Maurice J. Wilson Movies

Three elderly spinsters become amateur detectives when someone poisons their beloved cat in this strange drama. The three determine the murder was committed by their mean old landlady. With an eye-for-an-eye attitude, they decide to poison her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Escape by Night was originally released in Great Britain as Clash by Night, which was also the title of the Rupert Croft-Brooke novel on which it was based. Gangster boss Tom Bowman has been arrested and is being transported to prison in a bus containing several innocent "civilians." Bowman's old gang hijacks the bus to rescue their boss, then take refuge in an old barn. The gang holds off the authorities by threatening to torch the barn and all its occupants. The climactic conflagration is predictable, but its outcome isn't. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as Fog of the Killer, Out of the Fog is a characteristically efficient thriller from British workhorse Montgomery Tully. Scotland Yard is thrown into an uproar when a mad killer begins knocking off beautiful young blondes. The killer only strikes during a full moon, enabling the Yard to set an elaborate trap. Policeman David Sumner arranges for the lovely Susan Travers to act as bait....but will he be able to get to her before the maniac finishes the job? Though produced by a company called Eternal Films, Out of the Fog runs but a brisk 68 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this taut thriller, a philandering husband and his pregnant lover plot the death of his wife, her sister. Fortunately things don't happen has planned. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A man recently released from prison is anxious to get on with his life and wants to go straight. Unfortunately, the right woman can be either a help or a hindrance, and in this case he is forced back into his old ways by a woman too cold and insensitive to care whether he stays out of crime or not. She essentially wants nothing to do with him, straight or otherwise. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

In this thriller a French woman is arrested for the death of her cruel lover. She certainly had motive as the man was a real snake. She hides him from the Nazis during WW II; he gets her pregnant, betrays her, and has her sent to a concentration camp. Even though it seems obvious that she was the killer, the woman pleads innocent. Two reporters believe her and begin investigating the stabbing. They soon find themselves entangled in a ring of international counterfeiters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Former Hollywood musical director (and erstwhile government spy) Boris Morros was one of the producers of the British Tale of Five Cities. Bonar Colleano stars as British soldier Bob Mitchell, who has picked up American habits and speech patterns while employed in the U.S. Suffering from amnesia, Mitchell is led to believe that he is an American GI, though of course no records exist to verify this. Mitchell's confusion prompts a Manhattan-based magazine to launch a search for Bob's true identity, a search leading inexorably to the girls he left behind during WW II. The "five cities" visited during this exploratory journey are Rome, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and London; Mitchell's Roman sweetheart is played by Gina Lollobridgida, while his Viennese amour is Eva Bartok. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama two brothers in the IRA become rivals when they fall in love with the same woman--their adopted step-sister. When one of the two needs to flee Ireland, the other is more than happy to oblige so he can have the girl to himself. Unfortunately, the conniving brother accidentally kills a constable during a smuggling and then tries to frame the brother planning to leave. Fortunately, by the end, the bad brother is caught and is forced to confess. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A. J. Cronin's novel was brought to the screen by director Carol Reed. The film is set in a northern England mining town (far more realistically depicted than the back-lot Welsh village in John Ford's How Green Was My Valley. The parents of Michael Redgrave have labored long and hard so that their son can escape his grimy environs and make something of himself. While away at school, Redgrave is trapped into marriage by Margaret Lockwood, previously the lady friend of ill-tempered Emlyn Williams (the actor was himself a product of the Welsh mining community). When Lockwood and Williams resume their romance, the disillusioned Redgrave returns home, where he becomes deeply involved in a labor dispute. He ultimately decides that it is best for all if he remains in the village of his birth, working tirelessly on behalf of his friends, relatives and neighbors. Denied the larger budgets indigenous to Hollywood films, Carol Reed invested a gritty documentary "feel" into The Stars Look Down; the film brought him international acclaim, serving as a stepping stone for even greater cinematic accomplishments. Curiously, Reed himself didn't subscribe to A. J. Cronin's opinions vis-a-vis the nationalization of the coal mines; he was simply attracted to the dramatic possibilities of the tale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this British comedy, an early talkie, a philandering wife plays around with her lover while her equally philandering husband plays with his. When she and her lover decide to get physically involved, he takes her to his flat. Unfortunately, he accidentally gives her sleeping powder and she is forced to spend the night. Suddenly her husband appears to get some advice from the fellow. He has no idea that his wife is there. Romantic mayhem ensues until the married couple has a blissful reconciliation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide