Michael Dear Movies
- 1958
This British WW II drama takes place in the wilds of Tunis. Major Gerrard (Leo Genn) is ordered to lead a desperate mission to capture a Nazi-held farmhouse. Despite the fact that this undertaking is tantamount to committing suicide, Gerrard has no trouble rounding up volunteers. There's a bit too much of the old "stiff upper lip" in the dialogue, though the action sequences are first-rate and believable. Of interest to modern viewers is the presence in the cast of Michael Caine; he isn't billed, and barely has a line, but he's instantly recognizable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kieron Moore, Michael Medwin, (more)
- 1950
British actor Robert Donat's one-and-only film directorial effort was Cure for Love. Adapted from a popular stage play by Walter Greenwood, the film stars Donat as Jack, an army sergeant who returns home on leave. Having falling in love, Jack hopes that his hometown girl friend has forgotten his impulsive marriage proposal, but she hasn't. The film's comic complications arise from the fact that Jack, a war hero of conspicuous courage, turns into a quivering mass of jelly whenever dealing with affairs of the heart. The thick Lancashire dialect used by practically everyone in Cure for Love may be a bit difficult to comprehend for American audiences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Donat, Renée Ashershon, (more)
The second of director David Lean's adaptations of a Charles Dickens novel (Great Expectations (1946) was the first), Oliver Twist expertly boils down an enormous novel to a little less than two hours' screen time. The film begins with baby Oliver left on the doorstep of an orphanage/workhouse by his unwed mother. Proving a difficult charge to the wicked orphanage official, Oliver (John Howard Davies) is sold into a job as an undertaker's apprentice. He runs away and joins a gang of larcenous street urchins, led by master pickpocket Fagin (Alec Guinness). Oliver is rescued from this life by the kindly Mr. Brownlow (Henry Stephenson); but, with the complicity of evil Bill Sikes (Robert Newton), Fagin abducts Oliver. Sikes' girl friend Nancy (Kay Walsh) restores Oliver to Brownlow, leading to tragic consequences before an ultimately happy ending. Oliver Twist was filmed in England in 1948, but its American release was held up for three years due to the allegedly anti-Semitic portrayal of the duplicitous Fagin. Even in its currently censored form, Oliver Twist is one the best-ever film versions of a Dickens novel. It served as a blueprint for Oliver! (1968), the Oscar-winning musical version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, (more)
