Irene Rooke Movies
- 1932
Wendy Barrie made her film debut in the verbose British mystery Collision. Wendy takes a back seat to top-billed Sunday Wilshin, who plays a scheming widow. To cover up her complicity in a jewel theft, Wilshin contrives to pin the blame on newlywed Gerald Rawlinson. With the help of Rawlinson's new bride (Ms. Barrie), the real culprit is collared. Collision is based on a play by E. C. Pollard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1931
In this drama, two half-sisters begin fighting after they fall for the same man. The fight is resolved when one of the girls gets pregnant and must marry and the other ends up in a convent. Later murder, forgery, and extortion ensue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margot Grahame, Elizabeth Allan, (more)
- 1929
The first of three Herbert Wilcox productions for 1929, The Woman in White was based on the classic Gothic novel by Wilkie Collins. Promised in marriage to the despicable Sir Percival Glide (Cecil Humphries), beautiful young heiress Laura Fairlie (Blanche Sweet) stumbles into a diabolical fraud scheme cooked up by Sir Percy and the even more odious Count Fosco (Frank Perfitt). Were it not for the diligence of handsome Walter Hartwright (Haddon Mason), Laura would be doomed -- just as her look-alike, likewise enmeshed in Fosco's scheme, met her unfortunate demise. Rescuing Laura from being fraudulently confined in a mental institution, Walter confronts the clever Fosco, but it is Fosco's long-suffering wife (Mina Grey) who brings the villainy to an abrupt and final end. The Woman in White was remade in 1948 as a chop-licking vehicle for Sydney Greenstreet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blanche Sweet, Haddon Mason, (more)
- 1929
Based on a play by Pemberton Billing, High Treason is set in The Future -- 1940, to be exact. The Federated Countries of Europe seem poised on the brink of another war, this one sparked by a border dispute between Canada and the United States (!) Dr. Seymour (Humberstone Wright), head of the European Peace League, tries to avert the war, while Seymour's daughter Evelyn (Benita Hume) carries on a romance with Michael Deane (Jameson Thomas), the militaristic head of the Air Force. In the film's incredible denouement, Dr. Seymour is forced to resort to assassination to keep the peace (in other words, "support the anti-war movement or I'll kill you.") If one could find a print of High Treason today, one might be amused by the film's futuristic prognostications, including electric signboards in place of newspapers, private helicopters which can land on residential rooftops with impunity, two-way televisions in every home, and miniskirts on every woman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benita Hume, Basil Gill, (more)
- 1922
The British melodrama Half a Truth was based on Rita, a novel by Leslie Howard Gordon. Margaret Hope stars as Virginia, the daughter of millionaire Sir Richard Mallison (Percy Standing). Virginia is victimized by scheming Lady Lucille Altamont (Norma Whalley), whose lofty station in life obscures her larcenous nature. Lady Lucille blackmails Virginia into marrying the equally dishonest Marquis Sallast (Miles Mander), even though the girl's heart really belongs to Chris Kennaway (Lawford Davidson). Will the villainess be (curses) foiled again in time? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
