Raf dela Torre Movies
In 1974, flanked by such filmic monuments to paranoia and corruption as Chinatown and The Parallax View, Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland tried to re-create the screwball nonchalance of their earlier M*A*S*H performances in this lightweight spy spoof, directed by Irvin Kershner. Gould and Sutherland play two CIA agents -- Griff and Bruland -- who are marked for death by their own agency after botching the defection of a Russian ballet dancer (Michael Petrovich). As they repeatedly mess up their assignments and wriggle out of tight corners, they not only find themselves pursued by the CIA, but also by the KGB, the Chinese Communists, and a terrorist group that wants to destroy the CIA. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, (more)
- 1971
- PG
Vanessa Redgrave stars as Mary Stuart of Scotland, with Glenda Jackson co-starring as Queen Elizabeth I. As with the earlier Maxwell Anderson play Mary of Scotland, the film sympathizes with Mary, and there are two fictionalized face-to-face confrontations between the two queens (who never met in real life). With this film, old-line Hollywood producer Hal Wallis continued his trademark of showcasing dynamic stars within a period milieu; the film is literally swamped with lavish Tudor decor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Redgrave, Glenda Jackson, (more)
The television host of a popular cooking show, Robert Danvers (Peter Sellers) has a real penchant for women. After one episode, he finds Marion (Goldie Hawn) changing from a wedding dress to street clothes. Instantly deciding to get to her and "take over" before the groom, Jimmy (Nicky Henson) has another opportunity, Robert invites her to his bachelor pad, a specially designed command center for his romantic adventures. He turns on the English gentleman's charm, only to have Marion laugh and suggest forthright that they sleep together. She moves in the following day and the two vacation in France on the Riviera and tour the wine country before returning to London. Upon their return, Robert proposes to %Marion; she rejects him in favor of Jimmy, however, who has sworn faithfulness to her and given up cheating forever. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Goldie Hawn, (more)
- 1964
In the fifth episode of the six-part story arc "The Keys of Marinus," the Doctor (William Hartnell) and his companions have managed to locate three of the four keys needed to sustain the omnipotent Conscience of Marinus. It hasn't been easy, what with the terrors inherent in the city of Morphoton, the Screaming Jungle, and the snowy Marinus wilderness. But worse is still to come; upon arriving in the city of Millenius, the time travellers are arrested for murder and sentenced to immediate execution. Written by Terry Nation, "Sentence of Death" originally aired on May 9, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hartnell, William Russell, (more)
Mania is the venerable Burke and Hare story, previously cinematized by producer Val Lewton as The Body Snatcher. Peter Cushing plays a respectable 19th-century Edinburgh doctor who needs fresh cadavers in order to continue his crucial research. Since the exhuming of bodies for medical purposes is illegal, Lee must rely upon grave-robbers George Rose and Donald Pleasance for his corpse supply. What Lee doesn't know is that Rose and Pleasance frequently cut out the middleman by "creating" their own corpses. The good doctor catches on when the latest cadaver turns out to be his own fiancee. Its excessively violent climax has prevented Mania from being shown completely intact on commercial television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, June Laverick, (more)
- 1958
In this French suspenser, a tourist gets entangled in an easy money scheme. The trouble begins when the tourist offers a hitchhiker a lift. He is quickly knocked-out and left by the road. When he regains consciousness, he finds that he is in a strange house and cannot remember who he is or how he got there. The woman who owns the house sees the amnesiac tourist's presence as a way for her to get the money her late husband was supposed to receive. To do this, she convinces the poor fellow that he is the heir to the fortune. Fortunately the tourist figures it all out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1956
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
- Starring:
- Arlene Dahl, Philip Carey, (more)
- 1956
The Trollenberg Terror was a six-part serial shown on Saturday Serial, on Britain's ITV Network in 1956. Written by Peter Key and directed by Quentin Lawrence, it offers a plot mixing mystery, grisly murder, and science fiction, along lines somewhat similar to Nigel Kneale's immensely successful BBC serial The Quatermass Experiment (1953). The story is set in a small village in the Austrian Alps, where a series of horrible deaths has taken place, their bodies mutilated and all of them involving mountaineers who have gone above a certain level on this one peak called the Trollenberg. At first, these seem like unfortunate accidents, but there also seems to be a tie-in with a pair of sisters (Sarah Lawson, Rosemary Miller), one of whom is drawn to the site of the deaths. An investigation by reporter Philip Truscott (Lawrence Payne) and Professor Crevet (Ray De La Torre determines that the deaths are the result of an alien invasion that has taken place on the upper reaches of the Trollenberg, by an extraterrestrial race called the Ixodes. And they are preparing to move down the mountain, to warmer, more densely populated areas. The television version of The Trollenberg Terror was so successful, that it was licensed in 1957 by Eros, a low-budget British studio, and made into a feature film of the same name (U.S. title: The Crawling Eye), also directed by Lawrence and starring Payne, with American actor Forrest Tucker moved into the lead role. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1953
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
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
- Starring:
- Yolande Donlan, Dirk Bogarde, (more)
- 1952
Set in 18th-century South America, The Golden Coach (Le Carrosse D'Or) stars Anna Magnani as an earthy Commedia Del Arte performer. Magnani is lusted after by diplomat Duncan Lamont, who leaves both his job and his mistress to pursue the sexy actress. Also vying for Magnani's favors are a bullfighter and a nobleman. Magnani tries to avert bloodshed by giving away the Golden Coach that had been bestowed upon her by the expansive Lamont. When director Jean Renoir was asked if he intended The Golden Coach to be Pirandellian, what with its linking of reality and theatricality, Renoir responded that his intention was to establish that "life is life and the stage is the stage." Maybe so, but the film's brilliant Technicolor and superb performances easily transcend that mundane entity known as Real Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Magnani, Duncan Lamont, (more)
