A.J. Brown Movies
British glam rock superstars Slade made their collective acting debut in this downbeat drama about a pop group's struggles with success. In the late '60s, Barry (Dave Hill), Paul (Jim Lea), and Charlie (Don Powell) are musicians who are barely making a living playing pub dates, weddings, and socials backing up egocentric vocalist Jack Daniels (Alan Lake). One night, the boys find themselves opening for a ghoulish show band called The Undertakers, and a prank played on their lead vocalist, Stoker (Noddy Holder), backfires and leads to a car chase which lands both groups in jail for the night. After a long night of thinking, Barry, Paul, and Charlie decide that they have no future with Daniels, and bring new pal Stoker aboard as their singer. Calling themselves Iron Rod, the new quartet clicks musically, but manager Ron Harding (Johnny Shannon) doesn't care for their new style and stops booking the group. Robert Seymour (Tom Conti), a marketing man from a wealthy family who thinks there's quick money in pop music, enters the picture and informs the band that he can make them major stars. Wary of Seymour but eager for success, the group signs a new management deal, and after Seymour changes their name to Flame and gives them an image makeover, the band scores a hit record and is soon playing a series of sold-out shows. But as fame beckons, tensions rise between the musicians and is not at all helped when Harding reenters the picture. Slade members Jim Lea and Noddy Holder wrote a set of original songs for the film, two of which ("Far Far Away" and "How Does It Feel") became hit singles in the U.K. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noddy Holder, Dave Hill, (more)
- 1971
Hammer's trademark gothic style permeates this suspenseful thriller, considered one of the acclaimed British studio's superior efforts, thanks largely to the directorial skills of Peter Sasdy. This marked his last feature-length collaboration with the studio until 1980, when he returned to direct installments of the Hammer House of Horror television series. In the film's prologue, young Anna, the infant daughter of the notorious Jack the Ripper, witnesses her mother's brutal murder at her father's hands. Years later, the lovely teenage Anna (Angharad Rees) is plagued by traumatic memories of the incident and repressed impulses in which love and death are inextricably linked. These impulses finally turn homicidal when her emotions are stirred, spelling doom for anyone who arouses her. Anna's case is handled by the repressed psychoanalyst, Dr. Pritchard (Eric Porter), whose growing physical attraction to the girl could result in far worse than a mere breach of professional ethics. Sasdy weaves the psychological elements through the story with finesse, paralleling the sexual tension between the doctor and his patient with the mounting horror of the inevitable outcome. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Porter, Angharad Rees, (more)
- 1970
- R
In this grim wartime drama, two vengeful soldiers of fortune engage in a deadly competition to see who can kill the other first. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Baker, Alex Cord, (more)
- 1969
- R
Gilbert Wynne stars in this British programmer as Harry Clegg, detective. His mission: To track down the crazed prostitute responsible for a string of murders. When he catches up to his quarry, Clegg learns that a wicked man is truly responsible for the carnage. Gilly Grant costars as the killer hooker, who bears the risible moniker Suzy the Slag. Clegg may well be forgettable, but you won't know that for certain unless you see it for yourself--if you can find it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Ramon (Francis DeWolff) is the Armenian merchant who lives in his mansion outside of London. He has augmented his income over the years by blackmailing his clients. Fearful of retribution, he installs a room in his mansion that is supposedly impenetrable, complete with a hotline to Scotland Yard in the event of a break-in. One by one, Ramon's friends and associates are murdered, as the trail of blood oozes closer to his door. Scotland Yard sends out special agent Meredith (Bernard Lee) at the request of the local police commissioner (A.J. Brown) after the local lawmen are baffled. Meredith must apprehend the killer before he can strike again in this suspenseful crime mystery taken from the novel by Edgar Wallace. This feature first appeared in 1960. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Knight, Francis de Wolff, (more)
- 1967
A spoof of the superhero craze of the late 1960s, this episode gets under way when several businessmen are found clawed to death. All evidence seems to point to a comic-strip character called The Winged Avenger -- but that's impossible, isn't it? While trying to get to the truth of the matter, Steed and Emma find themselves besieged by characters who seem to have sprung full-grown from the American series Batman (there's even a "BANG! POW!" fight sequence, performed with cardboard cutouts of comic-strip "balloons"). Written by Richard Harris, "The Winged Avenger" first aired in England on February 18, 1967 -- the day after its American TV debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
The title character in this British sitcom was Jacquie Villiers (Moira Lister) who, after the death of her husband in a freak accident, discovered that she had inherited nothing but debts. To keep a roof over the heads of herself and her family, she tackled a variety of truly odd jobs, and also took in a boarder named Freddie Phillipson (Donald Hewlett). Debuting in 1967, The Very Merry Widow lasted until 1969, by which time its title had been adjusted to The Very Merry Widow and How. Of the series' 19 taped episodes, only two are presently known to exist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Moira Lister, Molly Urquhart, (more)
- 1967
Previously adapted for British television in 1957, William Makepeace Thackeray's satirical novel Vanity Fair underwent the miniseries treatment for a second time in 1967 as the first BBC drama filmed in color. Susan Hampshire headed the cast as the vixenish Becky Sharp, a poor farm girl who rose to the upper ranks of British aristocracy during the Napoleonic wars. Alas, Becky's manipulative way with her friends and especially the men in her life eventually brought about her downfall, though she managed to "see the light" in her declining years. Originally telecast in four 50-minute segments, Vanity Fair was reedited as a five-parter when it aired in America as part of PBS Masterpiece Theatre anthology beginning October 1, 1972. This telecast earned Susan Hampshire a belated Emmy award for best actress. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Hampshire, Roy Marsden, (more)
Joseph Conrad's cerebral, philosophical novel Lord Jim is streamlined and simplified by producer/director/writer Richard Brooks for the action-and-adventure crowd. Peter O'Toole plays the first officer of a tramp steamer, who, during a hurricane, cravenly abandons ship, leaving the passengers to drown. Disgraced, O'Toole seeks out ways to redeem himself--not only in the eyes of the British maritime commission, but in his own eyes. He signs on to deliver a shipment of dynamite to a tribe of natives somewhere in the uncharted Orient. He also joins the natives' fight against feudal warlord Eli Wallach, hoping perhaps to die in their service, thus purging himself from shame (and, in true Messianic fashion, becoming a martyr in the process). Despite the impressive star lineup of O'Toole, Wallach, Jack Hawkins, Curt Jurgens and Paul Lukas, most press coverage went to leggy leading lady Daliah Lavi--including the 1964 Saturday Evening Post article about the making of Lord Jim, written by Richard Brooks himself. Filmed in Cambodia and Hong Kong, Lord Jim isn't precisely the Conrad novel, but fans weaned on O'Toole's Lawrence of Arabia will be satisfied. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, James Mason, (more)
- 1965
When a British farmer lapses into a coma, it appears to be the byproduct of a voodoo curse. Sent to the jungles of Kalaya to investigate, Steed uncovers a long-range plan to eliminate all Englishmen in the vicinity. The villains' principal weapons are superstition and a highly developed species of tsetse fly. As usual, Emma finds herself in jeopardy halfway through the proceedings. Written by Philip Levene, "Small Game for Big Hunters" was originally telecast in England on January 15, 1966; the first American telecast took place on April 4 of that same year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Rigg, Bill Fraser, (more)
- 1964
In this British melodrama based on a French novel by Catherine Arley, Sean Connery plays Anthony Richmond, a money-hungry young man enraged that his rich, dying uncle doesn't plan to include him in his will. Instead, Charles Richmond (Ralph Richardson) plans to give his fortune to charity. Anthony recruits a young nurse, Maria (Gina Lollobrigida), for a nefarious scheme. Her job is to care for the old man and get him to marry her and change the will so she gets his fortune. Then she will give Anthony a three-million-dollar share. Maria does her job well, but she comes to actually love Charles. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Sean Connery, (more)
- 1964
In this complex mystery, an American woman is married to a British businessman. The trouble begins when the woman suspects that she is being stalked. She tells this to her husband and his friend. They then go home. While the friend is upstairs making a phone call, the stalker sneaks in and kills her husband. The friend hears the commotion and rushes downstairs. He gets there just in time to hear the killer requesting payment from the wife for services rendered. Later the killer is arrested and makes a full confession. Though he claims the woman paid him to kill her husband, the court remains skeptical. The friend believes the killer, but says nothing. After the trial, he learns that the woman's ex-husband had been blackmailing her with the claim that they were never actually divorced. He pushed her into killing her new husband. When the friend learns the truth, he has no choice but to phone the police and tell them all he knows. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
In this suspenseful espionage film a British agent and a man from NATO attempt to bust a communist spy ring. Following the discovery of a roll of top secret microfilm following a plane crash, the two finds themselves embroiled in a complex web of treachery and double agents. Fortunately, they survive all and bring the rogue spies to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
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
- Starring:
- Suzy Parker, Bradford Dillman, (more)
- 1960
Peter Finch portrays the titular flamboyant Irish poet/playwright in The Trials of Oscar Wilde. The storyline, lifted to a great extent from actual court records, recounts Wilde's late 19th century libel action against the Marquis of Queensbury. The author loses, whereupon he himself is tried for sodomy due to his homosexual affair with the Marquis' son, Lord Douglas. Wilde is sentenced to prison; the public humiliation leads to the once-proud writer's immortal poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol--and to his premature death in 1900. The film had to tiptoe around certain touchy legalities, in that sodomy was still a punishable offence in British courts in 1960. The US title for this film was The Trial of Oscar Wilde, effectively killing the ironic double meaning of the plural British title. In certain regions, the film was shown as The Man with the Green Carnation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Finch, Yvonne Mitchell, (more)
