Grace Denbeigh-Russell Movies
- 1961
In this detective film, a Chinese detective breaks up a drug smuggling ring and tries to find the "Daffodil Killer." The drug smugglers had devised the ingenious method of smuggling heroin from Hong Kong in the stems of daffodils. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lee, Marius Goring, (more)
- 1956
A noted expatriate filmmaker's hard work to reestablish himself in Britain is nearly undone when a woman who claims to be his one-time mistress begins writing him threatening letters. This sudden revelation threatens not only his marriage but also his career. It doesn't help that the director doesn't know the blackmailer's identity. He finds out that her letters are coming from Newcastle, and so he and his wife head off to learn the truth. They meet her and his wife is so convinced that she leaves. Unfortunately, the director still doesn't recognize this woman who seems to have such intimate knowledge of him, and he begins to question his own sanity. The rest of the mystery centers on his attempts to learn the truth about the woman and her true motives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Basehart, Mary Murphy, (more)
- 1952
Derek Bond stars as a society doctor in the British A Distant Trumpet. Bond's more idealistic brother Derek Elphinstone tirelessly labors away as a missionary. When Elphinstone becomes to ill to work, Bond reluctantly takes over for his brother. In so doing, Bond finds his true calling in life. Costar Derek Elphinstone also coproduced and wrote the screenplay for this overambitious 61-minute programmer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1949
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
- Starring:
- Hilda Bayley, Beatrice Campbell, (more)
- 1949
Based on a novel by Mary Mitchell, Warning to Wantons is the story of 17-year-old Renee (Anne Vernon). After wriggling out of a convent school, Renee manages to crash high society. She twists several wealthy men around her little finger before making a surprising marital decision. David Tomlinson, stuffy second lead of many a Disney film, is fun to watch as a high-society twit. The film's 144-minute running time had to be boiled down considerably before the film was distributed to America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harold Warrender, Anne Vernon, (more)
- 1948
An amiable poltergeist causes problems in a family's home by taking over the body of the youngest daughter in this comedy. It is a scientist and an insurance investigator who figure out what happened. Real mayhem ensues when the spirit jumps into the body of the insurance detective. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1948
The Small Voice is a tense British character study utilizing an old plot device with a modicum of freshness. American actor Howard Keel (mistakenly billed as Harold Keel in the credits) makes his film debut herein as an escaped convicts. He and fellow fugitive David Greene invade a country cottage and hold its occupants, a writer and his wife (James Donald and Valerie Hobson), hostage. Keel's carefully shaded portrayal of a desperate man with a spark of decency was duly noted by MGM, which promptly signed the actor to a long contract. The Small Voice was released in the US under the spell-it-out title of Hideout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Hobson, James Donald, (more)
Immediately grabbing the audience's attention with a heart-stopping opening scene in a dark graveyard, acclaimed British director David Lean realizes the cinematic potential of Charles Dickens' classic 1861 novel, and the result is considered by many to be one of the finest literary adaptations ever made as well as one of the greatest British films of all time. Crystallized into a tight 118-minute running time by Lean, Ronald Neame, and a corps of uncredited contributors, this is the story of young Pip, a lad of humble means whose training as a gentleman is bankrolled by a mysterious benefactor. Along the way, Pip falls in love with the fickle Estella, befriends the cheerfully insouciant Herbert Pocket, has memorable encounters with the escaped convict Magwitch and the lunatic dowager Miss Havisham, and almost (but not quite) forgets his modest origins as the foster son of kindhearted blacksmith Joe Gargery. The role of Pip is evenly divided between Anthony Wager as a child and John Mills as an adult; Alec Guinness makes his starring film debut as the jaunty Pocket; Jean Simmons and Valerie Hobson are costarred as the younger and older Estella; and Martita Hunt is unforgettable as the mad Miss Havisham ("It's a fine cake! A wedding cake! MINE!") Remade several times, Great Expectations resurfaced in 1989 as a TV miniseries, with Jean Simmons, originally the young Estella, tearing a passion to tatters as Miss Havisham; and in 1998 it was remade again, in a contemporary version, with Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert DeNiro, and Anne Bancroft in the Miss Havisham role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Valerie Hobson, (more)
