Vic Oliver Movies
- 1945
Australian-born comic actor Vic Oliver was usually at his best on-screen when teamed with an unusually talented leading lady. Oliver's vis-a-vis in the British I'll be Your Sweetheart was film favorite Margaret Lockwood. Set in the early 1900s, the film concerns the trials and tribulations of musical-hall diva Edie Story (Lockwood), whose happy-go-lucky partner is one Sam Kahn (Oliver). Halfway through the film, Kahn is shunted to the background when Edie falls in love with aspiring songwriter Bob Fielding, played by up-and-coming Michael Rennie. The outcome of the plot is predicated on a Parliamentary decision which rescued songwriters from being gypped out of their royalties by unscrupulous "pirate" publishers, which happens more than once in the early reels to the luckless Fielding. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Vic Oliver, (more)
- 1944
The Caryl Brahams-S. J. Simon novel The Elephant is White is the basis for the British Give us the Moon. Comic actor Vic Oliver delivers a broad performance as Sascha, a dour suicide-prone chap who belongs to an "I won't work" club. The organization was founded by Nina (Margaret Lockwood) on behalf of those who have no intention of ever making a living, and who make no bones about it. Romance enters the picture when the industrious son (Peter Graves) of a hotel owner poses as a member of the idle rich, the better to be close to Nina. To take the curse off an "unemployment" comedy in the middle of WW2 (when everyone was expected to "do their bit"), Give Us the Moon is set in a fanciful postwar London. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Vic Oliver, (more)
- 1941
Based on Monica Ewer's novel Ring O'Roses, the British musiccomedy He Found a Star is dominated by the thousand-watt personality of music hall favorite Vic Oliver. He's cast as Lucky Lyndon, a seedy but enthusiastic talent agent specializing in small-time variety acts. Lyndon spends the entire picture searching for the next "big star", never realizing that his secretary Ruth Cavour (played by Sarah Churchill, Winston's daughter) is madly in love with him. By the time he's figured out what's what, Lyndon has nearly come to grief trying to promote ungrateful nightclub songstress Suzanne (Evelyn Dall). An average subject at best, He Found a Star is distinguished by the creative cinematography of Oscar-winning lensman Ernest Palmer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vic Oliver, Sarah Churchill, (more)
- 1941
In this musical, the on-air rivalry between a married pair of American radio stars, each hosting a different show heats to boiling when they each have British evacuees on their shows. The wife gets a fellow who claims to live in a castle. A brouhaha ensues as he is believed to be the long-lost heir of a prominent lord. The trouble begins when her husband learns the truth about the supposed "nobleman." The wife doesn't believe her husband and so both set off for Merry Olde England to learn the truth. Many comical adventures ensue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1940
The British Room for Two takes place in a back-lot Venice. Womanizing Englishman Vic Oliver takes a fancy to married tourist Frances Day. In a plot device right out of Charley's Aunt, Oliver disguises himself in drag and hires on as Day' maid (female impersonation was a valuable part of music-hall favorite Oliver's repertoire). When Day's philandering hubby Basil Radford comes home, the laughs start rolling in. Room for Two is based on a stage farce by Gilbert Wakefield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1938
An American producer takes his daughter and heads for England to see a variety of London shows in this musical. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1938
In 1954 there was Godzilla, the lizard transformed by radiation, and in 1959, the British gave us Behemoth, the Sea Monster, Godzilla's Anglo, radiated cousin. Now there is the "man of steel" in this undistinguished, "B"-grade, sci-fi melodrama that was the last film directed by Allan Dwan. The unsuspecting Eddie Candell (Ron Randell) is on the lam from a crime he never committed when he is exposed to a dangerous, radioactive cobalt substance emanating from an atomic bomb test site in the desert. This exposure does not cause cancer or radiation sickness; it turns Eddie's epidermis into an iron-clad suit of armor that no bullet can penetrate. Thus protected, Eddie the human tank decides to wreak revenge on the villains who framed him for that crime. The only question is not whether he will rust, but whether this odd skin condition is as permanent as it seems. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Based upon a hit German musical that had already been filmed in 1934, Who's Your Lady Friend? emerged as a British comedy-with-music in 1937. Dr. Mangold (played by Vic Oliver, a popular dance-band leader of the day) is a famous Viennese "beauty specialist" (i.e., plastic surgeon), saddled with a rather incompetent secretary named Fred (Romney Brent). Expecting an extremely important new client from France, Dr. Mangold makes the mistake of sending Fred to the station to pick her up. Due to a mix-up about identities, Fred instead returns with a vixenish cabaret singer named Lulu (Frances Day). To add to the complications and misunderstandings, Fred's fiancée Mimi (Margaret Lockwood) sees him out with the beautiful singer and leaps to the conclusion that he is being unfaithful to her. At the same time, Mrs. Mangold (Betty Stockfield) assumes that her husband, the doctor, has also succumbed to Lulu's wiles. Matters are not made any better when Fred goes on a bender and somehow ends up in the same bed as Mrs. Mangold. Eventually, everything is cleared up and the couples reunite happily. The score features the minor hit "Moonlight and Music", and the character of the maid is played by Sarah Churchill, daughter of Winston Churchill and wife of Vic Oliver. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- 1936
In this British musical, a riveter finds his attention riveted on a pretty tap dancer causing him to fall from a skyscraper and break both of his ankles. Later she visits him in hospital and cons him into learning to tap as a way to strengthen his newly healed joints. As soon as he is fully recovered, he returns to his job but discovers that he is terrified of heights. This causes him to become a professional dancer instead. He also marries the girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
