Maggie McGrath Movies

Two German spies and a woman physician (Suzy Kendall) are taken by submarine to Scotland where they enter the country at nightfall. Their mission is to assassinate the British Field Marshall Lord Kitchener. The woman's male companions are captured, but she escapes with the knowledge of what boat the Marshall is on. Boarding the submarine, the Germans make plans to bomb the boat with a series of strategically placed land mines. She travels from Russia to Germany to Britain and Spain as she double-crosses double agents in a cat-and-mouse game of espionage. A gruesome scene shows a German gas attack that peels off the flesh of the Allied soldiers as they writhe in agony. James Booth, Capucine, and Kenneth More also star in this World War I drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Cartoonist Ronald Searle's delightfully diabolical private-school girls are back in action in The Great St. Trinian's Bank Robbery. Comedian Frankie Howerd plays the head of a train-robbery gang who cleverly hides the loot from their biggest haul (presumably the infamous "Great Train Robbery" of 1963) in a deserted old mansion. The gang waits the traditional seven years for the statute of limitations to run out then returns to the mansion to dig up their $7 million booty. Unfortunately, the joint has been converted into the new site for St. Trinian's School for Girls. Even more unfortunately (for the crooks, but not the audience) those "girls" are all holy terrors. The film's climax occurs during a riotous Parents' Day ceremony, which predictably segues into a wild train chase. Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery might have been funnier had Alastair Sim, the star of the first three "St. Trinian's" entries, made a return appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Terrence Rattigan, the playwright who brought us the multicharactered, multistoried Separate Tables, again offers us an episodic cross-section of humanity in The V.I.P.'s. When a heavy London fog paralyzes all air traffic, the lives of several people are profoundly affected. As indicated by the title, most of the characters in this portmanteau film are of the social and/or financial elite. Elizabeth Taylor wishes to leave her enormously wealthy husband Richard Burton in favor of playboy Louis Jourdan. Peripatetic European film producer Orson Welles is hoping to escape London with his newest protegee Elsa Martinelli in order to avoid paying his income tax. Australian businessman Rod Taylor, accompanied by his devoted (and adoring) secretary Maggie Smith, is anxious to head to New York to stave off a hostile takeover of his firm. And impoverished aristocrat Margaret Rutherford (who won an Oscar for her performance) would rather not go to Florida to accept a job as a social arbiter, but the wolf must be kept from the door. Before the fog disperses, you can be sure that at least one of the many plotlines will intersect with another. David Frost, in a tiny part as a reporter, was fond of recalling in later years that, while the major stars of The VIPS were introduced in the opening titles with animated limousines, he was consigned a tiny Volkswagen; alas, no such cartoon joke appears in the film, though on occasion the actors-particularly Mr. Welles-behave as though they were cartoons. Mercilessly skewered by the critics, The VIPS was a winner at the box-office, due in great part to the Cleopatra-inspired publicity concerning the top-billed Liz Taylor and Dick Burton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Maggie Smith makes her film debut in this outing as an aristocrat whose sheltered existence is shattered by the arrival of George Nader. Nader is a fugitive from justice who can expect no help from his fellow criminals. He takes refuge in Smith's home, entreating her to shield him from the police. She draws closer to Nader after the latter is accidentally shot. The film was adapted from a novel by Donald McKenzie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the Anglo-American The Body Said No!, actor Michael Rennie plays his most challenging role: "himself." The scene is a British TV studio, where Rennie is performing in a live dramatic broadcast. On another set, singer Yolande Donlan mistakes a director's hand signals as "secret code" in a murder plot. Future Dr. Who star Jon Pertwee pops up as a studio watchman. Believe it or not, commercial television had been a reality in Great Britain for 14 years at the time of The Body Said No!'s 1950 release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Britain by Czechoslovakian director Karel Lamac, Schweik's New Adventures is a based on a book by Czech humorist Jaroslav Hasek-a pungent piece of anti-Nazi propaganda that managed a widespread European distribution right under the noses of the Gestapo! Lloyd Pearson stars as the "Good Soldier" Schweik, a goodnatured schlemiel who manages to squeak through life by plain dumb luck. The thing of it is, Schweik's stupidity reveals the even greater imbecilities of the Third Reich-much to the dismay of a pompous Gestapo chief (Julian Mitchell). The well chosen supporting cast includes a young Richard Attenborough as a resourceful railway worker. The whimsy of the Hasek original gives way to music-hall slapstick in Con West's screen adaptation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide