Mario Fabrizi Movies
- 1963
British teens struggle to win the right to vote in this swinging musical from England. When the established political parties pay no mind to the young campaigners and so the youths decide to start their own party and use some of England's most popular singers to help them campaign. Among the artists lending their support are Freddy Cannon, Bobby Vee, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, the Spotniks and Joe Brown and the Breakaways. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Wynter, Bobby Vee, (more)
- 1963
Tony Hancock, as big a comedy star as it was possible to be in the Britain of 1963, decided to pull a "Charlie Chaplin" with The Punch and Judy Man. He plays an end-of-pier seashore entertainer who is loved by children but reviled by adults. Hancock's efforts to establish himself as a man of importance invariably end in disappointment and despair. Not even Tony Hancock's legion of fans could be persuaded to drink up the bathos ladled out in The Punch and Judy Man. Ironically, Hancock in real life ended up committing suicide in 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Hancock, Sylvia Syms, (more)
From Richard Lester, the director of 1980's Superman II and the 1964 A Hard Day's Night, comes this less-successful sequel to the The Mouse that Roared. The Prime Minister of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick (Ron Moody) is in a bind because he has no money to renovate his castle and there is a serious problem with his small country's main export, wine. The stuff tends to explode. So the Prime Minister asks the U.S. for aid to develop space research, knowing full well they are not going to give him money to remodel his castle. Once the U.S. grants a cool million to the country, Russia adds in a used rocket, and things start popping. Like it or not, the Duchy is suddenly involved in space research and contributing to the madness is the discovery that its unique wine makes good rocket fuel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Cribbins, (more)
- 1962
One's enjoyment of On the Beat rests solely upon one's tolerance of British comedian Norman Wisdom, who can be described as a Jerry Lewis without the discipline. Wisdom plays a Scotland Yard parking attendant who seemingly can't draw breath without breaking something or knocking someone down. He wants to become a detective, but the Yard isn't quite ready for such a catastrophe. He proves his worth--and wreaks more havoc--by going undercover and trapping a gang of jewel thieves. The slapstick is serviceable in On the Beat; as for the "serious" moments, Wisdom's notion of pathos is to scream at the top of his lungs. You may want to join him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Wisdom, Jennifer Jayne, (more)
- 1962
A British officer must save the Barbary apes on Gibralter at all costs in this WW II farce. He does this, because it is believed that if the apes leave the rock, Britain will fall. The trouble begins when the only male ape dies. To save the rest, the officer and his side-kick sneak in to Zurich and steal an ape from a German circus. This results in a promotion for the officer, and now he and his partner are assigned to protect the ravens in the Tower of London. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
When a traveling salesman arrives to hawk his wares in an economically depressed Italian village, the last thing he expects is to be assailed by the most beautiful single girls in town, but that is exactly what happens. The reason for it stems from the fact that all but one of the town's eligible bachelors have left to find work. The only available man left is a wealthy emigrant. He is looking for a wife and the impoverished parents of the daughters push their children to compete for his love. This creates considerable conflict until the village elders step in and decide that the rich man's bride will be selected by the first outsider to enter the village. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Sykes, Scilla Gabel, (more)
- 1961
The youthful residents of a small British town stand united in their struggle to be allowed to listen to rock & roll and jazz in this comical musical. The trouble really begins when the village mayor tries to ban the jukebox in the local coffee house. Determined to prove that modern music has nothing to do with the Devil, two youths team up and try to organize a rock and jazz festival. They are successful and as a result many popular performers appear. These include Chubby Checker, Del Shannon, Chris Barber's Jazz Band, and Gary "U.S." Bonds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Shapiro, Craig Douglas, (more)
- 1961
Zany British comedian Tony Hancock was briefly a major draw in the 1960s, with several popular TV series, sellout personal appearances, and a string of theatrical films to his credit. In The Rebel (released in the US as Call Me Genius), Hancock plays a middle-class businessman who decides to chuck it all and become a painter. He heads for Paris, there to starve in an attic until fame and fortune comes calling. Like many British comedies of the era, The Rebel has great fun at expense of modern art and bohemian artistes; Hancock takes full advantage of every humorous possibility, with suave George Sanders acting as his dignified foil. Alas, by the end of the 1960s, Tony Hancock was dead by his own hand, a victim of alcohol and acute depression. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Hancock, George Sanders, (more)
Peter Sellers stars as an inmate in a "model prison" run by Maurice Denham. Though Sellers is disinclined to escape (he's never been as comfortable in his life), he is convinced to do so by phony vicar Wilfred Hyde-White, who breaks into jail to outline a robbery scheme. Hyde-White's plan is to have Sellers and his cellmates David Lodge and Bernard Cribbins take a brief "vacation" from jail, pull off a big-time robbery, then return undetected to prison, thereby establishing a perfect alibi. Within its 87-minute time span, Two-Way Stretch takes satirical potshots at political bleeding hearts, obese Middle Eastern potentates, and regulation-bound British police officials. One cannot be faulted for wishing that Peter Sellers had stuck to engaging small-scale British farces such as this and had never ventured into such unamusing big-budgeters as The Bobo and There's a Girl in My Soup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, (more)
