Paul Rogers Movies

Guy Green's social drama stars Stuart Whitman as the title character, a man whose unhealthy childhood has left him bewildered by sex. After an affair with a woman his own age ends badly, Mark finds himself increasingly drawn to young girls, who he feels do not pose the same threat of emasculation that adult women do. When he is charged with kidnapping a ten-year-old girl in order to molest her, his conviction results in a three-year prison sentence. With the help of Dr. Edmund McNally (Rod Steiger), a prison psychiatrist, Mark comes to terms with his urges and is released from prison a changed man. Soon after, he gets engaged to Ruth Leighton (Maria Schell), a widow with a ten-year-old daughter of her own. After Mark is seen in the vicinity of a recent molestation incident, a journalist digs into his background and his past is brought to light, destroying not only his relationship with Ruth but his fledgling career as well. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In a different type of comedy-drama based on a play by Mike Watts, director Peter Graham Scott looks at life in a British prison. Rainbow (Paul Massie) has just been sent into the slammer for a year for duking it out in a brutal fight over his girlfriend Wendy (Carole Lesley). He knows he is in for a miserable time of it, so much so that after being assigned kitchen duty he joins up with the rest of his co-workers in wheeling and dealing the food they can snitch for various sundries stolen from other parts of the prison's supply chain. This racket is well-organized, but one day its prime mover is framed and threatened with an extended sentence unless Rainbow can come up with a way to save him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Nicol Williamson stars as a Liverpool/Irish layabout who inherits a business from his father. Even in his executive togs, Williamson remains out of step with society. Already a surly sort, Williamson becomes even less likeable as the film progresses, especially when seeking to avenge a long-ago slight against his father. The film is a belated but still compelling entry in Britain's "Angry Young Man" cinematic cycle, with the "protagonist" remaining on top at the expense of his soul. Reckoning was based on The Harp That Once, a novel by Patrick Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Pope contends with the prospects of nuclear world destruction in this Cold-War saga of religious faith and international politics. (Anthony Quinn) plays a Russian priest who has spent 20 years in a Siberian labor camp. When Russian and Chinese relations deteriorate, Russian Premier Kamenev (Laurence Olivier) releases him and he is made a cardinal. Kamenev wishes to have a representative at the Vatican in Rome for future political situations. When the Pope (John Gielgud) dies, a series of events makes the Russian priest the first Pope from a communist country. Taking the name of the saint who spread the gospel to Russia, he becomes Pope Kiril Lakota. He often leaves the Vatican in disguise to mingle with the people to remain in touch with the poor and the needy. When millions of Chinese face starvation, the Pope offers to sell the riches of the church on order to feed the hungry, and he asks that all wealthy countries do the same. David Janssen is the television reporter stationed in Rome whose wife (Barbara Jefford) receives counseling from Kiril, unaware he is the Pope. In a symbolic gesture, Kiril offers his crown as a down payment in an attempt to bring world peace and end the starving of millions. Although a fine drama with a competent international cast, the movie failed at the box office to recoup the 9-million-dollar production costs. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Anthony Hopkins stars in this glossy TV adaptation of Graham Greene's The Tenth Man. The scene is Paris, during the Nazi occupation. Hopkins plays a French lawyer who is sentenced to be executed as a reprisal for the activities of the Resistance. To escape the firing squad, Hopkins arranges for another man to take his place. That man, played by Timothy Wilson, is an embittered soul with no desire to go on living. As part of his bargain with Hopkins, Wilson wills Hopkins' estate to his own heirs. At war's end, Hopkins, travelling incognito, takes a gardener's job at the estate he once owned. He gradually falls in love with Wilson's sister Kristin Scott Thomas. And then total stranger Derek Jacobi shows up--claiming to be the long-lost Hopkins! Produced in Britain by veteran TV-movie maven David Rosemont, The Tenth Man was first offered December 4, 1988, as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Peter Finch portrays the titular flamboyant Irish poet/playwright in The Trials of Oscar Wilde. The storyline, lifted to a great extent from actual court records, recounts Wilde's late 19th century libel action against the Marquis of Queensbury. The author loses, whereupon he himself is tried for sodomy due to his homosexual affair with the Marquis' son, Lord Douglas. Wilde is sentenced to prison; the public humiliation leads to the once-proud writer's immortal poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol--and to his premature death in 1900. The film had to tiptoe around certain touchy legalities, in that sodomy was still a punishable offence in British courts in 1960. The US title for this film was The Trial of Oscar Wilde, effectively killing the ironic double meaning of the plural British title. In certain regions, the film was shown as The Man with the Green Carnation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also titled The Wild and the Willing, this is a British production about a rebellious young man of the early 1960s. Harry Brown (Ian McShane) is a lower-class troublemaker at an upscale provincial university. He is brilliant but frequently drunk, and he constantly criticizes the elitism of his professors. Harry becomes the reluctant protégé of Professor Chown (Paul Rogers), who sees the boy's potential and hopes to tame him. Harry soon abandons his girlfriend Josie (Samantha Eggar) for a fling with Chown's wife Virginia (Virginia Maskell), a woman who frequently fools around with her husband's students. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide