Arthur Hambling Movies
- 1953
Released in the U.S. as Terror on a Train, the British MGM production Time Bomb is brief, to the point, and so suspenseful it hurts. Glenn Ford stars as Peter Lyncourt, who during WW II had been in charge of a bomb demolition unit. As luck would have it, Lyncourt and his French wife Janine (Anne Vernon) are in the vicinity when a freight train carrying explosives to a dockyard chugs into view. Someone has placed a time bomb on the train, forcing an evacuation of the neighborhood and the summoning of the "UXB" corps. When all is said and done, however, it is up to Lyncourt to defuse the bomb, if he can locate the well-hidden fuse, that is! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Anne Vernon, (more)
- 1952
Derby Day is a typically British omnibus feature, delineating the fates of several different people during a single day at the racetrack. Peter Graves (not the American actor of the same name) plays a superficial movie star who has been won in a fan-magazine raffle by housemaid Suzanne Cloutier. Michael Wilding and Anna Neagle play a pair of disconsolates who have recently lost their respective mates in a plane crash. And Googie Withers and John McCallum (who were married in real life) portray a furtive couple whose horrible secret is revealed when they head to the window to collect their winnings. Though we count at least six principle characters in Derby Day, the film was released in the US as Four Against Fate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1952
Mr. Henry Lord (Stanley Holloway) and his wife Lilian (Kathleen Byron) have been asked to move from their home to make room for the 1950 Festival of Britain. But Mr. Lord, as the title makes clear, has no intention of doing so. The government tries all sorts of persuasion and coercion, but ends up stumbling over its own feet. What starts out as a minor legal skirmish snowballs into a nationwide cause celebre, as often happens in whimsical British comedies like Mr. Lord Says No. Based on Michale Clayton Hutton's The Happy Family, the film also features such delightful British supporting players as Naunton Wayne, Dandy Nichols, George Cole, Miles Malleson and the ubiquitous Laurence Naismith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Holloway, Kathleen Harrison, (more)
Charles Crichton directed this Ealing caper comedy, with a witty script by T.E.B. Clarke that won an Academy Award. Alec Guinness is Henry Holland, an unassuming transporter of gold bullion who, after working for twenty years with no rewards in sight for his faithful service to his company, decides to reward himself by stealing one million pounds worth of gold. Calling on his old friend Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a manufacturer of paperweights and an amateur sculptor, and a couple of Cockney crooks, Lackery (Sidney James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass), they conspire to lift a gold shipment. After absconding with the gold, Henry melts the gold into a collection of souvenir Eiffel Towers, which he then ships off to Paris. But chaos reigns when a group of English schoolgirls purchase the gold towers, and the gang now become embroiled in a wild goose chase to recover their stolen gold. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, (more)
- 1949
In this comedy, two soldiers find themselves dishonorably discharged after they accidently allow a Nazi prisoner to escape. Later they open up a detective agency. They are constantly plagued by the Nazi who follows them on every case. In the climax, the trio plays a crazy cricket match using a ball with a diamond hidden within it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1949
Anticipating The Defiant Ones by nearly ten years, the British My Brother's Keeper concentrates on the exploits of two handcuffed-together escaped convicts. The protagonists are career criminal George Martin (Jack Warner) and terrified "first timer" Willie Stannard (George Cole). The film is one long chase, with a brief respite to establish the relationship between Martin and his girlfriend Nora Lawrence (Jane Hylton). Despite the fact that they're polar opposites, George and Willie develop a grudging friendship and dependence upon one another, broken only by the events in the final scenes. Director Alfred Roome's utilization of actual exterior locations adds a great deal of credibility to the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Warner, Jane Hylton, (more)
- 1949
The British Train of Events explores the consequences of a railroad accident from four different viewpoints. Jack Warner plays the engine driver, whose daughter's boy friend is responsible for the crash. Peter Finch plays a homicidal actor whose "perfect murder" of his wife is thwarted by the wreck. Lonely orphan girl Joan Dowling is killed while trying to help her fellow passenger, duplicitous German POW Laurence Payne, escape. The fourth story is the humorous tale of a woman scorned (Valerie Hobson), who survives the crash with a renewed determination to get even with her composer-conductor lover (John Clements). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Warner, Valerie Hobson, (more)
- 1949
The British Don't Ever Leave Me stars "cute" Jimmy Hanley as a would-be criminal who is dragooned into a kidnapping plot. Among the potential victims is teenaged Sheila Farlane (Petula Clark), the daughter of Shakespearean actor Michael Farlane (Hugh Sinclair). When the plan goes awry, Sheila and her friends decide that they're having fun being kidnapped and refuse to go home! Featured in the cast is a young Anthony Newley, who'd recently gained fame as the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist. Don't Ever Leave Me is hardly memorable, though it managed to get plenty of American TV airplay in the 1950s and 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Hanley, Petula Clark, (more)
Daughter of Darkness was based on They Walk Alone, a play by Max Catto. The heroine of the play can be described as a "homicidal nymphomaniac," which understandably posed censorship problems when the Catto original was adapted to the screen. In her second film, Irish stage star Siobhan McKenna plays Emma Baudine, a "black widow" who lures men with her sexual charms and then murders them. Because she is the trusted assistant of village priest Father Corcoran (Liam Redmond), no one suspects what Emma is up to -- no one, that is, except the inquisitive Bess Stanforth (Anne Crawford), who emerges as the heroine of the piece. Also appearing in her first movie role is Honor Blackman, long before her international TV fame vis-a-vis The Avengers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed, (more)
- 1947
After the war, British films began avoiding the heiresses and lordships that had dominated the drama field and began pursuing "realism" -- which often was just as artificial as the earlier white-telephone pictures. John McCallum plays Tommy Swann, a product of the working class who tries to better himself by becoming a criminal. Escaping from prison, Swann hides out in the East London home of his former mistress Rose (Googie Withers), who has since married George Sandigate (Edward Chapman). The film is told from Swann's point-of-view, and a dismal view that is. Nor does Rose seem any happier with her drab lot in life. Swann's return does nothing but further their misery, tearing Rose' family apart and sending Swann back into the arms of the law. Considered a tension-laden slice of life in 1949, It Always Rains on Sunday seems a bit contrived today, though it does full justice to the Arthur La Bern novel on which it is based -- especially when the film leaves the environs of the house and zeroes in on its colorful roster of bit actors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Googie Withers, Edward Chapman, (more)
- 1947
Carol Reed's taut character study (disguised as a suspense melodrama) was adapted from the novel by F.L. Green and stars James Mason in his star-making role as I.R.A. operative Johnny McQueen. Breaking out of jail, Johnny takes it on the lam, but idealism forces him out of hiding in order to raise money for the I.R.A. cause he believes in so strongly. He decides to rob a bank, but the hold-up goes bad and Johnny is seriously wounded by the police. Staggering through the streets of Belfast, Johnny meets a succession of people who either want to help him or turn him over to the authorities. Johnny finally stumbles into a pub, where he is taken in by a homosexual artist (Robert Newton) who wants Johnny to pose for him in order to capture the desperation in his eyes. Johnny breaks free from the artist and tries to make his way to the waterfront in a final effort to escape ... but the police are slowly closing in. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Fay Compton, (more)
- 1945
Johnny Frenchman uses humor to drive home the point that, despite all previous rivalries and hostilties, the French and English should pull together during WW2. Aldwych farceur Tom Walls plays Nat Pomeroy, harbourmaster of a Cornwall fishing village, who is continually outsmarted by clever French fish poacher Lannec Florrie (Francoise Rosay). Pomeroy is further aggravated by the fact that Florrie's son Yan (played by French-Canadian radio favorite Paul Dupuis) is busily romancing Pomeroy's daughter Sue (Patricia Roc). But when the Nazis rear their ugly heads, the Cornish fisherman and the French miscreants band together to thwart the German menace. Many of the cast members of Johnny Frenchman are actual Cornish villagers and members of the Free French resistance movement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Rosay, Tom Walls, (more)
- 1945
This domestic melodrama chronicles three generations of a family of music-hall owners. The place was founded by two stage stars in the early 1900s and soon became a success until WW I erupted and one of the partner's sons is killed in a dog fight. Following the war, the popularity of music halls declined and their hall falls into disrepair. Fortunately, a partner's grandson decides to save the hall. He does so until he joins the RAF to fight in WW II. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1944
Don't Take It to Heart is an amiable entry in the 1940s cycle of "ghost comedies". A British castle is rocked by a German bombing raid, releasing a jaunty wraith (Richard Greene) from his house-haunting job. As long as he's got the run of the castle, the ghost decides to take a hand in the romance between mistress-of-the-house Patricia Medina and young researcher Richard Bird. Also in line for ghostly visitation is the nasty landlord who holds the local townsfolk in his avaricious clutches. Don't Take It to Heart received almost uniformly good reviews from the British press, which during wartime was often resistant to comedy films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Greene, David Horne, (more)
- 1944
In this British comedy, set in Tangleton, a small English village, a handyman finds himself in trouble when he inadvertently assists two London reporters in their investigation of corruption in the town's postwar plans. To protect themselves, the town fathers have the handyman destroy several incriminating housing forms. Unfortunately an errant gust of wind sends the flying. Enlisting the aid of an eccentric inventor, the handyman succeeds in getting the corrupt officials out of office. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1944
The inspiration for this British seriocomedy was Victor Skutezky's stage play She Met Him One Sunday. "She" is Moya Malone (Barbara White), an Irish maid living in Liverpool. "He" is Tom Stevens (Robert Beatty), a Canadian sailor. That "one Sunday" is a busy one, encompassing a few romantic strolls down the dock, Moya's renouncing of her servant status, and a run-in with crooks. Playwright Skutezky also served as producer of It Happened One Sunday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Beatty, Barbara White, (more)
Laurence Olivier's adaptation of Henry V is one of the finest Shakespeare films ever made, full of rousing action, beautiful colors and passionate performances. Henry V is the story of the newly crowned king of England who fights the French for possession of Normandy. Olivier's direction is inventive, beginning the film as if it were a performance at the Globe Theatre, and having it slowly expand so the final battle scenes take place in realistic settings. Released in 1944 during the height of World War II, Henry V didn't receive an American release until 1946, upon which Olivier won a special Academy Award for "his outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing Henry V to the screen." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton, (more)
- 1943
In this episode of the mystery adventure series, Simon "The Saint" Templar finds a dead man on his doorstep. Soon the ace investigator finds himself mired in more murder, smuggling and a South American mine. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Sinclair, Jean Gillie, (more)
- 1943
A wealthy, doting father becomes the Broadway producer of a new show in hopes of fulfilling his daughter's aspirations to become a dramatic thespian in this comedy. Unfortunately the pretentiously serious play he chooses is such a stinker that it becomes a hit with the audience who perceives it to be a hilarious comedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1941
Wings and the Woman was a reverent (read: dull) British biopic about pioneer aviatrix Amy Johnson. Anna Neagle portrays Amy, whose fame in the 1930s is such that songs are written about her and a worldwide fan club is organized. See RKO Book. Ms. Johnson's fame exacts a toll on her marriage to pilot Jim Mollison (Robert Newton), a daredevil in his own right who chafes at being overshadowed by his wife (the film is careful not cast Mollison in an envious light). The film ends with Amy's death while transporting a fighter plane from a defense factory to an RAF field, a tragedy which gives producer/director Herbert Wilcox ample opportunities to wave the Union Jack. Released in Great Britain as They Flew Alone, Wings and the Women was heavily edited by its American distributor RKO, with some dialogue sequences ending in mid-sentence! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1941
The modest but intriguing British melodrama At the Villa Rose was released in the U.S. by Monogram and given the more prosaic title House of Mystery. A gang of clever thieves kill a wealthy woman in hopes of stealing her gems. But the thieves aren't clever enough to ascertain the location of those gems, so they consult a phony spiritualist (Ruth Maitland). Then they decide to dispose of the mystic by framing her for the murder. Inspector Hanaud (Kenneth Kent) is called in on the case, meticulously piecing the puzzle together and determining the identities of the real culprits. House of Mystery was based on a story by A.E.W. Mason, better known for such British-empire tomes as The Four Feathers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth Kent, Judy Kelly, (more)
- 1941
In this drama, an amiable steel worker suddenly changes when he becomes a foreman. Suddenly Mr. Nice Guy becomes Mr. Hard Nose and he mercilessly pushes his men to work harder and faster. His callous attitude comes home with him and his wife, too suffers. Trouble ensues when the foreman pushes the men so hard that a man dies. The other workers revolt, and at home, his wife leaves. The foreman turns to his friend, a preacher, for guidance and begins to see where he went wrong. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1941
The "Scarlet Pimpernel" legend is updated to WW2 in the breathless actioner Pimpernel Smith. Leslie Howard (who also directed) plays bespectacled and seemingly mild-mannered Professor Smith, who under cover of darkness transforms into a tireless defender of democracy. With the help of several loyal companions, Smith makes several forays into Nazi-occupied territories to rescue the oppressed victims of the Third Reich, using a phony archeological expedition to throw the villains off the track. The picture really roars into life during the cat-and-mouse exchanges between the Professor and his Gestapo antagonist Von Graum, phlegmatically enacted by the corpulent Francis L. Sullivan. In some markets, Pimpernel Smith was retitled Mister V. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Francis L. Sullivan, (more)
- 1940
In this crime drama, a peace-loving surgeon must operate upon the man who invented a catastrophic new weapon. The trouble begins when the patient dies of too much ether and the doctor finds himself accused of murder. Fortunately, his daughter and her lover prove that he is innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
