Denholm Elliott Movies

Cecil Parker is the whole show in Dear Mr. Prohack, just as he'd been in the stage version by Edward Knoblock. The eponymous Prohack is a Royal Treasury official who is an expert at managing other people's money. Alas, when he himself inherits a fortune, Prohack is as financially naïve as a kid with a piggy bank. Denholm Elliot makes his film debut in the role of Ozzie Morfrey; others in the high-powered cast include Glynis Johns, Dirk Bogarde, Hermione Baddely, Ian Carmichael, future director Bryan Forbes, and Jon "Dr. Who" Pertwee. Both the play and film versions of Dear Mr. Prohack were based on a novel by Arnold Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Breaking the Sound Barrier juxtaposes the history of jet aviation with an intensely personal fictional story. Ralph Richardson plays a wealthy aircraft manufacturer, stubbornly determined to develop a jet that will travel faster than the speed of sound. Richardson's seemingly cavalier attitude toward the pilots who have died on behalf of his dream--including his own son (Denholm Elliott)--has turned his daughter (Ann Todd) against him. When the daughter's fighter-pilot husband (Nigel Patrick) agrees to test Richardson's jet, he too loses his life. The daughter walks out of her father's life and sets up residence with the wife (Dinah Sheridan) of another pilot (John Junkin). Richardson approaches this pilot as well with his challenge--and this time the "sound barrier" is successfully broken without anyone being killed. Reconciled to the fact that her father's apparent coldbloodedness was in the interest of scientific progress, the daughter and her newborn child are reconciled with Richardson. The first independent project of director David Lean, Breaking the Sound Barrier was a huge success, persuasively scripted by Terence Rattigan and beautifully photographed by aerial specialist Jack Hildyard. The film's original British title was simply The Sound Barrier, but the American distributor apparently didn't want filmgoers to think the movie was about the record industry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this seagoing military drama set in World War II, Lt. Comdr. Ericson (Jack Hawkins) is made captain of a British corvette, a small escort vessel used to guide and protect convoys traveling through the Atlantic. Ericson had his confidence severely shaken during his last command, in which he lost his ship and most of its men following an attack by a German U-boat. As he leads a new and largely inexperienced crew aboard the H.M.S. Compass Rose, Ericson is once again thrown into a life-and-death dilemma that forces him to choose between destroying an enemy ship and sparing the lives of his own men. The Cruel Sea featured breakthrough early performances from Denholm Elliott and Virginia McKenna, and it was based on a best-selling novel by Nicholas Monsarrat, who stipulated that the film rights could be sold only to a British company. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Faithfully adapted from a popular holiday play by Wynyard Browne, this moving British drama centers on a recently widowed, aging country vicar who hosts a family Christmas and learns a valuable lesson about keeping his own homefires alight before spending too much time tending the fires of others. Those coming for the holiday include his sister, his late wife's sister, and her cousin. The vicar's free-spirited youngest daughter and his son, a furloughed soldier, also show up. The preacher's eldest daughter lives with him and together they welcome their guests. The vicar is a good man and a caring fellow who spends considerable time caring for and counseling his parishioners, perhaps too much time, for he does not recognize the troubles of his own clan. His devoted oldest daughter quietly deals with a terrible dilemma. She is about to marry an engineer who has just found a long-term job overseas. She wants desperately to be with him, but will not leave her beloved father who seems to need her so much. Her little sister also has trouble. While in the city she fell in love with a soldier. He impregnated her, returned to the war, and was killed. Later the child died and she has become an alcoholic, something she eventually tells her brother and sister. Meanwhile the young people's aunts, learning of the situation, ask the youngest to return home to care for her father so the eldest can marry. Unfortunately, the young woman refuses and heads off to get drunk with her brother. When the vicar learns about his daughter's troubles, he and she have an emotional reconciliation. He then moves on to make peace with the rest of his family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Night My Number Came Up was based on an actual incident in the life of Britain's Sir Victor Goddard. Michael Redgrave stars as an RAF pilot who is tormented by the premonition that his plane will crash. After much trepidation, he agrees to take a routine flight. As Redgrave prepares to take off, he notes that several of the small details in his premonition are occurring all around him. The audience sweats out the rest flight with Redgrave, fully expecting the worst at any second. A steady level of suspense permeates The Night My Number Came Up from beginning to end; that level might even have been heightened had not the film been constructed in the form of a flashback. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This biopic chronicles the true experiences of a British government representative who is sent with his wife to wild, exotic Samoa. Their primary task is to somehow please the persnickety resident bureaucrat. Unfortunately, he is not easily pleased and the harder the representative tries, the worse he botches things up. As a result he is sent to an even tinier island. Depressed and feeling a failure, cracks begin appearing in his stiff-upper lip. Fortunately, his loyal wife is not so easily discouraged and helps him find courage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An animated classic romance, this is the story of a handsome young chimneysweep and a beautiful princess. The voices are provided by Claire Bloom and Peter Ustinov. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Produced by Mike Todd Jr., Scent of Mystery was a misguided attempt to introduce a new gimmick to motion pictures. The plot involved the apparent murder of a mystery woman (Beverly Bentley, at one time the wife of writer Norman Mailer) and the disappearance of several valuables. Denholm Elliott, Peter Lorre and Paul Lukas were among the good and bad guys chasing all over Spain and England. Whatever cinematic value Scent of Mystery had was dissolved by the film's gimmick, dubbed "Smell-O-Vision." The idea was to rig up a device in each theatre, from which would emanate a scent that corresponded with whatever image was on screen: the smell of roses for a garden, the odor of fish for an ocean scene, and so forth. Mike Todd Jr. should have guessed what the critical response would be, but released the film all the same. Scent of Mystery, though beautifully photographed, was perhaps the only genuine stinker ever produced by the motion picture industry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dot (Rita Tushingham) is a girl who marries motorcycle maven Reggie (Colin Campbell) to escape her parents' influence. The marriage gets off to a rocky start and completely slides downhill after the honeymoon is plagued by bad weather. Dot refuses to have anything to do with household responsibilities and cooks only canned beans. Reggie loses interest in sex with Dot because of her actions, and after moving in with his grandmother, he begins to hang around Pete (Dudley Sutton). The two friends ride their motorcycles and begin to spend even more time together, and eventually Reggie realizes that Pete is a homosexual. Dot tells Reggie she is pregnant in an attempt to get him back -- with no result, but when Reggie comes home to find his wife in bed with another man, he decides to go off to sea with Pete. Pete leaves Reggie shaken and alone when he goes off with a group of sailors out to satisfy their same-sex lust. The film was controversial at the time of its initial release. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

American audiences were disappointed when the nude scenes featuring sexy Baby Doll (1956) star Carroll Baker were excised from this potboiler for its exhibition on U.S. shores. At an isolated oil pumping station deep in the African desert, workers Kramer (Peter Van Eyck), Fletcher (Ian Bannen), Macey (Denholm Elliott), Martin (Hansjorg Felmy), and Santos (Mario Adorf) are tense, lonely, and love-starved. A little excitement unexpectedly comes into their lives when they rescue a couple, Jimmy (Biff McGuire) and Catherine (Baker), from a wreck. While Jimmy is bed-ridden with his injuries, Catherine flirtatiously arouses passions and inflames simmering resentments among the oil crew. An amusing dalliance goes too far when Catherine sleeps first with Kramer and then Martin. Based on the play Men Without a Past by Jacques Maret, Station Six-Sahara (1963) played as the B-slot picture on a double bill with Topkapi (1964). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

You Must be Joking? draws its laughs from an Army endurance test. Over a 48-hour period, five officers in the British army-including American transplant Michael Callan-must wend their way through a maze, retrieve a hood ornament from a Rolls Royce and steal a lock of hair from beauteous pop singer Gabriella Licudi. There's a big prize in store for the officer who finishes the test first, and since the other contestant include such middle-aged huffers and puffers as Lionel Jeffries and Denholm Elliot, it doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to figure out who the victor will be. Director Michael Winner was still in his "mad mod" period when he lensed the wacky goings-on of You Must Be Joking? His Death Wish pictures of the 1970s were in 1965 as remote as another galaxy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michael Caine's first starring role was a foray into dramatic irony, scripted by Bill Naughton from his novel and play. Alfie (Caine) is a charming, rogueish Cockney who cannot get his fill of women. He uses them without shame or malice, jumping from one promiscuous female's bed to another without much thought or feeling. Of course, Alfie's not as carefree as he would have the audience -- to whom he often speaks directly -- think: he treats his pregnant, common-law wife, Gilda (Julia Foster), quite shabbily, and has an affair with a married woman (Vivien Merchant) that leaves her pregnant, for which Alfie arranges an abortion. In the end, Alfie never finds lasting meaning or pleasure but remains an unrepentant, if low-class, Don Juan. Caine was Oscar-nominated for his performance. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

When the Soviet Prime Minister accepts a beautiful English bulldog as a gift from the British government, he has no idea that the dog has a highly sensitive bug in its stomach. This lively British espionage farce follows what happens after the dog becomes sick. It's a sticky situation, for if a Russian vet examines the creature, he will surely find the device. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide