David Davenport Movies

Helene Hanff's book 84 Charing Cross Road had previously been a TV program and a stage play before it was converted into this 1986 film. The scene is New York, 1949: Anne Bancroft plays a struggling writer and passionate bibliophile, who answers an advertisement from a rare-volumes bookshop at 84 Charing Cross Road in London. Thus begins a two-decade romance by correspondence between Bancroft and Briton Anthony Hopkins, the man in charge of the overseas department of Marks and Company. Though several meetings are arranged, Bancroft and Hopkins never come face to face thanks to mitigating circumstances. But Anne finally makes it to London, and finds that much has changed. 84 Charing Cross Road was produced by Mel Brooks, the husband of star Anne Bancroft. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This bawdy entry in the long-running series of British "Carry On" comedies is set in the court of King Henry the VIII and centers on the gang's attempt to freshen up the odiferous Queen Marie and thereby save her head. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

At the beginning of The Secret of My Success, dimwitted Arthur Tate (James Booth) is a local village bobby who always follows his mother's advice to "help other people, and never look for the evil in them" -- perhaps not the best advice for an officer of the law. Tate soon finds himself investigating a murder case involving the husband of a local dressmaker Stella Stevens. She uses her wiles to trick Tate into unwittingly disposing of the body -- but Tate's mother uses her own wiles to discover a connection between the dressmaker and the local magistrate. With this knowledge, she secures a promotion for her inept son. Tate next becomes involved with a baroness Honor Blackman who it turns out is breeding vicious, gigantic spiders. Tate's mother once again intercedes behind the scenes, and soon her son finds himself working for the President of a Latin American country -- and also involved with a revolutionary Shirley Jones, who is plotting to overthrow the President. Tate's mother again secretly comes to her son's aid, and as the film end, Tate has become the country's new ruler. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Henri (Robert Dhery) joins a group of rowdy soccer fans who travel from France to London two days before he is supposed to be married, and he goes to the dentist after his two front teeth are knocked out in a melee with rival fans. Sight gags include a busload of drunken fans trying to evade the police in a rare working combination of Gallic and British humor. Diana Dors appears as herself in this feature directed and co-written by Dhery. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Jayne Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe's blond competition in the late '50s and early '60s, stars in this crime melodrama as Billy, the leader of a gang of thieves. She charms Jim (Anthony Quayle), a widower with a young daughter, into joining the group effort on a particular robbery. After the heist, Jim personally stashes away their stolen loot while she leads the police off in another direction. But the unfortunate new recruit ends up in the clinker for five years while the others go free. Once out of jail, Jim is brought up short -- Billy has allied herself with another man and her gang has money to spare -- though not enough money, they decide. Against Billy's wishes, the gang takes drastic measures to get at Jim's hidden cache of loot from the robbery that sent him to jail. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi