Angela Lansbury Movies

A nanny reveals ways of making children behave that are much more effective than a time-out in this fantasy comedy based on the "Nurse Matilda" books for children by Christianna Brand. Near the dawn of the twentieth century, Mr. Brown (Colin Firth) is a widower who must tend to his business as an undertaker while looking after his brood of seven children. Brown's offspring are a singularly ill-mannered lot who have managed to drive away 17 different nannies when their father arranges for one Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) to help out with the children. McPhee is an strange looking woman with a large nose, protruding teeth, and pock-marked skin, but it isn't long before the kids realize she has magical powers and isn't afraid to use them to help keep them in line. While the children aren't taken with McPhee's insistence on such things as saying "please" and listening to their elders, it becomes clear everyone has bigger things to worry about. Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) has insisted that if Mr. Brown cannot find a new wife within a month, she'll take custody of one of the children and cut off Brown's inheritance, and while Brown and the widow Mrs. Quickly (Celia Imrie) seem fond of one another, his ineptitude in courtship seems to insure he'll never get her to the altar. But while the Brown Children realize Nanny McPhee is a formidable opponent, she can also be a valuable ally as they learn to make use of her talents by being better children; they also discover that as they behave better, she begins to look less frightening. Emma Thompson, who played the title role in Nanny McPhee, also wrote the film's screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Film director George Cukor (1899-1983) gets the American Masters treatment in this documentary from the acclaimed PBS series. Few directors from Hollywood's Golden Age can match the list of Cukor's achievements, which included What Price Hollywood, David Copperfield, Camille, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story, The Women, A Double Life, Adam's Rib, Born Yesterday, Pat and Mike, and the 1954 version of A Star Is Born, essentially the same story as What Price Hollywood. Even after the studio system broke up, Cukor continued making films right into the 1980s, though their quality began to vary widely. He did win his first and only Oscar in 1965 for My Fair Lady, though in retrospect, that film is not in the first rank of his filmography. Cukor's reputation in Hollywood was as a ladies' director, and few filmmakers can match his track record for drawing superb performances from actresses. The film does address the subtext of that reputation, Cukor's homosexuality, which was well-known in Hollywood during his lifetime, though not openly discussed in his public interviews. It allegedly led to his dismissal from directing Gone With the Wind after star Clark Gable insisted on having him replaced. Cukor was also one of the film community's most genial hosts, his dinner parties bringing together the most glamorous denizens of Hollywood. Both critics and historians, including Jeanine Basinger, David Denby, Richard Schickel, and Peter Bogdanovich, attest to Cukor's importance in motion pictures, and several of his collaborators and friends, including Angela Lansbury, Jack Lemmon, Mia Farrow, Fay Kanin, Shelley Winters, and Claire Bloom, offer insights into his working methods. Jean Simmons narrates. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

This two-part TV movie was the sequel to the ratings-grabbing 1983 miniseries Rage of Angels; both were based on the best-seller by Sidney Sheldon. Jaclyn Smith returns as dynamic New York trial lawyer Jennifer Parker, while Ken Howard likewise reprises his role as Jennifer's married lover, politician Adam Warner. Since villain Michael Moretti (Armand Assante) was killed off in Rage of Angels, we are left with Moretti's vengeful brother James (Michael Nouri) in the sequel. Part One, which aired November 2, 1986, recaps the events of the past six years and introduces mobster Moretti. Part Two, telecast November 3, reunites Jennifer with her long-lost mother (Angela Lansbury), while Moretti blackmails Senate-bound Adam Warner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Samson and Delilah is Cecil B. DeMille's characteristically expansive retelling of the events found in the Old Testament passages of Judges 13-16. Victor Mature plays Samson, the superstrong young Danite. Samson aspires to marry Philistine noblewoman Semadar (Angela Lansbury), but she is killed when her people attack Samson as a blood enemy. Seeking revenge, Semadar's younger sister Delilah (Hedy Lamarr) woos Samson in hopes of discovering the secret of his strength, thus enabling her to destroy him. When she learns that his source of his virility is his long hair, Delilah plies Samson with drink, then does gives him the Old Testament equivalent of a buzzcut while he snores away. She delivers the helpless Samson to the Philistines, ordering that he be put to work as a slave. Blinded and humiliated by his enemies, Samson is a sorry shell of his former self. Ultimately, Samson's hair grows back, thus setting the stage for the rousing climax wherein Samson literally brings down the house upon the wayward Philistines. Hedy Lamarr is pretty hopeless as Delilah, but Victor Mature is surprisingly good as Samson, even when mouthing such idiotic lines as "That's all right. It's only a young lion". Even better is George Sanders as The Saran of Gaza, who wisely opts to underplay his florid villainy. The spectacular climax to Samson and Delilah allows us to forget such dubious highlights as Samson's struggle with a distressing phony lion and the tedious cat-and-mouse romantic scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode of Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories is narrated by Angela Lansbury. The story centers around Gloria, a hapless witch-in-training at Madame Pestilence's Academy of Young Goblins and Witches. While the other students don't seem to have a problem learning how to cast magic spells or riding on their flying brooms, Gloria just gets in trouble for smiling too much as she messes up trick after trick. When a storyteller teaches her about the wonderful Christmas holiday, Gloria becomes determined to become a Christmas witch. Her true test comes when she must stop the longstanding feud between the Pepperwills and the Valdoons. With her newfound Christmas friends, Gloria uses love and generosity to bring the peaceful spirit of Christmas to their planet. ~ Sarah Block, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Harry Kressing, Something for Everyone must hold some sort of record for having the largest number of unsympathetic characters within a single film. Mercenary layabout Michael York talks himself into a footman's job at the estate of dissipated countess Angela Lansbury. In his efforts to advance himself socially and monetarily, York stops at nothing--including murder. He is eventually roasted on his own spit, courtesy of Lansbury's gross, ugly daughter Jane Carr. Guiding the debauched destinies of the characters is none other than Broadway luminary Harold Prince. The film has also been released as The Rook and Black Flowers for the Bride. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a videotaped staging of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's 1979 Broadway musical. This winner of nine Tony awards was based on Christopher Bond's adaptation of the venerable Victorian melodrama of the same name. The eponymous Mr. Todd (George Hearn), an ill-tempered London barber, pursues the grisly sideline of slashing his enemies' throats, grinding up their bodies, and selling the results in meat pies! This is material for a musical? Yes, and it's terrific. The production is at its best when Angela Lansbury, as Todd's looney mistress, belts forth one of the score's 26 songs. When first offered on the Showtime cable service in 1983, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street carried home a shelf-full of ACE awards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Hallmark Hall of Fame offering stars Keith McErlean as Declan, a 30-year-old Irishman who is dying of AIDS. Remembering how he and his sister Helen (Gina McKee) once stayed with their grandmother Dora (Angela Lansbury) during their fathers' terminal illness, Declan concludes that Dora's place would be an excellent safe harbor for his own last few months on Earth. While Dora is a lovable eccentric blessed with wicked wit and boundless acceptance of the way things are, Declan's mother Lily (Dianne Wiest) is more aloof and conservative -- and she is deeply disturbed not only by her son's imminent demise, but also by the fact that she never knew he was gay. Adding to Lily's discomfiture is Helen's decision to briefly leave her husband and children to help Declan in his declining days...not to mention the arrival of her son's colorful gay friends Paul (Sam Robards) and Larry (Bryan O'Byrne). A moving tale of love and understanding "contemporary Irish" style, The Blackwater Lightship was first telecast February 4, 2004, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Danny Kaye spoofs medieval swashbucklers in this classic musical comedy. While the infant King of England awaits his rightful place as leader of the British Empire, his rule is usurped by Roderick (Cecil Parker), an evil pretender to the throne. Brave rebel leader The Black Fox (Edward Ashley) intends to remove Roderick from the palace and bring the crown back to its true owner, but in the meantime the baby king needs to be looked after, which is the job of a man named Hawkins (Kaye). The Black Fox travels with the little king and his rebels as they search for the key to a secret tunnel that will allow them passage into the castle. Maid Jean (Glynis Johns), one of the rebels, meets a man en route to the Castle who is to be Roderick's new jester. The rebels quickly hatch a plan: detain the jester and send Hawkins in his place; the king can then find the key and initiate the overthrow. Hawkins is able to persuade Roderick and his men that he is indeed a jester, but his espionage work gets complicated when Princess Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury) falls in love with him, and he runs afoul of Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone), the evil genius behind Roderick. Court Jester features Kaye's famous "Pellet with the Poison" routine. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this animated feature featuring the voices of Cyril Ritchard and Angela Lansbury, a young shepherd is unexpectedly honored after an act of kindness. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

There's a rumor that the MGM executive who thought that Glenn Ford could fill Rudolph Valentino's shoes in the 1962 remake of Valentino's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse would have been arrested had it been sufficiently proven that he was competent to stand trial. The World War I setting of the original Blasco-Ibanez novel has been updated to World War II, but the basic plot remains the same. A well-to-do Argentinian family, rent asunder by the death of patriarch Lee J. Cobb, scatters to different European countries in the late 1930s. Before expiring, Cobb had warned his nephew Carl Boehm that the latter's allegiance to the Nazis would bring down the wrath of the titular Four Horsemen: War, Conquest, Famine and Death. Ford, Cobb's grandson, has promised to honor his grandfather's memory by thwarting the plans of Boehm. At the cost of his own life, Ford leads allied bombers to Boehm's Normandy headquarters. As unsuited as Glenn Ford was for his role, co-star Ingrid Thulin was even worse: her Swedish accent proved so impenetrable that MGM was obliged to have Angela Lansbury dub Ms. Thulin's voice. A major misfire for director Vincente Minnelli, The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse was an expensive flop, forcing MGM to hope and pray that their upcoming epic How the West Was Won would save the studio's hindquarters (it did). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker George Stevens chose Monument Valley, Utah for his exterior sequences in The Greatest Story Ever Told, this ($20 million) adaptation of Fulton Oursler's best-selling book. The "Greatest Story" is, of course, the life of Jesus Christ, played herein by Max Von Sydow. The large supporting cast includes Dorothy McGuire as Mary, Claude Rains as Herod the Great, Jose Ferrer as Herod Antipas, Charlton Heston as John the Baptist, Donald Pleasence as Satan (identified only as "The Dark Hermit"), David McCallum as Judas Iscariot, Sidney Poitier as Simon of Cyrene, Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate and Martin Landau as Caiaphas. Even Robert Blake as Simon the Zealot, Jamie Farr as Thaddaeus, and motorcyle-flick veteran Richard Bakalyan as Dismas, the repentant thief, are well-suited to their roles. Originally roadshown at 260 minutes, Greatest Story Ever Told was later available in a 195-minute version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide