Fred Emney Movies

The British farce Naughty Knights was originally shipped out as Up the Chastity Belt. Raucuous comedian Frankie Howerd, who laid waste to Roman history in the zany TV series Up Pompeii, is the star. The film's medieval adventures, involving a noble knight and his stupid serf, are punctuated by ample displays of female breasts, abdomens and thighs. As in Howerd's earlier projects, the supporting cast plays straight while the star makes snide, anachronistic comments directly at audience. This soft-core nonsense is perhaps best appreciated by fans of Frankie Howard; his suprisingly stellar supporting cast includes Bill Fraser, Anna Quayle and Eartha Kitt. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This zany British comedy finds a homeless hobo (Ringo Starr) being adopted by the world's richest man, Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers). Setting sail on the luxury liner The Magic Christian, Sir Grand tests the limit of human avarice. With money to motivate the greedy, Laurence Harvey combines his Hamlet soliloquy with a striptease. A vile cesspool of excrement is seeded with cash and the money-hungry dive right in. Wilfred Hyde White is the drunken captain, Yul Brynner is uncredited in his performance as a chanteuse transvestite, and John Cleese is the director of Sotheby's auction house. Roman Polanski, Richard Attenborough and Raquel Welch also appear in this offbeat comedy. Paul McCartney wrote and produced "Come and Get It," the first international hit from the power-pop group Badfinger. John "Speedy" Keene wrote "Something In The Air" and performed the track with his group Thunderclap Newman. Sellers, Cleese, Graham Chapman and Terry Southern co-authored the screenplay taken from Southern's novel. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

The quintessential British caper film of the 1960s, The Italian Job is a flashy, fast romp that chases a team of career criminals throughout one of the biggest international gold heists in history. Michael Caine is Charlie Croker, a stylish robber and skirt-chaser just out of British prison. Shunning rehabilitation for recidivism, Croker takes over "The Italian Job," a complicated plan to hijack gold bullion from Italy -- right from underneath the noses of the Italian Police and the Mafia. The job, whose original mastermind was murdered, clearly requires the sponsorship of a richer, more established criminal than Croker. He turns to the auspices of the eccentric Mr. Bridger (Noël Coward in his last film role), a suave, regal, incarcerated English crime boss with a peculiar fascination with the Queen. Bridger provides Croker with a quirky group of Britain's most infamous computer hackers (including a lascivious Benny Hill), bank robbers, hijackers, and getaway drivers -- the ex-con is soon well on his way to relieving Italy of the gold. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, Rovi

Inspired by Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist, Lionel Bart's 1961 London and Broadway musical hit glossed over some of Dickens' more graphic passages but managed to retain a strong subtext to what was essentially light entertainment. For its first half-hour or so, Carol Reed's Oscar-winning 1968 film version does a masterful job of telling its story almost exclusively through song and dance. Once nine-year-old orphan Oliver Twist (Mark Lester) falls in with such underworld types as pickpocket Fagin (Ron Moody) and murderous thief Bill Sykes (Oliver Reed), it becomes necessary to inject more and more dialogue, and the film loses some of its momentum. But not to worry; despite such brutal moments as Sikes' murder of Nancy (Shani Wallis), the film gets back on the right musical track, thanks in great part to Onna White's exuberant choreography and the faultless performances by Moody and by Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger. The supporting cast includes Harry Secombe as the self-righteous Mr. Bumble and Joseph O'Conor as Mr. Brownlow, the man who (through a series of typically Dickensian coincidences) rescues Oliver from the streets. Oliver! won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and a special award to choreographer Onna White. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, an irresponsible pop singer avoids rehearsing for his gig for a summer show by the sea in favor of playing with his dogs. He then purchases a racehorse and goes off to watch it race. The show's opening night totally slips his mind until the very last minute. He gets back in the nick of time. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on the mystery novel by Marryam Modell (using the pseudonym Evelyn Piper), Bunny Lake Is Missing is a bizarre study in motherhood, kindness, enigma, and insanity. Ann Lake (Carol Lynley), an American freshly relocated to England, wishes to drop off her daughter Bunny for the girl's first day at a new nursery school. Oddly, Ann cannot locate any teachers or administrators, only the school's disgruntled cook (Lucie Mannheim). She is forced to leave Bunny unsupervised in the building's "first day" room, under the reassurance that the cook will be responsible for the child. When Ann returns in the afternoon, the cook has quit and Bunny Lake is missing. The school's remaining employees vehemently deny ever seeing the child, and Ann desperately calls her older brother Stephen (Keir Dullea) for help. Ann was raised fatherless and never married; she and Bunny have lived under Stephen's care and protection for the majority of both their lives. Stephen is enraged by the irresponsibility of the staff, but as Scotland Yard begins its investigation, it comes to light that he had never officially enrolled a child at the school. When Police Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) begins to unravel the Lakes' lives and search their belongings, he discovers that not only did Ann once have an imaginary childhood daughter named "Bunny," but that the young Bunny seemed to have no tangible possessions at the Lake apartment. Bunny Lake (whom we have yet to see onscreen) may not be missing: she may not even be real. Terrified that Newhouse will now abandon the search for the girl, the hysterical Ann sets out to prove her sanity and, in the process, surprisingly uncovers the true psychosis behind the disappearance of her little Bunny Lake. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, Rovi

The star of this slapstick comedy is not a person but an antique Bentley sports car, the source of several misadventures. Murdoch Troon (Stanley Baxter) is a simple civil servant who has his heart set on romancing Claire (Julie Christie in an early role), the daughter of wealthy businessman Charles Chingford (James Robertson Justice). As a part of his scheme to appear irresistible, Murdoch takes driving lessons so he will be able to impress Claire in the Bentley. Both the lessons and his driving test produce moments of hilarity, and as might be expected, there cannot be a movie featuring a car without a wacky, wild chase. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Let the People Sing is an offshoot of J. B. Priestly's earlier show business-based fable The Good Companions. In Companions, a trio of mismatched dogooders save a musical troupe from ruin. In Let the People Sing, Alastair Sim is a besotted nobleman who comes to the aid of indigent comedian Fred Emney. Through Sim's intervention, the planned closing of a local music hall is prevented. Even if Sim hadn't let the people sing, as the title implores, they probably would have done so anyway. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A mischievous urchin enlists the aide of his buddies to help get his father elected to the city council. Unfortunately, the children find themselves accidently involved in helping two jewel thieves escape. They feel bad about this, and so, to redeem themselves, begin investigating a rival candidates illegal conspiracy. Their involvement causes the boy's father to win the election. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Wallflower Jane Wilton (Diana Churchill) has always lived in the shadow of her beautiful and popular sister Beatrice (Jean Muir). Making things worse, Beatrice is spiteful and cruel, directing all manner of nastiness towards the supplicative and uncomplaining Jane. But when Beatrice sets her cap for Jane's erstwhile boy friend Basil Gilbert (Peter Murray Hill), she goes a shade too far. For once, the worm turns, and Jane fights tooth and nail to win her man back. This amiable retelling of the Cinderella legend is helped along by the presence of such seasoned British supporting players as Athene Seyler and Fred Emney. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this musical, an enigmatic masked woman catches the roving eye of a wily playboy gambler at a masquerade ball. If he knew that she was using her wiles as bait and was planning to reform him of his gambling womanizing ways after catching him, he may have head for different waters. Fortunately for her, he doesn't figure this out until she has reeled him in and effectively ended his days of frying other fish. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi