Ronald Howard Movies

In this Ivan Tors action adventure (that later served as the basis for the television series Cowboy in Africa, John Mills appears as Wing Commander Howard Hayes, now having hung up his wings for ranching in Kenya. Hayes hatches a solution to alleviate the hunger of Masai villagers with a plan to domesticate wild African game. To do this, he imports from across the sea two authentic ridin' and ropin' American cowboys -- Jim Sinclair (Hugh O'Brien) and his faithful sidekick, John Henry (Tom Nardini). While the two sod busters corral wildlife for Hayes, Sinclair falls hard for an attractive nurse, Fay Carter (Adrienne Corri) and befriends a young native boy (Charles Malinda). But this African idyll is soon torn asunder when rancher Karl Bekker (Nigel Green) -- fearing that Hayes' wild animal domestication will breed disease and the contagion will infect his own prize cattle -- using any means necessary, sets out to sabotage Hayes's plans to feed the hungry. All riled up, Jim Sinclair swings into action to help Hayes. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Based on a classic exercise in existentialism by Ambrose Bierce, this episode is set during the Civil War. Condemned to death for his anti-Union sabotage activities, Southern gentleman Peyton Farquhar (Ronald Howard) is sentenced to be hanged from Owl Creek Bridge. Just as he plunges off the bridge, the noose miraculously breaks, and Farquhar is able to make a dash for freedom. While escaping his captors, Farquhar journeys through some mighty strange country, and meets some mighty strange people -- including his former slave Josh (Juano Hernandez), who is supposed to be dead. Fans of "fantastic" television will recall that a 1962 theatrical short-subject version of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, filmed in France by director Robert Enrico, was adapted as a 1964 episode of The Twilight Zone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Brigitte Bardot was at the height of her fame when she starred in this engagingly silly military comedy. Babette (Bardot) is a beautiful but unfortunately clueless young French woman who, in 1940, becomes a refugee when she seeks safe haven in England as the Germans move in to occupy her land. Babette is recruited as part of a scheme to help British military intelligence foil a German plot to invade England. The idea is for Babette to use her good looks to win the confidence of German officers and learn their secrets; however, despite her enthusiasm, Babette's striking ineptitude when it comes to military espionage makes her as much of a threat as an asset to Allied forces. Babette s'en va-t-en Guerre (released in the United States as Babette Goes To War) also stars Ronald Howard, Jacques Charrier, and Michael Cramer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A bomb threat is used as a ploy to gain access to a bank. The robbers are supposed to enter the bank disguised as bomb squad experts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This multistoried drama purports to detail the events occurring in a single 24-hour period on Bond Street, a "typical" British thoroughfare. The Grand Hotel-like construction of the film allows for several colorful character vignettes. The "dramatis personae" includes an unpredictably temperamental dressmaker, a blinded war veteran, an escaped POW, a gang of blackmailers, and the owner of a valuable string of pearls. Linking the four main plotlines together is the impending wedding of Julia Chester-Barratt (Hazel Court in her pre-horror days). The presence of Roland Young in the cast assured Bond Street a few healthy American bookings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, Sgt. Saunders (Vic Morrow) is assigned to deliver withdrawal orders to a British infantry unit stationed well behind enemy lines. Upon Saunders' arrival, the British commanding officer, Captain Johns (Ronald Howard) refuses to budge an inch. Moreoever, Johns order Saunders and his men to remain at the post and fight side by side with the British infantrymen to stave off an impending German attack! Is Johns merely fulfilling his duty to God and Country--or is he a madman? And in a separate development, a little French boy (Philippe Chapelle) is on the verge of learning a terrible secret about a member of his own family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this British thriller, ex-con Howard is an engineer who is blackmailed into assisting with a jewel theft. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Union army major Drango (Jeff Chandler) is assigned to rebuild a ruined Georgian town in the aftermath of the Civil War. Despite his best intentions, Drango has trouble combatting the hatred and resentment of the townsfolk. In particular, Clay Allen (Ronald Howard), the hotheaded son of Judge Allen (Donald Crisp), does his utmost to sabotage Drango's efforts and foment a Confederate insurrection. It takes the conscience-stricken intervention of the Judge himself to prevent wholesale bloodshed. The film's low-key romantic interest is handled by Joanne Dru and Julie London, cast respectively as the daughter of a despised Union sympathizer and an "unreconstructed" female plantation owner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title is explained during the course of the British Flannelfoot. We'll just say here that the film stars Jack Watling as a crime reporter, hot on the trail of a jewel thief. When his informant is murdered, Watling goes after the crook himself. He proves a thorn in the side to investigating detective Ronald Adam, but together the two men bring the criminal to heel. B-flick stalwart Maclean Rogers keeps the incidents in Flannelfoot moving at a satisfyingly fast clip. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director John Ford traveled to England to film this adaptation of the novel by J.J. Maraca, which details a typical day in the busy life of a detective for Scotland Yard. Inspector George Gideon (Jack Hawkins) begins his working day by confronting one of his fellow officers who is believed to be accepting graft. The sergeant stubbornly denies the charge, but he dies later the same day in a mysterious hit-and-run accident that piques Gideon's curiosity. While confronting internal strife within Scotland Yard, Gideon also has more typical crimes to investigate, including a murder in Manchester and a burglary in London, both of which were performed by the same vicious criminal. Gideon himself becomes the victim of a holdup and is forced to take a bullet for his troubles, while on the home front he finds himself in disfavor with his family when he forgets to bring home salmon for dinner and lets his daughter's recital slip his mind. Along with Jack Hawkins, Gideon's Day features a stellar cast of British actors, including Cyril Cusack, Anna Massey, Laurence Naismith, Dianne Foster, and Billie Whitelaw. For its initial American release, Gideon's Day (also shown as Gideon of Scotland Yard) was cut from 91 minutes to a mere 54, and distributed in black and white prints instead of the original Technicolor. Fortunately, nearly all the prints currently in circulation are of the uncut, color edition. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, a man discovers that the bank notes he has just received actually belong to someone else--a man who is attempting to save his near-bankrupt fur business by buying pelts infected with anthrax. Later the shady furrier is killed. The first man discovers that he was done-in by an ex-con who is killed after his fur-filled truck crashes and explodes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Koroshi combined the final two episodes of the Patrick McGoohan series Secret Agent (aka Danger Man), "Koroshi" and "Shindo Shiba," into one feature-length film that was released theatrically into overseas markets. They were also the only two episodes of the series filmed in color, and even the original "Koroshi" episode had slightly different credits from the rest of the series and featured two credited directors: Michael Truman and Peter Yates. John Drake (McGoohan) arrives in Tokyo to investigate the death of a British agent (Yoko Tani). He doesn't for a moment believe that the death was from natural causes, and follows up on the origins of a distinctive amulet photographed near the body. He finds that the image is the emblem of an ancient Japanese murder cult that, as far as anyone knew, was wiped out hundreds of years earlier. Following the trail, he discover a young woman now living in the dead agent's home; she becomes his link to Mr. Sanders (Ronald Howard), who displays a morbid fixation on what he calls "the poetry of death," as depicted in Kabuki theater. The cult is, in turn, connected to events on the remote island of Shindo Shiba ("Murdered Island"), whose inhabitants have been driven off by a series of unexplained deaths. Drake crosses paths with an unexpected ally who nearly gets him killed, and is forced to mount a direct assault on the stronghold from an unexpected quarter. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide