Patricia Dainton Movies
- 1961
Ticket to Paradise is an innocuous romantic comedy predicated on a plot device that's probably older than dirt. Travel agent Emrys Jones and tourist Patricia Dainton fall in love in sunny Italy. Jones has led Dainton to believe that he's fabulously wealthy, and she has likewise deceived him. When the truth inevitably outs, it hardly matters, since hero and heroine now love each other for themselves rather than their bank accounts. At 61 minutes, Ticket to Paradise is just long enough to avoid boredom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
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
- 1960
A short ghost story, this film is better than it looks at first glance. When Jean, the patient wife of novelist David, inherits a country house, it seems an ideal opportunity for David to complete his long-awaited book, even though the house harbors Patrick, a mischievous, family poltergeist. David is bored until he's seduced by Valerie, the curvaceous blonde divorcee who's typing his manuscript. When Jean, with Patrick's help, learns of the affair and confronts him, David swears that he is through with the blonde and will play the model husband. He's lying. This thriller is an entertaining treat, with enjoyable performances by Sandra Dorne as the temptress, Patricia Dainton as the wife, and Anita Sharp as a cantankerous housekeeper. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- 1959
In this tepid thriller blind switchboard operator Jane Pringle (Patricia Dainton) inherits the valuable brooch of a recently slain neighbor. Jane was unfortunately present during the murder and in the midst of the violence, the killer accidentally brushed up against her. Fearing that the one touch will be enough for Jane to identify him, the killer plots her demise. he fears that she will be able to identify him. Fortunately, she begins working with the police and is able to facilitate his capture before the killer can get to her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Margaret Leighton stars as a novelist who draws inspiration for her characters from the people around her. While working on a romance novel, she bases the sexy central male character upon her chauffeur (Carlo Justini). He can't understand that Margaret's interest in him is purely professional, and assumes that the woman is crazy about him. Everybody in Leighton's "real" life portrays his or her literary counterpart in a film-within-a-film, few more amusingly than the lady's wheelchair-bound husband (Ralph Richardson). Something of a comic precursor to The French Lieutenant's Woman (81), Passionate Stranger was also released as A Novel Affair. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Richardson, Margaret Leighton, (more)
- 1957
Off-his-trolley concert pianist Stephen Murray craves both money and publicity. He hopes to attain both by kidnapping beauteous lady journalist Patricia Dainton. Notifying the London media, Murray announces that unless his conditions are met, Dainton will be murdered five days hence "at the stroke of nine". It is the "helpless" heroine herself who engineers the psychopath's downfall. Leading lady Patricia Dainton, who'd begun her career in precocious teen-ager roles, made only a handful of films after At the Stroke of Nine before her 1960 retirement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Produced in England, No Road Back was released worldwide by RKO Radio Pictures. Margaret Rawlings dominates the proceedings as Mrs. Railton, the blind and deaf owner of a nightclub. To finance the medical-school education of her son John (Skip Homeier), Mrs. Railton has worked as a fence for a gang of diamond thieves. When John returns from school, his mother plans one last, big heist, after which she'll quit the racket. Things go wrong, however, and a guard is killed during the robbery. John is apprised of his mother's complicity, whereupon the plotline shifts into high gear. No Road Back is best-known today as the feature-film debut of Sean Connery, here cast as a seedy lowlife named Spike. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Skip Homeier, Paul Carpenter, (more)
- 1953
In this drama, a physician operates on a man he knows nothing about. The whole thing is terribly fishy, and trouble ensues when his personal secretary is murdered for revealing the patient's identity. Later, with the help of the police, the mystery is solved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
This British crime drama is set in a supposedly haunted London theater and centers upon a producer who rents the building from its female owner to put on a show. She does so on the condition that no one unlock the dressing room where her husband was murdered years before. Later, the woman's son is murdered on stage. The police find clues that lead them to the mysterious locked room. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
Most of this hectic British comedy takes place in an ancient Scottish castle. The British National Coal Board, following a real-life policy established in the 1940s, wants to annex the castle as a group home for the local miners and their families. Wealthy, much-married American Mrs. Clodfelter Dunne (Barbara Kelly) wants to claim the castle--and its owner, the Earl of Locharne (David Tomlinson)--for herself. Meanwhile, eccentric boarder Miss Nicholson (Margaret Rutherford) is possessed with the notion that the Earl is actually the rightful King of Scotland. The film's deus-ex-machina is a beautiful ghost, played by Patricia Dainton. With all this going on, it is easy to ignore the antiseptic romantic subplot involving Tomlinson and Helen Cherry. Castles in the Air was based on the popular stage play by Alan Melville. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Tomlinson, Helen Cherry, (more)
- 1952
In this detective story, based on a novel by John Creasey, a smooth-talking detective helps a young woman solve her uncle's murder. When the Robin Hood-like thief accused of the crime is proved innocent, everyone breathes a sight of relief. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
In this thriller a young couple is engaged by Scotland Yard to capture the mysterious Marquis, a murderer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
In this murder mystery, an aspiring novelist and amateur detective begins looking into the case of a famous unsolved murder and eventually ends up in a mansion filled with serpents. He then enlists the aid of his wife, solves the murder, and gets kudos for his newest book. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1949
The Dancing Years was written by British theatrical favorite Ivor Novello, who also penned the songs. Set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, the film stars Dennis Price as Rudi Kiebler, the role played by Novello in the original stage version. A struggling young composer, Rudi is elevated to prominence when famed operetta star Maria Ziedler (Giselle Preville) agrees to perform one of his works. Falling in love with Rudi, Maria nonetheless enters into a loveless marriage to a prince (Anthony Nicholls) due to a misunderstanding. The source of this misunderstanding is attractively played by Patricia Dainton. Old-fashioned in the extreme, The Dancing Years is given a fresh coat of paint by the engaging performances of the stars and the sprightly direction by Harold French. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Price, Giselle Preville, (more)
- 1949
The British Don't Ever Leave Me stars "cute" Jimmy Hanley as a would-be criminal who is dragooned into a kidnapping plot. Among the potential victims is teenaged Sheila Farlane (Petula Clark), the daughter of Shakespearean actor Michael Farlane (Hugh Sinclair). When the plan goes awry, Sheila and her friends decide that they're having fun being kidnapped and refuse to go home! Featured in the cast is a young Anthony Newley, who'd recently gained fame as the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist. Don't Ever Leave Me is hardly memorable, though it managed to get plenty of American TV airplay in the 1950s and 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Hanley, Petula Clark, (more)
- 1948
Long before he became the Disney Studios' favorite stuffy Brit, David Tomlinson enjoyed top billing in the 1948 comedy Love in Waiting. The main story is carried by Peggy Evans and Elspeth Gray, cast as a pair of cute waitresses. Evans makes the mistake of crossing a fellow employee, and as a result she is set up on a petty theft charge. Her antagonist loses out in the end, and all is well. Originally aimed at the British "home market," Love in Waiting was telecast to death in the early days of American TV. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1947
Hollywood films were linking up dance halls with criminal activities long before the British-made Dancing with Crime, which does not mean that this 1949 melodrama is any less worthwhile. Adding a contemporary twist, the criminals operating within the shilling-a-dance joint are black marketeers (wartime rationing would be in effect in Britain until the early 1950s). A wisecracking taxi dancer (Sheila Sim) gets wind of what's afoot. Working with the law, the girl tries to get the goods on the criminals but nearly catches a shiv in the rib cage. 1930s crime-film star Barry K. Barnes co-stars in Dancing with Crime, together with up-and-comer Richard Attenborough. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Barry Barnes, (more)
