Clive L. Halliday Movies
- 1965
In this charming fantasy, a young lad is heading home from a hard day of playing hooky from school when he catches a frog in a pond. As he continues toward his home, he also encounters a kindly leprechaun who gives him seven magical coins with the power to grant him seven wishes. The boy then journeys through an enchanted wood where puppets come to life and a gypsy girl becomes a princess. He then discovers that his "frog" is really a spell-bound knight. Using a wish, the boy frees the knight who takes the lad over the rainbow to his home. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Long resistant to film adaptations of her Mary Poppins books, P.L. Travers finally succumbed to the entreaties of Walt Disney, and the result is often considered the finest of Disney's personally supervised films. The Travers stories are bundled together to tell the story of the Edwardian-era British Banks family: the banker father (David Tomlinson), suffragette mother (Glynis Johns), and the two "impossible" children (Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber). The kids get the attention of their all-business father by bedevilling every new nanny in the Banks household. Whem Mr. Banks advertises conventionally for another nanny, the kids compose their own ad, asking for someone with a little kindness and imagination. Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews in her screen debut) answers the children's ad by arriving at the Banks home from the skies, parachuting downward with her umbrella. She immediately endears herself to the children. The next day they meet Mary's old chum Bert (Dick Van Dyke), currently employed as a sidewalk artist. Mary, Bert, and the children hop into one of Bert's chalk drawings and learn the nonsense song "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" in a cartoon countryside. Later, they pay a visit to Bert's Uncle Albert (Ed Wynn), who laughs so hard that he floats to the ceiling. Mr. Banks is pleased that his children are behaving better, but he's not happy with their fantastic stories. To show the children what the real world is like, he takes them to his bank. A series of disasters follow which result in his being fired from his job. Mary Poppins' role in all this leads to some moments when it is possible to fear that all her good work will be undone, but like the magical being she is, all her "mistakes" lead to a happy result by the end of the film. In 2001, Mary Poppins was rereleased in a special "sing-along" edition with subtitles added to the musical numbers so audiences could join in with the onscreen vocalists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, (more)
- 1962
Roger Corman's success with low-budget adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe tales continued with this third installment, the first to lack the commanding presence of Vincent Price. Instead, we have Ray Milland as tormented protagonist Guy Carrell, who is so traumatized by the death of his father -- whom he believes was entombed alive after suffering a cataleptic attack -- that he becomes convinced that he will meet a similar demise. Guy's mounting dementia rapidly undermines his recent marriage to the lovely Emily (Hazel Court), particularly after he begins the construction of a specially designed crypt rigged with numerous escape devices. Encouraged by Emily to face his fears, Guy decides to view his father's remains, to prove once and for all whether he died peacefully. When the crypt is opened, however, what he finds there is so horrifying that he succumbs to a cataleptic episode himself, which doctors misdiagnose as a fatal heart attack... and Guy's worst fear soon becomes a reality. Milland's performance conveys the requisite amount of hand-wringing torment (in the mode of The Lost Weekend), even if he fails to capture the manic intensity that Price brought to the other Poe films. Corman's deft direction, employing a rich palette of colors and superb widescreen compositions, is on a par with the series' finest installments. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Hazel Court, (more)
- 1960
The Swiss Alps are the backdrop for a deadly romantic triangle involving Colin Chandler (Ronald Howard), his fiancee Nancy (Christine White) and his best friend Peter (Keith McConnell). Convinced that Nancy is cheating with Peter behind his back, Colin decides to use a skiing accident to his advantage, allowing Peter to freeze to death in the snowy wastes. But if Colin thinks that his problems are behind him, an "ill wind" which sweeps through his wedding ceremony proves otherwise. Seen in a secondary role is an 11-year-old Veronica Cartwright. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
This adaptation of John O'Hara's From the Terrace stars Paul Newman as Alfred Eaton, an unhappily married financial adviser, while his real-life wife, Joanne Woodward, portrays Mary St. John, his promiscuous screen spouse. Mary's libertine behavior is a by-product of her husband's inability to express love and affection, a trait he has inherited from his cold-blooded father. Mark Robson directs and Myrna Loy heads up a large supporting cast as Newman's alcoholic mother. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, (more)
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