Harry Andrews Movies

The System was one of several "exposé" films inspired by the Kefauver crime committee. The title refers to the manner in which a major gambling syndicate can so insinuate itself in "respectable" business circles that it becomes virtually impossible for justice to prevail. Big-city syndicate head John Merrick (Frank Lovejoy) is targeted for investigation by a crusading newspaper. The publisher (Fay Roope) uses this opportunity as a means to squelch his daughter's (Joan Weldon) romance with the unscrupulous Merrick. Called to testify before a crime commission, Merrick at first invokes the Fifth Amendment. But a series of crushing personal blows, coupled with the realization that his fellow hoods have left him to twist slowly in the wind, leads to an abrupt change of heart on the witness stand. The System boasts one of the most impressive supporting casts in any 1953 film, including virtually every actor who's ever played a thug or lowlife: Dan Seymour, Frank Richards, Vic Perrin, Henry Corden, Bruno VeSota, etc. etc. etc. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alan Ladd once more journeyed to England to make a film for Columbia's British counterpart (Warwick Studios), and the result was the lively swashbuckler The Black Knight. Ladd plays John, a young swordmaker who aspires to join the Knights of the Round Table. Unfortunately, he is falsely accused of cowardice and banished from his community. Thanks to the secret tutelage of one of Arthur's knights, John is able to train himself in the art of combat, and soon reemerges as the vengeance-seeking Black Knight. In this guise, he is able to bring a group of traitors to justice, rout a band of invading Saracens, and rescue his lady love Linet (Patricia Medina) from certain doom. Anthony Bushell, who was soon to completely forsake acting in favor of producing and directing, costars as King Arthur, while the villains of the piece are essayed by Peter Cushing and future Dr. Who Patrick Troughton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rossana Podesta may not quite possess the face that would launch a thousand ships, but she is otherwise convincing in the title role of Helen of Troy. Filmed in Italy, this super-epic costars Jacques Sernas as Paris of Troy, who sails to Sparta to secure a peace treaty between the two powerful Greek city-states. When he falls in love with Helen, Queen of Sparta, Paris loses all sense of diplomacy. Helen is willingly "abducted" by Paris and spirited off to Troy, thereby sparking a long and bloody war, which culminates with the legendary Trojan Horse. Torin Thatcher costars as warrior leader Ulysses, while Sir Cedric Hardwicke plays Priam, the pacifistic king of Troy who is overwhelmed by circumstances beyond his control. Also on hand is Stanley Baker as Achilles (who ends up with an arrow you-know-where) and Niall MacGinnis as Helen's husband Menelaus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previous film versions of Moby Dick insisted upon including such imbecilities as romantic subplots and happy endings. John Huston's 1956 Moby Dick remains admirably faithful to its source. "Call me Ishmael" declares itinerant whaler Richard Basehart as the opening credits fade. Though slightly intimidated by the sermon delivered by Father Mapple (Orson Welles in a brilliant one-take cameo), who warns that those who challenge the sea are in danger of losing their souls, Ishmael nonetheless signs on to the Pequod, a whaling ship captained by the brooding, one-legged Ahab (Gregory Peck). For lo these many years, Ahab has been engaged in an obsessive pursuit of Moby Dick, the great white whale to whom he lost his leg. Ahab's dementia spreads throughout the crew members, who maniacally join their captain in his final, fatal attack upon the elusive, enigmatic Moby Dick. Screenwriter Ray Bradbury masterfully captures the allegorical elements in the Herman Melville original without sacrificing any of the film's entertainment value (Bradbury suffered his own "great white whale" in the form of director Huston, who sadistically ran roughshod over the sensitive author throughout the film).Cinematographer Oswald Morris' washed-out color scheme brilliantly underlines the foredoomed bleakness of the story. Moby Dick's one major shortcoming is its obviously artificial whale-but try telling a real whale to stay within camera range and hit its marks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After an extensive talent search, producer-director Otto Preminger selected a 17-year-old unknown from Iowa, Jean Seberg, to play Joan of Arc, a role traditionally portrayed by actresses twice to three times Seberg's age. Seberg is cast opposite such venerable pros as Richard Todd (as Dunois), Anton Walbrook (the Bishop of Beauvais), John Gielgud (Earl of Warwick) and Felix Aylmer (The Inquisitor). Cast as the vacillating Dauphin is Richard Widmark. Graham Greene's screenplay refashions the original Shaw text in the form of a flashback. Seberg eventually became an accomplished actress by virtue of her appearances in such nouvelle vague films as Breathless, but it was too late to salvage Saint Joan, which was figuratively burned at the stake by critics and filmgoers alike. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The still-controversial L'Affair Dreyfuss of the late 19th century is the focal point of I Accuse! Jose Ferrer (who also directed) stars as French Army captain Alfred Dreyfus, who is chosen as the fall guy for a major military scandal for no other discernable reason than his Jewishness. Wrongly accused of treason, Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and shipped off to Devil's Island. Friends and family members, bolstered by the support of novelist Emile Zola (Emlyn Williams), force a retrial, to no avail. When their mistake and subsequent coverup is revealed, the Army tries to save face by offering Dreyfuss a pardon, even though they will not rescind their accusation of treason. Left with no alternatives, Dreyfuss accepts, returning to France in disgrace. Only the confession of the genuine traitor enables Dreyfuss to clear his name and have his rank restored. Many of the facts of the case that had been glossed over for legal reasons in 1937's Life of Emile Zola are herein presented on film for the first time. The screenplay for I Accuse! was adapted from the Nicholas Haasz' book by Gore Vidal, who manages to make several allusions to America's own McCarthy-era "witch hunts". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film version of George Bernard Shaw's satirical take on the American Revolution had a troubled production history (with a director change in mid-production), but nevertheless boasts a cutting performance by Laurence Olivier. Shaw's tale depicts his version of how the British lost the American colonies: because of a stupid mistake at the War Office someone forgot to tell Lord North to join up with General "Gentleman" Johnny Burgoyne (Laurence Olivier) and smash the rebels. Burt Lancaster is on hand as the Rev. Anthony Anderson, a peace-loving parson who ends up becoming a belligerent firebrand of a rebel. Also is tow is Kirk Douglas as Dirk Dungeon, who, in typical Shawvian irony, starts out as a unrepentant, cowardly scamp and ends up as the personification of Christian virtues. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The "nick" in this standard prison farce is a modernistic, forward-looking jail without bars. At its core of staff are dedicated young psychologist Dr. Newcombe (Anthony Newley) and tough-minded but fair overseer Chief Officer Williams (Harry Andrews). Their jobs are made that much more difficult when four hardened criminals are inexplicably sent to the minimum security prison. The leader of this gang of four is Spider (James Booth) whose main job is to rally his cohorts into defeating a rival gang and lording it over other inmates. Their tactics and the efforts of the good doctor to reform them provide the comic fodder for the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A British officer is slated to parachute into Normandy. What he doesn't know is that he is being set up by British Intelligence to be captured by the enemy and reveal erroneous information to the Nazis. Officer Raine (Bradford Dillman) is the unknowing soldier who has intentionally been given false information. His superiors justify the expenditure of one man verses the thousands of lives that will be saved by his mission. The unlucky officer faces capture, brutal torture and debilitating guilt leading to alcoholism over his perceived "failure" to keep the information secret. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this military comedy, Maj. Richardson (David Niven) and Lt. Burke (Michael Wilding) are two British soldiers on a recognizance mission over Ethiopia in 1941 when their plane crashes in the desert. Capt. Blasi (Alberto Sordi), an Italian officer, finds the Englishmen and offers to help them: he'll let them go if they allow him and his men to take over an old fort nearby and stay there without being bothered. Richardson and Burke agree, and they return to their base of operations, only to discover that they've been ordered to attack the fort and capture Blasi and his men. Richardson considers himself a man of his word and doesn't care for this duty; in time, the two men become friends and exchange banter as they take turns capturing one another. Remarkably enough, Italian actor Alberto Sordi didn't speak English when he made this film, and he learned all his dialogue phonetically. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Samuel Bronston produced this extravagant blockbuster, shot in Super Technirama 70. Nominally directed by Nicholas Ray (who makes a brief appearance as the U.S. ambassador), Ray was taken off the film and replaced by the more pliable directorial touches of Andrew Marton. Charlton Heston stars as Maj. Matt Lewis, the leader of an army of multinational soldiers who head to Peking during the infamous Boxer Rebellion of 1900. As the film unfolds, the foreign embassies in Peking are being held in a grip of terror as the Boxers set about massacring Christians in an anti-Christian nationalistic fever. Inside the besieged compound, the finicky British ambassador (David Niven) gathers the beleaguered ambassadors into a defensive formation. Included in the group of high-level dignitaries is a sultry Russian Baroness (Ava Gardner) who takes a shine to Lewis upon his arrival at the embassy compound with his group of soldiers. As Lewis and the group conserve food and water and try to save some hungry children, they await the arrival of expected reinforcements, but the tricky Chinese Empress Tzu Hsi (Flora Robson) is, in the meantime, plotting with the Boxers to break the siege at the compound with the aid of Chinese recruits. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

John Rae's novel The Custard Boys became this World War II drama from British documentary filmmaker Philip Leacock. Martin Tomlinson stars as John Curlew, a troubled teenager who is part of a gang of London boys evacuated to a small English coastal town during World War II. Desperate to join the war effort and fearful that the fighting will be over before they're of age to enlist, the boys stage their own mock war games with the local teens, practicing to become soldiers and taking the entire matter very seriously. John, who is conflicted between his loyalty to his zealous friends and his burgeoning desire for an Austrian Jewish refugee, Mark Stein (Oliver Grimm), invites Mark to join the "battles." At first mocked for his Semitic heritage, Mark is eventually allowed to participate, but when he runs off during a battle, the gang decides to court-martial him for cowardice, with tragic results. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of Kind Hearts and Coronets (49), Nothing But the Best is a sparkling British "comedy of murders." Alan Bates stars as a lowly real estate clerk who wants to crash the British upper class. To that end, Bates hires down-and-out gentleman Denholm Elliott to "train" him for the noblesse. The clerk is a fast learner, and is soon wooing the daughter (Millicent Martin) of his blueblood boss. Just as he's on the brink of becoming one of the "better people," his mentor Elliot disdainfully threatens to reveal the truth about Bates. With nary a moment's hesitation, Bates strangles Elliot with his own school tie, and hides the body in Elliot's own school trunk. From this point forward, Bates moves onward and upward, and since the high-class folks in this film are shown to be shallow phonies, the audience is half rooting for Bates to get away with his little murder. The film ends just as Bates' old lodgings are about to be demolished--leaving Our Hero waiting in wry, bemused anticipation for that incriminating trunk to be uncovered. Frederick Raphael based his screenplay for Nothing But the Best on Stanley Elkins' black-humor masterpiece The Best of Everything. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide