Henry Edwards Movies
Tall, patrician-featured British stage actor Henry Edwards made his first film in 1914. Under the guidance of producer/director Cecil Hepworth, Edwards became one of England's most popular leading men. His most frequent leading lady was Chrissie White, whom he married in 1922. Celebrated as Britain's answer to Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Edwards and White co-starred in 22 films, playing everything from aristocrats to the "working poor" with consummate artistry; unfortunately, only two of their features survive. During his stay with Hepworth, Edwards was given the opportunity to direct. Though he continued starring in such well-received films as The Flag Lieutenant (1926), after 1925 Edwards was best known for his directorial efforts; the best of these included the Boris Karloff melodrama Juggernaut (1935) and the Sir Seymour Hicks version of Scrooge (1935). Henry Edwards returned to acting in 1946, essaying small character roles in films like Green for Danger (1946), Oliver Twist (1948) and the all-star The Magic Box (1952). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1935
In this musical comedy, a Cockney flower girl is in love with a policeman whom she wants to marry. Unfortunately, her father opposes the union because he is involved in a little crooked investing. Fortunately, the young woman wins a lottery and is able to find wealth and marital bliss. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1931
In this drama, a physician falls in love with a woman who unfortunately ends up marrying another man. The doctor is enraged and begins destroying their marriage until the very end when he saves the couple's son from dying. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1948
Cinematographer Ronald Neame made his directorial debut with the 1947 murder melodrama Take My Life. When a Covent Garden violinist is found murdered, her ex-lover, show business manager Nicholas Talbot (Hugh Williams) finds himself under suspicion. The only person who believes that Talbot is innocent is his wife, opera diva Phillipa Shelley (Greta Gynt). Unable to convince the authorities, Phillipa plays detective herself, utilizing a snatch of a newly written song as her main clue to the true killer's identity. If the mysterious murderer isn't all that mysterious to the audience, it is only because the actor in question had played too many similar roles in the past. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Williams, Greta Gynt, (more)
- 1932
The Barton Mystery was adapted from a play by Walter Hackett, previously filmed as a silent in 1920. Carried over from the earlier version is veteran British stage actor Lyn Harding, cast as a slimy blackmailer. When Harding is murdered, suspicion falls upon one of his extortion victims. To save this unfortunate fellow, the woman he loves confesses to the crime. But everything ends up happily when the real killer fesses up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Radio personality Levis manages to stop a Buddhist art connoisseur from collecting a rare artifact in this comic thriller. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1930
In this drama a British naval officer searches an isolated tropical island for his friend who mysteriously disappeared there long ago. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1927
The Fake was based on a surprisingly grim Frederick Lonsdale play. The title character could be just about anyone in this British "problem" drama. It might be the member of parliament who forces his daughter into politically correct marriage; or the husband, whose respectable facade hides a ruinous drug habit; or the girl's lover, a semi-quack. The film's star-studded cast includes prominent actor/director Henry Edwards and American expatriate Juliette Compton, along with such British perennials as Miles Mander, Ursula Jeans and Ivan Simpson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Edwards, Norman McKinnel, (more)
- 1926
Most contemporary critics agreed that the 1926 remake of the 1919 "stiff upper lip" drama Flag Lieutenant was a decided improvement on the original. The plot remains relatively intact: accused of cowardice under fire, Lt. Dicky Lascelles (Henry Edwards) is ostracized by his peers. The only person who knows that Lascelles is actually a hero is his superior officer, Major Thesiger (Fred Raynham). Alas, the major is suffering from amnesia and cannot come to his defense. It is up to the heroine, Sybil Wynne (Lillian Oldland), to uncover the truth. Produced on a grand scale, The Flag Lieutenant was deemed worthy of an American release--a rarity in the British film industry of the mid-1920s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Edwards
- 1932
In this war drama, a British naval lieutenant performs heroically during a raid upon a Chinese fort, but then gives all the glory to his friend who promptly gets promoted while the real hero is branded a coward. Eventually another officer realizes the mistake and the hero gets his due. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Edwards, Peter Gawthorne, (more)
- 1931
A run-down house on a dark and stormy night provides the setting for this drama. It is in this apparently abandoned home that two strangers meet. Soon they discover that the house is a veritable clearinghouse for crooks. The woman thinks she belongs there as she has been falsely accused of stealing a car. Fortunately, her name is cleared by the story's end. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1950
In this adventure, an archaeologist is working at a Tunisian dig and having a passionate affair with a local girl when he finds himself entangled with a murderous band of arms smugglers. The story is based on one of Victor Canning's novels. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Howard, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1918
Writer-director Henry Edwards does "triple duty" as star of The Hanging Judge. Edwards plays Dick Veasey, the son of stern, unforgiving jurist Sir John Veasey (Hamilton Stewart). Disowned by his father, Dick becomes a newspaperman and a staunch advocate of British legal reform. One of his first acts is to marry Molly (Chrissie White, Edwards' real-life wife), the daughter of a man whom Sir John had sent to prison. Proving that Molly's dad was innocent, Dick is able to orchestrate a reconciliation with his repentant father. The Hanging Judge was based on a play by Leon M. Lion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1930
Neilson-Terry is called in to investigate the poisoning of a wealthy woman at her French home. The number one suspect is her niece who got a large inheritance upon the death of her aunt. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1935
An uncharacteristically light-hearted Edgar Wallace yarn was the basis of this mild British comedy-drama. Gordon Harker stars as The Lad, a cheeky ex-convict who is mistaken for a private detective. Paid a huge sum of money not to dig up dirt on the Fandon family, our hero is all for taking the money and running. But upon being reunited with old flame Pauline (Jane Carr), now the Fandon's maid, he decides to leave the money behind and turn over a new leaf. A cute surprise ending allows The Lad to come out on top without resorting to dishonesty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon Harker, Betty Stockfeld, (more)
- 1951
British film-favorite Anna Neagle, having previously played such great historical personages as Queen Victoria and Edith Cavell, tackles the role of Florence Nightingale in Lady with the Lamp. Based on a play by Reginald Berkeley, the film traces the indefatigable Nightingale's efforts to minister to the thousands of casualties of the Crimean War. Opposed in the uppermost circles of British government because she is "merely" a woman, Nightingale is championed by the Hon. Sidney Herbert (Michael Wilding), minister of war. Herbert pulls strings to allow Nightingale and her nursing staff access to battlefield hospitals, and in so doing changes the course of medical history. Lady with the Lamp was, as usual, produced and directed by Anna Neagle's husband Herbert Wilcox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1934
The tumultuous relationship between a self-made man and his no-account son is chronicled in this drama. The father is proud that he has worked his way into wealth and power. He is deeply disappointed that his playboy son did not follow in his footsteps. When he learns that the boy jumps a ship bound for Australia so he can see his lover, a married woman, the father goes berserk and almost beats his son to death with a horsewhip. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1953
John Mills followed his successful Gentle Gunman with the tensioned-filled meller The Long Memory. Convicted for a murder he did not commit, Davidson (Mills) spends 12 long years in prison. Upon his release, he vows to get even with the three witnesses who perjured themselves and clenched his conviction. Returning to the scene of the crime, he begins gathering clues as to the whereabouts of the witnesses. That's when he discovers that the alleged murder victim is alive and well! John McCallum co-stars as Inspector Lowther, who has spent the past dozen years mulling over the Davidson case, wondering if the man was innocent after all. For the sake of plot convenience, it turns out that Lowther is married to one of the lying witnesses! The Long Memory was based on a novel by Howard Clewes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, John McCallum, (more)
- 1947
The dazzlingly handsome Stewart Granger is at least physically well cast as the charismatic 18th century violinist Paganini. The fact that the illusion explodes whenever he opens his mouth mattered not at all to Granger's legions of British female fans. Luckily for the screenwriters, Paganini was as celebrated for his many love affairs as for his musical accomplishments, so it wasn't necessary to cook up a romantic plotline from whole cloth. The actual Paganini solos are performed by Yehudi Menuhin, and in this respect (and this respect only) the film is worthwhile. Magic Bow was another guilty pleasure from Gainsborough Productions, England's principal purveyor of bodice-ripping romances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, Phyllis Calvert, (more)
- 1951
The Magic Box was the English film industry's contribution to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Its all-star cast generously forsook their usual salaries for the privilege of paying tribute to that unsung pioneer of cinema, William Friese-Greene, here played by Robert Donat. Adapted by Eric Ambler from the controversial biography by Ray Allister, Magic Box contends that Friese-Greene was the true father of motion pictures, and not such upstarts as W. K. L. Dickson and Thomas Edison. Told in flashback, the film details Friese-Greene's tireless experiments with the "moving image," leading inexorably to a series of failures and disappoints, as others hog the credit for the protagonist's discoveries. The huge cast includes such British film luminaries as Joyce Grenfell, Miles Malleson, Michael Redgrave, Eric Portman, Emlyn Williams, Richard Attenborough, Peter Ustinov, Cecil Parker, Kay Walsh, and, best of all, Laurence Olivier as the confused bobby who witnesses Friese-Greene's first motion picture demonstration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Donat, Margaret Johnston, (more)
- 1934
This British Edgar Wallace derivation was originally released as The Man Who Changed His Name. That ripe old barnstormer Lyn Harding plays Shelby Clive, who has been obliged to shorten his last name so that he won't be confused with a notorious (and never-apprehended) wife murderer. Not long afterward, Clive tries to claim a valuable piece of Canadian property, owned by his wife Nita (Betty Stockfield). When it develops that he can only take possession of the property upon his wife's death, the audience is immediately primed to suspect the worst. Sure enough, several mysterious "accidents" befall poor Nina, leading her to believe that she's actually married to that infamous wife-killer mentioned earlier. But there's more to this than meets the eye, as Clive reveals in the film's final moments. Though the story is rife with melodrama, The Man Who Changed is believably acted throughout, even by the chop-licking Lyn Harding. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lyn Harding, Betty Stockfeld, (more)
- 1935
In this British Victorian comedy, a wealthy Englishman comes back from a journey to India to discover that instead of becoming successful, his beloved nephew has run up so many debts that he has had to disguise himself as a minister to evade his creditors. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
The Promoter was based on the Arnold Bennett novel The Card, which served as its British release title. Impoverished young clerk Alec Guinness works his way up the financial ladder until he has become a successful and highly respected loan officer. Actually, Guinness is not as above-board as the world perceives him. Beginning with cheating on a high school exam, he has wheeled and dealed his way to the top, and ethics be damned. Balancing Guinness' cold-blooded business savvy is his comparative ineptitude with women, particularly the bewitching Glynis Johns. Only Alec Guinness could succeed at making his "Sammy Glick" character appealing from first scene to last. The Promoter was scripted by Eric Ambler, who managed to unearth moments of sly cynicism that original author Bennett had barely touched upon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Guinness, Petula Clark, (more)
- 1950
In this low-budget crime drama, a woman, paralyzed after an auto accident, learns that her husband has been fooling around with her own sister. When the cheating sibling is found shot to death, the philandering husband is accused of the crime. But is he really the guilty party? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1941
The Strangler is the American title of the British East of Piccadilly. London's Soho district is terrorized by a strangler who favors silk stockings as his method of disposal. All evidence points to American millionaire George Pughe. Thanks to the diligence of girl reporter Judy Campbell, Pughe is condemned to be hanged. But Judy begins to have second thoughts, and together with mystery writer Sebastian Shaw she tracks down the real killer-nearly ending up a victim in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this musical drama set during the reign of Charles I, an Irish priest is assigned to educate the prince. The prince becomes a king and one day the priest approaches and asks the king to release a political prisoner who belongs to the vicar's parish. The king, who promised to grant his former teacher one special request, complies and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Holloway, Hugh Miller, (more)
