Leland Nolan Movies

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The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu: 1980; PG

Peter Sellers gets to play both hero and bad guy at the same time in this comedy variation on Sax Rohmer's infamous stories of Asian super-villian Fu Manchu. The 168-year-old Fu Manchu (Sellers) is starting to run out of the youth-preserving formula that has kept him alive and kicking for the past eight or so decades, and he decides it's high time he made up some more. However, the list of ingredients includes a few items you can't usually get at your corner drug store, and Fu and his minions become a crime wave of their own as they attempt to steal an ancient Egyptian mummy and the Crown Jewels of England. (In the meantime, Fu keeps his heart beating by administering himself the occasional electric shock.) When word gets out that the evil Fu Manchu is back, his long-time nemesis, Scotland Yard's Nayland Smith (also played by Sellers), is put on the case, but like Fu, Smith isn't quite the man he used to be after all these years. Peter Sellers also contributed to the screenplay of The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu without credit, and is said to have briefly taken over as director, though the results lack the snap of his best work; sadly, it would prove to be the great comic's last film. Sid Caesar, Hellen Mirren, and David Tomlinson also appear in the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Starring:: Peter Sellers, Helen Mirren, (more)

Freedom Road: 1979

Muhammad Ali made his TV-movie dramatic debut in this adaptation of Howard Fast's novel Freedom Road. Though some of the names are changed, the story concerns the true-life efforts of senators Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens to bring political order and racial equality to the post-Civil War South. Ali is cast as Gideon Jackson, an ex-slave who is elected to the U.S. senate during the Reconstruction Era. Interestingly enough, the character upon whom Jackson is based was depicted as the villain of D.W. Griffith's 1915 Civil War epic Birth of a Nation. Just as Griffth offered his own biased slant on the facts, so too did Fast rewrite history to promote his own political ideology. As for Muhammad Ali, his performance is no threat to Olivier, but he acts with sincerity and a commendable lack of bravado. Made for TV, Freedom Road represented the final film effort of Czechoslovakian director Jan Kadar. It was first telecast in two parts on October 29 and 30, 1979, an event that warranted a cover story in TV Guide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Angela: 1977

In this subpar Canadian film, Sophia Loren is Angela, a prostitute who has decided to become a waitress after she gets pregnant by Ben Kincaid (John Vernon) and needs a better way to support her baby. When Ben gets back from service in the Korean War, he does not believe Angela's little boy is his, and after he starts working for his old mob boss, he says he cannot continue as long as the boy is in the house. So his boss Hogan (John Huston) has the child kidnapped, which triggers Angela to seek revenge, and she informs the police about Ben's planned robbery. He is caught and goes to jail for more than two decades, and when he gets out, his only goal is to get even. Meanwhile, Angela has worked her way up to the ownership of an elegant restaurant and has fallen in love with handsome young Jean Labrecque (Steve Railsback), who delivers meat to the kitchen -- without either knowing at the time that they are mother and son. With dim lighting, a dim script, and dim chances, this turkey was quickly made into dim-sum and shelved in video cassettes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Starring:: Sophia Loren, Steve Railsback, (more)

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane: 1976; PG; Add The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane to Queue Add The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane to top of Queue

In this Canadian thriller, Jodie Foster plays the title character, a reclusive, fiercely self-reliant teenager who lives alone in her father's house. When visitors call, Foster explains that her father is away on business. He's away, all right...far, far, away. And Foster, determined not to lose her independence, will go to any lengths to protect her secret, a fact that nosy neighbor Alexis Smith learns to her regret. A new danger to Foster's well-being looms in the form of pedophile Martin Sheen, who schemes to place the girl in a compromising position. Offering a helping hand to Foster is misfit teenager Mario (Scott Jacoby). Laird Koenig adapted his own novel to the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide