Archie Duncan Movies
- 1952
Most of this hectic British comedy takes place in an ancient Scottish castle. The British National Coal Board, following a real-life policy established in the 1940s, wants to annex the castle as a group home for the local miners and their families. Wealthy, much-married American Mrs. Clodfelter Dunne (Barbara Kelly) wants to claim the castle--and its owner, the Earl of Locharne (David Tomlinson)--for herself. Meanwhile, eccentric boarder Miss Nicholson (Margaret Rutherford) is possessed with the notion that the Earl is actually the rightful King of Scotland. The film's deus-ex-machina is a beautiful ghost, played by Patricia Dainton. With all this going on, it is easy to ignore the antiseptic romantic subplot involving Tomlinson and Helen Cherry. Castles in the Air was based on the popular stage play by Alan Melville. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Tomlinson, Helen Cherry, (more)
- 1948
Nazi war criminal Bruckner (Mervyn Johns) manages to escape capture at the end of WW II. Bruckner sets up shop in England, where he continues his diabolical germ-warfare experiments. Murdering an Australian physician, the regenerate Nazi assumes the dead man's identity to escape detection. His downfall comes when he falls in love with pretty lab assistant Tracy Shaw (Nova Pilbeam), and he refuses to murder her when ordered to do so by his superiors. The ending is right of the "hoist on his own petard" school of dramatics. Devil's Plot was released in the U.S. in mid-1953, and within a few months was making the TV Late-Show rounds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1951
Three generations of a Scottish clan are chronicled in this melodramatic saga. The film starts with the death of a sickly med student in a Glasgow slum. His fiancee also dies in childbirth. Her brother, who survives, begins raising her baby girl who grows up to have an affair with a lab assistant. Her "father" disapprove and threatens to destroy the wedding. She retaliates by poisoning him and then gets married. She bears a son. Unfortunately she has never recovered from the guilt of her earlier murder and ends up taking her own life. Later her son grows up to discover a vaccine for a fatal disease. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Todd, Glynis Johns, (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)
- 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)
- 1951
Though Green Grow the Rushes has the look and feel of an Ealing comedy, the film was actually produced through the auspices of British Lion. The story takes place on the southern coast of England, where through a bureaucratic oversight a small patch of land in Kent is protected from outside legal intervention by an ancient charter. It is here that a group of liquor smugglers, headed by Captain Biddie (Roger Livesey), carries on its activities with impunity and with full cooperation of the regional politicians. The fun begins when a cargo of precious potables ends up in a duck pond owned by a local farmer, sparking an onslaught of governmental foolishness. Two future stars carry the slim romantic subplot in Green Grow the Rushes: Honor Blackman plays a well-meaning newspaper columnist, while Richard Burton shows up as a slovenly smuggler (this was Burton's final British film before his move to Hollywood). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Livesey, Honor Blackman, (more)
- 1958
The mysterious Indian jungle provides the setting for this adventure where a one-legged hunter pursues a terrifying tiger, a man-eater. On the hunt, the man encounters the cowardly fellow who caused him to lose his leg in a POW camp. Together they face the snarling, cornered jungle cat. Again, the fellow chickens out, resulting in the near-fatal mauling of the hunter. Later, the coward's wife helps the battered hunter recuperate. As she ministers to him, the hunter can't help but fall in love with her. He begins to drink heavily. He stops when he learns that the coward's son has wandered off into the dangerous jungle. Not wanting the lad to be tiger chow, the hunter sets off to kill the beast. He succeeds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, Barbara Rush, (more)
- 1952
In this drama, a man journeys to the posh British estate of a friend for a weekend soiree. There he learns that the real purpose of the party is to provide the host the opportunity to steal the jewels of his guests. To thwart the plan, the man and the host's adopted step-daughter team up. Unfortunately she winds up getting locked in the room where the jewels were begin stored. The host is attempting to beat a hasty retreat with the jewels but is stopped by an enterprising butler who throws a switch as his boss is attempting to scale the estate fence. The hapless thief is promptly electrocuted. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Robert Stack stars in this sea-faring historical epic as John Paul Jones, the first great hero of the American Navy. While originally a loyal soldier of the King's army, Jones in time becomes a fervent supporter of the American Revolutionaries, and he volunteers to lead the colonists' ragtag fleet to impressive victories against the British Navy; during a battle against the British ship Serapis, Jones utters the deathless words "I have not yet begun to fight." While his brave and intelligent leadership helps win America its freedom, his appeals to Benjamin Franklin (Charles Coburn) and the other leaders of Congress to strengthen the United States Navy fall on deaf ears; Jones is eventually branded a troublemaker, and in time, he is ordered to Russia, where he is to help guide the fleet of Catherine The Great (Bette Davis). Jones leads the Russian Navy to stunning victories in the Black Sea, reestablishing his reputation as one of the great military minds of his day. John Paul Jones also features a rousing score by the great film composer Max Steiner. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Stack, Marisa Pavan, (more)
- 1948
A Dutch and an English soldier team up to prevent the Nazis from capturing a precious Dutch diamond, the world's largest, in this war drama. Also included is a segment detailing how the giant gem was mined and cut. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
In this routine, slapstick, frenetic tale, British comic Spike Milligan stars as Harold Petts, a rural mailman with a sudden promotion that ends up getting him into a lot of trouble. Harold is supposed to be trained behind the scenes at London's busiest post office but even after his first day in the city he is already in difficulties. He soon meets Jean (Barbara Shelley), a mediocre art student with big aspirations for her future. The duo eventually find themselves as top suspects in a mail-theft ring, with the police and the Post Office higher-ups close on their heels. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spike Milligan, Barbara Shelley, (more)
When a man buys an otter for a pet, he gets more than he bargained for as he tries to keep the animal in his bathtub. He and his pet soon find life in London is not the place for such and animal, so the two head for the coast. The man enlists the help of a local female doctor to help in the care and feeding of his beloved otter in this family feature from the writers of Born Free. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, (more)
- 1953
The rousing adventure novel by Sir Walter Scott was adapted for this swashbuckler. Richard Todd stars as Robert Roy MacGregor, a clan leader in 18th century Scotland attempting to lead his fellow countrymen in a rebellion against the heavy-handed rule of England's King George I. When the king replaces a sympathetic politician with a lackey working against Rob Roy, it's up to the hardy Scotsman to defeat his enemies without the support of a powerful ally, while also romancing and marrying his true love (Glynis Johns). Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue (1953) was the last of 21 British films produced jointly by Disney and RKO. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Todd, Glynis Johns, (more)
- 1955
- NR
The exploits of Robin Hood, as gleaned and combined from the classic British television series, are presented in this adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
- NR
After an extensive talent search, producer-director Otto Preminger selected a 17-year-old unknown from Iowa, Jean Seberg, to play Joan of Arc, a role traditionally portrayed by actresses twice to three times Seberg's age. Seberg is cast opposite such venerable pros as Richard Todd (as Dunois), Anton Walbrook (the Bishop of Beauvais), John Gielgud (Earl of Warwick) and Felix Aylmer (The Inquisitor). Cast as the vacillating Dauphin is Richard Widmark. Graham Greene's screenplay refashions the original Shaw text in the form of a flashback. Seberg eventually became an accomplished actress by virtue of her appearances in such nouvelle vague films as Breathless, but it was too late to salvage Saint Joan, which was figuratively burned at the stake by critics and filmgoers alike. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Seberg, Richard Widmark, (more)
- 1952
A small Scottish island has never paid its mandatory road tax. This brings forth an investigating committee of Parliament members, including the formidable Ronald Squire. The committee heads to the delinquent Hebridean isle, where they succumb to the easygoing charm of the residents. Cowritten by director John Eldridge, Laxdale Hall was an adequate imitation of the Ealing farces (notably Tight Little Island), with an overload of whimsy in place of originality. out to the Hebridean isle to check into this breach of law. The film made it to the States under the title Scotch on the Rocks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Squire
- 1953
Street Corner was a marginally realistic study of British policewomen. The film takes its female cast through a typical day on the Chelsea beat. In the manner of Dragnet and The Blue Lamp, the skimpy plotline is merely there to string together several anecdotal incidents, illustrating that while a policewoman's lot is not a happy one, neither is it dull. Feminist film fans might point with pride to the fact that Street Corner was written and directed by a woman, Muriel Box. The fact that Box had been working in this capacity in the British film industry for years, while Hollywood had been relegating women to second-class status during the same period of time, is equally worthy of being pointed out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peggy Cummins, Anne Crawford, (more)
Cornel Wilde co-produces, directs, and stars with his wife Jean Wallace in this uneven version of fabled King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Wilde, a skilled fencer, is Lancelot and appropriately enough, Wallace is his lady-love Guinevere. This time around, their traditionally chaste romance (Guinevere marries King Arthur) takes on a more modern veneer as she and Lancelot become intimate. Aside from their love story, several battles on horseback keep the knights busy as King Arthur struggles to hold onto his throne in the face of a challenge from King Leodogran (John Longdon). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, (more)
- 1961
In this modernized version of Grace Miller White's popular novel, the feisty Tess moves to the Pennsylvania Dutch country and finds herself unwelcome by her Mennonite neighbors until she begins fighting along with a group of farmers who sold land to a chemical company and are now unhappy because it has been polluted. During the struggle, Tess falls in love with a handsome Mennonite. Eventually their love and her hard work pays off and her neighbors finally accept her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diane Baker, Jack Ging, (more)
- 1955
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This 1950's TV series is based on the legendary Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest and his men, who try to keep Prince John from usurping Richard the Lionhearted's throne while he is off fighting in the Crusades. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Greene, Donald Pleasence, (more)
- 1949
George Gordon, aka Lord Byron, the clubfooted 19th-century poet with the uncontrollable libido, is played by Dennis Price in this lavish British chocolate-box epic. From the vantage point of his deathbed, Byron recalls his life and many loves, imagining that he's pleading his case before a celestial court. Joan Greenwood looks like she's just stepped out of a portrait frame as Lady Caroline Lamb (whose own sordid story would also be filmed in due time). Her performance is far more persuasive than that of Dennis Price, who seems less libertine than precocious as Byron. Roundly ridiculed by British film critics in 1949, The Bad Lord Byron has stood the test of time -- not really a classic, but an acceptable rainy-day wallow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, (more)
- 1960
Quickie-flick entrepreneur Bert I. Gordon makes a bid for the kiddie trade in The Boy and the Pirates. Charles Herbert, the juvenile star of 13 Ghosts, plays a contemporary kid who finds a bottle on the beach. The bottle contains genie Joseph Turkel (a loyal member of Stanley Kubrick's "stock company"), who whisks Herbert back in time and on board the pirate ship captained by Bluebeard (Murvyn Vye, whose performance is as shamelessly over-the-top as anything concocted by Robert Newton). Reams of stock footage later, Herbert escapes Bluebeard's clutches, together with his new friend Susan Gordon (Bert I. Gordon's daughter). Veteran Hollywood scrivener Lillie Hayward brings some much-needed class and polish to the low-budget proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Herbert, Susan Gordon, (more)
- 1952
The Brave Don't Cry aspires to the "feel" of a documentary, right down to the deliberate absence of background music. A mine in Scotland falls victim to a cave-in, trapping some one hundred workers. Rescue parties are formed as the tremulous families of the miners wait in agony. As in the actual incident upon which this film is based, the rescue is nip and tuck and times, but eventually successful. The faces of real-life Scottish mining folk are melded with the professional actors in The Brave Don't Cry, adding poignancy to this otherwise cut-and-dried film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gregson, Meg Buchanan, (more)
- 1957
D'arcy Conyers both wrote and directed the lightweight comedy/drama The Devil's Pass. Veteran British character actor John Slater, best known for his role as Sgt. Stone on TV's Z Cars, enjoys one of his few leading film roles as the captain of a rundown fishing boat. A young stowaway (Christopher Warbey) befriends the gruff old salt. When the captain is threatened by villainous wreckers, the young man comes to the rescue. Devil's Pass was designed for double bills, though it was substantial enough to stand on its own in smaller theatrical engagements. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
