Anthony Bushell Movies

The unorthodox teaming of Vivien Leigh and Conrad Veidt is but one of the many pleasures of the 1937 spy yarn Dark Journey. Leigh plays a Stockholm dress-shop owner during World War I, who, being a neutral, is permitted to travel unmolested to and from France. Veidt plays a supposedly disgraced German officer who is actually head of his country's secret service. The two fall in love, despite the fact that Leigh has a secret as well: she is a double agent, sympathetic towards the Allied cause. During one of Leigh's voyages to France, her ship is captured by a German U-boat. Veidt swaggers on board, threatening to sink the ship if Leigh is not turned over to him. But the circumstances reverse themselves, and Veidt finds himself Leigh's prisoner--a circumstance that is not altogether unpleasant for him. When originally released in England, Dark Journey bore the title The Anxious Years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Farewell Again is a multiplotted British comedy/drama about soldiers on leave and the people they've left. Given a six-hour pass after a tour of duty in India, several British Tommies (among them Robert Newton, Sebastian Shaw and Anthony Bushell) try to unravel their domestic tribulations before having to ship out again. American expatriate Tim Whelan was the directorial hand who kept the various plot threads from entangling, while another Hollywood vet, James Wong Howe, manned the cameras. The film became instantly dated with the advent of World War II, but in its own time Farewell Again was a box-office smash. The film was issued in the US as Troopship. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Admirals All was based on the British stage farce by Ian Hay and Stephen-King-Hall. Wynne Gibson takes over from the stage version's Laura La Plante as temperamental American movie star Gloria Gunn. While on board a battleship for publicity purposes, Gloria is kidnapped by a band of comic-opera Chinese pirates. Even though no one is particularly anxious to get the girl back, gormless petty officer Dingle (Gordon Harker) scurries off to her rescue (Dingle was but a minor character in the play, but Harker was a major box-office draw). George Curzon, best remembered as the eye-twitching murderer in Hitchcock's Young and Innocent, scores a comic bull's-eye as the oafish pirate captain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A British aristocrat and his son travel to Russia to embark upon a thrilling search for the father's other son, who was captured by the Russians after he had inadvertently stumbled across a highly secret airstrip while searching for buried treasure. The searchers find assistance with two Russian women, but even so, their quest is fraught with danger and excitement. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This film from director Harold Young is the second big-screen adaptation of Baroness Emmuska Orczy's 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel. Leslie Howard stars as Sir Percy Blakeney, a British aristocrat who rescues innocent victims of the French Revolution under the guise of The Scarlet Pimpernel while maintaining the identity of a foppish dandy by day. Even his wife, Lady Marguerite Blakeney (Merle Oberon), is unaware of Percy's heroic alter-ego as he and his band of likeminded masked men save countless people from the guillotine. Perhaps the most famous adaptation of the classic book, The Scarlet Pimpernel would later be lampooned in 1966's Don't Lose Your Head. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

The Woman in Command in this well-appointed British musical is vaudeville star Maisie Marvello, played by Cicely Courtenedge. Born into a theatrical family that dates back to the 16th century, Maisie has every intention of carrying on the tradition into the 1930s, even though money is in short supply. The heroine's specialty is a Vesta Tillie-style male impersonation, which gives an added dimension to Maisie's on-and-off romance with effeminate stage manager Sebastian (Edward Everett Horton). The secondary romantic interest is handled by Anthony Bushell (later a prominent producer-director) and Dorothy Hyson. Woman in Command was co-scripted by Courtenedge's husband and frequent co-star Jack Hulbert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Ghoul was Boris Karloff's first British horror film. Karloff is cast as Egyptologist Professor Morant, who on his deathbed insists that he be buried with a rare jewel that was once part of an Oriental idol. It is Morant's belief that the gem will one day restore him to life, a contingency which terrifies the Professor's weaselly assistant Laing (Ernst Thesiger), who hopes to get his mitts on the jewel himself. In due time, Morant dies and is buried -- minus the jewel, which has seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth. All of this leads to a spooky denouement in Morant's cemetery crypt, designed in the manner of the ancient Egyptians. The romantic subplot is handled by Anthony Bushell as Morlant's nephew Ralph and Dorothy Hyson as Betty, while comedy relief is ladled on by Kathleen Harrison (Kaney) as a man-chasing spinster. Long believed lost (all prints were supposed to have been destroyed when the film was remade as the 1962 horror comedy No Place Like Homicide), The Ghoul resurfaced in Europe in the early 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic drama, an ambitious young dress designer decides to make an upward career move by making a play for her employer. Later that night, the two go out, but they are involved in an auto accident. Knowing that a major scandal will erupt if it is discovered that the two are dating, the employees at the store try to create a believable cover story. Because the boss' daughter and her fiancé were also in the car, they have the girl trade places with the daughter. The fiancé takes her home and en route they fall in love. At the same time, a corrupt executive tries to extort money from the hapless employer, who suspects that the dress designer is in cahoots on the scam. In the end, her innocence is revealed, she gets to marry the man she loves, and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this romance, a typist is the secret mistress of a wealthy man. After three years of illicit romance, he suddenly dumps her for the love of a wealthy heiress. The broken-hearted girl goes on with her life and falls in love with another, but when her original lover returns to beg forgiveness, they are happily reunited. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Didn't the beautiful, ubiquitous Sally Blane ever take a day off in 1932? In Escapade, the busy Blane is cast as Kay Whitney, the wife of jailbird Phillip Whitney (Anthony Bushell). Upon his release, Phillip and Kay head to the home of his brother, celebrated lawyer John Whitney (Jameson Thomas) who, incredibly, is unaware that Phillip has "done time." It doesn't take long for Kay and John to fall in love, but this doesn't weaken John's resolve to save Phillip from the wrath of one of his former cellmates, the much-feared Gimpy McLane (Walter Long). Conveniently, Phillip and Gimpy knock each other off during a climactic gun battle, clearing the field for John and Kay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the stage play by former newspaperman Louis Weitzenkorn, Five Star Final is an uncompromising look at the consequences of journalistic irresponsibility. Hounded by his publishers to pep up circulation with a sensational story, newspaper editor Edward G. Robinson decides to revive public interest in a long-ago murder case. He discovers that a woman (Sally Starr) who'd shot her lover nearly three decades earlier is now living under a new name and is married to a pillar of society (H.B. Warner). The woman's daughter (Marian Marsh) is just about to marry the son (Anthony Bushell) of another wealthy couple. Robinson sends one of his slimier reporters (Boris Karloff), a onetime divinical student who'd been expelled for sexual misconduct, to visit the woman and secure a photograph. The underhanded reporter disguises himself as the clergyman who will officiate at the wedding, worms his way into the family's confidence, and appropriates the photo. When the story hits the papers, the woman desperately tries to call Robinson and ask him to cease and desist, but Robinson is unmoved. The disgraced woman commits suicide, as does her husband a few moments later. The groom's parents snobbishly try to call off the wedding, but the groom stands by his fiancee's side and is disinherited. The grief-maddened daughter breaks into Robinson's office with a gun, threatening to kill him for ruining her mother. She is calmed down by her fiance, who warns Robinson that he himself will come back for revenge if the newspaper ever mentions the dead woman's name again. Five Star Final was remade in 1936 as Two Against the World, this time set in a radio station instead of a newspaper office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide