Fabia Drake Movies
- 1949
British novelist Erik Linklater was well-represented in 1949, with adaptations of two of his best novels hitting the screen almost simultaneously. In Linklater's Poet's Pub, a rhyme-spinner named Saturday Keith (Derek Bond) assumes control of a rustic inn. All Keith wants is a little peace and quiet so that he can write his poems without interruption. Alas, his little Pub becomes a veritable Grand Central Station for a wide variety of eccentrics, ranging from absent-minded professors to bumbling crooks. Stealing the show is the peerless Joyce Grenfell as a toothy patroness of the arts. Poet's Pub has no real plot to speak of, just a series of vignettes unified by a central locale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Bond, Rona Anderson, (more)
- 1949
Norman Wooland, who in 1948 made an excellent impression as Horatio in Olivier's Hamlet, is awarded top billing in the 1949 British comedy All Over the Town. A gentle satire of provincial politics, the film stars Wooland as ex-soldier Nat Hearn, who returns to his newspaper job after the war. Upset that the paper compromises its journalistic integrity to satisfy local businessmen, Nat takes over the publication and radically alters its editorial policy. This brings him into conflict with the regional political bigwigs, and also puts a strain on his romance with Sally Thorpe (Dinah Churchill). Director Michael S. Gordon co-adapted the screenplay from a stage comedy by R. F. Delderfield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Wooland, Sarah Churchill, (more)
- 1948
Assembled by the reliable team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, London Belongs to Me stars Richard Attenborough as a young, full-of-beans boy looking for fun. Bursting into a staid, wearisome London neighborhood, Attenborough exhorts the others to get some kicks out of life. Unfortunately, his search for thrills gets him involved in a murder. Just when you think that the film is a dour "slice of life" drama, a new comic element is introduced as the locals start up a petition to release Attenborough from jail. The presence of Alastair Sim in the cast should have tipped us off that London Belongs to Me wasn't meant to be taken entirely seriously. The film was released in the US as Dulcimer Street. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Alastair Sim, (more)
- 1938
In 1954 there was Godzilla, the lizard transformed by radiation, and in 1959, the British gave us Behemoth, the Sea Monster, Godzilla's Anglo, radiated cousin. Now there is the "man of steel" in this undistinguished, "B"-grade, sci-fi melodrama that was the last film directed by Allan Dwan. The unsuspecting Eddie Candell (Ron Randell) is on the lam from a crime he never committed when he is exposed to a dangerous, radioactive cobalt substance emanating from an atomic bomb test site in the desert. This exposure does not cause cancer or radiation sickness; it turns Eddie's epidermis into an iron-clad suit of armor that no bullet can penetrate. Thus protected, Eddie the human tank decides to wreak revenge on the villains who framed him for that crime. The only question is not whether he will rust, but whether this odd skin condition is as permanent as it seems. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
