Richard Wainwright Movies
- 1949
In this melodrama, a London girl falls happily in love with a Frenchman and immediately goes blind. Convinced her affliction is a Divine punishment for her sins, she joins a convent. The good sisters know she does not belong there and gently convince her to leave. Shortly after returning to secular life, the Frenchman marries her and they move to France to live in his parents' manor. There, the poor bride begins feeling like an unwelcome guest and like someone wants her dead, but cannot prove it. She expresses her fears, but no one believes her and after a particularly terrible fight, she miscarries. Feeling unloved by her own husband, the poor woman returns to England. There she undergoes a potentially dangerous but successful operation to restore her sight. Still upset her husband's lack of belief, she returns to France to prove her allegations. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Paul Dupuis, (more)
- 1938
In this crime drama, a police inspector pursues a Lord's secretary suspected of stealing his gold bullion. She is the prime suspect because she is the leader of an infamous gang of thieves. The cops do not realize that the gang acted on their own accord. The secretary and the inspector then team up and board a train to try and stop their getaway cars. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1938
The British Emil was yet another adaptation of Erich Kastner's frequently-filmed children's novel Emil and the Detectives. John Williams (no relation to the British character actor of the same name) stars as 11-year-old Emil, who while en route to London to visit his aunt is robbed of his money-six pounds--by a shifty thief (George Hayes). Turning to a group of self-styled "junior detectives" for help, Emil manages to track down both the thief and his money, but not before experiencing a series of hair-raising adventures. Bobby Rietti costars as "The Professor", the leader of the juvenile sleuths. When Emil and the Detectives was filmed again by Disney in 1965, the story returned to its original Berlin setting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Gabby" Hayes, Mary Glynne, (more)
- 1937
School for Husbands was adapted for the screen from a stage play by Frederick Jackson. Some of the more censorable aspect of the stage original were watered down for the film, but enough double-entendres remain to titilate the fans. Henry Kendall and Romney Brent plays Geoffrey Carter and Morgan Cheswick, a pair of doubting husbands who conspire to test their wives' fidelity. To do this, they both consult young novelist Leonard Drummond (Rex Harrison), a notorious womanizer, clueing him in to the fact that they're both about to go out of town on business. The husbands figure that if their wives can resists the charms of the libidinous Drummond, then they've passed the "test". The upshot of all this finds Marion Carter (Diana Churchill) resorting to some trickery herself to save Diana Cheswick (June Clyde) from throwing her life away on the philandering Drummond-and then concocting a plan to teach the husbands a good lesson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Churchill, Henry Kendall, (more)
- 1936
In this actioner, two guards lose their jobs after they start a fight with a lascivious Arab prince who tries to seduce one of their girl friends. Fortunately, the girl friend's father is thankful and gives her love a job managing one of his tobacco warehouses in Turkey. Unfortunately, he meets a beautiful Russian girl there and soon falls in love. Later he learns that she is being used by the prince who is conspiring to take over the Turkish government. Later his ex-partner and his girl come to Turkey to help him stop the prince. Action ensues, but in the end the prince is defeated and Turkey is saved. In 1940, the film was reissued as The Spy in White. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Hobson, Frank Vosper, (more)
- 1936
Blackmail is the basis of this crime drama based on a novel by Edgar Wallace. The trouble begins when the leader of a ring of blackmailers becomes an amateur sleuth to outfox Scotland Yard. He spends a lot of time in the Yard getting to know the higher ups. When not schmoozing with the cops, the crook is plotting blackmail schemes. Despite their efforts the Yard has many problems figuring out the leader of the ring. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Wakefield, Alfred Drayton, (more)
- 1936
The popularity of musical-comedy favorite Jack Hulbert sometimes obscured the fact that his brother Claude was a talented farceur in his own right. In Wolf's Clothing, Claude Hulbert plays Ambrose Girling, an upper-class twit who happens to be the exact double of a notorious international assassin. Forced to pose as his look-alike, Ambrose gets mixed up in a sinister espionage plot, with such fringe benefits as fancy clothes and gorgeous girls. Lili Palmer, who'd only been in England for a year or so, makes one of her earliest appearances as the ingenue (a role curiously overlooked in most official resumes of Palmer's career). Based on a stage comedy by Evadne Price and Brock Williams, Wolf's Clothing represents the second British directorial effort of Hungarian-born Andrew Marton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Hulbert, Gordon Harker, (more)
- 1934
A British aristocrat and his son travel to Russia to embark upon a thrilling search for the father's other son, who was captured by the Russians after he had inadvertently stumbled across a highly secret airstrip while searching for buried treasure. The searchers find assistance with two Russian women, but even so, their quest is fraught with danger and excitement. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Ratoff, Ronald Squire, (more)
