Janet Brown Movies
For Your Eyes Only eschews the gimmickry and campiness of earlier James Bond films, concentrating instead on telling the story and maintaining suspense. Roger Moore is back as Secret Agent 007, this time on the trail of Soviet spies while he romances the beautiful Melina, played by Carole Bouquet. Richard Maibaum's screenplay has very little to do with the collection of short stories that made up Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only, save for the plotline involving Melina's seeking vengeance for the death of her father. The direction is by John Glen, who'd previously done second unit work on other Bond films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, (more)
- 1977
This children's fantasy is about the "Wombles," borrowed from a British TV series, who are furry creatures (actors in suits), normally invisible to anyone but themselves, and whose mission in life is to clean up after humans -- their first chore was to pick up the forgotten apple core in the Garden of Eden. The British Wombles know something is wrong when humans start to notice them, beginning with little Kim Frogmorton (Bonnie Langford) and then her parents. In a series of vignettes, Wombles alone, or humans alone, or both together handle disconnected misadventures -- such as saving the Womble burrow at Wimbledon, fighting against pollution, and moaning over adult topics like an oil shortage, and a theater shortage, for that matter. A few Wombles are professional beasties (such as Kenny Baker of R2-D2 fame), but for the most part, the scenarios are conventional and range from ordinary to insensitive. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Tomlinson, Frances de la Tour, (more)
- 1972
Created by Jon Scoffield, the British comedy series Who Do You Do? offered a forum for several of the country's top impressionists. For the most part, imitations were confined to politicians and show-biz personalities, though a few athletes crept into the proceedings. Among the performers was the versatile Lance Percival, best known in America for his impersonations of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in the TV cartoon series The Beatles. Fifty-six half-hour episodes and one 45-minute special broadcast of Who Do You Do? were aired by London Weekend Television over a four-year period, beginning January 8, 1972. In 1995 the series was revived by Central Television for an additional 30 half-hour episodes, with Aidan J. Harvey serving as host. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aidan J. Harvey, Russ Abbot, (more)
- 1972
Bless This House is a feature-length spinoff of the British TV sitcom of the same name. The episodic nature of the film suggests that it was cobbled together from various half hours of the original series. Sidney James and Diana Coupland play the nonplussed owners of a "money pit" new home. Their misadventures involve fire, water, homemade booze, and angry neighbors. Most American viewers got their first chance to savor Bless This House when the featurized version was made available to cable TV in the early 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
The British/American co-production My Lover, My Son stars Romy Schneider as Frances, the unhappy wife of businessman Robert (Donald Houston). When her lover is accidentally drowned, Frances turns to her teenaged son James (Dennis Waterman) for comfort. Her husband doesn't like this set-up and bundles James off to college, but upon his return the boy enters into an affair with his own mother. Robert discovers the incestuous couple in an embrace and reacts violently, whereupon Frances kills him in self defense. Knocked unconscious during the struggle, James thinks he is the killer and takes the rap. The boy is released on the grounds of self defense and returns to his mother -- only to renounce her when he discovers that he's the illegitimate son of his mother's dead lover. MGM was the American distributor for My Lover, My Son, and that low vibration you feel is Louis B. Mayer spinning in his grave. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Romy Schneider, Donald Houston, (more)
- 1969
This satirical fantasy is based upon an Elmer Rice play from 1923. A hard-working office employee is rewarded for his years of slavish devotion to the company by getting fired just prior to retirement and being replaced with an adding machine. Now, with only his nagging wife waiting at home to add more misery to his dreary life, the man has nothing left and goes over the edge. He murders his boss and then goes on trial. He is convicted and put to death. He dies a happy and free man, thinking that he will surely go to Hell. Strangely enough, he ends up in a heavenly waiting area with other killers who are all there to be reassigned to new lives back on Earth. While waiting, he meets his new guardian angel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Diller, Milo O'Shea, (more)
- 1958
Flood Tide can be described as The Children's Hour gone ballistic. Michel Ray is David Gordon a sweet-faced little boy who dotes on his widowed mother Anne (Cornell Borchers) - but has a nasty, pathological penchant for lying. When a body washes up on the beach and a man is arrested, David tells a few "convenient" lies that get the fellow arrested. The owner of the adjacent beach house, Steve Martin (George Nader) returns from a trip, learns of the situation, and discusses in detail why he thinks the boy is being deceptive; he then spends the rest of the movie romantically pursuing Anne while attempting to earn David's trust and extract a confession from him that will free the unjustly convicted fellow. Flood Tide was directed by Abner Biberman, who as a former movie villain had a good grasp of what makes a sociopath tick--even a ten-year-old one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Nader, Cornell Borchers, (more)
- 1953
This low-key Launder-Gilliat production was inspired by a play by James Bridie. Alastair Sim carries the ball as Captain Paris, an army chaplain who endeavors to organize a camp show for the troops. Practically everyone with whom the Captain comes in contact is an "expert" on the sort of entertainment that the soldiers will like. Ultimately, things degenerate into a battle of egos between an effete artist and his professorial wife. The film's best scenes are those in which Captain Paris tries out his own offbeat notions of entertaining the boys in khaki. Incidentally, the title of the original Bridie play was It Depends What You Mean. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alastair Sim, Roland Culver, (more)
- 1949
The all-purpose title Floodtide was trotted out once more for this 1949 British drama. Gordon Jackson plays a lowly shipyard worker who falls in love with Rona Anderson, his boss' daughter. For the girl's sake, Jackson keeps an eye out for opportunities to advance himself. Through determination and resourcefulness, he works his way up to an executive position with a shipping firm, but tries his best not to forget his humble roots. Filmed extensively on location, Floodtide was run on a seemingly hourly basis in the early days of American television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon Jackson, Rona Anderson, (more)
