Arnold Ridley Movies

The "Carry On" gang returns with Sidney Fiddler (Sid James) conning the local council into running a beauty pageant to promote their community. He's thrilled with the prospect of entertaining all the lovely young contestants, but his girlfriend has a different plan in mind. Soon, a women's liberation group invades the premises and takes over -- promptly ruining everything. ~ All Movie Guide

Horror-film icon Christopher Lee guest stars in this Philip Levene-scripted Avengers episode. When British scientist Professor Stone (Lee), supposedly killed in an auto accident, suddenly shows up alive and healthy, Steed and Emma want to know why. Their curiosity is peaked when Stone subsequently survives 100,000 volts of electricity and an exploding artillery shell. The clues lead to a hush-hush government facility called the Neoteric Research Unit, whose director is that selfsame Professor Stone -- or is it merely his robotic duplicate? First broadcast in England on March 18, 1967, "Never, Never Say Die" was shown in America 13 days later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, crooks on the lam hide-out in an abandoned island monastery. Along with their leader, the robbers put on monks' habits and begin living a quiet pastoral existence centered around raising animals and crops. It takes them a while to get the hang of it. As they learn, they are occasionally visited by tourists, and at once point, by real monks. Trouble ensues when one of the "brothers" is caught gambling in town. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Though Meet Mr. Lucifer reads rather better than it plays, the film is still good for a few healthy laughs. Stanley Holloway plays Hollingsworth, an actor who is playing Lucifer in a stage production. While being hoisted through a trap door, Hollingsworth is knocked cold. While unconscious, he is replaced by the real Lucifer. Seeking about for a new form of deviltry to inflict upon the public, Lucifer comes up with the most hellish device of all: Television! The rest of the film details the effects that the boob tube has on otherwise normal, rational British citizens (there's even time for a swipe at 3D movies). Based on a play by Arnold Ridley, Meet Mr. Lucifer is enhanced by an all-star cast, including Peggy Cummins, Kay Kendall and Ernst Thesiger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Green Grow the Rushes has the look and feel of an Ealing comedy, the film was actually produced through the auspices of British Lion. The story takes place on the southern coast of England, where through a bureaucratic oversight a small patch of land in Kent is protected from outside legal intervention by an ancient charter. It is here that a group of liquor smugglers, headed by Captain Biddie (Roger Livesey), carries on its activities with impunity and with full cooperation of the regional politicians. The fun begins when a cargo of precious potables ends up in a duck pond owned by a local farmer, sparking an onslaught of governmental foolishness. Two future stars carry the slim romantic subplot in Green Grow the Rushes: Honor Blackman plays a well-meaning newspaper columnist, while Richard Burton shows up as a slovenly smuggler (this was Burton's final British film before his move to Hollywood). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Easy Money is a satire of that most venerated of all middle-class British traditions, the football pool. The film is divided into four separate episodes, illustrating the effects of the football pool on the "average chap." Among those who participate in the pool in hopes of winning the 50,000-pound jackpot are the Stafford family: husband Phillip (Jack Warner), wife Ruth (Marjorie Fielding), son Dennis (Jack Watling), and daughter Jackie (Petula Clark). Other interested parties are the Atkins clan -- Herbert ($Mervyn Johns) and Agnes ($Joan Young) -- and lovers Pat (Greta Gynt) and Joe (Dennis Price). Among the huge cast of supporting players, Edward Rigby stands out as the hapless Teddy Ball. Critics of the time noted that Easy Money was faintly reminiscent of the all-star 1932 Hollywood film If I Had a Million. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a renowned eye surgeon goes mad and murders the lover of his wife. He is later given a life-sentence to be spent in a mental hospital. He thinks he truly is in for life, but then his assistant busts him out so he can save the eyesight of the prosecuting attorney (the assistant's father) who put him there. The operation is successful, but does not go without a hitch as the doctor again goes bananas for a time. Later his loyal assistant continues to try to get the doctor released. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a warehouse worker falsely accused of stealing and the murder of a cop, must prove his innocence while aboard a boat sailing between London and Margate. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Eva Moore, famous for her portrayal of Ernst Thesiger's religious-zealot sister in The Old Dark House, is awarded top billing in the British Blind Justice. Moore provides comic relief to the deadly serious goings-on in the rest of the film. Geraldine Fitzgerald plays the sister of a man who was accused of cowardice and shot during wartime. She attempts to keep her shame a secret, until a slimy blackmailer enters her life. Said blackmailer is murdered, and guess who is suspected of the crime? Blind Justice was adapted by Vera Allinson from Arnold Ridley's play Recipe for Murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a timid clerk musters up his courage to help his ward thwart the blackmailing scheme of his former lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

No relation to the 1929 American actioner of the same name, the British Flying Fool features Henry Kendall as airborne amateur sleuth Vincent Floyd. When an undercover Pinkerton man is offed by a gang of homicidal jewel thieves, Floyd swings into action. A bit quicker on the uptake than most quota quickies, the film is distinguished by the climactic chase, in which Kendall commanders a transport plane then pursues the villains' car through a dangerous mountain pass. Distinguished British leading ladies Benita Hume and Ursula Jeans are cast respectively as the "mystery woman" heroine and a sultry female thief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide