Robert Crewdson Movies
Anthropologist Dr. Brockton (Joan Crawford) believes she has discovered the missing link in this flat science fiction drama. The creature is found in a cave and brought to her laboratory to undergo tests for her research. The hairy beast with the face of a monkey loves classical music and hates rock & roll. When one of the slack-jawed yokels opens his cage, he escapes and goes on a killing rampage as he tries to return to his cave. In a gentle moment with a little girl, the beast shows a tender side that recalls a scene from Frankenstein. Soon troops are called in, despite Brockton's protest to entomb the creature by dynamiting the entrance to the cave. This was the last film for Joan Crawford, an inglorious way to end a legendary film career. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Michael Gough, (more)
- 1966
Though scripted by Psycho author Robert Bloch, this is neither a sequel nor a variant on the Alfred Hitchcock classic. Instead, we are presented with a more subdued British version of an Italian "giallo" thriller, as interpreted by acclaimed director Freddie Francis. The plot involves a pattern of grisly murders whose perpetrator leaves a small doll by the body of each victim. The plot thickens as police eventually link each of the victims to the lost fortune of a German tycoon, whose dirty business dealings were uncovered shortly after World War II; what seems at first to be the work of a single revenge-minded maniac hints at a wider-reaching and more devious plot. Bloch's script, though lean and filled with surprises, is a bit too overloaded with manipulative twists, red herrings, and futile attempts to outdo Psycho's manic intensity, but Francis still builds sufficient momentum to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Patrick Wymark, Margaret Johnston, (more)
In this British sci-fi thriller, a spacecraft from Ganymede, the moon of Jupiter, lands in a small community, and the alien visitors set out to find women. It seems that their population has become dangerously low and they need human females for breeding purposes. When the police begin receiving reports of a number of missing women, it takes quite some time before anyone thinks that there could be a link between the disappearances and a dramatic increase in UFO activities. John Saxon plays Jack Costain, an American scientist investigating the UFO reports, while Alfred Burke plays Police Detective Hartley. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Maurice Denham, (more)
- 1961
Placed in command of France's Chateau de la Marre district in 1944, sadistic Nazi general Guenther Hautmann (Andrew Morell) prepares to ship all of the locals to work camps. First, however, he perversely throws the unfortunates a lavish party in a luxurious chateau, the site of a similar celebration held in 1723 by a despotic landowner. Hautmann even goes to great lengths to recreate the original party, down to the tiniest detail. But the guests who show up for the festivities are definitely not on the General's invitation list. This is one of several One Step Beyond episodes filmed in England. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1960
In this 1959 comedy, Robert MacPherson (Robert Morley) inherits his family's textile business in Edinburgh, Scotland, then hires American efficiency expert Angela Barrows (Constance Cummings) to bring the business into the modern age. The House of MacPherson has long been known as a manufacturer of fine Scottish tweed, and the company's mild-mannered head clerk, Mr. Martin (Peter Sellers), worries that the no-nonsense Barrows will ruin everything with her new-fangled ideas and eventually replace him and his co-workers with automatons. So after she installs the latest labor-saving devices, including intercoms and noisy adding machines, he sabotages them in a gradually unfolding scheme to persuade MacPherson that the old Scottish ways are still the best, that true craftsmanship requires a human touch. By this time, however, MacPherson has taken a fancy to Barrows romantically, and she can do no wrong. Then, horror of horrors, Barrows proposes that the company make synthetic tweed -- mass-produced synthetic tweed -- in an all-out effort to Americanize the Scottish firm. That's the last straw for Martin, and he thinks there is only one option left for him: to murder Barrows. Of course, meek Mr. Martin isn't exactly a natural-born killer, and he botches one attempt after another in a sequence of scenes that keep the action moving briskly along. But Martin has pluck and plenty of persistence, and he eventually hatches another plot to undo the meddlesome Barrows. The film, loosely based on a James Thurber story entitled The Catbird Seat, was directed by Charles Crichton, the same man who directed the highly successful Lavender Hill Mob. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Robert Morley, (more)
- 1958
This WWII espionage drama is based on the true tale of a British spy, as told in the story by J. Alvin Kugelmass. Alex Schottland (Jack Hawkins) is a career agent for England, having served during WWI. He is assigned to Nazi Germany and rises to the rank of general as WWII breaks out. His contact is Cornaz (Felix Alymer), who pretends to be a clock seller. But Cornaz's identity is discovered, and he is brutally murdered. Schottland overcomes suspicions and makes contacts with a new British agent, Lili Geyr (Gia Scala), who is a nightclub singer. His love for her is first feigned as part of the spy game -- then becomes real. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jack Hawkins, Gia Scala, (more)
The title character in this fact-based POW drama is Franz von Werra, played by Hardy Kruger. Shot down early in the war, Luftwaffe pilot von Werra is incarcerated in an English prison camp. He refuses to submit to camp routine, insisting that he's on the brink of escaping. After two failed attempts, von Werra is transferred to a camp in Montreal. If you want to know what happens next, take a squint at the title. If you want to know how he does it and why he gets away with it, catch the film. One That Got Away was based on a novel by Kendal Burt and James Leasor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hardy Kruger, Colin Gordon, (more)
- 1955
The ever-adventuresome Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are responsible for the British musical farce Oh, Rosalinda! Set in postwar Vienna, the film stars Michael Redgrave as Colonel Eisenstein, a military officer who because of a little legal misunderstanding must serve a few months in prison. While sitting alone in her sumptuous house, the colonel's wife Rosalinda (Ludmilla Tcherina) is romanced by American officer Alfred Westerman (Mel Ferrer). When the guard assigned to escort Rosalinda to prison marches in, Westerman, hoping to save Rosalinda from disgrace, claims that he's her husband, and winds up in the pokey himself. Later on, Rosalinda attends a costume ball, where she flirts outrageously with her own husband. Sound familiar? It should: Oh, Rosalinda is a modernized version of Johann Strauss' comic opera Die Fledermaus. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Redgrave, Mel Ferrer, (more)
