Myrette Morven Movies

Peter Sellers stars as an inmate in a "model prison" run by Maurice Denham. Though Sellers is disinclined to escape (he's never been as comfortable in his life), he is convinced to do so by phony vicar Wilfred Hyde-White, who breaks into jail to outline a robbery scheme. Hyde-White's plan is to have Sellers and his cellmates David Lodge and Bernard Cribbins take a brief "vacation" from jail, pull off a big-time robbery, then return undetected to prison, thereby establishing a perfect alibi. Within its 87-minute time span, Two-Way Stretch takes satirical potshots at political bleeding hearts, obese Middle Eastern potentates, and regulation-bound British police officials. One cannot be faulted for wishing that Peter Sellers had stuck to engaging small-scale British farces such as this and had never ventured into such unamusing big-budgeters as The Bobo and There's a Girl in My Soup. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

What was the lady-like Dame Anna Neagle doing in something called Bad Girl -- or, as it was renamed in certain regions, Teenage Bad Girl? In point of fact, the film was originally and more tastefully titled My Teenage Daughter when Neagle signed on. Neagle plays Valerie Carr, the editor of a fiction magazine aimed at the youth market. Though she considers herself "hep" to the world of the young, she has no concept of what her own teenaged daughter, Janet (Sylvia Syms), is all about. When Janet falls into bad company, her mother does what she can to help. But Janet won't pay Mom any heed until her shenanigans land her in jail. Not at all exploitational, Bad Girl is constructed more along the lines of a 1940s "woman's picture" -- tears, renunciations, reconciliations. The film was produced and directed by Neagle's husband, Herbert Wilcox. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This low-key Launder-Gilliat production was inspired by a play by James Bridie. Alastair Sim carries the ball as Captain Paris, an army chaplain who endeavors to organize a camp show for the troops. Practically everyone with whom the Captain comes in contact is an "expert" on the sort of entertainment that the soldiers will like. Ultimately, things degenerate into a battle of egos between an effete artist and his professorial wife. The film's best scenes are those in which Captain Paris tries out his own offbeat notions of entertaining the boys in khaki. Incidentally, the title of the original Bridie play was It Depends What You Mean. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This British production stars Claudette Colbert as a socialite who marries wealthy plantation owner Jack Hawkins. The newlyweds move to Hawkins' plantation in Malaya, where she quickly bores of her dead-end existence and harbors dreams of extramarital affairs. When the natives prove restless, however, Colbert loyally stays by her husband's side and helps him defend his property. Outpost in Malaya was originally released in Great Britain as The Planter's Wife. The film represented Claudette Colbert's first non-Hollywood film project--though hardly her last. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Despite its lighthearted title, Lady Godiva Rides Again is a fairly potent indictment of the darker side of beauty contests. Waitress Marjorie (Pauline Stroud) enters one competition after another, hoping for fame and fortune. She manages to make the finals of a "Lady Godiva" contest, never suspecting that the outcome has been rigged. By accident, Marjorie wins First Prize, a huge sum of money and a movie contract. Alas, she hasn't the talent to parlay her win into a lasting career, and soon Marjorie is scrounging around for any "girlie show" job she can find. Only when reduced to performing nude in a French cabaret review is Marjorie rescued by her Australian boyfriend Larry Burns (John McCallum), who makes her promise to stop all this nonsense and settle down to domesticity. The well-chosen cast includes Dennis Price as a lascivious movie star and Stanley Holloway and Gladys Henson as the girl's nonplused parents. Featured in smaller roles are such future leading ladies as Kay Kendall, Diana Dors, Dagmar (later Dana) Wynter and, in an uncredited bit, Joan Collins. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A battle of the sexes begins to rage in an isolated private school in this charming British comedy. Just outside of London during World War II, Axis bombing forces the evacuation of a private all-girls school, St. Swithins. Thanks to a bureaucratic mix-up, the girls of St. Swithins and their Headmistress Muriel Whitchurch (Margaret Rutherford) are to be billeted at the nearby Nutborne Boys School. While the students learn to make do with the crowded conditions, Nutborne headmaster Wetherby Pond (Alistair Sim) is less than pleased with the situation, especially after he and Whitchurch begin butting heads over which of them is truly in charge. The Happiest Days Of Your Life was based on a popular stage comedy by playwright John Dighton. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Assembled by the reliable team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, London Belongs to Me stars Richard Attenborough as a young, full-of-beans boy looking for fun. Bursting into a staid, wearisome London neighborhood, Attenborough exhorts the others to get some kicks out of life. Unfortunately, his search for thrills gets him involved in a murder. Just when you think that the film is a dour "slice of life" drama, a new comic element is introduced as the locals start up a petition to release Attenborough from jail. The presence of Alastair Sim in the cast should have tipped us off that London Belongs to Me wasn't meant to be taken entirely seriously. The film was released in the US as Dulcimer Street. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this lively spy caper, the male half of a married song-and-dance duo moonlights as a government spy. The trouble begins when he is assigned to monitor a sexy foreign spy, something he must keep from his wife, who soon gets jealous when she sees the two constantly together. To monitor her own husband, the wife gets herself hired as a maid to the seductive secret agent. Her husband, impressed by her natural surveillance skills, finally gives in and allows her to help. Using their special talents, the two investigate and expose a master-spy who has fitted a new kind of carburetor on his airplane. To get at it, the couple dresses up like mechanics and hides upon the plane. Once airborne, they force the pilot out and head back for England. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi