Gabor Baraker Movies
- 1967
Smashing Time attempts to turn British actresses Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave into a female Laurel and Hardy. The film's second mistake is to prolong the joke for 96 minutes. Tushingham and Redgrave play a couple of dimwitted North Country girls who head to London, in hopes of breaking into the mad, mod world of fashion modeling. Instead they spend most of their screen time getting in each other's way and wreaking havoc on innocent pedestrians. The comic "highlight" of Smashing Time is supposed to be a mammoth pie fight; but outside of one cute throwaway gag involving a street minister, the sequence makes one wish, in the words of Laurel and Hardy buff Leonard Maltin, that Smashing Time "had been handled by someone other than [director] Desmond Davis." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave, (more)
- 1966
This uneven black comedy went into production as My Last Duchess. It then went through three title changes, representing, in the words of historian Leslie Halliwell, "a descending order of wit": Arrividerci, Baby, Drop Dead, Darling, and You Just Kill Me! Tony Curtis plays a charming contemporary Bluebeard who murders a succession of wives in order to fatten his bank account. At the beginning of the film, the 42-year-old Curtis, decked out in Buster Browns, does in his own stepmother. The remaining murders alternate between moderately amusing and just plain silly; our favorite scene is the disposal of Zsa Zsa Gabor, but that's just on basic principles. Curtis finally meets his match in a much-married widow who plots his demise (a plot point which, incidentally, was planned and abandoned for Chaplin's far superior Monsieur Verdoux). Director Ken Hughes and Ronald Harwood based their screenplay upon the Richard Deming novel The Careful Man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Rosanna Schiaffino, (more)
- 1965
In the second episode of the four-part story "The Crusade," the Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian (William Russell), and Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) are forcibly detained in the camp of King Richard the Lionhearted (Julian Glover). Ian manages to secure Richard's permission to leave so that he can rescue Barbara (Jacqueline Hill), who has been captured by the Saracen followers of Prince Saladin (Bernard Kay). By episode's end, however, Ian has been pressed into service as a marriage broker. Written by David Whitaker, "The Knight of Jaffa" originally aired April 3, 1965. At present, only the soundtrack of this episode is known to survive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hartnell, William Russell, (more)
- 1965
Dr. Love (David Niven) is a suave British secret agent sent to Lebanon to investigate the murder of his colleague Parkington (Nigel Davenport) by an enemy agent in this spy spoof. With the help of the beautiful Vikki (Francoise Dorlac), Love uncovers a plot by Russian agents to kill a Middle Eastern Prince who favors the British. The story was taken from the novel Passport To Oblivion by James Leasor. Niven carries the feature with his typical aplomb. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Françoise Dorléac, (more)
- 1964
In the fifth episode of the seven-part story arc "Marco Polo," the lives of the Doctor (William Hartnell), Marco Polo (Mark Eden), and their combined companions are imperiled not only by bandits, but also by a traitor in their midst, the warlord Tegana (Derren Nesbitt). Still, the entourage manages to enjoy a (pitifully brief) bit of rest and relaxation at the way-station managed by the philosophical Wang-Lo (Gabor Baraker). Under cover of darkness, the Doctor and his friends manage to elude Polo and prepare to board the TARDIS for a journey homeward -- but Susan (Carole Ann Ford) is seized by a shadowy assailant. Written by John Lucarotti, "Rider From Shang-Tu" first aired on March 21, 1964; alas, none of the episodes in the "Marco Polo" arc are known to have survived. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hartnell, William Russell, (more)
- 1964
In the sixth episode of the seven-part story arc "Marco Polo," the Doctor (William Hartnell) and his friends, still the reluctant traveling companions of Marco Polo (Mark Eden), arrive at Shang-Tu, where stands the opulent summer palace of the all-powerful Kublai Khan (Martin Miller). Fascinated by the TARDIS, Khan orders the Doctor and the others to accompany him to Peking, and for a while it looks as though none of the people will ever be able to return to their own home and time. Meanwhile, the treacherous Tagana (Derren Nesbitt) continues plotting to become absolute ruler of Cathay. Written by John Lucarotti, "Mighty Kublai Khan" first aired on March 28, 1964; alas, none of the episodes in the "Marco Polo" arc are known to have survived. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hartnell, William Russell, (more)
