Pauline Collins Movies

Two couples find their lives turned upside down by their unfulfilled longings in this ensemble comedy from director Woody Allen. Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) and Helena (Gemma Jones) have been married for years. They have a grown-up daughter named Sally (Naomi Watts), who is married to a successful novelist named Roy (Josh Brolin), but finds the future of her marriage in jeopardy after falling for Greg (Antonio Banderas), the dapper owner of a prominent art gallery. Meanwhile, as Roy develops a fixation on Dia (Freida Pinto), an exotic beauty he encounters on the street, Alfie ditches Helena for Charmaine (Lucy Punch), an impressionable young call girl. Now it seems that the harder everyone tries runs away from their problems, the faster their lives seem to fall apart. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Allison Uttley's children's books The Squirrel, The Hare, and (of course) The Little Grey Rabbit served as source material for this animated British series. The Rabbit was the best friend of the Hare, who in turn was the best friend of the Squirrel, who in turn was another best friend of the Rabbit. With this premise, the story possibilities were endless -- or at least they seemed to be when the series' ten-minute installments made their ITV network bow in 2000. Little Grey Rabbit was assembled by the same Cosgrove Hall animation firm responsible for such kiddie classics as Danger Mouse and Count Duckula. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This drama, set during WWII, was co-written by acclaimed playwright George Tabori and features the writer as both narrator and an observer during the filming of incidents from his mother's life. Elsa Tabori (Pauline Collins) is a polite and dignified woman who believes that if you do as you're told, things will work out for you. However, she lives in Budapest in the midst of Nazi occupation, and Elsa's optimism hardly seems practical when one is forced to wear a yellow Star of David. When Elsa witnesses the grim fate of Maria (Natalie Morse), a gentile who made the mistake of visiting a Jewish friend as the police were rounding up victims to be shipped to a concentration camp, she discovers that cooperation is no guarantee of safety -- and that she must find a way to save herself before she's sent to her death. Fate, however, soon intercedes in an unexpected display of benevolence. This was director Michael Verhoeven's third film concerning the holocaust in Europe, following Das Schreckliche Madchen and Eine Unheilige Liebe. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Since its London and Broadway stage debut, playwright Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine has proven an excellent showcase for any number of talented actresses (Loretta Swit won the 1989 Sarah Siddons Award for her work in the Chicago production). In the film version of Shirley Valentine, Pauline Collins re-creates the role that had previously brought her theatrical fame and a Tony Award. Spending the bulk of the film speaking directly to the audience, the titular Shirley (Collins), a middle-aged Liverpool housewife, reveals her innermost thoughts and fears in a manner that is both insouciant and poignant. Once an incorrigible anti-establishment rebel, Shirley now chafes under the plodding insensitivity of her husband, Joe (Bernard Hill). Her life enters a new and exciting phase when, after her best friend, Jane (Alison Steadman), wins an all-expenses-paid vacation to Greece, Shirley is given the opportunity to travel to faraway places without her husband. Shirley Valentine represents the second felicitous collaboration between playwright Willy Russell and director Lewis Gilbert; the first was Educating Rita (1983). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When a prison volunteer and a convicted murderer who is serving a life sentence meet and fall in love, despite all the problems involved in the relationship, the couple decide to challenge the criminal justice system. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

Based on the books by Charlotte Bingham, the 1974 Brit-com No, Honestly starred real-life husband and wife John Alderton and Pauline Collins as a witty married couple. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

The first season of the British drama series Upstairs, Downstairs takes place from November 1903 through June 1909, an era popularly known as "Edwardian" in honor of King Edward VII. Fans of the series will notice that the familiar characters are still in the developmental process during the first 13 episodes--especially the Bellamy's cook Mrs. Bridges (Angela Baddeley), who comes off as a nasty virago and a closet boozer! Penned by novelist Fay Weldon, who won a Writers' Guild Award for her efforts, the opening episode "On Trial" (originally filmed in black and white due to budgetary limitations, but reshot in color for syndication) introduces Pauline Collins as the Bellamy household's troublesome new under-housemaid, who after trying to pass herself off as a Frenchwoman named Clemence is revealed to be a cockney named Sarah (or at least she settles on Sarah!). Forced to leave the house in disgrace after an unpleasant incident involving duplicitous manservant Alfred (George Innes), Sarah ends up living in squalor, a plight that touches her former employers Richard and Marjorie Bellamy (David Langton ,Rachel Gurney) to the extent that she is rehired--which proves in later episodes to be major mistake! In other developments, the Bellamys' rebellious daughter Elizabeth (Nicola Pagett) shocks her family by choosing "progressive" poet Lawrence Kirbridge (Ian Ogilvy) as her fiancée, a decision culminating in marriage at season's end. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's irresponsible brother James plunges into the first of several misbegotten liasons, this one with a flashy actress. The season's best and most famous episode is "I Dies from Love", the story of a tragic "downstairs" romance. When the first season of Upstairs, Downstairs was picked up for American play in January of 1974, it was combined with the series' second season, which takes place in the years 1908-1909. Of the 26 combined episodes, only 13 initially aired in the US, allowing PBS to bill the remaining 13 as "the lost episodes" a few decades later! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the third episode of the six-part story "The Faceless Ones," the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) has tumbled to the fact that the Chameleon Tours air service is actually controlled by aliens who hope to repopulate their dying planet by stealing the personalities of their customers. Now, of course, the Chameleons have no choice but to kill the Doctor -- and for a brief, horrifying moment, they appear to have done just that. Written by David Ellis and Malcolm Hulke, "The Faceless Ones, Episode 3" originally aired on April 22, 1967. Though this and one other episode exists, the remaining four chapters are apparently lost forever. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the fifth episode of the six-part story "The Faceless Ones," the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) again tries to prevent the alien Chameleons from robbing unwary Earthlings of their personalities. Putting his own life on the line, the Doctor makes a last-ditch effort to rescue Ben and Polly, who are still nowhere to be found (actors Anneke Wills and Michael Craze do not appear in this episode). Written by David Ellis and Malcolm Hulke, "The Faceless Ones, Episode 5" originally aired on May 6, 1967. This episode evidently no longer exists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This crime drama chronicles the demise of a hapless stripper who ends up gang-raped and killed. The dead woman's best friend, a singer, tells the sordid tale. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi