David Conville Movies
- 1987
- R
Scripted by Frederick Forsyth from his own novel, The Fourth Protocol is a fact-based spy thriller. The titular protocol is a secret agreement between America, Britain and Russia to cease smuggling nuclear weapons into their respective countries. This figures into the schemes of several rogue spies, who hope to destroy NATO by embarking on just such a smuggling endeavor. Russian agent Valeri Petrofsky (Pierce Brosnan) is ordered to stage a nuclear accident in England, then arrange the evidence to point to the Americans. British intelligence agent John Preston (Michael Caine) begins wondering why such nuclear-weapon components like lithium are showing up in the unlikeliest places. Ignored by his superiors, who figure that Preston is merely an old-line anti-Commie paranoic, Preston gathers the clues that will enable him to find out who's behind the potential breaking of The Fourth Protocol. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, (more)
John Cleese's knack for mining hilarity from the growing frustration of a dignified gentleman is fully exploited in the British comedy Clockwise. Cleese portrays Brian Stimpson, a perfectionist English headmaster who has been selected to make an important presentation before a group of his peers. When Stimpson sets out upon his journey, however, he finds himself facing a seemingly never-ending series of delays and inconveniences, which range from missing a train to becoming a fugitive from the police. The film goes no deeper than its farcical surface, but is nevertheless consistently entertaining, thanks to former Monty Python member Cleese's precisely tuned transitions from composure to complete collapse. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cleese, Alison Steadman, (more)
- 1964
Hardly the best of Hammer Studios' Frankenstein epics, The Evil of Frankenstein is too much the mixture as before to be truly memorable. Back in business once more is Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing), who finds his fabled monster (Kiwi Kingston) frozen in a block of ice. Once the creature is thawed out, the Baron, worried that the big lug might develop a mind of his own, engages the services of a hypnotist (Peter Woodthorpe). Instead of keeping the monster docile, the hypnotist decides to use old "Frankie" for his own evil designs, and we're off and running again. At 84 minutes, Evil of Frankenstein was too short for a two-hour network TV slot, so Universal (the film's American distributor) tacked on 13 minutes of pointless additional footage, featuring timorous villagers Steven Geray, Maria Palmer and William Phipps. The film was followed by a vastly superior sequel, Frankenstein Created Woman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, Peter Woodthorpe, (more)
- 1962
This effective crime caper involves an attempted robbery of no one less than the U.S. Army, a heist which has its beginnings when Turpin (Stanley Baker) is drummed out of the service for his black-market activities. Apparently chaffing at this unjust treatment and also fueled by greed, Turpin enlists two cohorts -- Swavek and Fenner (Helmut Schmid and Tom Bell) to help him carry out his revenge. After much rehearsal of his plan, the three put on uniforms and walk into an army camp just before the troops are mustered out to the Middle East during a crisis over the Suez Canal. The trio's intention is to rob the payroll ($700,000), stash the cash in a spare tire, and drive out of there. That is the plan, but the reality turns out quite different, after one of the three gets a reaction to a vaccination and another is called up for KP duty ("kitchen police"). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Baker, Helmut Schmidt, (more)
- 1961
After injecting new life into classic movie monsters Dracula and Frankenstein, Hammer Studios apply their Gothic touch to another monster genre with this excellent, stylish piece -- probably the best of the old school (i.e. pre-Rick Baker) man-to-wolf transformation films in the mold of Universal's The Wolf Man. The title curse surfaces when a mute servant girl bears a child on Christmas day after being raped by a bestial madman and first shows itself at the infant's christening, whereupon the holy water begins to boil. Things go downhill from there, as young Leon's development is marred by savage, violent behavior during a full moon. Upon adulthood, Leon's (Oliver Reed) only relief from his murderous impulses comes from the love of Christina (Catherine Feller)... but he soon begins to fear that this cannot contain the beast within. Liberally based on Guy Endore's The Werewolf of Paris (here relocated to Spain), this film represents Hammer at their early best, building tension through mood and character (Reed turns in a bravura performance) and saving the effective monster transformation for the climax. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, (more)
- 1959
Perhaps in an earlier era or in some remote village, this comedy would work, but this story about two mixed-up identities during World War II is comedically outdated. Brian Rix has the dual role of an Air Force officer who is going on an important military mission to France. The brass decide to hoodwink the Germans by finding the officer's double (an idiot latrine-cleaner at an Air Force base) and putting him on a plane to Cairo. As events unfold, the two men get mixed up, and each heads off to the other's destination, giving rise to several absurd tangles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Rix, Cecil Parker, (more)
- 1954
Hollywood actress Marsha Hunt, blacklisted during the "Red Scare" of the early 1950s, was able to find occasional work in England. Ms. Hunt is top-billed in Diplomatic Passport, but hers is a secondary role to hero Paul Carpenter. The latter plays an American diplomat who is being used as an unwitting courier by diamond smugglers.Honor Blackman, twixt and tween her "English Rose" period and her leather-clad Avengers days, is the femme fatale. Diplomatic Passport was co-produced by Burt Balaban, of American theatre-chain fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
