Victor Beaumont Movies

When American agents in Moscow try to recover a stolen letter implicating America in an anti-Red China plot, they discover a hornet's nest of treason, double agents, murder, and betrayal. The plot has as many switchbacks as a Formula One racetrack, and a pad and paper to keep track of the agents and their code names wouldn't hurt. Still, The Kremlin Letter is an interesting espionage movie with some good performances. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

An expensive but enormously profitable war picture, Where Eagles Dare centers upon a daring rescue and even more daring escape. Disguised as Nazi officers, commandoes Maj. John Smith (Richard Burton), Lt. Morris Schaffer Clint Eastwood and six other courageous souls parachute behind enemy lines. Their mission: to rescue an American general, held captive in a supposedly impenetrable Alpine castle. Aiding and abetting the commandoes are Allied undercover agents Mary (Mary Ure) and Heidi (Ingrid Pitt). Also on hand is a British officer (Patrick Wymark), who masterminded the mission. Somewhere, somehow, someone amongst the Allies is going to turn out to be a traitor. There's also a neat plot twist in store when the commandoes manage to reach the American general -- which leads to yet another twist. The vertigo-inducing climax has made Where Eagles Dare one of the most sought-after of "early" Eastwood starring features. The film was written directly for the screen by espionage novelist Alistair MacLean. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this tale of espionage and adventure set during World War II, Norway has fallen under Nazi occupation, and a factory is producing "heavy water" (a key ingredient in the manufacture of atomic weapons), under the order of the German military. Knut Straud (Richard Harris), a leading figure in the Norwegian underground, joins forces with scientist Dr. Rolf Pederson (Kirk Douglas), who is working with British intelligence agents to destroy the factory in hopes of keeping the Atomic Bomb out of Axis hands. However, while originally Straud and Pederson are only supposed to infiltrate the factory as a reconnaissance force while awaiting British troops, the English army is forced to retreat from their plans, leaving the Norwegians to destroy the factory and scuttle a shipment of the "heavy water" all by themselves. Inspired by a true story, The Heroes of Telemark also features Michael Redgrave and Anton Diffring. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Montgomery Tully, that phenomenally fast British directing machine, whipped up another espionage programmer with 1964's Master Spy. Stephen Murray stars as a Russian scientist who escapes from a Communist prison to go to work for the British. Despite his seeming sincerity, Murray's superiors suspect that he's a "plant," sent to monitor nuclear secrets on behalf of the Reds. It's more complex than that: Murray is a British spy, posing as a Russian defector, posing as a possible informer.... While only 71 minutes, Master Spy has enough plot twists for a library-full of Fleming and LeCarre. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this spy thriller clever reporters outfox Communist spies who have come to Geneva to learn more about Western nuclear science. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Directed by American expatriate Joseph Losey, the British The Criminal is a gloom-wallow elevated by superb performances. Top crook Stanley Baker plans a clever bank robbery. It goes off hitchless, but the clerk responsible for "laundering" the stolen money insists upon a bigger percentage of the take, else he'll blow the whistle. Baker hides the money, whereupon he is turned over to the law by his ex-girlfriend, who is in cahoots with the clerk. Baker refuses to reveal the whereabouts of the loot, so his old gang arranges to have him broken out of jail -- and also arranges for Baker's "accidental" demise. Appearing as the greedy clerk in Concrete Jungle is Sam Wanamaker, who like Joseph Losey fled to England as a result of the Hollywood blacklist. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Perhaps in an earlier era or in some remote village, this comedy would work, but this story about two mixed-up identities during World War II is comedically outdated. Brian Rix has the dual role of an Air Force officer who is going on an important military mission to France. The brass decide to hoodwink the Germans by finding the officer's double (an idiot latrine-cleaner at an Air Force base) and putting him on a plane to Cairo. As events unfold, the two men get mixed up, and each heads off to the other's destination, giving rise to several absurd tangles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This thriller centers on the possession of a valuable new metal that is able to withstand nuclear radiation. It had been invented by a Belgian metallurgist, but he was murdered by an international ring of thieves who make some of the valuable alloy into a cigarette case that is placed on an unknowing jewel thief in hopes that he will inadvertently sneak it into East Germany. Unfortunately, he decides to sell the case back to the ring leader and is almost killed. Fortunately, he escapes and gets the case to the proper authorities. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this crime drama, a movie stunt man finds himself caught up in a wicked scam designed to exploit post-WW II Algerian refugees after the members of a passport forging gang try to frame him for murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The First of the Few is a dramatization of the life of R.J. Mitchell, the aeronautical engineer who designed the Spitfire fighter plane, which saved England in the Battle of Britain. Produced, directed by, and starring Leslie Howard, with David Niven as a pilot friend of the engineer, the movie starts with the 1940 Battle of Britain and flashes back, as wing commander Geoffrey Crisp (Niven) recounts his friendship with Mitchell and the years from 1918 to 1937, across which he helped move aviation into the modern age -- starting with racing competitions after the First World War, Mitchell is depicted as a design visionary, perceiving both the possibility and then the desperate need for faster and better aircraft. The latter becomes a matter of national survival, and he sacrifices the last years of his life to perfecting the plane that makes him a legend. As with most biographical films of this era, the picture does take some liberties with fact -- Mitchell did not spend time watching and talking dreamily of birds in flight, and comparing them to the box-like bi-planes of the early 1920s; and he never visited Germany in the early Hitler years and, thus, never heard first-hand hints (or threats) about glider clubs masquerading as training units for military pilots, an event depicted here as his motivation for designing the Spitfire; and the man's own son felt that Robert Donat, rather than Leslie Howard, would have been a more accurate portrayal of Mitchell. But in the main the movie -- which was made with the approval of Mitchell's widow and son, who were present for much of the shooting -- gets the essentials correct, and is surprisingly suspenseful for a bio-pic of this type. As a result of the presence of David Niven in the cast, The First of the Few was picked up for distribution in the US by Samuel Goldwyn, who had Niven under contract, and distributed by RKO in an edited 88 minute version under the title Spitfire, by which it is best known in the United States. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi