Keith Baxter Movies
This four-hour fantasy miniseries, elaborating on the Arthurian legend and filmed in England and Wales, offers a portrait of the wizard Merlin (Sam Neill), following his life as a youth (Daniel Brocklebank) to his later conflicts with the evil Queen Mab (Miranda Richardson) and his love for Nimue (Isabella Rossellini), who is kidnapped by Lord Vortigern (Rutger Hauer). Amid battles and displays of magic and mysticism (courtesy of London's Framestore and the Jim Henson Creature Shop), Merlin strides the English countryside encountering Excalibur, the unbreakable sword, and a Camelot cast of colorful characters including the morphing manservant Frik (Martin Short), Morgan le Fey (Helena Bonham Carter), King Arthur (Paul Curran), Lancelot (Jeremy Sheffield), and Guinevere (Lena Heady). Premiered April 26, 1998 on NBC. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sam Neill, Isabella Rossellini, (more)
- 1989
Lola (Julia Migenes) is an American singer in a Berlin nightclub who falls for the East German pianist David (Jose Coronado) in this romantic drama. Their love affair is interrupted by Professor Huessler (Keith Baxter), the dedicated orchestra conductor who sends David back East. Huessler and Lola become romantically involved after David's departure. He helps Lola find a job in an opera company when the club is shut down following the stabbing death of an American GI. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julia Migenes, Keith Baxter, (more)
- 1977
Richard Harris dodges bullets from stem to stern in this middling thriller, based on a novel by Alistair MacLean. The plot concerns high-sea hijinks aboard the Caribbean Star, a combination cargo ship and floating casino. In the midst of the high rollers and spinning roulette wheels appears Luis Carreras (John Vernon), an amoral mercenary who hijacks the ship. Taking his marching orders from a mysterious mastermind, he installs an atomic device mid-ship, holding both the passengers and the bomb hostage, hoping to exchange them for the gold bullion of an U.S. Treasury ship. All seems to be going according to Luis's plan until First Officer John Carter (Richard Harris), the attractive Susan Beresford (Ann Turkel), and Dr. Marston (Gordon Jackson) arrive to put a crimp in Luis's escapade. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Harris, Ann Turkel, (more)
- 1975
The nightingale is opera singer Susan Flannery, who is on the verge of marriage. Suddenly her first husband, whom she thought long dead, pops up very much alive. An unsavory type, Hubby Number One agrees to stay out of Flannery's life...for a price. The nightingale's nightmare: How can she dispose of this awkward extortionist? Keith Baxter costars in this videotaped installment of the ABC late-night anthology Wide World Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1974
This dark drama, based on a classic Spanish novel, chronicles the troubled life of an unhappily married woman living in a village of indifferent or prejudiced neighbors. The poor woman suffers even more when the town Casanova begins to pursue her as does the local representative for the Spanish Inquisition. AKA La Regenta. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emma Penella, Keith Baxter, (more)
- 1973
A woman undergoes a surgeon's scalpel in a last-ditch attempt to win back her husband in this drama. Barbara Sawyer (Elizabeth Taylor) has been married to her husband, Mark (Henry Fonda), for 30 years, and she's afraid the spark has gone out of their relationship. Barbara is convinced the problem is her appearance -- the years have taken a heavy toll on her, and her haggard, saggy appearance is a far cry from the beauty she possessed in her youth. Determined to save her marriage, Barbara checks into a clinic in Switzerland for extensive plastic surgery, and arranges to meet Mark at a nearby ski lodge once she's recovered. After having her face, breasts, and bottom lifted, Barbara leaves the hospital looking as beautiful as Elizabeth Taylor, and as she waits for Mark to arrive in Switzerland, she allows herself to be seduced by Erich (Helmut Berger), a handsome young playboy, to prove to herself she has regained her allure. However, her new face and figure isn't enough to save her marriage when Mark informs her he's decided to leave her for another woman. Ash Wednesday features detailed footage of actual plastic surgical procedures, some of which were far too bloody for the comfort of most audiences. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1969
Mother regales his two elderly aunts with the thrilling story of "The Great Great Britain Crime." It seems that a group of international criminals planned, Ocean's Eleven-style, to steal all Britain's great treasures simultaneously, using a phony missile attack on London as their cover. Only the two aunties are at all surprised when the villains are thwarted by Steed and Tara. Utilizing generous library footage from the unaired Avengers episode "The Great Great Britain Crime," "Homicide and Old Lace" first aired in America on March 17, 1969, and in England nine days later. The original episode, and its new "wraparound" segments, were written by series stalwart Malcolm Hulke. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1966
The legendary Shakespearean character Sir John Falstaff, the notoriously drunken, obese, and yet charming companion of the young Henry V, steps up from supporting character in several plays to the central focus of Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight, considered by many critics the best of the director's acclaimed Shakespeare films. The script borrows scenes from several plays, but draws most heavily on the two parts of Henry IV, focusing on the shifting relationship between Falstaff and Prince Hal. Beginning as the prince's companion in debauchery and idleness, the corpulent jokester finds himself falling out of favor as the prince comes to terms with the importance of his destiny as England's future leader. While Falstaff's ample wit is still much in evidence, the film places greater emphasis on the tragic character beneath all the joviality, with Welles perfectly embodying this mixture of spiritually youthful prankster and sad adult. While his towering performance naturally takes center stage, the other cast members are also superb. The film's visual elements are also strong, with Welles' attention to composition matching his sensitivity to character. There are technical imperfections due to the film's extremely limited budget, including an inconsistent soundtrack, but they are unable to overshadow the film's many achievements. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Orson Welles, John Gielgud, (more)
Michael Powell's controversial meditation on violence and voyeurism effectively destroyed his career when it was first released, but later generations have come to regard it as a masterpiece. Karl Heinz Boehm stars as Mark, the son of a psychologist who kept a video journal of the boy's upbringing for research purposes. The constant intrusions profoundly affected the boy, who grew up to be a photographer himself; but his principal subject matter consists of women whom he murders before the camera. He then runs the films of his victims in their final throes so that he can study their reactions to death--a perverse extension of his father's experiments, which tormented Mark to analyze his reactions to raw fear. The British press had long been hostile to the unorthodox films of Powell and his partner Emeric Pressburger; when Peeping Tom came around, they used the film to castigate him as "sick" and tawdry. The passage of time has proven Peeping Tom as profound and accomplished as any of Powell's earlier films, and it ranks with Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954) and Vertigo (1958) as a landmark exploration of the links among voyeurism, violence, and male sexual desire. Powell himself plays the evil father in the flashback sequences, and his son Colomba plays Mark as a child. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Karl Heinz Böhm, Moira Shearer, (more)
- 1957
First filmed in 1934 with Norma Shearer, Fredric March and Charles Laughton, Rudolf Bessier's stage hit The Barretts of Wimpole Street was lavishly remade in CinemaScope and Metrocolor in 1957. This time around, Jennifer Jones stars as the beautiful invalid Elizabeth Barrett, who lives under the despotic rule of her Victorian-era father Edward Moulton Barrett (John Gielgud). Literally swept off her feet by dashing, romantic poet Robert Browning (Bill Travers), Elizabeth's hopes for happiness are dashed by her autocratic, implicitly incestuous father until Browning takes decisive action. Virginia McKenna, wife of star Bill Travers, plays Elizabeth's rebellious sister Henrietta. The Barretts of Wimpole Street was the final directorial effort of Sidney Franklin, who also helmed the 1934 version. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jennifer Jones, John Gielgud, (more)
