Petula Clark Movies
British entertainer Petula Clark was a star at 11, headlining musical halls and BBC radio programs as a result of volunteering to sing for British wartime troops during a kiddie variety broadcast. So popular was Petula and so well-received were her gifts for vocalizing and mimicry that at one point in World War II, she "starred" in a comic strip. In 1944, Petula made her film bow in A Medal for the General, spending the next few years with the Rank Organisation playing cheeky but wholesome teenagers. A tad weary of portraying the same character over and over, Petula left for France in the mid '50s, where she scored her first significant success as an adult pop singer--despite the fact that she was still little-girlish in appearance, never standing any taller than 5 feet. Clark was "discovered" by American audiences thanks to her 1965 hit recording "Downtown," which led to other song smashes like "Don't Sleep in the Subway" and "I Know a Place." Unfortunately she scored her hit just after signing several contracts at less-than-star salary, so she was obliged to spend eight months working for a tenth of what she was worth. Petula's compensation for a series of British and American TV specials was rather more rewarding, as were her appearances in the expensive musical films Finian's Rainbow (1968) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969). Just before her enormous popularity settled into just plain popularity, Petula made headlines for an appearance on an ABC special in which she "scandalized" certain Southern viewers by holding hands with black singer Harry Belafonte. After several years outside the realm of superstardom, Petula Clark made a welcome return to films in the kid-oriented confection Never Never Land (1980); in the early 1990s she starred on Broadway with David Cassidy in the musical Blood Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In the mold of such classics as Shindig, Hullabaloo and The T.A.M.I. Show comes the nostalgic British Invasion compilation The British Beat Live. The program collects and juxtaposes archival performances from such bands as The Troggs ("Wild Thing"); Gerry and the Pacemakers ("Ferry Cross the Mersey," "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying"); Lulu ("To Sir, With Love"); and Procol Harum ("A Whiter Shade of Pale.") ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Petula Clark
- 1944
A proud but aging WW I war-horse is deeply offended when his offer to lead during WW II is rejected by the government that once lauded his bravery with a series of medals. Embittered and despondent over their callousness, he heads back to his isolated country estate where he plots his permanent escape from the cold cruel world. When the government sends six mischievous cockney youths to stay with him during the bombing of London, the despondent old man must abandon his suicidal musings and attend to the ensuing chaos of the rambunctious rapscallions. This touching British drama follows the tough general's attempts to control and understand the energetic little hellions. As he comes to know them, he reluctantly begins to care and in so doing, finds renewed zest for life ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Godfrey Tearle, Jeanne de Casalis, (more)
- 1945
Future "Doctor Who" star William Hartnell dominates the proceedings in the British drama Query. The story concerns a young stevedore who is falsely accused of manslaughter, and is shipped off to prison. Upon his release, the now-elderely protagonist wreaks vengeance on the man responsible for framing him. The legal question arising from all this is a delicate one: Is there truly such a thing as a justifiable murder, and can a man successfully plead in court that it is his legal right to take the law in his own hands? It's a tricky premise, but one carried off with expertise by star Hartnell and writer-director Montgomery Tully. Based on a story by "Seamark", Query bears a strong (perhaps too strong) resemblance to the old Elmer Rice play It is the Law. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hartnell, Jimmy Hanley, (more)
- 1945
In this drama, a farmer marries an uptown chorus girl and tries to help her settle down to the simplicity of farm living by giving her a little heifer. Unfortunately, she does not settle down right away and begins spending their money so freely that the farmer soon loses everything. When it looks like all is lost, the woman takes off on her horse. She ends up suffering a fatal fall, leaving her hapless husband destitute and filled with guilt. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hartnell, Carol Raye, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, (more)
- 1946
London Town was painstakingly planned as a huge box-office smash--even unto hiring several Hollywood leading lights to work on the film, including producer/director/writer Wesley Ruggles, Technicolor cinematographer Ernest Hiller, costume designer Orry-Kelly and songsmiths Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. Veteran music-hall entertainer Sid Field plays a washed-up comedian who hopes to stage a comeback in a glittering new revue. Alas, Field is hired as merely an understudy and bit player. His faithful daughter Petula Clark (yes, Petula Clark) pulls a few fast ones in order to get her dad back on stage in a starring role. Making her film debut in a supporting part is Kay Kendall, who'd have to wait a decade or so for full stardom. Far from a hit, London Town was one of the most notorious flops in the history of the British cinema. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sid Field, Greta Gynt, (more)
- 1946
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
- Starring:
- William Hartnell, Jimmy Hanley, (more)
- 1947
Written and directed by Peter Ustinov, Vice Versa is a one-joke fantasy comedy which manages to hold up almost to the very end. Anthony Newley plays the funloving son of stuffy stockbroker Roger Livesy. Father and son come into possession of a magic stone, and place a wish upon it. The result: Newley inherits Livesy's brain and personality, and vice versa. The best moments involve the suddenly matured Newley's besting of feet-of-clay schoolmaster James Robertson Justice. Not successful enough to spawn a cycle in 1947, Vice Versa is nonetheless an intriguing precursor of the brief spate of identity-switch comedies of the late 1980s--one of which was also titled Vice Versa. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1948
The fictional Hugget Family makes the first of three film appearances in this domestic comedy from Great Britain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, (more)
- 1948
Easy Money is a satire of that most venerated of all middle-class British traditions, the football pool. The film is divided into four separate episodes, illustrating the effects of the football pool on the "average chap." Among those who participate in the pool in hopes of winning the 50,000-pound jackpot are the Stafford family: husband Phillip (Jack Warner), wife Ruth (Marjorie Fielding), son Dennis (Jack Watling), and daughter Jackie (Petula Clark). Other interested parties are the Atkins clan -- Herbert ($Mervyn Johns) and Agnes ($Joan Young) -- and lovers Pat (Greta Gynt) and Joe (Dennis Price). Among the huge cast of supporting players, Edward Rigby stands out as the hapless Teddy Ball. Critics of the time noted that Easy Money was faintly reminiscent of the all-star 1932 Hollywood film If I Had a Million. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Cellier, Petula Clark, (more)
- 1948
In this comedy, the Huggett family patriarch decides to run for public office. His entire platform is built upon a promise to construct a war memorial. Unfortunately, he wants to build it on a parcel of his wife's land. She doesn't want anything there so her niece fakes her signature and the land gets donated. Fortunately, the candidate's daughter finds out about her conniving cousin and is able to save her father's name and his election. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1949
The Huggets Abroad is the last and most contrived of Britain's "Huggetts" film series. The titular family members, first introduced in the 1947 film Holiday Camp, are played by Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Susan Shaw and Petula Clark (the same). Mr. Huggett feels he's in a rut, so he quits his jobs and packs himself and his family off to Africa. In quick order, the innocents abroad (a) become involved with diamond smugglers and (b) wind up in jail. When his job becomes available again, the chastened Mr. Huggett returns to his own back yard. Four writers were required to concoct this tired British Ma and Pa Kettle equivalent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1949
This British drama was originally titled Naughy Arlette. The title character, played by future director Mai Zetterling, is a French exchange student at a British art school. Teacher Hugh Williams is unable to resist Arlette's seductive charms, a fact that brings about his downfall. The girl's randiness also adversely affects Williams' daughter Petula Clark. Based on Serge Weber's novel Lycee des jeaunes filles, The Romantic Age lacks the stylishness demanded by its subject matter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mai Zetterling, Hugh Williams, (more)
- 1949
The British Don't Ever Leave Me stars "cute" Jimmy Hanley as a would-be criminal who is dragooned into a kidnapping plot. Among the potential victims is teenaged Sheila Farlane (Petula Clark), the daughter of Shakespearean actor Michael Farlane (Hugh Sinclair). When the plan goes awry, Sheila and her friends decide that they're having fun being kidnapped and refuse to go home! Featured in the cast is a young Anthony Newley, who'd recently gained fame as the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist. Don't Ever Leave Me is hardly memorable, though it managed to get plenty of American TV airplay in the 1950s and 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Hanley, Petula Clark, (more)
- 1950
Just before directing the comedy classic The Lavender Hill Mob, Charles Crichton dashed off the romantic melodrama Dance Hall. The story takes place in a London dance emporium, frequented by the local working girls. Natasha Parry stars as Eve, whose marriage to Phil (Donald Houston) is imperiled when she takes a different partner for an upcoming dance contest. Her reasoning is that Phil is a lousy dancer, but she loves him all the same; Phil, however, is the jealous type, who doesn't quite see things Eve's way. Among the familiar faces floating by in Dance Hall are Bonar Colleano, Diana Dors, and Petula Clark (yes, her career went back that far). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natasha Parry, Jane Hylton, (more)
- 1951
In this comedy, a bookie wins a boutique and decides to modernize the joint by devising, new, more effective programs for running it. Those who have worked in the shop for years are not pleased with the new changes, and when the bookies elaborate plans blow up in his face, they are only too pleased to go back to working for the shop's original owner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1951
A dress shop owner must sell her store to cover her gambling debts. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1951
White Corridors was based on Yeoman Hospital, a novel by Helen Ashton. Told episodically, the story concentrates on the day-to-day activities in a busy hospital, where research pathologist Neil Marriner (James Donald) conducts experiments in the hopes of curing diseases impervious to penicillin. Marriner is aided in this endeavor by lady surgeon Dr. Sophie Dean (Googie Withers), who happens to be in love with him. After a tragedy occurs for which Marriner holds himself responsible, the film builds steadily to an exciting climax involving a untested -- and potentially dangerous -- serum. The top-rank British supporting cast includes Barry Jones, Moira Lister, Petula Clark, Basil Radford, Dagmar (later Dana) Wynter, Bernard Lee, and, in a minor role, future "Dr. Who" Patrick Troughton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Googie Withers, Gerard Heinz, (more)
- 1952
Made in Heaven is predicated on one of Britain's most curious annual traditions. During the yearly Dunmow Flitch, a side of bacon is awarded to any married couple who can prove at a public trial that their union has been happy and argument-free for a full year. Among the contestants depicted herein are the members of the Topham family: husband (Charles Victor), wife (Sophie Stewart), son (David Tomlinson), daughter-in-law (Petula Clark) and grandfather (A. E. Mathews). Into this household arrives a saucy Hungarian maidservant (Sonja Ziemann), sending the menfolk into a tizzy. No surprises here, just plenty of laughs--and in Technicolor, to boot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Tomlinson, Petula Clark, (more)
- 1952
The Promoter was based on the Arnold Bennett novel The Card, which served as its British release title. Impoverished young clerk Alec Guinness works his way up the financial ladder until he has become a successful and highly respected loan officer. Actually, Guinness is not as above-board as the world perceives him. Beginning with cheating on a high school exam, he has wheeled and dealed his way to the top, and ethics be damned. Balancing Guinness' cold-blooded business savvy is his comparative ineptitude with women, particularly the bewitching Glynis Johns. Only Alec Guinness could succeed at making his "Sammy Glick" character appealing from first scene to last. The Promoter was scripted by Eric Ambler, who managed to unearth moments of sly cynicism that original author Bennett had barely touched upon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Guinness, Petula Clark, (more)
Lantern-jawed British comedian Frankie Howerd, best known to American TV fans as the star of the raucous historical satire Up Pompeii, heads the cast of The Runaway Bus. Howard plays Percy Lamb, a novice bus driver assigned to drive a coach from one London ariport to another. Alas, the city is enveloped in a thick fog, and poor Percy gets lost, along with his half-dozen passengers and a hidden cache of stolen gold. Most of the film's best moments go to Margaret Rutherford as a not-so-sweet old lady and Belinda Lee as a spy-novel addict. Petula Clark, who was already a top recording star in 1954, appears as a perky airline hostess. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Rutherford, Petula Clark, (more)
A dog's best friend is not always his man, as is seen in this comedy set against the backdrop of professional dog racing. The story centers around a man and his supposedly beloved greyhound. The man spends most of his time caring for the speedy canine. But when the man hears of a dog that could actually beat his, he actually goes out and bets against his own. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wilfred Pickles, Petula Clark, (more)
- 1954
Postman Evans helps 3 women who wish for better lives after throwing coins into a wishing well in this drama. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Petula Clark, Donald Houston, (more)
- 1956
In this crime drama, the trouble begins when a crook cheats his buddies at a dog track, stuffs his loot into a suitcase, and flees. He then gives the suitcase to his lover who in turn gives it to her sister just before she takes a bus to the coast. Her actions rouse the suspicions of an observant reporter. Later the crook manages to catch up with the sisters. Unfortunately, the sisters catch them at the same time and justice prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
