Simon Ward Movies

This feature-length dramatization of James Herriot's best-seller was issued by EMI as a big-screen theatrical release in England, but debuted on NBC as a telemovie in the United States, February 4, 1975. It stars Simon Ward as Herriot in his early days as a veterinarian. The story picks up in 1937, with Herriot's first assignment as assistant to eccentric Yorkshire vet Siegfried Farnon (Anthony Hopkins). The film's highlight is the strenuous delivery of a newborn colt; its most poignant moment is the mercy killing of a seriously ill dog. In between "cases," Herriot courts pretty farmer's daughter Helen (Lisa Farrow). The film eventually spawned a television series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An Israeli doctor (Helmut Griem) is working with guerrillas at an enclave when the Palestinians attempt to blow up a dance-hall. The doctor is stunned to discover an old friend among the terrorist dead. ~ John Bush, Rovi

Everything appears to be fine when a pair of strangers (Hayley Mills, Simon Ward) meet up and agree to travel together. However, the news that a mental patient has escaped from a nearby institution begins to cause problems between them. ~ John Bush, Rovi

The wife of a greedy Yankee entrepreneur comes back to haunt him after he scares her to death in this thriller. He is after her fortune and must try several times before he succeeds. Because she is mentally exhausted from being frightened all the time, she commits suicide. The dastardly husband soon begins experiencing her ghostly presence. The question is--is she really a ghost, or is she playing mind games similar to those he played on her? He tends to believe the former. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This TV-movie adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel of the "undead" was adapted by Richard Matheson and photographed by Oswald Morris. As the titular count, Jack Palance is a reluctant victim of an unwelcome fate, rather than a grinning bloodsucker. Nigel Davenport co-stars as Van Helsing, vampire-hunter deluxe, who pursues the count with his bagful of hammers and stakes. Much of the Stoker novel that had been eliminated in earlier versions has been restored by Matheson. Originally slated for telecast in October of 1973, Dracula was reshuffled to February 8, 1974, due to the late-breaking vice-presidential nomination of Gerald Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Alec Guinness plays against stereotype, imbuing his Adolf Hitler with an introverted solemnity in Ennio De Concini's Hitler: The Last Ten Days. Set almost entirely inside Hitler's Berlin bunker, the film chronicles the dying days of the Third Reich as the Allied armies close in on Berlin. Guinness's Hitler is an enclosed depressive who sinks slowly into madness, depression, and ultimately suicide as his 1,000-Year Reich collapses around him. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Rebellious students at an English private school plan a violent revolt against their repressive environment in director Lindsay Anderson's highly acclaimed but extremely controversial drama. Centering on a small group of non-conformists led by Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell), the film paints a distinctly negative picture of the British school system and, by extension, English society. Seeing the powers-that-be as humorless, bureaucratic, and needlessly restrictive, Mick and his cohorts indulge in small acts of rebellion, including sneaking into town to romance a local waitress. Their actions are discovered and punished with harsh beatings, leading the students to plot revenge. This effort culminates in the film's most famous sequence, a surrealistic depiction of a bloody uprising by the students against the adult world. Daring and unpredictable in content and form, If... mixes color and black-and-white cinematography as easily as it mingles satire with dark fantasy. The film's ambiguous attitude toward violence caused controversy at the time, as many commentators saw the film as a potential incitement to violence. It became a great success among younger, counter-culture audiences who appreciated the audacious shock tactics and embraced the satirical, anti-establishment message. Often compared to Jean Vigo's French classic Zéro de conduite, which also featured surrealistic boarding-school rebellion, If... has become a high point in the cinema of youth rebellion. Anderson and McDowell later collaborated on O Lucky Man! (1973), Look Back in Anger (1980), and Britannia Hospital (1982). ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

A British writer goes to live in a Spanish village while he looks into the mysterious life of a 19th century wanderer who was allegedly slain by La Sabina, a mythical lady dragon. The writer becomes lovers with an American visitor and then falls in love with an enigmatic beauty from town. Things get really confusing when the writer's good friend arrives with his wife. When the writer's all-out campaign to seduce the local woman fails, tragedy ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This science fiction/fantasy is loosely based on a story by John Wyndham (best known for The Day of the Triffids). Scientist Collin (Tom Bell) stumbles across a parallel world in which President Kennedy is not shot, Vietnam hasn't happened, and Ottilie (Joan Collins), the woman he loves, dies unexpectedly of a heart condition. While he is happy enough with the rest of his new world, he can't stand by and let his true love die in his original world, and he determines to return to his own place and time to save her. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Robert Caine (Kirk Douglas) is a wealthy and powerful industrialist, an engineer who develops nuclear power plants. A true believer in nuclear energy, he plans to make nuclear generation commonplace around the world. He is about to retire and turn over the running of his corporations to his son, Angel Caine (Simon Ward) when he begins having disturbing dreams. In one of these, the vision of the Apocalypse as spoken of in the Biblical book of Revelations comes to life in a horrifying way. After this, he begins to notice that his son is behaving in ways which identify him with the Antichrist. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This comic interpretation of Alexandre Dumas's classic adventure saga picks up where 1974's The Three Musketeers left off, as D'Artagnan (Michael York), Athos (Oliver Reed), Aramis (Richard Chamberlain), and Porthos (Frank Finlay) scuttle the plans of Lady de Winter (Faye Dunaway) to remove Queen Anne (Geraldine Chaplin) from the seat of power. De Winter is determined to get revenge against the Musketeers, and when she learns that D'Artagnan is infatuated with the lovely Constance (Raquel Welch), she first tries to foil their romance by seducing D'Artagnan herself, and then by persuading Rochefort (Christopher Lee) to kidnap Constance. She then engineers the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham (Simon Ward), a close friend of D'Artagnan; when word of the Duke's death and Constance's imprisonment reaches D'Artagnan and his comrades, the foursome ride off to rescue the fair lady and see that justice is done against de Winter. The Four Musketeers was filmed concurrently with The Three Musketeers; it was originally intended to be one film, but when director Richard Lester realized the movie would be over three and a half hours long, the decision was made to release it as two separate features instead. This led to lawsuits filed by several of the stars, claiming that they were hired under false pretenses and entitled to be paid for making two films rather than one. The actors won their case, but their settlement was significantly less than the salary they hoped to receive. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This quaint horror anthology is loosely based on the works of horror novelist R. Chetwynd-Hayes -- who is portrayed by John Carradine as an active participant in his own tales. The author is invited by a suave vampire (Vincent Price) to accompany him to the title establishment, where he observes the secret social customs of various species of monsters -- which apparently include drinking, dancing, and watching undead strippers remove more than just their clothing. He is also made privy to the mating patterns of these creatures, whose tendency to inter-breed creates such new strains of monsters as the "shadmock" (a vampire-like entity with a deadly high-pitched whistle) and the "humgoo" (the sullen offspring of a human and a flesh-eating ghoul). Price's descriptions of these new beasties trigger accompanying vignettes far less entertaining than the framing story, which is rife with horror movie in-jokes, cheesy rubber monster masks, and music by pop-reggae band UB40(!). Accomplished horror-omnibus director Roy Ward Baker seems to delight in the opportunity for pure camp, although the overall silliness of the proceedings has put off more than a few horror buffs. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi