Arthur Chesney Movies

While awaiting access to England's Technicolor cameras for their upcoming super-production Stairway to Heaven, the producer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger dashed off a delightful "personal" project, I Know Where I'm Going. Young middle-class Englishwoman Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) is determined to have the finer things in life, and to that end she plans to marry Sir Robert Bellinger (Norman Shelley), a wealthy, middle-aged industrialist whom she does not love. En route to the Island of Mull, where her future husband resides, Joan is stranded in a colorful Scottish seacoast town. Inclement weather keeps her grounded for a week, during which time she falls in love with young, insouciant naval officer Torquil McNeil (Roger Livesey). Ignoring the dictates of her heart (not to mention common sense), Joan stubbornly insists upon heading out to sea towards her marriage of convenience, but the exigencies of Mother Nature finally convince her that her future resides on the Mainland. A winner all the way, I Know Where I'm Going is full of large and small delights, including a wonderful sense of regional detail and endearing, three-dimensional characterizations (even the mercenary heroine is a likeable character). The film is easily one of the best of the Powell-Pressburger films of the 1940s, and arguably the team's all-time best romantic drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of several Anna Neagle-Tulio Carminatti vehicles of the 1930's, London Melody was one of five films directed in 1937 by Neagle's future husband Herbert Wilcox. This time around, Carminatti is cast as Marius Andreani, a cultured Italian diplomat. While in London on business, Marius makes the chance acquaintance of boisterous cockney street entertainer Jacqueline (Neagle). It's love at first sight, but hero and heroine must undergo a dizzying series of roadblocks and misunderstandings before the climactic clinch. Meanwhile, Jacqueline rises to the top of show-business success, never dreaming (until the end, at least) that it's all the secret handiwork of faithful Marius. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Raoul Walsh, best remembered for his rough-and-tumble action pictures, made this film on a rare loan-out to a British studio. Jim Tracey (Wallace Ford) is an American gangster who, while on the run from the law, flees to England, where he joins the British army by posing as a Canadian. Jim and his new friend Bert Dawson (John Mills) go through training together, and they both get to know Sally Briggs (Anna Lee), the daughter of their commanding officer. While Jim and Bert vie for Sally's attentions, Jim discovers that his girlfriend Jean Burdett (Grace Bradley) has followed him to England and is threatening to reveal his true identity. Jim ships out to China with his regiment before Jean's word can get too far; it turns out that Sally is also on board the ship, but that bit of good news turns sour when band of Chinese bandits attempt to seize the ship and take Sally with them. O.H.M.S. was also released under the more American-sounding title You're in the Army Now. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this silly comedy, a jobless fellow is nursing a hangover after a wild night at a Turkish bath when he is handed a telegram informing him that his aunt has died and he has inherited her fortune which is stashed within a bust of Napoleon in the house he will also inherit. He wastes no time getting to the residence, but is appalled to discover that the house has become a girl's school and no men can enter. He then poses as a brother to one of the students and begins roaming about in search of the appropriate bust. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Future Connecticut governor John Lodge stars in the British crime drama Sensation. Lodge plays a hotshot reporter who devotion to his job is messing up his private life. Despite warnings from his girl friend that she'll walk out if he follows up one more hot scoop, Lodge tries to flush out the murderer of a waitress. A packet of incriminating love letters is the "maguffin" in this one. Based on a play by Basil Dean and George Munro, Sensation packs an awful lot of story in its 54 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this costume drama, Colonel Blood, a notorious Irish patriot/outlaw, tries to steal the British Crown Jewels. He is caught and taken before King Charles II. The king finds the rogue colonel so charming that he pardons him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The venerable Warwick Deeping story Sorrell and Son was dusted off again for this 1934 screen incarnation. Repeating his role from the 1927 film version, H.B. Warner plays Captain Stephen Sorrell, a WW I hero reduced to scrubbing floors in a hotel. This he does for the sake of his beloved son Kit (Hugh Williams), who thanks to his father's sacrifices becomes a successful surgeon. The film's emotional undercurrents boil over in the climax, when Kit must decide whether or not to put his father out of his misery when the old man is stricken with a fatal disease. The most memorable characterization is delivered by Wally Patch as a sadistic bellboy, whose bullying of Sorrell senior literally makes the flesh creep. Featured in a minor role is Louis Hayward, just before embarking upon his Hollywood career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Cecil Lewis adapted Indiscretions of Eve from his own short story. During a New Year's Eve celebration, handsome young millionaire Sir Peter Martin (Fred Conyngham) falls in love with gorgeous Austrian model Eve (Steffi Duna). In a rare instance of reverse snobbism, the poverty-stricken Eve refuses to have anything to do with anyone as rich as Sir Peter. Our hero is led on a merry chase before Eve finally allows him to catch her. Some good moments are provided by Arthur Chesney (the brother of Edmund Gwenn) as Sir Peter's flustered father. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Told that he has only a year to live, Lester Matthews takes a last vacation to Egypt. Here, Matthews and his fellow tourists are kidnapped by bandits. Having nothing to lose, Matthews behaves defiantly towards his captors, and in so doing wins the respect of the other kidnap victims. By the time the group is rescued, Matthews has fallen in love with damsel-in-distress Dorothy Bartlam. Is a happy ending possible under the circumstances? You'll have to see for yourself. Fires of Fate was based on The Tragedy of Korosko, a novel by "Sherlock Holmes" creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Madeleine Carroll plays a dual role "sort of" in the WWI comedy French Leave. When her husband Harry (Haddon Mason) marches off to the Front, Dorothy Glennister (Carroll) can't stand the idea of being separated from him. Sooooo, she sneaks into the French town where Harry is stationed and poses as a local coquette named Juliette. Unfortunately, her little stratagem backfires when she's suspected of being a German spy. Virtually every British officer depicted in the film is a pompous idiot, making one wonder how they ever won the war. Originally released at 100 minutes, French Leave was pared down to an hour for its American release -- and judging by what was left, those missing 40 minutes were no great loss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While the silent The Lodger was not director Alfred Hitchcock's first film, it was the first to truly deserve the designation "A Hitchcock Picture". British matinee idol Ivor Novello plays Jonathan Drew, a quiet, secretive young man who rents a room in a London boarding house. Drew's arrival coincides with the reign of Terror orchestrated by Jack the Ripper. As the film progresses, circumstantial evidence begins to mount, pointing to Drew as the selfsame Ripper. In addition to Novello's 1932 remake, The Lodger was remade in 1944 with Laird Cregar, then again in 1953 as Man in the Attic, with Jack Palance as Jonathan Drew. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide