John Rudling Movies
- 1959
After four fatal air accidents, it would appear that the new experimental fuel diffuser created by a man named Scott (Duncan Lamont) is a failure. But Scott is convinced that the "accidents" were caused by enemy sabotage--and he asks "Invisible Man" Peter Brady to help him prove the effectiveness of his invention and flush out the villains. The great British character actress Patricia Jessel, who played the Marlene Dietrich role in the original Broadway production of "Witness for the Prosecution", appears as enemy spy Katrina. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1953
The first Ealing Studios comedy shot in color, Titfield Thunderbolt takes place in a tiny British village serviced by a branch railway line. When the government plans to close the line down, the locals are in a panic--except for a group intending to set up an expensive bus service. The local vicar (George Relph) concocts a scheme with the town's wealthiest man (Stanley Holloway) for the villagers to run the rail line themselves; in this way they hope to prove to the railway inspectors that their branch is still worth keeping. When the bus interests attempt to sabotage this undertaking, the villagers respond by stealing a stray locomotive--and when this proves cumbersome, they reactivate a 19th century train engine from the local museum. The Titfield Thunderbolt is uniquely British in humor and approach, but not so "inside" as to alienate American filmgoers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stanley Holloway, George Relph, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, (more)
