Nelly Arno Movies
A U.S. military officer is motivated by love and compassion to begin a life of crime in this action adventure story. Sgt. Joe Lawrence (Richard Widmark) is an American Army officer who, while stationed in Berlin shortly after the end of WWII, falls in love with Maria (Mai Zetterling), a refugee trying to raise enough money to move a group of German orphans to South America, where they can start life anew. Joe wants to help her, and with his buddies Sgt. Roger Morris (George Cole) and Brian Hammell (Nigel Patrick), Joe plans a daring robbery. A fortune in gold is being transferred from England to Germany via military transport, and Joe, Roger, and Brian intend to hijack the plane and grab the treasure. While the robbery goes off as planned, the three participants soon have second thoughts about what to do with their ill-gotten gains. Seven years later, leading lady Mai Zetterling would commence a distinguished career as a director with her film Wargame. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Mai Zetterling, (more)
David Niven returns to his native England to star in the frothy comedy The Love Lottery. Niven plays a Hollywood movie star who is the "prize" in a lottery dreamed up by his press agent. The lucky lady who "wins" Niven will be able to spend a week in his company. Sensing the silliness of the whole enterprise, Niven promises publicly to marry the winner--and that's where starry-eyed fan Peggy Cummins enters the proceedings. Herbert Lom is the film's fly in the ointment, dogging Niven's trail to Italy to make certain that he keeps his promise. There's an amusing celebrity cameo in The Love Lottery, but to reveal the identity of the film's "special guest star" might spoil the viewer's fun. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Niven, Peggy Cummins, (more)
This British crime drama is set in a supposedly haunted London theater and centers upon a producer who rents the building from its female owner to put on a show. She does so on the condition that no one unlock the dressing room where her husband was murdered years before. Later, the woman's son is murdered on stage. The police find clues that lead them to the mysterious locked room. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
So Long at the Fair is based on a true story -- or at least, a story that has been told and retold so often that it is now accepted as truth. The year is 1889: the setting, the Paris Exhibition. Among the thousands in attendance are Vicky Barton (Jean Simmons) and her brother Johnny (David Tomlinson). After the first night of the Exhibition, Vicky is exhilarated, while Johnny seems a bit under the weather. The next morning, Vicky knocks on Johnny's hotel door, only to discover that her brother has disappeared. When she goes to the police and, later, to the British consul, the authorities refuse to believe her story. In fact, there is no evidence that Johnny ever existed! The outcome of this story is rather well known; still, it is perhaps best not to reveal any further details. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean Simmons, Dirk Bogarde, (more)
The Lost People is a pedantic British drama set in a large, abandoned German theatre just after the War. A disparate group of homeless refugees huddle together within the structure. As they get to know each other, old wounds are opened, social and religious clashes break out, recriminations melt into reconciliations, and the theatre threatens to become a metaphor for the World At Large. In fact, it's not a threat but a foregone conclusion. The Lost People is based on Cockpit, a play by Bridget Boland. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
It isn't surprising that The Great Manhunt invokes fond memories of Alfred Hitchcock; the film was scripted by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, the two former Hitchcock collaborators responsible for the screenplay of The Master's The Lady Vanishes (38). Gilliat also directed this fast-paced political adventure, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as an American heart surgeon summoned to operate on the ruler of a Balkan dictatorship. When the dictator dies, Fairbanks becomes a security risk for those who wish to perpetuate the totalitarian regime. The doctor desperately seeks a means of escaping the country; along the way, he teams up with a showgirl (Glynis Johns) who likewise wants to get home in a hurry. Meanwhile, the head of the secret police (Jack Hawkins) tries to keep one step ahead of Fairbanks. A healthy strain of comic cynicism pervades Great Manhunt, with both hero and villain making self-deprecating comments on the fickle nature of political power. Released in the US as State Secret, The Great Manhunt was based on Roy Huggins' novel Appointment With Fear. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Glynis Johns, (more)
In this Cold War spy classic, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a third-rate American pulp novelist, arrives in postwar Vienna, where he has been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Upon his arrival, Martins discovers that Lime has been killed in a traffic accident, and that his funeral is taking place immediately. At the graveside, Martins meets outwardly affable Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) and actress Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), who is weeping copiously. When Calloway tells Martins that the late Harry Lime was a thief and murderer, the loyal Martins is at first outraged. Gradually, he discovers not only that Calloway was right but also that the man lying in the coffin in the film's early scenes was not Harry Lime at all--and that Lime is still very much alive (he was the mysterious "third man" at the scene of the fatal accident). Thus the stage is set for the movie's famous climactic confrontation in the sewers of Vienna--and the even more famous final shot, in which Martins pays emotionally for doing "the right thing." Written by Graham Greene, The Third Man is an essential classic, made even more so by the insistent zither music of Anton Karas. The film is currently available in both an American and British release version; the American print, with an introduction by Joseph Cotten, is slightly shorter than the British version, which is narrated by director Carol Reed. Nominated for several Academy Awards, The Third Man won Best Cinematography for Robert Krasker. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, (more)
Portrait from Life is an over-orchestrated "guilty pleasure" from the glory days of British romance pictures. A German professor sees a portrait in an art gallery which looks exactly like his daughter, who is assumed to have died in the war. The girl (Mai Zetterling) has been living as an amnesiac in Europe, under the protection of a former Nazi bigwig. British army major Guy Rolfe tries to cut through red tape and an tangled-up espionage plot to rescue the girl. Portrait from Life was issued in the US under the imaginative title The Girl in the Painting. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mai Zetterling, Guy Rolfe, (more)






