Robert Morley Movies

Istanbul, also released as Istanbul, Keep Your Eyes Open, is an old-fashioned, shallow, unbelievable thriller. Frank Collins (Timothy Bottoms) is an American reporter living in Sweden. Collins receives a video from his stepson's real father and goes to Istanbul, leaving his stepson at home, but taking his daughter. While in Istanbul, Collins meets Maud. Collins daughter is kidnapped and he finds out about a weapons-smuggling ring. The convoluted plot then involves false identities, murders and evidence of an impending assassination, with a number of car chases. The entire movie is jumbled, confusing and finally concludes in a downbeat, unconvincing muddle with most of the lost strings still untied. Views should beware of this low-rent rip-off of Roman Polanski's Frantic or Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Adaptation of Barbara Cartland's novel featuring a 17th century adventure romance between an aristocrat and an endangered noblewoman. ~ All Movie Guide

Little Dorrit was intended as the cinematic equivalent to the mammoth, eight hour Royal Shakespeare Company's staging of Dickens' Nicholas Nickelby. The film was released to theatres in two parts, each running approximately three hours. The first part, subtitled "Nobody's Fault," introduced us to the seamstress title character (Sarah Pickering), who chooses to live in debtor's prison with her father (Alec Guinness). Good samaritan Derek Jacobi endeavors to help both father and daughter. The second part, also known as "Little Dorrit's Story," details Dorrit's escape from penury to lasting happiness. Eschewing the usual 19th century-style British music often heard in Dickensian adaptations, director Christine Edzard creatively-and effectively--opts for the strains of Giuseppe Verdi. Edzard's eye for period detail is also deserving of unbounded praise. Unfortunately, Part Two of Little Dorrit spends nearly half of its running time recapping Part One, utilizing much of the same footage. For those familiar with "Nobody's Fault," "Little Dorrit's Story" is more a redundancy than a continuation. Still, taken together, parts one and two all fully deserving of the enthusiastic critical commentary that greeted them upon their original release-not to mention the multiple Academy Award nominations bestowed upon the project and its participants. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Appleton Porter (Donald Sutherland) is an inept international secret agent sent by the U.S. to the island of Ibiza in this uneven spy comedy. His mission is to secure the secret recipe for a truth serum to use on enemy agents. Appleton miraculously avoids being killed on several occasions as suspicions point to various hotel guests. Hotel owner Mona Smith (Lucy Gutteridge), Harry Lewis (Ned Beatty), and Mrs. Arkwright (Ruth Gordon) soon make addle-brained Appleton feel that someone, if not everyone, is up to no good. The movie was shot in 1984 and shelved for three years --- explaining the presence of Gordon, who died the following August. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This 1982 made-for-TV version of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland features an all-star cast. Such celebrities as Donald O'Connor, Maureen Stapleton and Eve Arden struggle to perform while buried under mounds of makeup and tons of eccentric costuming as Carroll's alternate-world loonies. Alice in Wonderland was first telecast Oct 3, 1983, on PBS' Great Performances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Several criminal lawyers reunite every year in the Swiss mountains to entertain themselves with fake trials and murder mysteries. At one year's party, an unwitting American becomes part of the game. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

The Great Muppet Caper is the second Muppet film and it is considerably more complex than its predecessor, The Muppet Movie, which was essentially just a road movie. As the film begins, Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear are reporters who have failed to bag a story of a London jewel heist, which happened under their watch. The real criminals managed to escape and frame Miss Piggy as the thief. Kermit, Fozzie and the Great Gonzo set out on a mission to solve the mystery and track down the criminals who stole the Baseball Diamond. There are fewer star cameos and songs in The Great Muppet Caper than in The Muppet Movie, although appearances from John Cleese and Charles Grodin are particularly memorable. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Any comedy should be suspect when the lead character, in this case Benjamin Browning, is played both by an actor (Chevy Chase) and a lovable dog (Benji). Private eye Browning is in London tracking down a sexual scandal in British political circles when he is murdered. His karma is canine in form and gets him rebirth as a dog. Fortunately for him, the dog's owner is Jackie Howard (Jane Seymour), a magazine reporter who does not realize that there is a rather lustful man inside her innocent pooch. Benji supplies the few moments of humor in this uneven film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This routine espionage drama is based on a novel by Graham Greene about a low-level British informant who is caught in a trap. Castle (Nicol Williamson) has a desk job in British intelligence. Around him are heavyweights like Col. Daintry (Richard Attenborough), Sir John Hargreaves (Richard Vernon), and Percival (Robert Morley) who will cold-bloodedly stop at nothing to do their jobs as they see fit. And Castle certainly is a nobody compared to them. One day when a friend of his in Africa needs some help, Castle is conned into supplying the Eastern block countries with info on demand. No one suspects him because of his low position, but when his office partner is hauled off, Castle begins to rethink his situation. This was director Otto Preminger's last film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Assembled in Hungarian by novice producer Robert Halmi and equally "green" director Bill Feigenbaum, Hugo the Hippo is an easygoing feature-length cartoon. Hugo, a baby hippopotamus living in ancient times, is persecuted by a world populated by hippo-haters. Foremost among these reprobates is Aban Khan, who in the English-language version of this film is voiced by Paul Lynde. Hugo perseveres with the little help of some new friends, both animal and human. Only fitfully successful in theatres, Hugo the Hippo later gained a huge following thanks to its ready availability in the early days of videocassettes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The darkly comic and sometimes quite gory Theatre of Blood is a vehicle tailor-made for its star Vincent Price, brilliantly capitalizing on his reputation as a master of period horror drawn from "literary" sources. Price portrays Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart, who becomes enraged after losing a prominent acting award and decides to seek revenge on the critics responsible. Fittingly, he using the works of the Bard as a guide, basing his killings on violent scenes from Shakespearean plays. Price takes full advantage of his meaty role, ominously reciting classic Elizabethan monologues while rigging particularly nasty torture devices. This hilarious turn is assisted by a colorful supporting cast, including Robert Morley, Richard Coote, and Michael Hordern as critics and Diana Rigg as Lionheart's devoted daughter and partner in crime. The end result is a wonderfully evil lark that, in its own way, proves surprisingly faithful to the often bloody spirit of Shakespeare; certainly the full implications of Shylock's demand for a "pound of flesh" have rarely been made quite as explicit. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This musical biography of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (Torval Maurstad) is based on the play of the same name. Living in poverty after graduating from a music conservatory, Grieg scandalizes his family by marrying his cousin Nina (Florence Henderson). Grieg has an affair with a former schoolmate, Therese Berg (Christina Schollin), a wealthy woman who makes a deal with her influential father to end the romance if he'll arrange a concert for Grieg in Stockholm. Grieg eventually travels to Rome, where his significance as an artist begins to find appreciation. His association with Therese is not really finished and Grieg's humble piano, a gift from the self-sacrificing Nina, is overshadowed by Therese's gift of a grand piano. Back to back with the subsequent and equally unsuccessful The Great Waltz (1972), the last two films of writer, producer, and director Andrew Stone ended his nearly 50 year career. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide