Oliver Cotton Movies

This powerful, politically charged cable TV movie was based on the memoirs of Hungarian gynecologist and Holocaust survivor Gisella Perl. Having spent the WWII years in charge of the woman's infirmary at Auschwitz, Perl (played by Christine Lahti) hopes to leave her living nightmare behind when the Allies liberate Europe. But when she applies for American citizenship in 1946, she is hauled into military court to explain the extent to which she "collaborated" with the Nazis during the war. The U.S. officials are especially disturbed by the number of illegal abortions Perl performed at Auschwitz without her superiors' knowledge. But as Perl struggles to explain to her relentless interrogators (the explanation taking the form of extended flashbacks), she terminated the lives of the unborn to save thousands of pregnant women from the Nazi gas chambers. Filmed on location in Canada, the U.K., and Lithuania, Out of the Ashes made its Showtime network debut on April 13, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The epic eighth-century poem of Saxon lore gets moved into the Scandinavian future in this science fiction adaptation of Beowulf. Here, Beowulf (Christopher Lambert) rescues a damsel in distress, Pendra (Patricia Velasquez), who is being menaced by two men with large swords and bad tempers. Beowulf hears tell of Grendel, a force of evil that feasts on the flesh of warriors of Hrothgar (Oliver Cotton), who are holding their ground in the Outpost. Before long, Beowulf finds himself doing battle with Hrothgar's daughter Kyra (Rhona Mitra), Hrothgar's master of arms, Roland (Goetz Otto) and even Grendel's mother (Layla Roberts). Patricia Velasquez appeared in Beowulf shortly before she filmed her showy turn in The Mummy, while Layla Roberts's resume includes an October 1997 appearance as Playboy's Playmate of the Month. Beowulf was completed and released in Europe before another version of the same story hit the screens, Disney's The 13th Warrior (aka Eaters Of The Dead). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this suspense drama, Alan Terry (Rupert Graves) is a homeless man who wanders the streets of London. One night, Alan is trying to sleep near a bridge when he witnesses a strange and grisly murder; a man, speaking Italian, is hanged by four other men, one also speaking Italian while the other three have British accents. When Alan's presence is discovered by the killers, they give chase, and Alan is barely able to escape. However, the following day the papers report the death as a suicide; on the advice of his friend George (Graham Crowden), Alan goes to the police to tell what he saw. However, when Alan is introduced to Detective Matheson (Michael Gambon), the man investigating the case, he realizes that Matheson was one of the men who helped hang the victim. Assuming that Matheson would not be a good person with whom to discuss the case, Alan instead goes to Billie Hayman (Annabella Sciorra), an American journalist working in London who is able to bring Alan's side of the story to the people; Alan and Billie soon discover that this murder is far more complicated, and with more disturbing implications than they ever could have imagined. Though fictional, The Innocent Sleep was inspired by the true story of the death of Roberto Calvi, an Italian banker who was murdered in London in 1982. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After the death of Peter Sellers in 1980, writer/director Blake Edwards assembled a new "Pink Panther" film from outtakes of Sellers as Inspector Clouseau from previous movies in the series (the result was called The Trail of the Pink Panther) and later made two attempts to revive the series with another actor. In this case, Edwards cast Roberto Benigni as Jacques Gambrelli, a hopelessly inept French policeman who turns out the be the illegitimate son of Inspector Clouseau. Gambrelli becomes involved with the investigation of a kidnapping involving the beautiful Princess Yasmin (Debrah Farentino) literally by accident, when he crashes into a car driven by Police Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom). Gambrelli soon becomes smitten with Yasmin, while the investigation suggests that the kidnapping was set up by her mother, the Queen (Shabana Azmi), and her lover, General Jaffar (Aharon Ipale). Claudia Cardinale who played a different character in the original Pink Panther returns, while Burt Kwouk returns as the violent Korean manservant Cato. Roberto Benigni's Gambrelli proved no more successful at the box office than Ted Wass's Clouseau-like Clifton Sleigh in The Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), though after his multiple-Oscar winning success with 1998's La Vita e Bella, Roberto's probably gotten over it. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this film, young, headstrong Margaret Harwood (Penelope Ann Miller) is entrusted with a business assignment by her wine merchant father. While taking an inventory of the contents of the wine cellar of a Scottish estate, Margaret discovers an almost-priceless bottle of wine from the "year of the comet." When Margaret alerts her father to the find, he sends his crude assistant, Oliver Plexico (Timothy Daly) to fetch it. Although Oliver and Margaret initially have no great love for one another, they discover that they are forced to work together to keep the wine out of harm's way. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Adapted from Mario Puzo's novel, The Sicilian is an attempt to chronicle the life and times of Mafia leader, patriot and real-life Robin Hood Salvatore Giuliano, the infamous bandit who, together with his rag-tag band of guerillas, attempted to liberate 1940s Sicily from Italian rule and make it an American state. Giuliano (Christopher Lambert) robs from the rich conservative landowners to give to the poor, serf-like peasants, who in turn hail him as their savior. As his popularity grows, so does his ego, and he eventually thinks he is above the power of his backer, Mafia Don Masino Croce (Joss Ackland). The Don, in turn, sets out to kill the upstart by convincing his cousin and closest advisor Gaspare (John Turturro) to assassinate him. Nearly thirty minutes of screen time were haphazardly hacked off director Michael Cimino's original cut by the studio. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Based on the autobiographical novel by Nicholas Gage, Eleni traces Gage's search for the truth behind the execution of his Greek mother Eleni. John Malkovich plays Gage (herein referred to only as Nick), a New York Times journalist assigned to cover a border war in Albania. Intimately familiar with his beat--it's where he grew up--Nick periodically flashes back to his childhood, and his memories of his late mother Eleni (Kate Nelligan). Not at all concerned with politics, Eleni goes to extreme lengths to shelter her children from the ravages of civil unrest. For attempting to smuggle her kids out of the country, Eleni is arrested and executed. Back in the present, Nick manages to locate local politico Katis (Oliver Cotton), the man who signed Eleni's death warrant. He wangles his way into Katis' confidence, then prepares to kill the man--but he's in for a surprise, and something of an epiphany. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clive Donner directs Oliver Twist, the 1982 made-for-TV version of the classic Dickens novel. Richard Charles plays Oliver Twist, an orphan boy who gets kicked out of his juvenile workhouse when he asks for some more food. He is sent to work as an apprentice, but he quickly escapes and joins a group of other orphaned boys. They spend the day pickpocketing and commiting petty street crime in order to survive and bring home earnings to their leader, Fagin (George C. Scott). Eventually, Oliver picks the pocket of the wealthy Mr. Brownlow (Michael Hordern), who takes him in as his ward. However, the evil Bill Sikes (Tim Curry) kidnaps him back to continue working with the other pickpockets. The barmaid Nancy (herie Lunghi) helps Oliver escape, but she ultimately suffers the concequences of her actions. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide