Jack Warner Movies

Jigsaw was based on Hilary Waugh's play Sleep Long My Love. The scene is Brighton: A woman's body is found in an isolated beach house. The local constabulary painstakingly assemble the "jigsaw" of random clues to reconstruct the woman's history and her last moments on earth, hoping this will lead them to the killer. Though essentially a mystery, the storyline hides nothing from the viewer; the clues are there if you're willing to pick up on them. At 107 minutes, the film is long but never tiresome. With so many films titled Jigsaw floating around the TV schedule, this 1961 production can be characterized as "the good Jigsaw." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, the lives of two families get turned topsy-turvy when their respective young sons win a large football pool. The two share the winning ticket and the trouble begins when their parents get greedy and begin trying to devise way to get the hefty pot all to themselves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Escape from a German POW camp is the goal of the rescourceful Allied prisoners in this war film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A rocket crash-lands in England after a flight of more than 57 hours into deep space. The design of Professor Bernard Quatermass (Brian Donlevy), a forceful, misanthropic American scientist, the Q-1 had three astronauts aboard when it left Earth, but only one of them, engineer Victor Caroon (Richard Wordsworth), is on board upon landing, and he is in a near-comatose state. Even more baffling, the spacesuits of the other two men are still aboard the wrecked ship and are still interlocked, as though they were in them when whatever transpired. Quatermass's investigation is complicated by the presence of Inspector Lomax (Jack Warner) of Scotland Yard, who is treating the disappearance of the two men as a potential murder case, and by Caroon's wife Judith (Margia Dean), who blames the scientist for what has happened to her husband. An on-board camera, although damaged, shows an encounter with some form of energy that invaded the ship and attacked the crew, seemingly killing the other two astronauts and rendering Caroon unconscious. Caroon's condition keeps worsening -- Quatermass's medical expert, Dr. Gordon Briscoe (David King-Wood), is alarmed by the man's impossible heart- and pulse-rate, his degenerating skin and apparent changes in his bone and facial structure. Judith Caroon tries to spirit her husband out of the hospital where he's being cared for, not knowing that something horrific is happening to him. Quatermass and Briscoe soon realize that Caroon is little more than the shell of a man, masking an invading alien life form that can literally draw the life out of any living thing that it touches. The manhunt turns into a fight for survival as the creature continues to kill and mutate, threatening to release spores into the air and spread itself by the millions throughout the Earth. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Nigel Patrick plays a suave but dead-serious British narcotics agent in this sporadically exciting crime melodrama. Patrick is determined that the drug traffic will not spread into his territory. He finds an unexpected ally in Joyce Grenfell, an inveterate bird-watcher. Ms. Grenfell aids Patrick in trapping a brother-sister smuggling team (Elizabeth Sellars and Terence Morgan). Apart from the always delightful Joyce Grenfell, Forbidden Cargo is humorless Dragnet material transplanted to the high seas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title character of Albert, R.N is portrayed by-well, by no one. Albert is a papier-mache dummy, constructed by the British inmates of a German POW camp. The dummy is used as a diversion in a daring escape plan. Anthony Steel plays the mastermind of the getaway scheme, while Anton Diffring costars as the shrewd-and utterly despicable-Nazi commandant. Albert, R.N was released in the US under the unimaginative title Break to Freedom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Meet Me Tonight was the American title for the British-filmed Tonight at 8:30, adapted from the Noel Coward stage production of the same name. Several rotating playlets were presented in the original Tonight at 8:30, most of them starring Coward and Gertrude Lawrence. The film version utilizes three of these short plays. "The Red Peppers" stars Kay Walsh and George Pepper as a brash music-hall team (their big number is "Has Anybody Seen our Ship") on the verge of splitting up. "Fumed Oak" stars Stanley Holloway as a man finagled into marriage by a domineering woman (Betty Ann Davies). And "Ways and Means" stars Valerie Hobson and Nigel Patrick as a pair of impoverished "professional guests" who have worn out the welcome of every wealthy host in Europe. Meet Me Tonight was given its American TV premiere on the ABC network in November of 1956, at which time its original title was restored. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Hundred Hour Hunt was originally released in Britain as Emergency, then as Emergency Call. A woman lies in a hospital near death. She needs a transfusion, but her blood type is extremely rare. It's up to Inspector Lane (Jack Warner) to track down the three potential donors. The rest of the film deals with the various crosses borne by these three: a sailor about to ship out, a disgraced boxer, and a murderer on the run. Hundred Hour Hunt is a surprisingly polished product from the Butchers studio, the threadbare forerunner of Hammer Films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Valley of Eagles is set in northern Scandinavia, on the border between Sweden and Lapland. John McCallum stars as Swedish scientist Nils Ahlen, whose research data has been swiped by his assistant Nystrom (Anthony Dawson). Making things worse is the fact that Nystrom was aided in his perfidy by Ahlen's treacherous wife Helga (Mary Laura Wood). As he murderously pursues the thieves into the snowy wastes, Ahlen's trail is dogged by a police inspector (Jack Warner), who is sympathetic with the scientist but believes that the fugitives should be brought back alive. Nadia Gray co-stars as a pretty Laplander who offers aid and comfort to the embittered scientist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, an amiable rake shows all that he is a whiz at finances after a rumor circulates that he has inherited millions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Anticipating The Defiant Ones by nearly ten years, the British My Brother's Keeper concentrates on the exploits of two handcuffed-together escaped convicts. The protagonists are career criminal George Martin (Jack Warner) and terrified "first timer" Willie Stannard (George Cole). The film is one long chase, with a brief respite to establish the relationship between Martin and his girlfriend Nora Lawrence (Jane Hylton). Despite the fact that they're polar opposites, George and Willie develop a grudging friendship and dependence upon one another, broken only by the events in the final scenes. Director Alfred Roome's utilization of actual exterior locations adds a great deal of credibility to the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Brown is the color of the uniforms worn by the residents of a British borstal (boy's reformatory). Jack Warner plays the governor (warden) of the institution, struggling to maintain an even keel with his tempestuous charges. The film aims for a veneer of reality by using an optical camera device to blend actual backgrounds with studio sets, a special effect that works about half the time. The Boys in Brown was based on a British stage play by Reginald Beckwith. Perhaps it was more effective on stage, where the advanced ages of the "boys" were not quite so detectable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide