Jacqueline Jones Movies
- 1966
The Beauty Jungle can hardly be considered an expose of the beauty-contest business, since most of what happens in the film is what the average viewer has suspected all along. The lovely and graceful British leading lady Janette Scott stars as an ambitious typist who enters the "Miss Globe" pageant. She doesn't care what she does or whom she hurts along the way, the result being that she wins the competition. But when the anticipated decline sets in, she confronts the same embittered people on the downward spiral that she stepped over during her upward climb. Cliched though it may seem on paper, The Beauty Jungle is fascinating in its own garish way; the film was issued to the US under the title Contest Girl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Hendry, Janette Scott, (more)
Made in England at a time when Morecambe and Wise were popular with TV audiences, this movie is as good as it is because of the inclusion of three of their more popular routines. A surprisingly complicated plot, though very thin, keeps the audience confused, however, in a tale rife with political intrigue, a British-Russian pact and other espionage-type complications which keep the bumbling spies hopping as they try to catch a ring of saboteurs. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Morecambe, Ernie Wise, (more)
- 1964
In this medical drama, a doctor loses his medical license after his addiction to drugs is discovered. Trouble ensues when he sees an ex-Nazi who is secretly leading the local drug ring. The police get wind of the operation and destroy it. The Nazi is killed too. Meanwhile the doctor overcomes his addiction and regains his license. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
In this musical, the Gilbert and Sullivan classic is updated and set in post-war Japan. This time, the trouble begins when a soldier, the son of a Yankee judge, falls in love with a Japanese girl. This enrages her Yakuza (Japanese mafia) fiance who kidnaps him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
In this crime drama, a mugger accidently kills a man during a robbery and finds himself blackmailed into cracking a nightclub safe. The mugger escapes by double crossing the blackmailer by stealing the money and his girlfriend to boot. Unfortunately the police are in hot pursuit. They eventually capture him, but not before he kills an innocent tailor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This was the last trip in the "road" comedies that Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and a bevy of female stars that featured Dorothy Lamour once made famous. In this road to Hong Kong and parts far beyond, Chester and Harry (Hope and Crosby) are a couple of failed vaudeville stars looking for a way to riches in the confidence game. Chester's memory goes kaputz, and the two end up involved with Diane (Joan Collins), a spy looking for a secret formula, and a bunch of hoodlums who plan on sending up a rocket to the moon with special equipment allowing them to rule the planet earth. The pair of heroes gets caught in the rocket instead of the originally intended monkeys, and the monkey business continues in outer space -- where it seems to be all along. In this mixed collage of events, several stars pop up in cameo roles: Peter Sellers, Dean Martin, David Niven, Frank Sinatra among them. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, (more)
- 1962
The "WHO" in A Matter of Who isn't a "who" but a "what". The word is an anagram for the World Health Organization, a curious subject for a British comedy--especially one which utilizes a communicable disease as a plot device! WHO operatives Terry-Thomas and Alex Nicol trace the outbreak of a smallpox epidemic to ruthless oil millionaire Guy Deghy. Offsetting the (literal) unhealthiness of the plotline is Terry-Thomas' romance with Sonja Ziemann, the widow of a smallpox victim. A Matter of WHO was picked up for U.S. distribution by MGM. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonja Ziemann, Alex Nicol, (more)
- 1962
Steed's erstwhile assistant Venus Smith (Julie Stevens) is hired as a singer on the same nightclub bill with a mysterious magician. When the magician's assistant is killed, Venus and Steed investigate. It turns out that the club is being used as a clearing house for smuggled NATO secrets, and that a renowned faith-healer may be the brains behind the operation. Written by Peter Ling and Edward Rhodes, "Box of Tricks" was first broadcast in England on January 19, 1963, and it was first seen in America exactly 28 years and one month later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Based on an Edgar Wallace mystery, this suspenseful drama centers on an attorney who is determined to prove that his client is not a murderous burglar. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Two veterinarians contrast with each other in this standard British comedy by Darcy Conyers. Jimmy Fox-Upton (Leslie Phillips) is a decent chap who took more than ten years of hard work to get his vet's license. His nemesis, Bob Skeffington (James Booth) shortened the time to his license by cheating on his exams. While Skeffington is out to bilk the rich and famous via their pedigree pets, Fox-Upton is only dedicated to serving the mutts of the truly poor. Then in comes a pretty owner (Peggy Cummins) of an escaped, performing chimp, and romance enters the life of Fox-Upton. But not alone. The nefarious Skeffington is in on a racket that threatens to bring down Fox-Upton unless he can figure out what is really going on. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Phillips, Peggy Cummins, (more)
