Simon Chandler Movies

It's late 1944, and the Allied armies are confident they'll win the World War II and be home in time for Christmas. What's needed, says British general Bernard Law Montgomery, is a knockout punch, a bold strike through Holland, where German troops are spread thin, that will put the Allies into Germany. Paratroops led by British major general Robert Urquhart (Sean Connery) and American brigadier general James Gavin (Ryan O'Neal) will seize a thin road and five bridges through Holland into Germany, with paratroops led by Lieutenant Col. John Frost (Sir Anthony Hopkins) holding the most critical bridge at a small town called Arnhem. Over this road shall pass combined forces led by British Lieutenant Gen. Brian Horrocks (Edward Fox) and British Lieutenant Col. Joe Vandeleur (Michael Caine). The plan requires precise timing, so much so that one planner tells Lieutenant Gen. Frederick Browning (Dirk Bogarde), "Sir, I think we may be going a bridge too far." The plan also has one critical flaw: Instead of a smattering of German soldiers, the area around Arnhem is loaded with crack SS troops. Disaster ensues. Based on a book by historian Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge Too Far is reminiscent of another movie based on a Ryan book, The Longest Day. Like that movie, it is loaded with more than 15 international stars, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Hardy Krueger, Gene Hackman, Maximilian Schell, and Liv Ullman. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide

Perhaps inspired by the success of PBS' Shakespeare Plays series, Bard Productions Ltd. Came out with this diverting if not very cinematic adaptation of the Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Timothy Dalton plays Marc Antony, while Lynn Redgrave is uncharacteristically alluring as Queen Cleopatra. The all-TV cast includes Nichelle Nichols, Anthony Geary, Walter Koenig, and Brian Kerwin. Also making a cameo appearance is John Carradine, giving his all to the brief part of the Soothsayer. At three hours, Antony and Cleopatra has some trouble getting bookings outside the "art" houses. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Violence and anti-gay prejudice combine to make a heated custody battle all the more ugly in this tense domestic drama. Hannah Wyatt (Joely Richardson) is a single mother who lives with her nine-year-old son Oliver (Sam Bould) and her boyfriend Frank Donally (Jason Flemyng). Hannah was married to Martyn (Martin Donovan), but their relationship ended bitterly when Martyn chose to finally acknowledge his homosexuality and left her to move in with his lover Tom Dixon (Ian Hart). Oliver has suffered several unexplained injuries in recent months, and one day Hannah comes home from work to discover that Frank has severely wounded Oliver's hand when he lashed out with violence over a minor bit of misbehavior. Hannah kicks Frank out of the house, but when he returns -- tearfully begging forgiveness and claiming he'll never hurt Oliver again -- she takes him back. Martyn learns of Frank's violence against his son, and she sues to have full custody of Oliver for the sake of the child's safety. However, Hannah is terrified of both losing her son and being left without a man in her life; she and Frank join forces in court against Martyn, using his homosexuality as their chief weapon against him and trying to poison Oliver's mind with homophobia against his father. Hollow Reed's soundtrack features selections recorded for the film by Elvis Costello, Annie Lennox, and Paul Weller. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the novels by Joan Eadington, Jonny Briggs was introduced to British television as a recurring segment on the long-running "readers' theater" children's series Jackanory. The stories concerned a troublemaking boy (the title character), his long-suffering parents, and his pet dog Razzle. The series version of Jonny Briggs was distinguished by its surprisingly realistic (albeit comical) classroom scenes, in which Jonny was tormented by a pair of "cute" twins. The 13 20-minute episodes of Jonny Briggs was beamed out to the U.K. in 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A notorious, internationally known sex symbol (Phoebe Cates) attempts to track down her birth mother in this glitzy, deliciously trashy melodrama. The mother could be one of three women, all of whom have vowed to never reveal the secret truth behind the child's illegitimate birth. Based on the novel by Shirley Conran. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Bob Spiers (director of TV's Absolutely Fabulous) directed this feature-film debut of the five Spice Girls -- Posh Spice, Sporty Spice, Scary Spice, Ginger Spice, and Baby Spice -- as the quintet challenges the London pop scene during five days before their first live performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Photojournalists follow as they travel from press conferences to practice sessions to photo ops, passing London landmarks in the comfort of their cavernous Spicebus and emerging in a musical cascade of color, trendy clothes, and blinding flashbulbs. Shot in 43 days, the film features cameos by everyone from Elton John and Elvis Costello, to Stephen Fry and Bob Hoskins. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

George Sluizer (The Vanishing) directed this German-British-Belgian thriller about politico James Morton (John Hurt) who relocates in Brussels as the British commissioner to the Euro parliament, leaving his wife Isabelle (Alice Krige) behind. As British and German chemical outfits are about to merge, Metro Chemical researcher Hans Konig (Armin Mueller-Stahl) tips him that his company is creating weapons and is run by a former Nazi. Morton stops the merger, but information leaks trigger Konig's arrest for industrial espionage and the bombing of Morton's apartment, followed by more corporate intrigue. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Jon Amiel directed this satire on mistaken-identity thrillers and the spy genre, scripted by Robert Farrar, Tim John, and Oliver Butcher from Farrar's unpublished novel, Watch That Man. In the female lead, Joanne Whalley returned to films after a three-year absence, choosing to do so with director Amiel. Farrar's Hitchcockian-style story focuses on naive Blockbuster Video clerk Wallace Ritchie (Bill Murray) who travels from Des Moines, Iowa, to London to celebrate his birthday with his wealthy younger brother, James (Peter Gallagher). When he turns up on the same night that James has plans to attend a high-profile client dinner party (that he hopes will bring him millions from a German investment firm), James needs to keep Wallace away during the evening, so he gives Wallace a ticket to the participatory Theater of Life. The theater game requires Wallace to assume a character and interact with actors portraying people in dramatic situations.

At the corner phone booth, the initial call should begin the evening of innocent fun. However, the phone instructions Wallace receives are actually intended for an assassin, part of a scheme to end the current UK regime and revive the Cold War. The real assassin gets the call from the Theater of Life. Blissfully unaware, Wallace walks without fear into a complex web of intrigue involving defense ministers, call girls, and Russian hitmen. For Wallace, all the world's a stage, and he's amazed at the skill of the actors, including beautiful enigmatic Lori (Joanne Whalley) -- while Wallace's pursuers are mystified by their adversary's fearlessness in the face of threats, torture and bullets. Farrar got the idea for this comedy from a chance remark at a party: "The inspiration came from a dinner party, when somebody told me about these strange live theater performances which were all the rage in England in the '80s. The idea was to telephone for instructions if you wanted to take part. My immediate reaction was, 'Wouldn't it be fabulous if somebody got the wrong number, and it all went hopelessly wrong?'" Filming took place in London's East End (Three Mills Studios), at a variety of London locations, and just outside London at the Elstree Film Studios. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

One of the earliest salvos of Indian militancy before the nation won its freedom from the British Empire is recounted in grand scale in this historical drama. In the 1850s, Great Britain held both political and economic sway over India, and the East India Company was one of the most powerful English firms trading there -- so powerful that they had their own private army to help enforce the laws as they saw fit. Mangal Pandey (Aamir Khan) was a "sepoy" (local slang for an Indian soldier) in the East India Co. militia who became friendly with British officer William Gordon (Toby Stephens). Gordon had a great deal of respect for Padney, unlike many of his fellow British soldiers, who regarded their Indian colleagues with little more than contempt. While Padney's commitment to his duty was genuine, he became increasingly aware of the disrespect shown to Indians by the British, and when word began to spread that the powder cartouches being given to sepoy gunmen were greased with animal fat, making them taboo for Muslim and Hindu soldiers, long-simmering anger in the ranks began to boil over into open rebellion, and in time Padney was charged with mutiny for defending himself and other sepoys against their British superiors. Adapted from a true story, The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Padney features dialogue in both Hindi and English, unusual for most Bollywood films. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This two-part British miniseries chronicled the misfortunes of meek solicitor Henry Farr (Robert Lindsay), trapped in dead-end suburban domesticity and saddled with a feminist virago of a wife named Elinor (Alison Steadman). Finally able to stand no more, Henry plotted to do away with Elinor by means of poison. Alas, his scheme had a few glitches, and before long virtually everyone in the town of Wimbledon had dropped dead except for Elinor. Meanwhile, the local constabulary, led by Detective John Rush (Philip Jackson), tried to figure out what was causing the unusually high mortality rate. Played as much for laughs as for thrills, The Wimbledon Poisoner originally aired in 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the verge of starvation in 1930s Paris, erstwhile entertainer Victoria (Julie Andrews) is rescued by gay cabaret performer Toddy (Robert Preston). What she needs to succeed, opines Toddy, is a gimmick. What if she becomes a male impersonator? Better still: what if she becomes a male impersonator, pretending to be a female impersonator? As "Victor/Victoria," s/he becomes the toast of Paree, and an object of fascination for big-time Chicago gangster King Marchan (James Garner), who can't quite understand the teasing sensations he experiences whenever watching her in action-especially since he, like everyone else, assumes that she is a he. Enjoyable though the stars of Blake Edwards' comedy may be, the film is stolen by Lesley Ann Warren, who won an Oscar nomination as King's screechy-voiced moll, and Alex Karras as King's chief henchman, who, assuming that his boss is "that way," literally comes out of the closet. Victor/Victoria was a remake of the 1931 German film Viktor und Viktoria, which had previously be reworked in 1937 as the Jessie Mathews vehicle First a Girl. In 1996, Victor/Victoria was transformed into a Broadway musical, again directed by Edwards and starring Andrews. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide