Stanley Price Movies

Many years before, police commissioner Otto Schatz (Robert Lindsay) was an ardent participant in the Nazi experience, and he still cherishes a profound (and secret) affection for Hitler. Now it is 1958, and all that is over and done with. He just does his job in a small Bavarian town in an ordinary way. Lately, however, he has been having some strange experiences. In fact, he's getting quite a taste for such classic kosher dishes as chopped liver and gefilte fish. It seems that he is being haunted by the ghost of a Jewish ventriloquist named Genghis Cohn (Anthony Sher) whose anti-Nazi routines earned him an early visit to the gas chambers. Together, this unlikely pair sets out to solve a serial killing. This odd comedy is based on the novel The Dance of Genghis Cohn by Romain Gary. One highlight of the film is lively performance by Diana Rigg as a man-hungry matron with lofty cultural pretensions. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Richard Harris dodges bullets from stem to stern in this middling thriller, based on a novel by Alistair MacLean. The plot concerns high-sea hijinks aboard the Caribbean Star, a combination cargo ship and floating casino. In the midst of the high rollers and spinning roulette wheels appears Luis Carreras (John Vernon), an amoral mercenary who hijacks the ship. Taking his marching orders from a mysterious mastermind, he installs an atomic device mid-ship, holding both the passengers and the bomb hostage, hoping to exchange them for the gold bullion of an U.S. Treasury ship. All seems to be going according to Luis's plan until First Officer John Carter (Richard Harris), the attractive Susan Beresford (Ann Turkel), and Dr. Marston (Gordon Jackson) arrive to put a crimp in Luis's escapade. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This weird British hybrid of The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby and It's Alive! stars Joan Collins as a stripper who spurns the advances of a lecherous dwarf and is subsequently cursed by a monstrous baby -- which emits horrifying demonic howls and attacks everyone within reach, including his parents, his nanny and the family doctor (Donald Pleasence). A final exorcism is attempted by a nun (Eileen Atkins), for what it's worth. No clear explanation is given for the link between the spurned dwarf and the demonic influence placed upon the homicidal tyke (even the countless Italian Exorcist knock-offs usually maintained some sort of twisted logic), and the considerable potential for horror in the killer-baby concept is not explored thoroughly enough to keep viewers involved. Also released as I Don't Want To Be Born. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

An expert in ancient hieroglyphics unexpectedly finds himself involved in a web of international intrigue in this chic, enjoyably tongue-in-cheek espionage adventure. Gregory Peck stars as David Pollock, an American professor whose predictable academic routine is overturned when he is hired to help translate a mysterious message written in an obscure ancient text. The real trouble begins, however, when everyone from a wealthy oil magnate to a foreign government to brutal criminals starts to chase Pollock, desperate to discover the nature of the deciphered message. Along for the ride is Yasmin Azir (Sophia Loren), the gorgeous lover of Pollock's employers, whose loyalties are questionable, to say the least. The tangled narrative proves less important than the film's stylish surface, from the colorful London locations to the Henry Mancini score. Certain touches date the film, like a brief foray into psychedelia, but the modish visuals are generally an appropriate match to the insouciant tone. Not taking itself seriously enough to be truly thrilling, Arabesque nevertheless stands as a witty, well-made example of a particular breed of airy, intentionally superficial comic adventure. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide