Peter Gawthorne Movies

This anthology tells three stories of feminine crime. In the first vignette, a woman must decide whether or not to rat upon her lover, a killer. In the second a kleptomaniac girl faces prison until her true love shows up to save her. The third tale centers on a wife who knows that her husband has killed his accountant, but loyally keeps silent until she learns that he has been cheating upon her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

MGM's first CinemaScope production was the lavishly appointed Knights of the Round Table. Without overlapping into any copyrighted material (specifically T.H. White's The Once and Future King), the film spins a lucid account of the King Arthur legend. The good king is played by Mel Ferrer, while Queen Guenevere is essayed by Ava Gardner. Arthur's efforts to create a perfect society in Camelot are compromised when Guenevere falls in love with trusted knight Sir Lancelot (Robert Taylor). The ambitious Mordred (Stanley Baker) uses his knowledge of the Queen's indiscretion to destroy both Camelot and King Arthur's round table. Most of the story material in Knights of the Round Table is lifted from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this murder mystery, an aspiring novelist and amateur detective begins looking into the case of a famous unsolved murder and eventually ends up in a mansion filled with serpents. He then enlists the aid of his wife, solves the murder, and gets kudos for his newest book. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Soho Conspiracy isn't a movie, it's a crazy quilt. The thin plot strand concerns a group of down and out residents of London's Soho district. Pooling their talents, these worthies put on a Big Show to save a church from falling apart. If the musical numbers seemed familiar to British filmgoers in 1951, it was no surprise. All the musical highlights in Soho Conspiracy were lifted bodily from earlier films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This British crime drama offers a freely adapted account of the notorious, daring burglar who became a killer and later paid for his crimes with his life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Future Doctor Who star William Hartnell plays the leading role in the British second feature Murder in Reverse. Hartnell portrays a man who has spent 15 years in prison on a murder charge. Not only is he innocent, but the murder never took place. Once released, Hartnell tracks down his "victim" and kills him in full view of a crowded courtroom. He then laughingly dares the authorities to convict him again for a murder he's supposed to have already committed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Toothy, ukelele-plucking British music hall favorite George Formby is at it again in Bell-Bottom George. From the title, you'd think that Formby has joined the Royal Navy. Well, sort of: when he's declared 4F (or the British equivalent of 4F), Formby poses as a Jack Tar to impress his girl friend Ann Firth. After a series of fitfully funny complications, Formby captures a nest of Nazi spies. Bell-Bottom George was a hit with both British military and civilian audiences; American videotape aficionados may have to run the picture twice to fully grasp all the colloquial humor and wartime slang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Let the People Sing is an offshoot of J. B. Priestly's earlier show business-based fable The Good Companions. In Companions, a trio of mismatched dogooders save a musical troupe from ruin. In Let the People Sing, Alastair Sim is a besotted nobleman who comes to the aid of indigent comedian Fred Emney. Through Sim's intervention, the planned closing of a local music hall is prevented. Even if Sim hadn't let the people sing, as the title implores, they probably would have done so anyway. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A bashful artist finds all kinds of trouble in this comedy. A handyman by profession, the shy fellow loves to paint, but can only paint the heads of his models as he is too embarrassed to render the rest of their nude forms. The portraits are very good, and later, in a commercial art class, other students add bodies to his heads. This gets the handyman in all sorts of hot water with the models when the painting is used as an advertisement for soap. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the late 1930s-early 1940s, diminutive British music-hall and radio comedian Arthur Askey enjoyed a popularity commensurate to that of Hollywood's Abbott & Costello; accordingly, Askey's earliest starring films were all box-office bonanzas. In I Thank You, Askey and his perennial straight man Richard Murdoch are cast as Arthur and Stinker, members of a nearly bankrupt theatrical troupe. To raise some much-needed money, our heroes hire on as servants for Lady Randall (Lily Morris), who'd been an entertainer herself before marrying into the Upper Crust. When Lady Randall learns of Arthur and Stinker's plight, she bankrolls a major stage production for the boys' fellow performers, leading to the inevitable big-production-number finale. Way, way down the cast list of I Thank You is distinguished Shakespearean actor Felix Aylmer, who was seen to rather better advantage as Polonius in Lawrence Olivier's Hamlet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wings and the Woman was a reverent (read: dull) British biopic about pioneer aviatrix Amy Johnson. Anna Neagle portrays Amy, whose fame in the 1930s is such that songs are written about her and a worldwide fan club is organized. See RKO Book. Ms. Johnson's fame exacts a toll on her marriage to pilot Jim Mollison (Robert Newton), a daredevil in his own right who chafes at being overshadowed by his wife (the film is careful not cast Mollison in an envious light). The film ends with Amy's death while transporting a fighter plane from a defense factory to an RAF field, a tragedy which gives producer/director Herbert Wilcox ample opportunities to wave the Union Jack. Released in Great Britain as They Flew Alone, Wings and the Women was heavily edited by its American distributor RKO, with some dialogue sequences ending in mid-sentence! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "Scarlet Pimpernel" legend is updated to WW2 in the breathless actioner Pimpernel Smith. Leslie Howard (who also directed) plays bespectacled and seemingly mild-mannered Professor Smith, who under cover of darkness transforms into a tireless defender of democracy. With the help of several loyal companions, Smith makes several forays into Nazi-occupied territories to rescue the oppressed victims of the Third Reich, using a phony archeological expedition to throw the villains off the track. The picture really roars into life during the cat-and-mouse exchanges between the Professor and his Gestapo antagonist Von Graum, phlegmatically enacted by the corpulent Francis L. Sullivan. In some markets, Pimpernel Smith was retitled Mister V. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a peace-loving surgeon must operate upon the man who invented a catastrophic new weapon. The trouble begins when the patient dies of too much ether and the doctor finds himself accused of murder. Fortunately, his daughter and her lover prove that he is innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide