June C. Ellis Movies

In this British thriller, a married woman uses her feminine wiles to convince her lover to murder her husband so they can be together forever. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A surprisingly serious and well-acted major studio variation on the "teens in trouble" films that AIP and Allied Artists cranked out in the 1950's, Blue Denim stars Brandon De Wilde and Carol Lynley as Arthur and Janet, a pair of high school sweethearts who find in each other the love and understanding they don't receive from their emotionally distant parents. However, teenage romance leads to adult consequences when Janet finds herself pregnant; neither of the teens can broach the subject with their parents, and since they're regarded as too young to get married, they're forced to seek out an illegal abortion before Janet is no longer able to hide her condition. While time has dated the story, Blue Denim still comes off as sincere and well-crafted (the sequence where the teen lovers meet the abortionist is still a bit spooky all these years later), and was considered quite frank in its day. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

There are murderous goings on at a sweatshop that specializes in lingerie. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

New ER boss Dr. Swift (Michael Ironside) requests (read: "demands") that Greene discuss the OR death of Jodi O'Brien death before a hospital conference. Deb's (Ming-Na) rush to pile up more procedures than Carter (Noah Wyle) results in serious error. Ross (George Clooney) grows ever closer to Diane (Lisa Zane). And Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) is unpleasantly surprised by her sister Chloe's (Kathleen Wilhoite) sudden return. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alfred Hitchcock entered the 1970s with his commercial reputation virtually in tatters, a far cry from his stature at the start of the 1960s. Then, he'd been in the middle of the massively successful trio of movies, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds, and was a ubiquitous presence on television thanks to his anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents -- but the series ended, and he'd suffered three expensive box-office failures in a row, Marnie, Torn Curtain, and Topaz, in the second half of the 1960s. He redeemed himself with Frenzy, however, which marked his return not only to England for the first time in 20 years but also to the subject matter with which he'd started his career in thrillers back in 1926 -- murder, and a hunt for a serial killer in London. As the latest female victim of the "Necktie Murderer" is found in the Thames, raped and strangled, we meet Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), a bitter, belligerent ex-Royal Air Force officer who can't seem to find his way in life. He drinks too much and holds grudges too easily, and has an explosive temper, which is very near the surface as he's just lost his job. We also meet his girlfriend, a barmaid (Anna Massey); his ex-wife, a professional matchmaker (Barbara Leigh-Hunt); and his best friend, Covent Garden fruit seller Bob Rusk (Barry Foster). Their connection to the necktie murders will be clear to us in the first 30 minutes of the movie and, not coincidentally, completely misinterpreted by the police, as Chief Inspector Oxford (Alec McCowan) and his men tighten a circle around the wrong man, who rapidly runs out of options and allies.

The chase and suspense are classic Hitchcock, favorably recalling a dozen of his earlier movies, from The Lodger and The 39 Steps through Saboteur and Spellbound to Dial M for Murder and North by Northwest, with some new twists and the added energy afforded by the extensive use of actual London locations. There's also a good deal more sex and nudity here than Hitchcock was ever allowed to use in his earlier movies, owing to the relaxation of "decency" standards that had taken place in the years leading up to this production. The suspense derives from multiple interlocking and overlapping layers of uncertainty -- when will each of the two men, suspect and murderer, slip? (And which will slip first?) When and how will the police realize their mistake, and will it be in time to save the innocent man? Amid the straightforward storytelling and thriller elements, Hitchcock manages to slip in a few bravura cinematic moments, the best of them a pullback shot down a flight of stairs into a busy street as the killer invites his next victim into his home, as well as a scene aboard a truck, with a murderer desperately wrestling with a corpse hidden in a sack of potatoes. Frenzy was adapted from Arthur La Bern's novel Goodbye Picadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by mystery aficionado Anthony Shaffer, but for all of that and its decidedly modern trappings of sex and violence, it bears the indelible stylistic stamp of Alfred Hitchcock. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Gypsy Girl was originally released in England as Sky West and Crooked. With this production, John Mills became a one-time film director, guiding his daughter Hayley through a screenplay written by Mills' wife Mary Hayley Bell. Radically cast against type, Hayley plays a mentally traumatized young lady living in a remote North Country rural community. She falls in love with a handsome gypsy (Ian McShane), which stirs up the prejudices of her family and neighbors. In the end, it is the gypsy boy who rescues Hayley from being institutionalized. Less grim than one might expect, Gypsy Girl takes its time telling its story, though the acting makes up for any lulls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, the two-part TV movie I Know My First Name Is Steven tells the tragic story of Steven Stayner. At age seven, Steven was kidnapped by two men who held him captive in a tiny shed for seven years. One of the men, a habitual child abuser named Kenneth Parnell, sexually assaulted Steven on an almost daily basis during the boy's ordeal. At age 14, Steven finally was able to escape and return to his family. But we are shown that Steven's safe return was far from the happy ending it appeared to be. He's forced to adjust to a family he'd never really known, to convince himself that his parents had never forgotten him, and to put his seven-year hell behind him. While I Know My First Name Is Steven ends on an upbeat note, the real Stayner died in a motorcycle accident only a few months after this film was first telecast in May 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ironside (Raymond Burr) has trouble believing that Samantha Dain (Marcia Strassman), a famous folksinger who sent him a cheer-up note during his convalescence, has committed suicide by leaping from a tall building. Suspecting that Samantha was murdered, Ironside conducts his own investigation--and unearths a sordid tale of drug addiction, depression and despair. In a true "sign of the times" moment, one sequence takes place in a discotheque called "The Psychedelic Daffodil", clearly inspired by the popular LA nightspot The Daisy. Actor-librettist George Furth, who later who the book for the Broadway musical "Company", appears as Ray Harrison. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

By the admission of its own producers, the made-for-TV Marian Rose White was "extremely loosely based" on a true story. The real Marian Rose White was a 1930s teenager who suffered from a congenital visual defect. This led to her being misdiagnosed as "feebleminded," and locked away in a Sonoma, California institution. Despite the entreaties of sympathetic staffers, Marian was forced to undergo a legally mandated sterilization--which her widowed, impoverished mother readily agreed to. Thirty years passed before this terrible wrong was addressed and Marian was allowed to re-enter society. For the purposes of this film, those three decades were telescoped into four years. The result is a sincere (if somewhat rushed) "injustice of the week" TV effort. Katherine Ross is top-billed as a compassionate nurse, while Valerie Perrine is cast as Marian's unfeeling mother. Marian Rose White is brilliantly essayed by Nancy Cartwright, who is best known today as the voice of cartoon character Bart Simpson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Philanthropist Carleton Gage (Everett Glass) hires Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) to alter his will so that the orphanage he supports will remain open. Unfortunately, Gage lapses into a coma just before the will can be finalized. As Gage's life ebbs away, two of his beneficiaries, his cousin George (Jacques Aubuchon) and his employee Ernest Demming (John Morley) demand that the orphanage be shut down--while Gage's sister-in-law Joane Proctor (Jan Shepard) just as insists that the place will stay in business. By and by, Demming is murdered, and Joane is charged with the crime--meaning that Perry will have to redirect his energies to save Joane from being convicted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nigel Kneale's Quatermass TV series spawned a brief film series produced over an eleven-year period; 1967's Quatermass and the Pit, released in the US as Five Million Years to Earth, was the third and (until 1979's Quatermass Conclusion) last. As in previous chapters in the Kneale saga, the film begins with a baffling scientific discovery. This time it's a bunch of prehistoric skulls, discovered during a subway excavation in the heart of London. Sequestered in a lab, the skulls start to emanate a bizarre force over the populace, resulting in death and destruction. Professor Quatermass (Andrew Keir) concludes that the skulls are the residue of an extraterrestrial invading army -- a theory which (as usual) is scoffed at by the authorities until it's almost too late. Blessed with superb special effects and an expertly sustained tension level, Quatermass and the Pit is easily the best of the short-lived "Quatermass" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Upon their defeat by Francis Drake, a ship's crew which served in the Spanish Armada anchors near a small coastal village in England to make repairs on their vessel. While there, the cuthroat Captain Robeles (Christopher Lee) leads his men to take control of the town in an opportunistic move, claiming to have won a naval battle. Fortunately for the villagers, they are not without means defending themselves -- especially as one crewman decides to jump ship to help them. Screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, known mostly for his horror tales, contributed yet another character for Lee as he did previously in Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Mummy, and Scream of Fear. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

The Girl on a Swing, a haunting, mystery thriller with a supernatural twist, is the story of a desperate woman, who will do anything to be with the man she loves. Karin Foster (Meg Tilly), a lonely German secretary, falls in love with and marries Alan (Rupert Frazier) and moves with him to England. There her strange behavior and fears strain the marriage and lead Alan to mistrust his wife and begin to delve into her past. Based on the novel by Richard Adams, the film is not entirely successful due to the leisurely direction of Gordon Hessler and the lack of pace needed to create genuine suspense. But despite this flaw, the sensitive performance of Meg Tilly makes the film well worth watching and is a haunting psychological exploration of obsession, passion and guilt. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide