Michael Carreras Movies

Break in the Circle is one of several late-1950s British films given American distribution by 20th Century-Fox. Forrest Tucker heads the cast as American soldier of fortune Skip Morgan, who is hired by German millionaire Baron Keller (Marius Goring). The baron wants Skip to smuggle a Polish scientist out of East Germany and into England. Our hero agrees, little knowing that the greedy Baron is pursuing an agenda that has nothing to do with freedom and democracy. Eva Bartok plays the requisite mystery woman who, like the baron, hides her true intentions from Morgan until the very end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This cheap, but colorful British period horror piece follows an ill-fated archaeological expedition to the cursed tomb of the pharaoh, Ra-Antef, whose sarcophagus the team's leader opts to sell to a smooth-talking American promoter who intends to set it up as part of an exploitive side-show attraction. No sooner has the tomb reached the States than the foul-tempered pharaoh is released; he then begins stalking and strangling all those who have desecrated his resting place. The bandaged one's vendetta doesn't stop there; he also has a score to settle with the reincarnation of a man who betrayed him eons ago. This rather dull mummy muddle was originally double-billed with Hammer Studio's superior chiller The Gorgon. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this drama, bank robbers are exiled to an island off the English coast. They are caught in raging seas and would have died had not the two lighthouse keepers come to their aid. The crooks then try to persuade the keepers into letting them escape. It almost works. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the 17th century, the arrogant, cruel Hugo Baskerville (David Oxley) brutalizes a servant and prepares to turn the man's daughter over to his equally depraved companions, but she escapes. When he catches up with the girl in a ruined abbey, he kills her and then is attacked and killed himself by a huge hound that is never seen. The audience then learns that this story is being told in flashback to Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) and Dr. Watson (Andre Morell) by Dr. Richard Mortimer (Francis DeWolff). He was the physician and friend to the late Sir Charles Baskerville, who recently died -- apparently of fright -- on the Devonshire moors near that same ruined abbey. Holmes is very skeptical, but agrees to meet Sir Henry Baskerville (Christopher Lee), who has just arrived in London to claim the estate. Sir Henry is cold and aloof but becomes convinced he's in danger when he's almost bitten by a tarantula. Holmes insists that he not go to Baskerville Hall alone, so Holmes sends Watson to Devonshire with Sir Henry.

In Devonshire, Sir Henry and Watson learn that an escaped convict, Selden, is at large on the moor. Watson meets local Bishop Frankland (Miles Malleson), and later on the moor, Baskerville's neighbors, Stapleton (Ewen Solon) and his daughter, Cecile (Marla Landi). Watson is almost trapped in one of the many bogs that dot the moors, but he escapes. Later, leaving Sir Henry stricken with a mild heart attack at the hall, Watson ventures again onto the moors, and to his surprise, discovers Sherlock Holmes there. Holmes has been hiding and watching for developments. They hear the howl of the hound, and are too late to prevent the huge beast from killing a man they take for Sir Henry. But back at Baskerville Hall, they find Sir Henry alive and well: the dead man was the convict Selden, dressed in some old clothes of Sir Henry's. At the ruined abbey, they find evidence that a strange rite has been performed.

When Holmes visits Frankland for information, he learns that someone has stolen the bishop's tarantula. (He's an amateur naturalist.) Meanwhile, near Baskerville Hall, Sir Henry meets Cecile, and they are attracted to one another. Holmes, Mortimer and Stapleton descend into a disused tin mine in search of evidence, but a cave-in almost traps Holmes. That evening, when Sir Henry goes to meet Cecile on the moors, he learns that she actually hates him, and that the hound is now on his trail. Holmes and Watson arrive almost too late to save him, but Holmes kills the hound and reveals it's an ordinary, if large, dog in a mask. The villain is a descendant of Sir Hugo's from "the wrong side of the sheets"; he and his daughter were determined to use the legend of the Hound to kill those standing between them and Baskerville Hall.
No movie version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous novel follows its source very closely, and this colorful Hammer film is no exception. An extra killer is added, events are compressed, and even the novel's most famous line -- "they were the tracks of an enormous hound!" -- is omitted. The film also suffers at times from a budget too low for its ambitions and by extraneous elements aimed at making it more like a Hammer movie, such as the unexplained "rite." However, the movie has a brisk pace and particularly strong characters. Lee, initially icy and arrogant -- perhaps to remind us of Sir Hugo -- thaws into a likable person romantic enough to fall in love, atypically for Lee. Andre Morell is one of the most solid and realistic Watsons ever; there's nothing whatever of the harrumphing Nigel Bruce, no comedy elements to the role at all. He's straightforward, heroic in his own right. But the triumph of the film
was the casting of Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes. Cushing's Holmes is vivid, dynamic and arrogant; the actor does not even attempt to make Holmes likable, but instead plays the character exactly as Doyle wrote him. It's a performance of steely integrity and terrific skill, one of the greatest Holmes performances ever. Cushing later played Holmes in a television series, and became as identified with the role in England as Basil Rathbone was in the United States. Cushing returned once again to the role late in life, in the TV movie The Masks of Death, as well as writing about Holmes for several books. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

The Lost Continent is a crazy-quilt of a film, with chunks of several unrelated plotlines sewn together willy nilly. Eric Porter plays Lansen, the captain of a tramp steamer who has agreed to deliver contraband dynamite for a hefty price. His passengers are a polyglot of the good, the bad and the worse. Shipwrecked on an mysterious isle in the Sargasso Sea, Lansen and party find themselves prisoners of a bizarre inbred colony still governed by the long-abandoned edicts of the Spanish Inquisition. The film is no more coherent than the original Dennis Wheatley novel Uncharted Seas, but that doesn't detract from its endearing wackiness. To their credit, the cast members of Lost Continent play the script straight, which merely adds to the kinky fun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While on a dig in Egypt, British archaeologist John Banning (Peter Cushing) desecrates the tomb of Princess Ananka, awakening her mummified lover (Christopher Lee). With revenge on his mind, the mummy follows Banning and the rest of his group back to England, but becomes quite taken with Banning's wife (Yvonne Furneaux), who resembles the princess quite closely. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Paul Decker (Peter Van Eyck) arranges what seems to be the perfect murder of his wife, while at her home in Italy. Lightly drugging her into unconsciousness, he seals the room she is in and turns on the gas, and then dons a diving snorkel with hoses drawing air from the outside -- he remains hidden in the room beneath the floorboards even as the police investigate the crime scene. As far as they know, he was just over the border in France when Mrs. Decker committed what appears to be suicide -- and there is no reason to investigate further, beyond a routine inquest. But he doesn't bargain on Candy (Mandy Miller), his wife's daughter by her previous marriage -- she has long believed that Paul killed her own father, and is positive that he was responsible for her mother's death. Try as those around her -- including her guardian (Betts St. John) -- do to convince her otherwise, she won't let go of this idea. And when Paul kills Candy's dog Toto, she tells him he will have to kill her, because otherwise she will kill him. From that moment on, they are on a collision course, as Paul tries at once to protect himself, covering tracks that he never thought anyone would trace -- not having bargained on the obsessive girl -- and to discredit her in preparation for possibly having to kill her. Meanwhile, Candy waits, watches, and asks question after question, hoping for one clue or slip that will allow all of her suspicions to fall into place. And finally, after several rounds of cat-and-mouse, and a near-fatal encounter, they meet face-to-face at the scene of the crime. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Four friends go on a friendly fishing trip but only three return. This suspenseful drama chronicles the fate of the fourth who returns home an amnesiac after a three year absence to get revenge upon the "buddy" who knocked him out and left him to die. Any one of the remaining three could be a suspect as all of them are interested in pursuing his lovely widow. Unfortunately, the man's return coincides with a murder and he ends up blamed. Fortunately, his wife helps him solve the mystery and clear his name. The British title was A Stranger Came Home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Alf (Joe Brown) is a young man from London's East End who tries to rise above his impoverished conditions. His parents worry that he will fall into a life of crime hanging around his neighborhood buddies. When he is inspired to write the song "What A Crazy Gang", his efforts pique the interest of a songwriting publisher. His parents still worry about Alf finding steady employment despite the promise of a financial windfall in this teen beat musical. The most famous of the groups to perform in the film are Freddy and The Dreamers, who would later score top ten hits on both sides of the Atlantic with "I'm Telling You Now", "You Were Made For Me"and the novelty smash dance hit "The Freddy." Led by frantic Freddy Garrity, his lively and comical stage machinations belied his vast musical and songwriting talents directly inspired by the late Buddy Holly. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The scene is Burma during World War II. A small British brigade led by Stanley Baker comes upon a Burmese village controlled by the Japanese. The brigade wipes out the enemy, whereupon Baker discovers that the late Japanese commandant has a coded map secreted on his person. When a Burmese prisoner who can decode the map refuses to talk, Baker orders that two peaceful villagers be executed. Baker's actions seem cruel and extreme until it becomes apparent that the enemy is twice as ruthless as he. Based on a TV play by Peter R. Newman, Yesterday's Enemy is a brutal but insightful look at the blurred line between good and evil in wartime conditions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide