuses upon Adelaide (Maureen O'Hara), a young lady of good family who renounces both name and fame when she marries an impoverished artist (Dana Andrews). When her husband is killed in an accident, Adelaide is blackmailed by a spiteful old hag (Dame Sybil Thorndike) who claims that the girl killed her spouse. Enter a handsome young barrister who is the living image of Adelaide's late husband (and who, accordingly, is
also played by Dana Andrews). He extricates Adelaide from her plight, reunites her with her family, and along the way falls in love with her himself. Ring Lardner Jr. adapted Britannia Mews from a novel by Margery Sharp. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A. J. Cronin's novel was brought to the screen by director Carol Reed. The film is set in a northern England mining town (far more realistically depicted than the back-lot Welsh village in John Ford's How Green Was My Valley. The parents of Michael Redgrave have labored long and hard so that their son can escape his grimy environs and make something of himself. While away at school, Redgrave is trapped into marriage by Margaret Lockwood, previously the lady friend of ill-tempered Emlyn Williams (the actor was himself a product of the Welsh mining community). When Lockwood and Williams resume their romance, the disillusioned Redgrave returns home, where he becomes deeply involved in a labor dispute. He ultimately decides that it is best for all if he remains in the village of his birth, working tirelessly on behalf of his friends, relatives and neighbors. Denied the larger budgets indigenous to Hollywood films, Carol Reed invested a gritty documentary "feel" into The Stars Look Down; the film brought him international acclaim, serving as a stepping stone for even greater cinematic accomplishments. Curiously, Reed himself didn't subscribe to A. J. Cronin's opinions vis-a-vis the nationalization of the coal mines; he was simply attracted to the dramatic possibilities of the tale. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this melodrama, an actress willingly sacrifices her career to marry a scientist and have a daughter. But try as she might, she cannot resist the call of the footlights and she goes back to the boards. Her husband then divorces her. Two decades pass and the daughter becomes a lovely young woman. Trouble ensues when she and her mother fall in love with the same radio producer. When her mother sees this, she gives the fellow up. The actress is then shot by a disgruntled old lover. This leads her to her ex-husband who has loved her all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Look-alike reporter and thief coincidentally take the same transatlantic liner and the reporter is blamed for some robberies, but is able to clear his name and catch the thief with assistance by Medina. ~ Rovi

In this comedy, a plucky woman visiting the south of France attempts to catch herself a movie star. To help her, she cons a womanizing count to woo her and make her boyfriend jealous. Unfortunately, it backfires and the count falls for her. She then hatches a new scheme in which the count and the movie star kidnap her. Along the way, the movie star offends her and she goes running back to the count. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this drama, a British journalist is invited to be a guest journalist with a Chicago paper. He is en route to the Windy City aboard a ship when he mistakenly identifies some passengers as dangerous criminals. The addled reporter then mistakes an heiress for a cabaret singer resulting in the abduction of the real singer by the real crooks. Fortunately, the journalist saves the girl, but ends up missing a big scoop. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi