Henry Edwards Movies

British writer-director Henry Edwards wrote himself a juicy part in this silent melodrama produced in England by Hepworth. Edwards played the son of a nasty squire who, under the assumed name of Dick Derelict, settles down in the nearby village, improving the life of everyone around with his writings and all-around good deeds. Chrissie White, Edward's real-life wife and one of the early British film industry's leading lights, played the love interest. Appearing in no less than 22 films together, Edwards and Miss White enjoyed the same kind of adulation bestowed on America's Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

American film star Florence Turner is Alone in London in this 4-reel British mystery. Turner goes against the grain of her established screen image by playing a meaty character role as a woman inexorably involved in crime. Henry Edwards co-stars as one of the "good guys," while Edward Lingard represents the "bad" contingent. Ms. Turner, the onetime "Vitagraph Girl," was herself the producer of Alone in London; it was the last in a successful series of British productions financed by Ms. Turner in conjunction with England's pioneer filmmaker Cecil M. Hepworth. The director was Larry Trimble, Turner's lifelong friend. Alone in London was based on a play by Harriet Jay and Robert Buchanan, which presumably ran longer than the film's allotted 48 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Imitation Masons make a mess when their ruses are discovered in this British comedy. For many years, Amos Bloodgood has told his wife that as a Mason he must regularly attend meetings. Actually, he knows nothing of the fraternal order; he uses the "meetings" as an excuse for going out on the town. His scheme is nearly derailed when his daughter and son-in-law Frank show up for a little visit. Believing that Frank is a real Mason, Amos tries to impress him with everything he knows about the group. He doesn't realize that Frank is also a phoney and is equally anxious to impress him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

British author W.W. Jacobs, whose love of the sea and seafarers permeated everything he wrote, was responsible for the story upon which Beauty and the Barge was based. Judy Gunn plays the headstrong daughter of an Army officer who runs away from home. She is later adopted by bargeman Gordon Harker. A very young Jack Hawkins portrays a handsome lieutenant (or "leff-tenant", if you prefer) who signs on as a common seaman on Harker's barge in hopes of winning Hawkins' love. Beauty and the Barge also features the unforgettable Margaret Rutherford, doing pretty much what she'd been still doing in movies nearly thirty years later-shamelessly stealing every scene she's in. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An innocent country maiden living in the early 19th century is forcibly betrothed to a gambling louse after her father gets indebted to him. She endures her lot, but then an officer from the British army, who had secretly loved her for years, discovers that the cad cheated and also has a wife in Brussels. This melodrama chronicles what happens next. The story is also called Ken John Peel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Cecil Parker is the whole show in Dear Mr. Prohack, just as he'd been in the stage version by Edward Knoblock. The eponymous Prohack is a Royal Treasury official who is an expert at managing other people's money. Alas, when he himself inherits a fortune, Prohack is as financially naïve as a kid with a piggy bank. Denholm Elliot makes his film debut in the role of Ozzie Morfrey; others in the high-powered cast include Glynis Johns, Dirk Bogarde, Hermione Baddely, Ian Carmichael, future director Bryan Forbes, and Jon "Dr. Who" Pertwee. Both the play and film versions of Dear Mr. Prohack were based on a novel by Arnold Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Doorsteps" is the nickname bestowed upon boarding house slavey Florence Turner. Treated like dirt by most of the boarders, Florence gets even by becoming a famous actress, thanks to the help of playwright Henry Edwards (who also directed the film). She returns the favor by saving Edwards' life in the final reel. Doorsteps was one of several British films made by American actress Florence Turner in the mid-teens. Sadly, the career of this singularly talented actress would dwindle down to bits and extra roles in the 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Assembled by the reliable team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, London Belongs to Me stars Richard Attenborough as a young, full-of-beans boy looking for fun. Bursting into a staid, wearisome London neighborhood, Attenborough exhorts the others to get some kicks out of life. Unfortunately, his search for thrills gets him involved in a murder. Just when you think that the film is a dour "slice of life" drama, a new comic element is introduced as the locals start up a petition to release Attenborough from jail. The presence of Alastair Sim in the cast should have tipped us off that London Belongs to Me wasn't meant to be taken entirely seriously. The film was released in the US as Dulcimer Street. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Possibly inspired by the 1937 British melodrama They Drive By Night, East of Piccadilly is an austere shocker set in London. Novelist Sebastian Shaw finds himself in a "Nick and Nora" relationship with girl reporter Judy Campbell, as together they seek the whereabouts of a silk-stocking killer. For a while, Shaw is a suspect, but his top billing expunges him of all guilt (we suppose). Perhaps the real murderer lurks within the supporting-cast ranks of Niall McGinniss, Henry Edwards and Martita Hunt (among others), all of whom look guilty as sin. The deceptive whimsical quality of the title East of Piccadilly was lost on the American distributor, who renamed the film The Strangler for US consumption. One of the screenwriters was J. Lee Thompson, later the director of such cinematic blockbusters as The Guns of Navarone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Unfortunately now lost, 1915's Far From the Madding Crowd was the first cinemadaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel. Florence Turner, a Hollywood star who spent most of the pre-World War I years in England, is cast as Hardy's heroine Bathsheba Everdene (the part played by Julie Christie in the 1966 version). Turner's husband Larry Trimble served as director. In simplest terms, the plot concerns a farm girl who marries an army sergeant then almost immediately regrets it. Another of the girl's suitors kills the husband, leaving the heroine free to marry the man she really loves. It is difficult to believe that Thomas Hardy's heady prose was properly represented within the 60-minute running time of Far From the Madding Crowd. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

W. P. Drury's popular literary and theatrical piece The Flag Lieutenant spawned this 1927 sequel. Henry Edwards once more essays the role of Lt. Dick Lascelles, who in the 1926 filmization of Flag Lieutenant managed to clear himself from accusations of cowardice. This time, Lt. Lascelles saves a remote African post from a native uprising. The film's "Sun Never Sets" jingoism was easier to swallow in 1927 (when there was still a British Empire) than it might be today. Isabel Jeans likewise returns from the 1926 Flag Lieutenant as Pauline, the love of Lascelles' life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At a World War II emergency hospital, a postman dues under anesthetic during a relatively minor operation. One of the nurses who was present announces that the man's death was no accident, but a murder -- and then she, too, is murdered. The police are called in, led by Inspector Cockrill (Alastair Sim) of Scotland Yard, and he soon determines that any one of the five surviving members of the surgical team might have had a motive for the murders. In the course of his investigation, he also uncovers an array of both eccentric and ugly personal information about most of those present, but no killer that he can ascertain for certain. He must finally draw the murderer out by putting one of the suspects at risk. In the midst of the suspense are moments of droll comedy, of the sort that one would expect from a movie made by the authors of The Lady Vanishes, along with a palpably rich late wartime atmosphere which, surprisingly, did not repel war-weary audiences on either side of the Altantic. Indeed, Sim is so beguilingly witty and charismatic in his eccentric way as Inspector Cockrill, that the wonder is that there was never a follow-up movie or even a series built around his character. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide