A.A. Milne Movies
- 1927
Two of the era's most popular flappers, Vera Reynolds and Phyllis Haver, collided in this comedy produced and directed by William de Mille, the older brother of Cecil. When her husband Leonard (Robert Ober) leaves her for Helen (Reynolds), Victoria (Haver) takes up with artist Antonio (Theodore Kosloff). By one of those coincidences endemic to bedroom farces, both couples end up on George La Fuente's (Victor Varconi) dude ranch. Everybody begins arguing with the poor Senor Fuentes as an overwhelmed mediator, but at the end of the day and despite her feelings for both Leonard, who suffers from a cold, and Antonio, Victoria chooses to remain with her debonair host. The 1938 Edith Fellows vehicle of the same title was definitely not a remake of this adult comedy! ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vera Reynolds
- 1930
A.A. Milne's The Fourth Wall was the source for this early British talkie. During a weekend party at the country estate of Arthur Hilton (C. Aubrey Smith), the host is impolitely murdered by his guest Carter (Robert Lorraine) and Carter's henchman Laverick (Warwick Ward). The killing is carried out with such cunning that the other guests can provide both Carter and Laverick with air-tight alibis. Just at the point when the police are about to write off Hilton's death as a suicide, romantic leads Jimmy (Frank Lawton) and Mollie (Dorothy Boyd) stumble upon the "one fatal slip" made by the two clever murderers. Originally released at 98 minutes, Birds of Prey was distributed in the U.S. by RKO in a 78-minute version, retitled The Perfect Alibi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Loraine, Warwick Ward, (more)
- 1931
In this British murder mystery, a host is murdered just before a gala dinner party at his country estate. The killers are revealed immediately though it seems they have committed the perfect crime by making it appears as if the host killed himself. This is discovered by a suspicious young couple. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Loraine, Dorothy Boyd, (more)
- 1932
This romance, based on a surprisingly sophisticated story by Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne, teams up Herbert Marshall with his then-wife Edna Best. Best is Mary Price, deserted by her husband when he leaves England to seek his fortune during the Boer War in 1900. Destitute and desperate, she meets aspiring author Michael Rowe (Marshall) at a museum. Rowe offers to share what little money he has with her and soon a romance develops. They agree to marry, in hopes that her husband has disappeared for good. And, as the years pass, it seems like he has. Rowe becomes a successful and respected writer and he and Mary raise a son, David (Frank Lawton). On the night that David becomes engaged to pretty society girl Romo (Elizabeth Allan), however, Price (D.A. Clarke-Smith) reappears, and while the young couple is away, Rowe has a fight with Price, who dies at the scene from a heart attack. Michael and Mary are interrogated, but Scotland Yard never makes the connection between Price and Mary, and the investigators assume that Michael was merely protecting himself from an intruder. While the couple is off the hook legally, they feel it is morally necessary to come clean about their past in front of David and his fiancée. David is more than willing to forgive his parents their sins, and Romo stands by them, too. What could have been a tiresome subject is brought to life by the talent of all involved -- not only the actors, but also writers Angus MacPhail, Robert Stevenson, and Lajos Biro, who brought Milne's story to the screen. Stevenson, incidentally, would become one of Britain's most respected directors, and MacPhail would frequently work with Alfred Hitchcock -- though apparently not on The Man Who Knew Too Much, which gave Best one of her best screen roles. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Lawton, Herbert Marshall, (more)
- 1934
Where Sinners Meet was based on The Dover Road, a whimsical play by A. A. Milne. Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard, stars of the 1933 Oscar-winner Cavalcade, are reunited herein. A reclusive eccentric who has survived two unhappy marriages, Mr. Latimer pursues the strange hobby of arranging traffic accidents so that he can "kidnap" extramarital couples to warn them of the pitfalls of infidelity. His latest captives are Anne and Leonard (Wynyard and Reginald Owen) and Eustacia and Nicholas (Billie Burke and Alan Mowbray), all four of whom are escaping what they believe to be mismatched marriages. Genteelly imprisoning the two couples in his comfortable country estate, Mr. Latimer allows them enough time together to get on one another's nerves and realize that they should all return to their legal mates. Both Leonard and Nicholas are sufficiently frightened to make a break for it, but Anne and Eustacia insist upon remaining with their host -- which isn't exactly what Latimer had in mind! Where Sinners Meet was previously filmed in 1927 as The Little Adventuress. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, (more)
- 1936
Four Days Wonder is adapted from the A. A. Milne novel of the same name. New Universal contractee Jeanne Dante stars as precocious 13-year-old Judy Widdell, a devoted fan of dime-novel detective stories. When a real murder occurs in the vicinity, Judy insists upon playing sleuth, dragging teenaged astronomer Tom Fenton (Kenneth Howell) into her Sherlock shenanigans. It's no trick for Judy or Tom to out-guess dimwitted police detective Duffy (Walter Catlett), but the murderer isn't so easy to flummox, and for a while it looks as though our heroine will never reach adulthood. As it turned out, star Jeanne Dante, a youthful veteran of the Broadway stage, was something of a four-day wonder herself, disappearing from films not long after this one was released. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Howell, Martha Sleeper, (more)
- 1957
This surprisingly warm-and-fuzzy episode is narrated by child actress Evelyn Rudie, here cast as minister's daughter Hildegarde Fell. Against the wishes of her father (Hugh Marlowe), Hildegarde insists upon trying to make friends with crabby old John Anderson (Cedric Hardwicke), an elderly recluse whom everyone in town assumes to be a former judge, famous for his harsh and merciless sentences. Only after Anderson's death does the wide-eyed Hildegarde reveal the unvarnished truth about the "greatly beloved" man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
This episode is, amazingly enough, based on a story by A.A. Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh. Henpecked husband Ernest Findlater (John Williams) dreams of escaping his dreary existence and heading off to the South Seas. During one such dream, a beautiful native girl named Lalage (Barbara Baxley) provides Mr. Findlater with a foolproof plan to eliminate the contentious Mrs. Findlater (Isobel Elsom). Watch for an uncredited Raymond Bailey (aka Mr. Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies) as Alfred Hitchcock's psychiatrist in the episode's prologue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
"Bears love honey and I'm a Pooh bear," sings Winnie the Pooh setting the stage for the goings-on in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, the first of four Disney featurettes based upon the A.A. Milne characters. Indeed, Pooh has rather an insatiable desire for honey, and when he spies a group of bees making some of the lovely sticky stuff in the top of a nearby tree, he taxes his mental resources -- difficult for "a bear of very little brain" -- and comes up with a scheme. Enlisting the aid of Christopher Robin, he covers himself in mud, grabs hold of a big blue balloon and (thinking himself cleverly disguised as a little black rain cloud), tries to get some of the honey. The bees are not fooled, but soon Pooh finds an easier way of getting what he wants: visiting friend Rabbit at lunch time. Rabbit has a tremendous store of honey -- so much so that, after ingesting it all, Pooh gets stuck in Rabbit's doorway and can get neither in nor out. There's nothing to do but wait for Pooh to lose enough wait to squeeze out. When he does finally get rescued, Pooh somehow ends up in another sticky situation -- but one that is much more pleasing to the little bear. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- 1997
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In this animated story for the family from Disney, Christopher Robin and his stuffed bear Winnie The Pooh are best friends and love to spend their days together. However, the time has come for Christopher to begin going to school. He doesn't have the hear to break the news to Pooh, so he leaves a note for him before leaving for the first day of classes. However, Pooh gets confused and is somehow convinced Christopher has been spirited away to Skull Island; he bands together Tigger, Piglet and Rabbit to stage a rescue mission as only they can. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Cummings, Brady Bluhm, (more)
One of the smaller residents of the 100 Acre Woods finally gets his moment in the spotlight in this animated feature, based on the characters created by A.A. Milne. As Winnie the Pooh (voice of Jim Cummins) and his pals Tigger (also voiced by Cummins), Rabbit (voice of Ken Sansom), and Eeyore (voice of Peter Cullen) set out to harvest honey from the hives in the forest, Piglet (voice of John Fiedler) is told he's too small to come along. Feeling like he often gets the short end of the stick, Piglet decides to strike out on his own, and when the honey hunters return, they can't find their friend -- only his scrapbooks of their adventures of the past. As they look through the books, Winnie and his pals realize just how much their friend means to them, and how much they've taken him for granted. They set out to find Piglet and ask him to come home, and along the way the little pig makes a big difference when his pals need him. Piglet's Big Movie includes several new songs from singer and songwriter Carly Simon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Fiedler, Jim Cummings, (more)
A.A. Milne's famous stuffed bear and his pals learn something about acceptance and understanding when a new animal comes to the Hundred Acre Woods in this animated comedy. When Winnie the Pooh (voice of Jim Cummings) hears a strange noise in the woods, he and his friends are convinced that the dreaded Heffalump -- a critter not unlike an elephant -- has come to the woods to do them harm. Pooh, Piglet (voice of John Fiedler), and Tigger (also voiced by Cummings) set out to capture the fearsome beast, but Roo (voice of Jimmy Bennett), who is told he's too small to join the search party, meets Lumpy the Heffalump face to face and discovers he's not the bad guy he's been made out to be. Pooh's Heffalump Movie features four new songs from singer and songwriter Carly Simon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Cummings, John Fiedler, (more)
