Marjorie Mars Movies
- 1948
Cinematographer Ronald Neame made his directorial debut with the 1947 murder melodrama Take My Life. When a Covent Garden violinist is found murdered, her ex-lover, show business manager Nicholas Talbot (Hugh Williams) finds himself under suspicion. The only person who believes that Talbot is innocent is his wife, opera diva Phillipa Shelley (Greta Gynt). Unable to convince the authorities, Phillipa plays detective herself, utilizing a snatch of a newly written song as her main clue to the true killer's identity. If the mysterious murderer isn't all that mysterious to the audience, it is only because the actor in question had played too many similar roles in the past. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hugh Williams, Greta Gynt, (more)
Based on Noël Coward's play "Still Life," Brief Encounter is a romantic, bittersweet drama about two married people who meet by chance in a London railway station and carry on an intense love affair. Sentimental yet down-to-earth and set in pre-World War II England, the film follows British housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), who is on her way home, but catches a cinder in her eye. By chance, she meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), who removes it for her. The two talk for a few minutes and strike immediate sparks, but they end up catching different trains. However, both return to the station once a week to meet and, as the film progresses, they grow closer, sharing stories, hopes, and fears about their lives, marriages, and children. One day, when Alec's train is late, both become frantic that they will miss each other. When they finally find each other, they realize that they are in love. But what should be a joyous realization is fraught with tragedy, since both care greatly for their families. Howard and Johnson give flawless performances as two practical, married people who find themselves in a situation in which they know they can never be happy. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, (more)
- 1936
Hollywood star Richard Barthelmess, who's about as French as a hot dog with mustard, plays the title character in the British costume melodrama Spy of Napoleon. Based on a novel by Baroness Orczy (The Scarlet Pimpernel), the plot focuses on the animosity between Napoleon III (Frank Vosper) and Prussian chancellor Bismarck (Lyn Harding). Certain that he is surrounded by traitors (which indeed he is), Napoleon dispatches his illegitimate daughter Eloise (Dolly Haas) to flush out the turncoats. It happens that the girl is married to exiled French patriot Gerald de Lanoy (Barthelmess), who though he despises Napoleon loves his country and agrees to help her in her mission. Francis L. Sullivan wins the acting honors as the Emperor's sinister chief of police Toulon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Barthelmess, Dolly Haas, (more)
- 1935
In this crime drama, a con artist posing as a financier cheats his peers out of a large sum of money, resulting in suicide and imprisonment. The con man is also imprisoned, but he escapes. Those he cheated await their release and then take off after him. The man is such a louse that his own wife squeals on him. Later it is her lover who takes care of them all. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1935
The Crouching Beast was based on Clubfoot, an espionage novel by Valentine Williams. Set in 1915 Constantinople, the story is motivated by the sinister activities of Turkish secret agent Ahmed Bey (Fritz Kortner), better known as Clubfoot. Wynne Gibson stars as American newspaperwoman Gail Dunbar, who becomes inadvertently involved in Clubfoot's skullduggery, and at one point is subjected to a torturous interrogation by the villain. She escapes in time to aid a British agent in stealing plans of the Dardanelles fortifications. Originally released at 79 minutes, The Crouching Beast was shown of a reel's worth of footage before its American release through RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Wynne Gibson, Fritz Kortner, (more)
- 1933
When schoolgirl Ander sets out to win the love of a diplomat she pretends to be a socialite ending up in predictable entanglements in this Swiss-based musical. ~ Rovi
