Ann Codrington Movies
- 1951
British film-favorite Anna Neagle, having previously played such great historical personages as Queen Victoria and Edith Cavell, tackles the role of Florence Nightingale in Lady with the Lamp. Based on a play by Reginald Berkeley, the film traces the indefatigable Nightingale's efforts to minister to the thousands of casualties of the Crimean War. Opposed in the uppermost circles of British government because she is "merely" a woman, Nightingale is championed by the Hon. Sidney Herbert (Michael Wilding), minister of war. Herbert pulls strings to allow Nightingale and her nursing staff access to battlefield hospitals, and in so doing changes the course of medical history. Lady with the Lamp was, as usual, produced and directed by Anna Neagle's husband Herbert Wilcox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1950
Portrait of Clare is largely offered in flashback. The title character, played by Margaret Johnston, spends 10 years in seclusion with her son (Jeremy Spenser) after the death of her young husband (Ronald Howard). For her son's sake, Clare enters into a loveless marriage with lawyer Dudley Wilburn (Robin Bailey). But she doesn't find true happiness until turning to her cousin, Robert Hart (Richard Todd). Produced by British Pathe, Portrait of Clare was released in the U.S. by Pathe's sister-firm Monogram (aka Allied Artists). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Johnston, Richard Todd, (more)
- 1950
In this low-budget crime drama, a woman, paralyzed after an auto accident, learns that her husband has been fooling around with her own sister. When the cheating sibling is found shot to death, the philandering husband is accused of the crime. But is he really the guilty party? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1950
Jennifer (Janette Scott) is the 12-year-old daughter of divorcing couple William (Leo Genn) and Paula (Beatrice Campbell). Though both parents profess their love for Jennifer, both mentally abuse the poor girl during the custody tug-of-war. Unable to withstand the pressure, Jennifer runs away from home. She ultimately finds happiness with another family, where game-playing is not part of the agenda. Based on No Difference to Me, a novel by Phyllis Hambleton, No Place for Jennifer concentrates more on the sentimental aspects of the story than its does on the psychological effect a divorce has on an innocent child. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Genn, Rosamund John, (more)
- 1949
British novelist Erik Linklater was well-represented in 1949, with adaptations of two of his best novels hitting the screen almost simultaneously. In Linklater's Poet's Pub, a rhyme-spinner named Saturday Keith (Derek Bond) assumes control of a rustic inn. All Keith wants is a little peace and quiet so that he can write his poems without interruption. Alas, his little Pub becomes a veritable Grand Central Station for a wide variety of eccentrics, ranging from absent-minded professors to bumbling crooks. Stealing the show is the peerless Joyce Grenfell as a toothy patroness of the arts. Poet's Pub has no real plot to speak of, just a series of vignettes unified by a central locale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Bond, Rona Anderson, (more)
- 1948
Assembled for British theatrical consumption by Pathe Films, The Peaceful Years covers the era between WWI and WWII. The title is ironic: to the citizens of Manchuria, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia and Spain, the years were anything but peaceful. Producer Peter Baylis contrasts the starkness of "real life" with the various forms of escapism pursued in the 1920s and 1930s, ranging from miniature golf to Lindbergh's flight to Paris. Providing the narration are such well-known BBC personalities as Stuart Hibbard, Maurice Denham, James McKechnie, Peter Madden, Ann Codrington and Betty Hardy. Excerpts from The Peaceful Years later popped up in the 1963 TV series Time to Remember. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emlyn Williams, Stuart Hibberd, (more)
- 1946
In this musical, a woman finds herself the apex in a triangle of love. On one side is her devoted husband, an ex-fighter pilot. On the other there is her old love. When her husband realizes that she is attracted to the latter, he does the noble thing and allows her to wealthy former love. In return, the equally honorable other man talks her into returning to her spouse. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Superstitious Bouchier doesn't make a move without a sign from her Eastern astrologer Wells until this obsession causes problems in her marriage. When she gives her husband business tips, the stars prove to be correct! ~ All Movie Guide
- 1935
Peter Haddon plays Dorothy L. Sayers' amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey in the Anglo-American The Silent Passenger. A scurrilous blackmailer is murdered by one of his victims, but it is innocent John Loder who is suspected of the crime. Making the casual acquaintance of Loder, Lord Peter Wimsey sets about to prove his new friend's innocence. It all takes place on a train trip from London to the English Channel, with Loder acting as bait to flush out the real killer. Dorothy L. Sayers wrote the original story for Silent Passenger directly for the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
