Helena Gloag Movies
- 1972
My Childhood is an award-winning black-and-white film which recounts director Bill Douglas' experiences as a child in Scotland during World War II. The movie was shot in the same locations he lived in as a boy. In the film, the boy lives with his half-brother and grandmother in a remote mining village. The bleakness of their lives is brightened by their friendship with a German P.O.W. This short film is the first of three dealing with director Douglas' Scottish childhood. The other two are My Ain Folk and My Way Home. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Archibald, Karl Fieseler, (more)
Scrooge was designed as a follow-up to 1968's Oliver!, the Oscar-winning musicalization of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. The umpteenth musical version of Dickens' 1843 novelette A Christmas Carol, Scrooge features several sprightly Leslie Bricusse songs, including the bona fide hit "Thank You Very Much." Buried under mounds of latex, Albert Finney is Ebenezer Scrooge. The Three Ghosts who turn the miserly Scrooge's life around on Christmas Eve are portrayed by Edith Evans (Past), Kenneth More (Present) and Paddy Stone (Yet to Come). Sir Alec Guinness also appears as a fussy, slightly effeminate Marley's Ghost. Intriguingly, Finney performs his many songs live, without post-production dubbing. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, Alec Guinness, (more)
- 1970
- R
In this British tragi-comedy taking place among emotionally bankrupt upper-class Scottish countrymen, Peter O'Toole plays Sir Charles Henry Arbuthnot Pinkerton Ferguson, a mentally disturbed Scotsman, living on his uncared-for farm, who also harbors an incestuous yearning for his sister Hilary (Susannah York), who is staying with Sir Charles after a fight with her husband Douglas (Michael Craig). However, while at a local sheep auction, Hilary encounters Douglas and she realizes she still loves him. Hilary and Douglas agree to meet that night at a country dance. But Sir Charles finds out about their intended rendezvous and at the dance that night, continually interrupts Hilary and Douglas's reunion. Sir Charles further hampers a reconciliation by allowing Hilary to think that Douglas is the father of a maid's illegitimate child. Hilary, in reaction, goes wild and becomes the complete party girl, propositioning the band leader but going off with Jock (Brian Blessed), the real father of the maid's child. When Sir Charles finds Hilary asleep in his car the next morning, and Hilary tells him of her antics of the night before, Sir Charles lapses into a deep depression as he realizes that his sister is lost to him. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Susannah York, (more)
Based on the novel by Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie stars Maggie Smith in the title role. Smith won an Academy Award for her delicately textured portrayal of an eccentric teacher at an exclusive Scottish girl's school. Miss Jean exhorts her "gels" to follow their hearts and never lose their youthful idealism. Unfortunately for her, she also stumps for her favorite political figures: Mussolini and Franco. In addition, she can't keep the innermost details of her private life a secret, and in fact boasts about her sex life to her students. Her prize pupil (Pamela Franklin) becomes so much a clone of Miss Jean that she ends up a threat to the teacher. Ultimately, Miss Jean loses her position, but not the hearts of her students. The box-office success of Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was due in great part to the popularity of the title song, as recorded by Rod McKuen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maggie Smith, Robert Stephens, (more)
When a man buys an otter for a pet, he gets more than he bargained for as he tries to keep the animal in his bathtub. He and his pet soon find life in London is not the place for such and animal, so the two head for the coast. The man enlists the help of a local female doctor to help in the care and feeding of his beloved otter in this family feature from the writers of Born Free. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, (more)
