Paul Sheridan Movies

Based on Anthony Kimmins' stage success The Amorous Prawn, this British light comedy stars Joan Greenwood as the wife of an Army general (Cecil Parker). Having fallen upon hard times, the wife hits upon a scheme to raise some quick cash. She opens her husband's highland headquarters to visiting salmon fishermen, a circumstance that displeases the general when several of those anglers turn out to be handsome young men. On the assumption that American audiences would think The Amorous Prawn was a film about shrimp instead of salmon, the US distributor added the "Mr." to the original. When filmgoers failed to respond, the picture was re-retitled The Playgirl and the War Minister, a shameless attempt to exploit the then-current Profumo political scandal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wicked as They Come stars Arlene Dahl as Kathy Allen, whose sour attitude on life has been formed by a sexual assault in her childhood. Rising out of the shabbiness of the Lower East Side, Kathy ruthlessly climbs the social and financial ladder by using and then abandoning a series of gullible older men. When she finally gets what she wants out of life, it still isn't enough, and it is this insatiability that leads to her downfall. Extensive location filming in London and Paris adds an exotic touch to this predictable melodrama. Wicked as They Come is based on Portrait in Smoke, a novel by Bill Ballington. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Actress Yolande Donlon and her producer-director husband Val Guest were the prime movers of the 1952 comedy Penny Princess. Donlon plays Lindy Smith, a Manhattan shopgirl who inherits a mythical European kingdom. Upon learning that the country is flat broke, Lindy applies her Yankee ingenuity towards hyping the country's one and only asset: alcohol-flavored cheese. Soon the tiny country is thriving economically, much to the dismay of a gang of smugglers who'd previously ruled the roost. The romantic angle is provided by Dirk Bogarde as a go-getting cheese salesman who falls for the heroine.
A. E. Matthews, who by conservative estimate must have been 300 years old in 1952, has a sparkling cameo as Bogarde's boss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Once again comedian Arthur Lucan dons an old woman's togs to become the tart-tongued Irish washerwoman. This time Mother Riley somehow is appointed the headmistress of a girl's school. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a young Englishman wants to become a surgeon, but after medical school, his father dies, leaving him the responsibility of supporting his mother and paying for his brother's education. He becomes a partner in a small practice and watches the woman he wanted to marry go off with his brother. The brother is killed in WWI, after which his illegitimate son is born. The doctor marries the woman, but she dies in childbirth, leaving him to raise his brother's child. Eventually, he finds a new wife. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Released in Britain in 1944, Man from Morocco made it to American shores the following year. Anton Walbrook plays the title character, the head of an intrepid band of WW2 freedom fighters. The film's heavy is a Nazi-sympathizing French officer of unbounded cruelty. Margaretta Scott portrays Manuela, a patriotic Frenchwoman who poses as a Red Cross nurse to insinuate herself into the villain's lair. In true "Judith of Bethulia" fashion, Manuela romances the fiend, thereby affording her the opportunity to murder him and thus save the lives of 2000 French hostages. It's a good thing that Man From Morocco was a British film; otherwise, the Hollywood production code would have obliged Manuela to be punished for her murder, justified or no. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "2000 Women" of the film's title are the female inmates in a WW II German concentration camp in France. Though many of the women don't get along, they are united in their hatred for their Nazi captors. The story takes a truly melodramatic turn when three English airmen parachute into the camp, offering a ray of hope for those inmates planning an escape. Some of the humor is "black" indeed, involving a card-playing corpse and other questionable sources of laughter, but this was the sort of material that wartime audiences wanted. Heading the cast of 2000 Women are Phyllis Calvert, Flora Robson and Patricia Roc, fine British actresses all who overcome an abundance of script deficiencies. The film was the first production of Individual Pictures, formed by the producer-director-writer team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lively spy caper, the male half of a married song-and-dance duo moonlights as a government spy. The trouble begins when he is assigned to monitor a sexy foreign spy, something he must keep from his wife, who soon gets jealous when she sees the two constantly together. To monitor her own husband, the wife gets herself hired as a maid to the seductive secret agent. Her husband, impressed by her natural surveillance skills, finally gives in and allows her to help. Using their special talents, the two investigate and expose a master-spy who has fitted a new kind of carburetor on his airplane. To get at it, the couple dresses up like mechanics and hides upon the plane. Once airborne, they force the pilot out and head back for England. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The eponymous Four Just Men of this film are British World War I comrades, who reunite in peacetime to bring disaster to their country's enemies. The quartet is not above murder and sabotage to achieve their ends, but their patriotism is never in question. The goal of the heroes is to thwart a megalomaniac who plans to destroy the Suez Canal, then devastate the British empire in order to create his own world dictatorship. Francis L. Sullivan, Hugh Sinclair, Griffith Jones and Frank Lawton play the Four Just Men, though Lawton's early death reduces the ranks to three. The villainy is in the hands of Basil Sydney, who is every bit as ruthless and resourceful as the heroes. Four Just Men is based on a series of adventure novels by British "writing machine" Edgar Wallace--which also formed the basis of a 1959 TV series of the same name, starring Dan Dailey, Richard Conte, Jack Hawkins and Vittorio De Sica. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a temperamental maitre d' battles it out with a hot-headed chef at London's finest restaurant. In the end their differences are settled when the cook hires an impoverished patron and both he and the waiter are fired. As the film fades out, the two are seen opening their own eating establishment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, "The Rat" is the moniker for a notorious jewel thief whose life suddenly changes when a friend facing life imprisonment asks him to take care of his daughter. She does a good job of helping in the thief's home, but then a woman falls for him and throws her own boy friend out. The jilted lover decides to get revenge, goes to the Rat's home, and attempts to kidnap the young girl, who fights back so hard she kills him. The kindly thief then takes the rap for the murder, but at the last moment in court, the other woman appears and provides him with a real alibi causing the girl to go to prison. Fortunately, in lieu of the circumstances, she is given a light sentence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A young woman, desiring to be wealthy, attempts to smuggle French jewels into America. When her boat docks, she is immediately caught by a US customs agent who convinces her to return the jewels to France. If she does that, he will not arrest her. Unfortunately, before she can get back she is accosted by three different groups of criminals who are all after the gems. One of the groups is headed by Pola, a Chicago gangster. He gets murdered. The film climaxes with a prolonged shoot-out aboard the ship. Justice prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide