Victor Spinetti Movies

This music documentary from Delta attempts to trace the history of the Beatles from the fateful first meeting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney through the legendary band's inevitable breakup in 1970. Along with archive footage, The Beatles: Love Me Do features interviews with such Fab Four pals as Victor Spinetti, an in-studio clip of Tony Sheridan recording "My Bonnie" with his band, and a live performance by McCartney. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

From Anchor Bay Entertainment comes the feature-length, animated version of the children's classic, The Secret Garden. The timeless tale chronicles the life of Mary Lennox, an orphan who, after being sent to live in a large, eerie Victorian house with her brooding uncle, discovers a magical secret garden. The only people Mary feels comfortable enough to share her secret with are Dickon, her friend, and Colin Craven, the sickly son of her uncle. This video contains footage previously unaired in the television broadcast. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Peter Medak directed this fact-based drama, chronicling the lives of the infamous Kray Brothers, notorious celebrities in 60s London. The Krays were twin gangsters who ruled London's stylish East End club scene, staking out their territory by committing the most violent crimes imaginable, preferring to perform the most torturous acts themselves. The film stars Gary Kemp and Martin Kemp, founding members of the pop group Spandau Ballet, as Ronald and Reginald Kray. The film opens as their mother Violet Kray (Billie Whitelaw) recalls a dream in which she is a swan from which two beautiful babies have hatched. She can't tell if the swans are angels or demons, but the film soon answers that question for her. Brought up in London's East End in the 1930s, Ronald and Reginald Kray are raised in the resentful world of Violet, who is hateful of her lot in life and bitter at the control men have in running the world ("Housework is a lethal business," she says). The twins react to each other almost telepathically and they take out their anger by clogging the nose of their sleeping father (Alfred Lynch), pushing around fellow schoolboys, and even beating each other to pulp at a boxing match. When her mother chastises them for their fight in a fairground boxing ring ("You fight them up, but you don't fight each other"), the twins veer into the London underworld. In their self-contained world of Us-Against-Them, the Krays rapidly rise to the height of power, first taking over the territory of a petty mobster by violent means and then putting together an underworld empire of posh clubs, cars, and fancy suits. But at the height of their fame, the twins begin to break from each other. Reginald falls in love with Frances (Kate Hardie), while Ronald gets involved in a homosexual relationship with one of his underlings. Ronald, in a jealous rage over Frances stealing his brother away from him, becomes even more brutal in his crimes and while the brothers' backs are turned, a group of older mobsters challenge the Krays' authority, invoking a horrible bloodbath that effects not only the two brothers but Frances and Violet as well. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

This 1988 TV movie covers much of the same ground previously assessed in the stage and movie versions of The Diary of Anne Frank. The principal difference is that this adaptation is told from the point of view of Miep Gies (Mary Steenburgen), the courageous Dutch gentile who, together with her husband (Huub Stapel) risked her life by hiding the Jewish Frank family in the attic of an Amsterdam office building during World War 2. We see how Gies and other good Samaritans attempted to protect and provide sustenance for their Jewish neighbors, right under the noses of the Gestapo. Paul Scofield co-stars as Otto Frank, while his daughter Anne is played by newcomer Lisa Jacobs. Like George Stevens' 1959 filmization of Diary of Anne Frank, this film was made on location. Unlike Stevens' film, The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank is based not on Anne's diary but on Miep Gies' memoirs, Anne Frank Remembered. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In a way, the title of Some Like It Cool was a piquant comment on the career of star Tony Curtis, whose stardom had chilled since his 1959 appearance in Some Like It Hot. This time around, Curtis plays famed 18th-century lover Giacomo Casanova. The plot would have us believe that Casanova has suddenly turned impotent, and is deploying all manner of subterfuge to hide the fact. One of Casanova's stratagems is to hire a look-alike (also Curtis) to uphold his reputation between the sheets. The stellar supporting cast -- Marisa Berenson, Hugh Griffith, Britt Ekland et. al. -- seem far more embarrassed by their tawdry, topless surroundings than Curtis, who steamrolls his way through the film with the same dogged determination that he'd demonstrated in his "Yonda lies the castle of my fadduh" formative years. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After several years at loggerheads with one another, director Blake Edwards and star Peter Sellers reteamed for the slapstick fiesta The Return of the Pink Panther. It looks as though wizard cat-burglar Sir Charles Litton, played by David Niven in the original 1964 Pink Panther but here essayed by Christopher Plummer, is back in business. Dispatched to the Swiss resort town of Gstaad by his long-suffering superior Inspector Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom), Clouseau adopts a series of easily penetrable (and hilarious) disguises to get the goods on Sir Charles and his wife Claudine (Catherine Schell). If you remember A Shot in the Dark, you'll recall that Clouseau's ineptitude turned Inspector Dreyfuss into a twitching homicidal maniac. The same thing happens here, paving the way for the sequel, The Pink Panther Strikes Again. And, as with all the "Panther" movies, we are treated to the insinuating theme music by Henry Mancini, and the animated opening and closing titles. Return of the Pink Panther earned $17 million on its initial release. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Stanley Donen directed this lugubrious musical fantasy based on the classic Antoine de Saint-Exupery children's parable, featuring a musical score by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe -- their first film score since Gigi. The simple story concerns a French aviator (Richard Kiley) who crashes his airplane in the middle of the Sahara desert and comes upon a young blonde prince (Steven Warner) from another planet. The Little Prince tells the pilot that he is inspecting the universe and stays in the desert long enough to convey to the pilot his impressions of the earth and stories of other planets he has visited. In a supporting role as a serpent that the Little Prince met amongst his travels in the universe, Bob Fosse stops the show with a slithery dance routine. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Alex Karras stars as a naive backwoods strong-man, whose acute ability to lift weights brings him to the attention of a slick sports promoter (James Franciscus). Karras is carefully groomed to compete in the 1972 Olympics; Franciscus gives him explicit instructions to flex his muscles, tote his weights, and to steer clear of trouble. But the bucolic muscle-man upsets the apple-cart by falling in love with a beautiful Russian gymnast (Claudia Butenuth). Karras innocently enmeshes the American team in a hot-potato International incident. Telecast some three months after the actual Olympics (allowing for plenty of stock footage of the real games), 500 Pound Jerk has become a perennial local-station entry, suitable for weekend showings whenever a sports event is suddenly cancelled. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this sex comedy, a bountiful blonde woman saves a despondent fellow from suicide and teaches him to love life again. Meanwhile a sexy aspiring actress seduces the son of a man whom she believes is a powerful producer, and a cabbie dreams of a world filled with bikini clad women and exotic dancers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Singer, songwriter, and actor Anthony Newley produced, directed, co-wrote, scored, and starred in this bizarre autobiographical musical in which a famous entertainer takes a look back at the circumstances of his life. Legendary singing star Heironymus Merkin (Newley) stands by the sea, surrounded by a small mountain of souvenirs of his life and times, with his mother (Patricia Hayes) and children (Tara Newley and Alexander Newley, Newley's real life daughter and son) by his side. As Merkin shows his captive audience reel after reel of footage from the story of his life, the film crew making the movie grows impatient, wishing Merkin was more cooperative and waiting for an ending to the script. We learn that Merkin was raised without a father, and his Uncle Limelight (Bruce Forsyth) encouraged him to become an entertainer at a young age. As Merkin enjoys a hit with the tune "Piccadilly Lilly" that catapults him to fame, he becomes partners with Goodtime Eddie Filth (Milton Berle), a cheerful demon who introduces Merkin to the pleasures of women. As Merkin stumbles into a short-lived marriage with Filigree Fondle (Judy Cornwell) and enjoys a more successful relationship with Polyester Poontang (Joan Collins, Newley's spouse at the time), he finds it difficult to resist the temptation to bed nearly every attractive woman who crosses his path, and develops a lifelong obsession with the young, innocent, yet nubile Mercy Humppe (Connie Kreski). Meanwhile, Merkin is frequently visited by The Presence (George Jessel), who seems to hold the power of life and death as he cracks one old joke after another. Also starring Stubby Kaye, Victor Spinetti, and Margaret Nolan, Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe And Find True Happiness? was rated X for its original release in 1969, though a slightly edited R-rated version was soon shipped to theaters, though it didn't prevent the film from becoming a critical and financial flop. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Franco Zeffirelli's adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is a zesty version of the classic comedy, highlighted by performances by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and Nino Rota's score. Instead of simply filming a play, Zeffirelli turned Shakespeare's text into a lively, cinematic movie, with sweeping sets and cinematography. Set in Padua, Italy in the late 1500s, the story concerns the shy Bianca (Natasha Pyne) and the mean-spirited Katarina (Elizabeth Taylor), the two daughters of a rich merchant named Baptista (Michael Hordern). Though Bianca is being courted by a number of young men, Baptista announces that she may not marry until Katarina is wed. None of the men in town are willing to marry Katarina, so Bianca remains unwed, even as more suitors--such as Lucentio (Michael York), a student who begins working as a tutor in the Hordern household just so he can be near Bianca--line up to wed the maiden. No man approaches Katarina until Petruchio (Richard Burton--a wanderer who arrived in Padua just to find a rich wife--falls in love with her. After an intense, occasionally furious, courtship, Katarina eventually agrees to marry him, and they move to Petruchio's shoddy house, which is located outside of the city. Following the wedding, Lucentio reveals that he is not a student, but instead the son of one of the most respected men in town. Lucentio gets permission to marry Bianca and a mild-mannered Katarina shows up at the wedding, giving advice to her sister on how to be a good wife. The Taming of the Shrew received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, and opened the British Royal Film Festival. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi