Hilda Fenemore Movies

Filmed on location in a British industrial town, Chance of a Lifetime is a trenchantly amusing satire of labor-management relations. When a group of angry workers protest their wage and working conditions at a plough factory, they are permitted to take over the operation themselves. It isn't long before they realize that you can't run a business on idealism and goodwill. Wisely, no one in the film is depicted as a clear-cut hero or villain; "hateful" company boss Dickinson (Basil Radford) is just as human and likeable as the incensed workers. For reasons that now seem frivolous, Chance of a Lifetime was rejected by three major British distribution firms before it was picked up--at the behest of the government--by British Lion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

As directed by Stuart Heisler (The Glass Key) and produced by David E. Rose, this slick and glossy, Technicolor-drenched romantic melodrama stars two onetime screen heartthrobs, Linda Darnell and Tab Hunter. She's a nurse, Elizabeth Smythe, and he's a Marine corporal, Michael "Chicken" Dugan; the pair wind up stranded on a tropical isle following the explosion of a military ship in the Pacific. For some time, Michael and Elizabeth find themselves at odds, and spend lengthy periods quarreling, but romance eventually blossoms and the two fall in love. Unfortunately, that romance soon hits the rocks given the arrival of a third party on the isle, a gravely injured RAF pilot named William Peck (($Donald Gray). Elizabeth nurses William back to health, and in the process, competition between the men for Elizabeth's affections grows overly fierce. This saga was originally released under the title Saturday Island but was also issued in some quarters as the more-alluring Island of Desire. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

This documentary profiles the work of a palm reader who assures a woman bent on suicide that she will find happiness and assists a woman in the search for her long-lost son. ~ Rovi

Three lost souls find salvation through the words of evangelist Billy Graham in this religious drama produced by and starring Billy Graham. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this children's adventure, two youngsters compete to find a treasure in the old mill where one of their relatives hid it years ago. Unfortunately, the facility has new owners. Fortunately, they help the boy find it. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on the Rumer Godden novel An Episode of Sparrows, Innocent Sinners stars June Archer and Christopher Hey as the title characters. Neglected by her mother, contentious little Lovejoy (Archer) runs off to an abandoned London building, where with the help of several street urchins she begins to build a tiny garden as a home-away-from-home. Misunderstood by the film's adult authority figures, Lovejoy is carted off to a charity home, from which she is rescued by her new friends, including street-smart Tip (Hey). Among the few sympathetic grownups in the film are David Kossoff and Barbara Mullen as a pair of likeable restauranteurs, and Flora Robson and Catherine Lacey as the standard golden-hearted old crones. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ray Milland doubles up as star and director of The Safecracker. Set during WW II, the film casts Milland as professional cracksman Colley Dawson, who is rescued from prison by Army major Adbury (Ernest Clark). Dawson is offered a deal: if he'll agree to embark upon a dangerous mission behind enemy lines, he'll be given his freedom. The mission, of course, is to break into a Nazi safe and steal a list of German spies operating in England. Before one can say "Robert Wagner", Dawson is trained as a commando and parachuted into Belgium for the "caper" of his life. Supposedly based on a true story, The Safecracker was lensed in Europe and released stateside by MGM. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lawyer Vincent Ball investigates a drug-smuggling ring. Aiding Ball every step of the way is above-reproach probation officer Robert Cawdron. Imagine the lawyer's dismay when he learns that Cawdron is the brains behind the drug operation. The 55-minute Feet of Clay was produced by the Danzingers, American filmmakers long entrenched in Great Britain. The film was distributed to British neighborhood houses by the London arm of Hollywood's United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this crime drama a teenager gets in over his head when he joins a violent street gang that beats a black person to death. When a gang member knifes the lad's sister, the youth reconsiders his actions, leaves them and reforms. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this spooky horror film set in an old English village, the trouble begins when a man endeavors to dig up a cemetery containing the charred bodies of witches burned at the stake 300 years before. The warlock who looks after the family cemetery tries to stop him, but cannot. As soon as their graves are disturbed, the witches arise and strange things begin to happen to the family of the man who dug them up. Later the true culprit behind the mayhem is revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Escape by Night was originally released in Great Britain as Clash by Night, which was also the title of the Rupert Croft-Brooke novel on which it was based. Gangster boss Tom Bowman has been arrested and is being transported to prison in a bus containing several innocent "civilians." Bowman's old gang hijacks the bus to rescue their boss, then take refuge in an old barn. The gang holds off the authorities by threatening to torch the barn and all its occupants. The climactic conflagration is predictable, but its outcome isn't. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In The Offence, Sean Connery plays Johnson, a normally unflappable British police inspector who is emotionally shaken by a case of child molestation. For reasons he cannot explain, he is driven to kill the suspect while interrogating him and is suspended from the force. The incident leads to a nervous breakdown -- and the implication that Johnson had beaten the molester to death to purge himself of his own hidden pederastic tendencies. Based on John Hopkins' stage play This Story of Yours, The Offence made little headway at the box office, but United Artists was compelled to release the film to assure Connery's participation in UA's next James Bond movie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jackie Collins wrote the best-selling novel The Stud. Her sister Joan Collins starred in the 1978 film version of The Stud. The producer on the film was Joan Collins' then-husband Ron Kass. Need we say more? Well, there is a plot, involving the insatiable Joan's sexual hold over a handsome nightclub manager Oliver Tobias. And there was a sequel, also written by Jackie and starring Joan, titled The Bitch. Need we say more now? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi