Annette Crosbie Movies
Scotland-born actress Annette Crosbie spent her early stage years alternating between classics and contemporary plays. Her rare screen appearances include The Public Eye (1972) and The Slipper and the Rose (1976). She has enjoyed international fame not from her stage or screen work but from her TV assignments. Annette Crosbie was seen as Catherine of Aragon in The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1971); as Queen Victoria in Edward the King (1979); and with Michael Hordern, Peter Egan and David Threlfall, Crosbie was one of the four major stars in the Masterpiece Theatre offering "Paradise Postponed" (1986). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1959
The Bridal Path is standard comedy fare about a young man, Ewan McEwan (Bill Travers) sent out from his island home to go bride-hunting. The introverted, taciturn Ewan is reaching marriageable age just when the island's elders come up with a new decree. They have decided that there is too much in-breeding on their fair shores and as a consequence, they forbid first cousins to marry. With his bridal selection almost curtailed at home, Ewan heads off to the mainland with a little book of commandments on what to look for and what to avoid in a potential lifetime mate. Aside from encounters with several charming, winsome young women, Ewan soon discovers that the police are after him -- and he does not know why. The chase is on, though all misunderstandings are eventually cleared up. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Travers, Alex Mackenzie, (more)
- 1966
Gypsy Girl was originally released in England as Sky West and Crooked. With this production, John Mills became a one-time film director, guiding his daughter Hayley through a screenplay written by Mills' wife Mary Hayley Bell. Radically cast against type, Hayley plays a mentally traumatized young lady living in a remote North Country rural community. She falls in love with a handsome gypsy (Ian McShane), which stirs up the prejudices of her family and neighbors. In the end, it is the gypsy boy who rescues Hayley from being institutionalized. Less grim than one might expect, Gypsy Girl takes its time telling its story, though the acting makes up for any lulls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hayley Mills, Ian McShane, (more)
- 1967
Adapted from a novel by Brian Marshall, the four-part British miniseries The White Rabbit was the story of WWII hero Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas. Played by Kenneth More, the protagonist was seen joining the French resistance during the early stages of the Nazi occupation. Though at first successful in eluding the enemy, Yeo-Thomas was ultimately captured and placed in a concentration camp -- but the story was far from over. The White Rabbit was originally telecast in Great Britain from September 16 to October 7, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth More, Neal Arden, (more)
The Six Wives of Henry VIII is a six-part BBC presentation first telecast in England in early 1971. After a successful run in Canada, the production settled into a CBS network berth beginning August 1, 1971. Keith Michell stars as King Henry in each of the series' 90-minute installments, which trace the monarch's lives and loves from age 18 to his dotage. The six wives are played by Annette Crosbie (Catherine of Aragon), Dorothy Tutin (Anne Boleyn), Anne Stallybrass (Jane Seymour), Elvi Hale (Anne of Cleves), Angela Pleasence (Catherine Howard), and Rosalie Crutchley (Catherine Parr). Adapted for television by Rosemary Anne Sisson and narrated for its CBS run by Anthony Quayle, The Six Wives of Henry VIII scored a considerable ratings coup, and was rebroadcast on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre in 1972. That same year, Mitchell starred in a related theatrical-film effort, Henry VIII and His Six Wives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Michell
- 1972
This English comedy is based on a short play by Peter Shaffer (better known for Equus). Belinda is a free-spirited American woman married to a stuffy English rolled-umbrella man. When he leaves for work each day, she leaves their London apartment too. She says she's just sightseeing, but he doesn't believe her. He hires a private eye (Chaim Topol) to follow her around and find the "other man" in her life. What she said was true, however, and the private eye becomes her traveling companion. He tells his employer that she was telling the truth, but he doesn't believe him. At that point, the detective admits to being the "other man," complicating things thoroughly. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Filmed in Austria, this British-made musical retells the story of Cinderella as it is found in books of fairy tales. The Prince, Edward, is played by Richard Chamberlain, Cinderella by Gemma Craven. In her role as the Prince's witty mother, Dame Edith Evans provides many of the movie's highlights. The musical score and songs written by Richard Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, who also provided the music to the movie Mary Poppins, were nominated for Academy Awards. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Gemma Craven, (more)
- 1980
Part of the TV series entitled "The Shakespeare Plays," this is one of the subtlest and most enjoyable of the Shakespearian plays. Portraying the different types of love, it is set in a country house of aristocrats and there are practical jokes, poetry and songs that make this a most entertaining view. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec McCowen, Trevor Peacock, (more)
Hawk the Slayer will appeal most to undiscriminating fans of the sword-and-sorcery genre. The title character, played by John Terry, is on a lifelong quest for "The Power", an enchanted flying sword. Alas, Hawk's evil brother Voltan (Jack Palance) likewise covets The Power. A plethora of violence ensues, culminating in a slow-motion duel to the death between hero and villain. Among Hawk's comrades are a dwarf and an elf, who are "R2D2 and C3PO" in everything except name and appearance. Hardly the best of its kind, Hawk the Slayer is redeemed by the unbridled hamminess of Jack Palance, who seems to be the only one who realizes that the whole affair is to silly to be taken seriously. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, John Terry, (more)
- 1983
In this intriguing mystery set in the textile and lace-making center of Nottingham, Harry Webster (David Lyons) appears to be a normal, middle-aged husband and father with a decent job, a married daughter, and not much at all to complain about in life. Then one day after his birthday party, he walks out of the house and is never seen again. Except for a note that cryptically says he is tired of leading a "double life," there are no clues as to what other kind of a life he had. His wife Liz (Annette Crosbie) goes out to search for her husband, with the help of a curious reporter (Cornelius Garrett). As the search continues, there are hints that Harry may have been a Luddite (named for Ned Ludd, said to have destroyed textile machinery in 1779) -- a member of a revived group of rebel workers from the Nottingham area that destroy machinery -- and there have been factory bombings in the area of late. Liz continues her search throughout the region, leaving no stone unturned, yet her prospects for success begin to wither as days and weeks go by with no luck at all. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annette Crosbie, Cornelius Garrett, (more)
- 1984
Based on the novel by Agatha Christie and set in the late 1950s, this unevenly told film starts when Dr. Arthur Calgary (Donald Sutherland) comes back to England after two years on an Antarctic expedition and discovers that the man he is searching for has been executed for murder. At the beginning of his expedition he had given a ride one night to a hitchhiker and accidentally ended up with his address book. To his horror, the hitchhiker's mother was killed on that night, and he had been the alibi that would have saved him from execution. Spurred on by his sense of shock and guilt, Calgary makes contact with the family and is put off by their disinterest in finding the real killer. It seems that the mother had many enemies among her close family members: her husband was having an affair, there was a blackmail scheme in the works, and many felt that she had already excluded them from any inheritance. Although the acting is uneven and the plot may seem predictable or contrived to non-Christie readers, the story retains interest, and Dave Brubeck's jazz score adds a special dimension to the proceedings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Christopher Plummer, (more)
Adapted by John Mortimer from his own novel, the British miniseries Summer's Lease starred Susan Fleetwood as British housewife Molly Pargeter who, with her family, spent an eventful summer vacation at La Felicita, a villa in Tuscany. Molly had hoped to soak in the local color and revel in the artistic masterpieces all around her, but instead ended up trying to solve a couple of mysteries involving a dried-up water supply and a missing landlord (who turned out to have several shady "friends"). In the process, Molly took up with an old flame, all the while attempting to patch up her tottering marriage to the plodding Hugh Pargeter. Stealing the show (and winning several TV awards in the process) was John Gielgud as Molly's father, Haverford Downs, a libidinous and slightly daft author. First telecast by BBC2 in 1989, the four-part Summer's Lease was subsequently aired in America as part of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre anthology in the spring of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annette Crosbie, Susan Fleetwood, (more)
- 1991
- R
A priest discovers that being the leader of the Catholic Church can be hazardous to your health in this satiric comedy. Cardinal Rocco (Alex Rocco) and Monsignor Vitchie (Paul Bartel) are two high-ranking Vatican officials who have been using the church's business dealings to launder funds for Vittorio Corelli (Herbert Lom), a crime boss involved in illegal arms trading. After the death of the aging and infirm Pope, Rocco and Vitchie plan to nominate a successor who will go along with Corelli's schemes, but quite by accident, small town priest Giuseppe Albinizi (Robbie Coltrane) is named the new Pontiff. Albinizi is a reluctant spiritual leader who prefers cars, women, and rock & roll to church business, but when he discovers the level of Rocco's corruption, he has him removed from the Vatican. Rocco and Vitchie are not taking Albinizi's plans to clean up Vatican finances lying down, and they discover that the new Pope's has a not-so-little secret. Before he joined the priesthood, Albinizi fathered a son out of wedlock with Veronica Dante (Beverly D'Angelo); the boy grew up to be Joe Don Dante (Balthazar Getty), a rock star who's romancing Corelli's daughter. After complaints from Catholic groups in the U.S., the distributors of The Pope Must Die changed the title to The Pope Must Diet. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robbie Coltrane, Beverly D'Angelo, (more)
- 1991
This made-for-television drama centers on the events that transpired at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant the day something went horribly wrong and a meltdown occurred. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Voight, Jason Robards, Jr., (more)
- 1992
A Jewish Londoner embarks on a journey to find himself after learning some shocking news about his past in this eccentric British comedy. As the film begins, Leon (Mark Frankel) is already in a time of transition, having quit his job for moral reasons and assumed a position in his mother's catering firm. His life is thrown into even more disarray when a bizarre coincidence reveals the truth behind his birth: not only was his birth the result of artificial insemination, but a lab mix-up means that his real, biological father is a complete stranger. The confused Leon sets out to find his "real" dad, and unexpectedly discovers that he is descended from a family of Yorkshire pig farmers. Co-directors Vadim Jean and Gary Sinyor move their story in fits and starts, allowing room for countless digressions, from a torrid affair with a outrageous artist (Maryam d'Abo) to the accidental breeding of a rather unique pig. While the film proves uneven, fans of the quirkier varieties of British comedy should find Leon the Pig Farmer's off-beat tone and taste for surrealistic details suitably entertaining. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Frankel, Janet Suzman, (more)
- 1994
- R
This British romantic comedy examines a trouble relationship between a behavioral psychologist and a paleontology lecturer with serious sexual hang-ups. Currently Dr. Daniel Becker is holding seminars for teaching body language to executives. Katie, the lecturer, seems to defy all he seems to know with her habit of knocking out any male she suspects of harboring sexual thoughts about her. They go out on a dinner date. Immediately, Katie-the-mind-reader smacks the waiter. Intrigued, Daniel blindfolds her to see if she really can read thoughts. Katie, who sees no future in their relationship, plans to go on a research trip to India with her peer, Sandip. Daniel tries to thwart her plans. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amanda Pays, Mark Frankel, (more)
- 1995
- NR
A gay man in the final stages of AIDS suffers terrible mood-swings causing additional suffering for his devoted lover in this British drama. Tom, the sick one, is from Glasgow. His lover Ira, is a US television correspondent. Together they live in London where Ira works. The changing moods are difficult for both, and Tom, searching for peace decides to return to Scotland to reconcile with his family. Unfortunately, his emotions rage out of control and nothing works out as he had hoped. Ira shows up and makes matters worse. Both end up tossed out and forced to return to London. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
