Anton Diffring Movies

The demented Dr. Flamand (Helmut Berger) and his beautiful but deadly assistant Nathalie (Brigitte Lahaie) lure unsuspecting victims in this horror feature. The doctor uses the young skins of his victims to perform plastic surgery on his disfigured sister. Telly Savalas is Hallen, the New York businessman who hires private detective Sam Morgan (Chris Mitchum) to find his missing fashion model daughter Barbara (Caroline Munro). A sadistic Nazi doctor (Anton Diffring) and a chainsaw/power tool psychosexual tormentor are called in by the devious Dr. Flamand to join in the fun. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

About 350 years ago, the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) launched into space a statue made out of a deadly living metal called Nemesis. Now the statue has returned, threatening the universe in general -- and earth in particular -- with total destruction. Watch for a cameo appearance by British jazz great Courtney Pine. Written by Kevin Clarke, the first episode of the three-part story "Silver Nemesis" was originally shown on November 23, 1988. Appropriately enough, it was also the "silver" 25th anniversary of the very first Doctor Who telecast. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the conclusion of the three-part story "Silver Nemesis," the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) steps up his efforts to hurl the deadly living-metal Nemesis statue back into Deep Space. Meanwhile, Ace (Sophie Aldred) finds herself locked in mortal combat with the Cybermen, who want to get their hands on the precious validium within the statue. Musical-comedy favorite Dolores Gray makes a rare TV appearance as Mrs. Remington. Written by Kevin Clarke, "Silver Nemesis, Episode 3" originally aired on December 7, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Concocted with a flair for the kind of mystery once captured in the best silent films, this engaging suspense story concerns a German samurai who mastered his art while growing up in Japan. The flaxen-haired samurai is Wilcke (Hans Peter Hallwachs), who has his dander up because an ancient and highly valuable sword has been stolen from its rightful owners. Wojciech Pzoniak plays Gerhard Krall, a cringing, super-rich thief who defends himself with huge castle walls, a moat, a surveillance system, and one talented ninja bodyguard. To complicate matters between these enemies, a female journalist is on the trail of the samurai and the story behind his actions. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Herbie Melbourne (Didi Hallervorden) is a poor schlemiel who is inadvertently caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea in this German farce about a cab driver (Hallervorden) assigned to bring a "comrade" back to the East German side of the Berlin wall, a passenger who is dead to the world, permanently, when he arrives. Herbie the cabbie is recruited by the KGB and East German Intelligence to help them discover who murdered the man in his back seat. After arriving on the West German side of the divide, Herbie is then recruited by the CIA and West German Intelligence to become a counterspy, for double what the other side is paying him. As Herbie seems to have no viable way out of this mess, he does what many have done before him, he goes to a therapist (Catherine Alric) for help. Reaching into her bag of tricks, the therapist gives Herbie a small bottle he can sniff when in need of self-confidence, an act guaranteed to put him on top of any situation. Now Herbie is a cabbie, a KGB agent, a CIA agent, and a bottle sniffer -- and he is falling in love with his gorgeous therapist. Although the standard chase routines are a bit lengthy and exaggerated, this spy spoof keeps its sense of humor intact.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Twenty-seven years after Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Peter Cushing makes a belated return to the role of Sherlock Holmes in the made-for-television Masks of Death. Befitting his age, Cushing plays Holmes in retirement, content to play his violin and look after his bees. He is dragged back into action by a series of baffling East End murders. Each one of the victims has been discovered with an expression of stark, raw fear frozen on his or her face. With faithful Dr. Watson (John Mills) at his right hand, Holmes puts the pieces together. Ray Milland and Anne Baxter co-star in this stylish bouquet to the Baker Street Irregulars of the world. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the third episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War, President Roosevelt has dispatched Naval Commander "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) to Germany, there to try to reason with the power-mad Adolf Hitler (Gunter Meisner), whose army has just invaded Poland. Henry also confers with Hitler's ally Benito Mussolini (Enzo Castellari), who proves to be as stubborn as Hitler is obsessed. Also figuring in Henry's foredoomed negotiations is anti-semitic German banker Wolf Stoller (Barry Morse), the proverbial "smiler with the knife", at whose sumptuous dinner party Henry's wife Rhoda (Polly Bergen) almost forsakes her common sense. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

John Huston directed this exciting World War II action film, which culminates in a rousing soccer game. In a German prisoner of war camp, Major Karl von Steiner (Max Von Sydow), the camp commander, once a member of the German national soccer team, decides to put together a soccer match between a team of Allied prisoners, led by Captain John Colby (Michael Caine), a former English international soccer player. The game is to be played in Colombes Stadium in Paris and exploited for maximum propaganda effect by the Nazi publicity machine. Robert Hatch (Sylvester Stallone) is enlisted to assist the Allied prisoners to train for the event. But, in fact, the Allies are planning a risky escape during the soccer match. Famed Brazilian soccer great Pele makes an appearance in the film, along with Bobby Moore, the captain of Britain's 1966 World Cup champions, and Argentine soccer star Osvaldo Ardiles. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In this erotic drama a young girl leaves the convent where she was raised after she inherits a chain of brothels in Hong Kong. Once there she is introduced to the fine art of giving and receiving erotic pleasure. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Filmed on location in Zurich, Switzerland, The Swiss Conspiracy is concerned with a Swiss bank that discovers some of its clients are becoming the victim of a brilliant blackmailer. The bank's president (Ray Milland) contacts David Christopher (played by David Janssen), a former agent with the U.S. Treasury, to help discover who the blackmailer is and to foil his plot. As Christopher delves into the mystery, he uncovers a complicated web of intrigue, car chases, and shoot-outs that takes all of his wits to unravel. Along the way, Christopher encounters the beautiful Denise Abbott (Senta Berger), with whom he develops a relationship, as well as Rita Jensen (Elke Sommer) and Robert Hayes (John Saxon), who know more than they are willing to tell. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Jenny (Isabelle Huppert) is a disconnected 16-year old schoolgirl who is so taken with a story of Native Americans coming to take someone into their tribe that she wanders out into the snow in search of them and dies. Was it an accident, or suicide? This drama explores the last week of Jenny's life in order to find out the answer. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Also titled The Price of Freedom, Operation Daybreak is a retelling of the terrible consequences attending the assassination of Nazi-occupation leader Richard Heydrich. When Heydrich puts all of Czechoslovakia under his thumb, a group of Czech expatriates parachute into their homeland to kill the man known as "The Hangman." They succeed, and in retaliation the Nazis wipe the tiny Czech village of Lidice off the map, killing its male residents and carting off its women and children to concentration camps. For the purposes of the plot, assassins Timothy Bottoms and Martin Shaw survive the massacre, albeit only briefly. The Heydrich/Lidice tragedy was previously dramatized in two wartime films, Hangmen Also Die (1943) and Hitler's Madman (1943). Operation Daybreak was adapted from Seven Men at Daybreak, a novel by Alan Burgess. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi