Rosalie Crutchley Movies

Based on a novel by Graham Greene, Alec Guinness stars as the title character, a descendent of Don Quixote. After he is appointed monsignor, he sets off with a leftist politician (played by Leo McKern) on an adventure reminiscent of the Cervantes novel. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In her final film, celebrated British actress Peggy Ashcroft portrays one Lillian Huckle. Released from a mental institution after 60 years, Lillian is taken in her nephew (James Fox) and his somewhat trepidatious family. As they (and we) get to know Lillian better, the many social and emotional pressures that can drive a woman to insanity come to surface; worse, Lillian has always felt that she deserved her fate. Filmed in 1989, She's Been Away was telecast in the US on December 1, 1991 as a PBS Masterpiece Theatre presentation. At the end of this telecast, a tribute was offered to Peggy Ashcroft, who had died earlier that year at the age of 83. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Little Dorrit was intended as the cinematic equivalent to the mammoth, eight hour Royal Shakespeare Company's staging of Dickens' Nicholas Nickelby. The film was released to theatres in two parts, each running approximately three hours. The first part, subtitled "Nobody's Fault," introduced us to the seamstress title character (Sarah Pickering), who chooses to live in debtor's prison with her father (Alec Guinness). Good samaritan Derek Jacobi endeavors to help both father and daughter. The second part, also known as "Little Dorrit's Story," details Dorrit's escape from penury to lasting happiness. Eschewing the usual 19th century-style British music often heard in Dickensian adaptations, director Christine Edzard creatively-and effectively--opts for the strains of Giuseppe Verdi. Edzard's eye for period detail is also deserving of unbounded praise. Unfortunately, Part Two of Little Dorrit spends nearly half of its running time recapping Part One, utilizing much of the same footage. For those familiar with "Nobody's Fault," "Little Dorrit's Story" is more a redundancy than a continuation. Still, taken together, parts one and two all fully deserving of the enthusiastic critical commentary that greeted them upon their original release-not to mention the multiple Academy Award nominations bestowed upon the project and its participants. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In "The Norwood Builder," an episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (an excellent adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and produced in Britain for Granada), Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) reprises his excellent portrayal of the famed detective aided by his companion Dr. Watson (David Burke). In this episode, Holmes aids John Hector McFarland (Matthew Solon) who is accused of the murder of rich, eccentric Jonas Oldacre (Jonathan Adams) and helps him clear his name. This historically accurate series recreates the adventures of Conan Doyle's Victorian detective with impeccable faithfulness to the original story, sometimes to the extent of recreating the illustrations which accompanied the original story publication in Strand magazine during the late 19th century. Thirteen of the Holmes short stories were adapted in this series, which was followed by the sequels The Return of Sherlock Holmes and The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, as well as several feature-length TV movie adaptations. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

While most people are familiar only with the Lon Chaney Sr. and Charles Laughton versions of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, this 1982 TV adaptation was the fourteenth filmization of the Hugo novel. Anthony Hopkins, barely recognizable under mounds of disfiguring body makeup, plays Quasimodo, the deformed 15th-century bellringer of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Leslie-Anne Down plays Esmerelda, the gypsy girl who wins Quasimodo's unswerving loyalty when she offers him water after he is publicly flogged. And Derek Jacobi plays Dom Claude Frollo, the hypocritically pious archdeacon of Notre Dame, who'll do anything to claim Esmerelda for himself. Produced by Norman Rosemont, The Hunchback of Notre Dame originally aired February 4, 1982, as a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Strange as it seems, the 1977 adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times was the first full-scale adaptation of this work ever seen on British television. Set (of course!) during the Industrial Revolution, the multiplotted story line was held together by the travails of Louisa Gradgrind (Jacqueline Tong), a former circus employee who was adopted by a stern businessman and whisked off to a bleak industrial village called Coketown. With four-hour-long episodes at its disposal, this TV version managed to retain most of the characters and incidents of the Dickens original, and also kept sight of the author's indictment of the iniquitous social conditions which determined the behavior and the destinies of the main figures. Produced by Granada Television, Hard Times later aired in America via PBS. The 1994 BBC TV version, sometimes also referred to as a "miniseries," was actually intended to be seen in a single showing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This handsomely-mounted historical epic concerns the birth of the Islamic faith and the story of the prophet Mohammed -- who, in accordance with the tenants of Islam, is never seen or heard (any physical depiction of the prophet is considered a heinous sin within the faith). In Mecca in the 7th century, Mohammed is visited by a vision of the Angel Gabriel, who urges him to lead the people of Mecca to cast aside the 300 idols of Kaaba and instead worship the one true God. Speaking out against the corrupt political and military leaders who rule Mecca, Mohammed and his followers struggle to worship God as they see fit, which eventually leads them into exile in Medina. However, one day God gives Mohammed a message to return to Mecca and take up arms against their oppressors -- while recruiting as many followers as they can along the way. With the help of his uncle, a brave warrior named Hamza (Anthony Quinn), Mohammed and his followers return to Mecca to liberate the city in the name of God. The Message (originally screened in the U.S. as Mohammed, Messenger of God) proved to be highly controversial during its production and initial release. Unfounded rumors had it that Mohammed would not only be depicted in the film, but that he was to be played by Charlton Heston or Peter O'Toole. This resulted in angry protests by Muslim extremists, until director Moustapha Akkad hired a staff of respected Islamic clerics as technical advisors. The advisors butted heads with Akkad, and they quit the production, which led the Moroccan government to withdraw their permission to film in their country. In time, Akkad ended up shooting on location in Libya under the sponsorship of Muammar Qaddafi, which presented a whole new set of political and practical problems for the filmmakers. Finally, when the film was scheduled to premier in the U.S., another Muslim extremist group staged a siege against the Washington D.C. chapter of the B'nai B'rith under the mistaken belief that Anthony Quinn played Mohammed in the film, threatening to blow up the building and its inhabitants unless the film's opening was cancelled. The standoff was resolved without explosion or injuries, though the film's American box office prospects never recovered from the unfortunate controversy. The Message was shot in two versions, one in English and one in Arabic (entitled Al-Ris-Alah), with different actors taking over some of the roles due to language requirements. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Director Ken Russell made a number of biographical films of composers' lives including The Music Lovers, (about Tchaikovsky) and Lisztomania. Russell embellished the other films with certain characteristic flourishes, which include a focus on the composers' sexual obsessions, poetically telling anachronisms, and scenes which show Richard Wagner in a bad light. The story of Mahler is recounted in a much less complex and flamboyant manner and is a relatively reverent study of the life and work of Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, here played by Robert Powell. The film tackles the touchy dilemma of Mahler's Jewishness in the anti-Semitic atmosphere of 19th-century Vienna. He converts to Christianity, which has no effect on his brilliant musical output but which eats away at his physical and mental well-being. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was a conductor and composer of the late Romantic era and specialized in huge symphonic works. Though his works were performed widely during his lifetime, they were less and less-often played until Leonard Bernstein's active campaign on their behalf brought him renewed recognition as a composer of the first rank, every bit the peer of Brahms or Stravinsky. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Val Guest, veteran director of many interesting British films covering a multitude of subjects, joined the nudie-cutie bandwagon of the 1970s with The Au Pair Girls. Anyone who's taken first-year French will probably know that the title refers to young foreign girls living in England who perform domestic chores in exchange for room and board and the opportunity to learn the English language. In this film, the girls' "services" range far beyond mere light dusting. It's the 1972 equivalent to those old stag reels of the 1950s with titles like Lucky Pierre Goes Fishing. Among the au pair girls in this R-rated effort are Gabrielle Drake, Astrid Frank, and Me Me Lai. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the 1932 comic novel by Stella Gibbons, this version of Cold Comfort Farm stars Sarah Badel as Flora Post, a precocious 19-year-old whose parents were lost to the Spanish plague. Left with only 100 pounds a year for survival, Flora writes to several relatives in hopes of finding one that will take her in and offer her the stockings-and-furs lifestyle to which she has become accustomed. Eventually, she is invited to Cold Comfort farm where, as an aspiring author, Flora comes into contact with a group of individuals quirky enough to provide inspiration for years to come. The cast includes Alastair Sim and Brian Blessed, and the story itself was adapted again in John Schlesinger's 1995 film starring Kate Beckinsale. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Former Miss Norway Julie Ege stars in this low-budget variation on One Million Years B.C., playing a scantily-clad cave girl who becomes the object of a fierce battle between the contenders for the throne of the tribe's recently-deceased chieftain. The last of the prehistoric adventure films from England's Hammer Studios, this cheap potboiler discards the usual stop-motion or oversized-iguana dinosaurs -- a concept which may be more (pre)historically accurate but is clearly nothing more than a budgetary consideration for the producers. What's left plotwise is little more than the entire grunting, slobbering male cast trying to get into sexy Ege's sabertooth-skin skivvies and brutalizing each other for the privilege (though most of the sex and violence was excised by the distributors to secure a PG rating). The vibrant cinematography is a plus, but there is very little action, and Ege is no Raquel Welch. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide