John Collin Movies

Although there have been several British TV adaptations of Emily Bronte's gothic romance Wuthering Heights, this five-part 1978 version is the one regarded as being the most faithful to the original novel. In covering the star-crossed romance between the headstrong Cathy (Kay Adshead) and wild gypsy boy Heathcliff (Ken Hutchinson), this adaptation did not (as have so many others) end with Cathy's death, but instead carried over the story into the next generation, wherein the vengeful Heathcliff continued to wage his private war of retribution against the people whom he felt had wronged him. Irish playwright Hugh Leonard handled the adaptation, deftly juggling the many characters and subplots without the slightest sense of strain. Wuthering Heights was originally beamed out to the British Isles from September 24 to October 22, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Innocent Bystanders stars Stanley Baker as a Bondlike British secret service agent. In collaboration with fellow spies Geraldine Chaplin and Dana Andrews, Baker is sent behind the Iron Curtain to locate a Russian scientist who has escaped from Siberia. There's a likelihood that the scientist was permitted to escape so that he can spy on the Good Guys. Baker must decide if the escapee is to be rescued or eliminated. The level of sadism and bloodshed in Innocent Bystanders is such that at times it makes the James Bond films look like models of decorum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Farina's late-1960s "alienation" novel Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me was given a belated, and somewhat anachronistic, screen treatment in 1971. Though set in 1958, the original novel spoke most loudly to the post-Beat Generation hippies of the next decade. The film spoke to no one, except perhaps a few ageing hipsters who couldn't shake off the past. Barry Primus plays the central character, a sixties activist in the making on an uptight college campus. Amidst the jive-talk and the scrungy clothing, the film contains a few obligatory sex scenes, indicating perhaps that it was this element of beatnik life that most attracted the filmmakers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this bitter drama that takes place in the immediate aftermath of World War II, British Major Giles Burnside (David Niven) is assigned to a Austrian refugee camp, his orders to send the masses of displaced civilians to either the Russian or the American zone. Burnside is a by-the-books commander but has trouble making himself understood in the gaggle of different languages. But one of the refugees, Janovic, (Topol), is energetic and can speak many languages and Burnside hires him as his interpreter. Janovic quickly conveys Burnsides's directives and gets the way station running efficiently. Janovic even has time to romance a lovely innkeeper, Maria (Anna Karina). But Janovic's love for Maria hits a brick wall when he finds that she is carrying on an illicit affair with Burnside. As the remaining refugees are being dispatched to the different zones of occupation, Janovic is found to be a Russian deserter who must be returned to the Russian mainland to be executed. Burnside offers to help him escape, but Janovic can't decide whether to trust Burnside or not. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Touted by 20th Century-Fox as a follow-up to their enormously successful The Sound of Music, Star! reteams that earlier film's leading lady Julie Andrews and director Robert Wise. Andrews plays legendary musical comedy star Gertrude Lawrence, while Daniel Massey appears as Lawrence's friend, co-worker and severest critic Noel Coward (Massey's real-life godfather). The film jumps back and forth in continuity at times, its transitions bridged by fabricated newsreel footage; essentially, however, William Fairchild's script traces Lawrence's progress from ambitious bit actress to the toast of London and Broadway. Her success is offset by a stormy private life, which is given some ballast when she falls in love with an American financier (Richard Crenna). The film is way too long for its own good, though the musical set pieces -- especially the Andrews-Massey duets -- are superb. Julie Andrews welcomed the chance of playing a character as far removed from her goody-two-shoes heroine in Sound of Music as possible; Gertrude Lawrence was temperamental, sarcastic, profane and at times self-destructive, and Andrews makes a meal of the role. Unfortunately, Andrews' fans, conditioned by the Fox publicity machine to expect a continuation of Sound of Music, rejected her outright in this "new" characterization. Star! was a huge box-office bomb, so much so that Fox desperately attempted a shortened re-release under a misleading new title, Those Were The Happy Times. They weren't: it remained a financial disaster, though it has developed a loyal cult following in recent years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The British Dead Man's Chest comes to us from Merton Park Productions, the folks responsible for the long-running "Edgar Wallace" B-series. The story bears a striking resemblance to Fritz Lang's 1956 thriller Beyond Reasonable Doubt. To prove the fallability of circumstantial evidence, reporter John Thaw fakes the murder of a colleague. He then plants all the clues to point to himself. So just guess who really dies, leaving Thaw in the lurch? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this high-seas adventure, a wicked one-eyed, one-armed pirate forces a young man, who was wrongfully imprisoned, to take him and his band to his Caribbean island home where the pirate believes great treasure is buried. Once there, the pirate begins fighting for control of the island and begins slaughtering the lad's family and friends. The young man is utterly appalled and with his step-sister, a young woman and her beloved, somehow escape. Later the pirate discovers a large statue of pure gold. He and his men haul it to the beach and put it on a raft. As they are floating toward their ship, they are ambushed by the man and the other survivors causing the precious statue to fall overboard and sink to Davy Jones' locker while the pirate is killed. Later the survivors return to their ravaged home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide