E.V.H. Emmett Movies

Set in the 1950s in Britain, this award-winning social comedy by director and co-writer John Boulting features Ian Carmichael as the inept Stanley Windrush, a hopeless twit with -- we are to believe -- an Oxford degree. Unlike others in his social circle, Stanley wants to work. When he tries out for jobs in industry with the full expectation of working his way into a management position, he sets off disasters and alienates his interviewers. So his uncle gives him a job in his munitions factory, knowing what an idiot he is, and relying on him to eventually cause a strike (the uncle needs this for his own reasons). Fred Kite (Peter Sellers in a performance that would launch him as an international star) takes Stanley under his wing yet that does not exactly turn out as expected either. Stanley screws up by accidentally being too efficient, and the entire British work force is affected. If one can accept a portrayal of factory workers as shiftless men unwilling to work, and managers as good 'ole boys whose jobs are gained only by networking, then this film will be all the more entertaining. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Passport to Pimlico is one of the most charmingly whimsical Ealing Studios comedies of the late 1940s-early 1950s. As a result of wartime bombing, an ancient parchment is uncovered, proving that the Pimlico section of London belongs to Burgundy, France. Long taken for granted by other Londoners, the tiny Pimlico populace decides to take advantage of its "foreign" status. Affable oaf Stanley Holloway is made head of the new government, whereupon he merrily begins erecting borders and imposing customs duties. The sweetly satirical script of Passport to Pimlico was written by director Henry Cornelius and Ealing stalwart T.E.B. Clarke. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

English actor Clive Brook's only directorial effort, On Approval, is based upon Frederick Lonsdale's frothy 1926 play, though reset in the late 19th century. Brook plays George, a titled duke whose wealth has largely been spent but who has no intention of settling further into genteel poverty. George is enormously appealing to Helen (played by Googie Withers), a good-natured American heiress, and is equally appalling to Maria (Bea Lillie), an Englishwoman of considerable means. The imperious Maria is dating the eternally devoted Richard (Roland Culver), who worships her. Maria decides that she will marry Richard -- after he spends a month with her in a secluded Scottish castle, where she will try him out "on approval." Maria, however, does not intend to discover whether they are suitable for all aspects of marriage; every night he is to row across the loch and spend his nights at a local inn. Neither Maria nor Richard will lack for company, though, as George and Helen invite themselves along. Things get complicated when it turns out that there are no rooms available at the inn, leaving the men to share the castle with the women -- a prospect that so horrifies the servants that they promptly leave the two couples high and dry. Left to their own devices, the foursome get to know each other -- and they don't necessarily like what they find. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

The semidocumentary war film The Lion Has Wings states its case in broad strokes, juxtaposing images of rampaging German-dictator Adolf Hitler and appeasing British prime minister Neville Chamberlain with stock shots of bleating sheep. The film then depicts Great Britain as a great lion, willing and able to sprout "wings" in the form of waves of planes to hurl back the Luftwaffe. The dramatic portion of the film, lensed in ten days to assure timeliness (and, incidentally, a low budget) features an all-star British cast reflecting their native country's many reactions to the inevitability of war. All the on-camera talent involved (including Merle Oberon, Ralph Richardson and June Duprez) donated their salaries to the war effort. Produced by Alexander Korda (who also directed a few bridging sequences, sans credit), The Lion Has Wings was distributed in the US by United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this WW II comedy, three British sailors get roaring drunk in a South American port, accidentally mistake a German battleship for their own and stagger aboard. Boozy mayhem ensues until the tipsy trio manages to capture the ship and its entire crew on behalf of the Royal Navy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this gentle comedy, an aristocratic English fellow is not happy to be betrothed to a brewery heiress. One day he goes to a circus and ends up with a lively human cannonball in his life. He immediately falls for the daring young performer and they end up eloping and going to Paris to live out the rest of their lives. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This romantic comedy, set amidst the exciting world of horseracing is Britain's first Technicolor film. The story, set in the late 1880s, concerns the tempestuous love between an Irish nobleman and the fiery Spanish gypsy he loves. Despite the strident objections of his stuffy, blue-blooded parents, the lovers wed. Unfortunately, the woman is widowed when her husband falls from a horse. The grieving lass returns to her wandering clan in Spain and does not return to Erin for thirty years. When she finally does, it is with a fabulous race horse and her beautiful granddaughter (the spitting image of the old woman in her youth) who masquerades as a boy so she can ride the horse in the Epsom Downs Derby. While awaiting the big race, the granddaughter meets a handsome Canadian horse trainer. He finds out her true sex, but says nothing. One night, he sees her dressed for a gala and seeing that she is truly a beauty falls deeply in love, even though he knows that the lass is engaged to another. Still the trainer and the bogus jockey fall in love. The excellent cinematography offers one of the film's highlights. Rather than following the Hollywood custom of using almost garish and vividly contrasting colors (to create a larger-than-life, almost cartoonish ambiance) in shooting, cinematographers Ray Rennahan and Jack Cardiff elected to film the story in beautiful pastel hues that add a soft pastoral feeling. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Oskar Homolka plays a London movie-theatre owner who maintains a secret life as a paid terrorist. Homolka's wife Sylvia Sidney doesn't suspect Homolka of any wrongdoing, but she's picked up enough second-hand information about her husband's activities to arouse the interest of government agent (John Loder). Posing as a grocer, Loder moves next door to the Homolkas, befriending Sidney and her precocious young brother Desmond Tester. Sensing that he's being watched, Homolka sends Tester out to deliver a reel of film. The reel contains a time bomb, but Homolka is certain that the boy will deliver his package on time and will be safely away by the time the bomb explodes. Thus begins one of Hitchcock's most electrifying suspense sequences, as the unsuspecting boy is delayed en route to his destination. Sabotage was based on Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent; the film was retitled A Woman Alone in the US. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi