Anne Burnaby Movies
- 1960
In this British comedy set in Saudi Arabia, a gentle British travel-agency clerk decides that it would be a smashing idea to open up a desert resort in Arabia. He heads to the desert and immediately finds himself on the bad side of a local sheik as the fellow tries to build his resort atop oil-rich land. A war erupts between rival desert bands as they vie for the rights to the oil, but it is the travel agent who wins out in the end. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlie Drake, Peter Arne, (more)
- 1959
Set in an anti-aircraft station along the British coast, this light comedy features Donald Sinden as Lt. Gordon Brown and Barbara Murray as his wife, Private Betty Brown. When a group of female recruits are posted to the base, the handsome lieutenant attracts their attention, especially the attention of blonde charmer Private Marge White (Carole Lesley). Then Lt. Brown's wife Betty gets posted to the base as well, and that causes no end of trouble. Regulations require that they cannot be working out of the same place, and so they hide their relationship. Meanwhile, the enamored Marge does not have a clue and neither does Major Pym (Naunton Wayne). The good Major then gives the flummoxed lieutenant leave to go visit his wife, and matters deteriorate even more. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sinden, Barbara Murray, (more)
- 1957
Anna Neagle steps down from her expensive musical extravaganzas to play a recognizable human being in No Time for Tears. She plays the dedicated director of a busy children's hospital, battling red tape, family hassles and public indifference. A large and stellar cast appears in this episodic tale, dramatizing the triumphs and tragedies of pediatrics. An unfortunately predictable happy ending sends the filmgoers home without trauma. No Time for Tears came close to the end of Anna Neagle's starring career; she would appear in two more films, and produce two additional features, before returning to the stage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Anthony Quayle, (more)
- 1954
The young wife with a tale to tell is Joan Greenwood, who with husband Nigel Patrick shares a tiny house with several other people. One couple, Derek Farr and Helen Cherry, are as annoyingly "perfect" as the rest of the boarders are not. Much of the comedy hinges on the kookiness of young boarder Audrey Hepburn, just on the verge of stardom (the film was made sometime before Hepburn's breakthrough film Roman Holiday, but released afterward). The usual misunderstandings and mixups form the final scenes of this rambunctious farce. Young Wives' Tale is based on a popular British play by Ronald Jeans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Greenwood, Nigel Patrick, (more)
- 1954
Had the women-behind-bars drama The Weak and the Wicked been made in Hollywood, the cast would probably have included the likes of Ida Lupino, Marie Windsor, Peggie Castle and Hope Emerson. Instead, the film was lensed in Britain, with Glynis Johns and Diana Dors heading the cast. Framed on a charge of fraud, "good girl" Glynis is tossed into prison. Her cellmates include hard-boiled Ms. Dors, murder suspect Jane Hylton, blackmailer-poisoner Dame Sybil Thorndyke and shoplifter Olive Sloane. Each of their stories is detailed in a series of flashbacks. Downplay the potential sensational elments of the storyline, The Weak and the Wicked takes great pains to point out the positive values of a special rehabilitation program, wherein the main characters are given the opportunity to make themselves useful members of society. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glynis Johns, John Gregson, (more)
- 1953
Twelve-year old Frankie (Andrew Ray) feels guilty after his best friend falls to his death when they are playing in a bombed-out London building. Len (Sylvester) is a petty thief who has just become a murderer by killing the pub owner in a botched robbery. Frankie and Len's paths cross, and Len learns Frankie's secret then poses as the boy's friend to blackmail the lad into stealing from his parents to finance Len's escape. When the crook suspects that Frankie knows enough to link him to the murder, he tries to silence the boy in a tense, "hide-and-seek" chase played out in a bomb- damaged, highly perilous underground station. The initial idea for this movie may well have been borrowed from The Window (1949), but several intriguing plot twists and effective use of the post-war London location make The Yellow Balloon a unique entertainment in itself. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew Ray, Kathleen Ryan, (more)
- 1952
In this comedy, an off-center widow and her eccentric daughters must deal with a series of comic mishaps while they wait for one of the daughters to have a baby. The nervous father-to-be complicates matters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
