Jacques Cey Movies
Ingrid Thulin plays a Polish inmate of the Dachau concentration camp who is liberated at the end of the war. Presumed dead, Ingrid returns to visit her husband (Maximillian Schell) She finds that his grief was fleeting at best; his new mistress is his "deceased" wife's daughter (Samantha Eggar) from a previous marriage. Since Ingrid's identity is masked by plastic surgery, she subtly re-enters their life without undue stress for either husband or daughter. But when the husband figures out the ruse, he murders his young paramour in the bathtub (a moment lavishly exploited in the print ads for this film) and plots to kill Ingrid for her money. A textbook case of implausibility, Return from the Ashes was adapted from an equally unbelievable novel by Hubert Monteilhet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maximilian Schell, Samantha Eggar, (more)
A retired spy agrees to help his former boss by helping another agent get some tapes containing defense information to Paris. When his boss is killed, he must stay ahead of the rival agents, eventually learning that the female agent he is helping is one of them. He is able to defeat her and get the tapes to the proper recipients. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
A British officer is slated to parachute into Normandy. What he doesn't know is that he is being set up by British Intelligence to be captured by the enemy and reveal erroneous information to the Nazis. Officer Raine (Bradford Dillman) is the unknowing soldier who has intentionally been given false information. His superiors justify the expenditure of one man verses the thousands of lives that will be saved by his mission. The unlucky officer faces capture, brutal torture and debilitating guilt leading to alcoholism over his perceived "failure" to keep the information secret. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzy Parker, Bradford Dillman, (more)
A battered houseboat on the Thames provides the setting for this romantic British comedy. Two newlyweds rent the leaky floating home. The trouble begins when the husband decides to move the scow to a better location. The rickety barge disrupts river traffic. Next the two get lost in a fog bank. When it finally lifts, they find themselves in France. Fortunately, their landlord's yacht is moored nearby and they are able to borrow some petrol. The landlord bets that he can beat them across the Channel with his yacht. The race begins. The yachtsman gets terribly drunk and his cannot stay on course. The newlyweds win the race. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Carmichael, Janette Scott, (more)
The economy of the teeny-tiny European duchy of Grand Fenwick is threatened when an American manufacturer comes up with an imitation of Fenwick's sole export, its fabled wine. Crafty prime minister Count Mountjoy (Peter Sellers) comes up with a plan: Grand Fenwick will declare war on the United States. Grand Duchess Gloriana (Peter Sellers again) is hesitant: how can meek little Grand Fenwick win such a conflict? Mountjoy explains that the plan is to lose the war, then rely upon American foreign aid to replenish Grand Fenwick's treasury. Bumbling military officer Tully Bascombe (Peter Sellers yet again) leads his country's ragtag army into battle. They cross the Atlantic in an ancient wooden vessel, then set foot on Manhattan Island, fully prepared to down weapons and surrender. But New York City is deserted, due to an air raid drill. While wandering around, Sellers comes upon atomic scientist David Kossoff and the scientist's pretty daughter Jean Seberg. Kossoff has been working on the deadly "Q Bomb," a football-sized weapon with the destructive capacity of a hundred hydrogen bombs. Suddenly seized with patriotic fervor, Tully captures Kossoff, his daughter and the bomb and brings them all back to Grand Fenwick. Tully has "won" the war-precisely what he'd been told not to do. The upshot of this "victory" is that every world power converges upon Grand Fenwick to claim the Q Bomb for themselves. The satire is heavy-handed at times, but The Mouse That Roared contains several unforgettably hilarious moments, including one startling "false ending." One of the best gags involves the Columbia Pictures logo--a bit frequently cut from TV showings, worse luck. Based on one of the many "Grand Fenwick" novels by Leonard Wibberly, The Mouse That Roared was a success, yielding a Peter Sellers-less sequel, 1963's Mouse on the Moon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg, (more)
When a movie star dies mysteriously, insurance investigator Jeff Keenan (Rod Cameron) is put on the case. It seems that the dead man was attending a private psychiatric clinic on the Riviera. Keenan learns that one of the staff doctors has been tinkering with an experimental "dream machine," designed to soothe his more disturbed patients. But Paul Zakon (Peter Illing), the ex-Nazi owner of the clinic, has been using the machine for brainwashing purposes. There's really no "monster" to speak of, but there's plenty of Frankenstein-style electric bolts and sparks in the climactic melee. Charles Eric Mayne adapted the gimmicky screenplay from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Cameron, Mary Murphy, (more)
In this mystery, a movie producer gets bored with his wife and begins an affair with a fiery actress. In the end, he jilts his mistress and returns to his wife. The trouble begins when someone stabs the actress and he is labelled the prime suspect by a detective. Later the producer discovers that the actress is still alive, and that the detective was her husband. A real murder follows and the producer is arrested. His loyal wife launches her own investigation and proves that her husband was innocent. The real killer, the husband of the actress, ends up killed in a car wreck. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, Donna Reed, (more)
Boyish leading man Jack Watling is caught up in a rather mature set of circumstances in Links of Justice. In concert with his mistress Kay Callard, Watling plots to murder his wealthy wife Sarah Lawson. The best laid schemes gang aft agley, and the wrong person ends up dead. In a variation of Dial M for Murder, a false murder accusation is dissipated by the timely arrival of a housebreaker. Chalk up another serviceable second-feature British melodrama for the production team of Edward and Harry Danzinger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this crime drama, Scotland Yard teams up with Interpol to find out who put stolen funds into a private bank account in Rio. They assign their best detective to the case. The investigator is led to a coffee storehouse where he discovers the corpse of a worker and the rest of the purloined loot. The detective and the owner of the storehouse have a big fight and the owner's girlfriend tries to run-over the agent with her car. Instead the car runs into a hill of beans, swerves out of control, and runs the villainous owner over instead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this drama, unknowing thieves, headed by Tafler, a drug dealer, steal a pen with very special properties. Unbeknownst to them, the pen is wired to explode when Big Ben chimes. Tragedy ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Adapted from a novel by Bernard Victor Dyer, Port Afrique offers an unusual screen romantic team in the form of two-fisted Phil Carey and ethereally beautiful Pier Angeli. Carey plays Rip Reardon, a WW2 veteran who returns to his "second home" in Morocco for a reunion with his wife. Upon arrival, Reardon discovers that his wife was murdered, though the police insist that she died by her own hand. Smelling a cover-up, Reardon conducts his own investigation, which leads him through some of the seedier portions of Port Afrique. Along the way, he meets and briefly romances nightclub singer Ynez (Angeli), who may or may not have had something to do with his wife's death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Maria Pier Angeli, Philip Carey, (more)
In this lively British romantic comedy, a baronet decides that his son needs to experience life outside of his blue-blooded world and so takes him to Paris to sample its earthy pleasures. Meanwhile, the son has his own plans; he wants to find his father a good woman because he believes his father has spent too much time cooped up on his lonely estate in Scotland. Many merry mix-ups ensue as the two well-meaning fellows try to find the right woman for the other. Fortunately, by the story's end, romance prevails and everybody involved is happy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Guinness, Odile Versois, (more)
In this adventure, set in North Africa, a secret agent must find a band of smugglers. The man who recommended her for the job is another American agent who works in foreign law enforcement. Only he knows her real identity and he is soon killed leaving her to break up the ring with the assistance of another agent masquerading as a smuggler. The are also assisted by a friendly saloonkeeper. The story was shot on location in Tangiers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, MacDonald Carey, (more)
This romantic and tuneful war drama tells the story the singer who captured the hearts of Allied soldiers during WW II. It begins when she refuses to marry the American reporter she loves. She vows not to say yes until she becomes a star. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Based on The Hand and the Flower, a novel by Jerrard Tickell, A Day to Remember stars Stanley Holloway as Charley Porter, captain of London darts team. When the team travels to the French town of Boulogne for the annual darts tournament, a good time is had by all--and more besides. Jim Carver (Donald Sinden), one of the team's members, is reunited with a little French girl he'd befriended during the war, who has now developed into a beautiful young woman (Odelle Versois). And Fred Collins (James Hayter) makes a poignant journey to the hotel where he'd honeymooned with his late wife (Brenda DeBanzie). The film works best as a low-key comedy-drama; it is least successful when it ventures into O. Henry territory and strains for "surprise" story twists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Holloway, Donald Sinden, (more)
House of the Arrow is the third film version of the classic A.E.W. Mason mystery novel. A wealthy French widow is poisoned in her home. Inspector Hanaud (Oscar Homolka), a Columbo-like methodical detective, investigates. Far be it from us to reveal the murderer, but we can reveal the method of murder--an arrow, tipped in poison. One advantage the 1953 version of House of the Arrow has over the first versions is the bluff, hearty presence of Oscar Homolka, who could entertain an audiences by reading the want ads if he so desired. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this murder mystery, a woman's brother is killed in a freaky accident, or so she believes. Fortunately for her, an American journalist is more suspicious and so begins roaming the London streets in search of the killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this low-budget French crime drama, the captain of a charter boat is forced to work for jewel smugglers who use him to shuttle them between France and Great Britain. The trouble begins when they frame him for murder. Later, they throw him overboard and he is forced to swim to shore. He makes it to a tiny French fishing town. As he recovers, he falls in love with a lovely young woman who helps him prove his innocence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide














