Meriel Forbes Movies

Often consigned to comic relief roles in Hollywood, Reginald Gardiner is awarded top billing in the British Borrow a Million. Gardiner plays an affable millionaire who strikes up a friendship with humble London tea-shop proprietor Charles Cullum. At the urging of his lovely sister Vera Bogetti, Gardiner backs Cullum in a risky business venture. As a result, Cullum becomes the wealthy manager of a string of profitable restaurants. Clocking in at 50 minutes, Borrow a Million was produced by Fox Studios' British facilities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

College students Baxter and Underdown fall in love and are harassed by gym teacher Howard who wants to break up their relationship to the extent of pretending to be the school's headmistress in this comedy. ~ All Movie Guide

This gentle ethnic drama from the UK concerns Jake Cohen, a wealthy, self-made Jewish entrepreneur who began his career as a humble peddler and, over the decades, turned his business into a massive, booming department store with thousands of workers. When his sons begin employing modern technologies and business methods in the store, they alienate their father, who pines for the old days and the old ways of doing things. Jake's youngest son takes off for America, and falls in love with Irish lass Sally O'Connor (Meriel Ferbes) on his way home. They become engaged, much to the consternation of Jake and his wife, who have long assumed that the boy would marry his Jewish childhood sweetheart. Then, suddenly, Jake's wife dies of a heart attack. Devastated by the loss, and increasingly irritated by his sons' modernization of the business, Jake dresses in peddler's clothes and heads west, to walk the fields of England. However, he soon reads in the newspaper that his 3,000 employees have staged a strike in protest of the sons' decision not to give them the perks that Jake conceded to, prior to the takeover. He hops a pig-filled truck back to London, where he wrests control of the business from his sons, resorts once again to his "old business methods," and - in the final scenes of the picture -- gives his youngest express permission to marry a Gentile. The film wraps with two weddings for the boy and Sally, one in a Jewish synagogue and one in a Catholic church. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, a humble country girl lives her life in the ramshackle mansion of her aged uncle. Feeling sorry for her "poor" relation and selflessly keeping him company until he dies, she is later shocked to learn that he has left her an enormous fortune. One might think such a windfall a dream come true, but not for the girl. Things immediagely go wrong when her fiance, the town doctor, wanting to focus on his career, refuses to abandon his patients and go galavanting across Europe. Angrily, she goes anyway and finds herself surrounded by gigolos more interested in her assets than in her perosonality. This causes her to reasses her new values and return to the man who loves her for herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Bells Go Down is a dramatization of London firefighting efforts during the 1940 Blitz. In structure, the film is very much like any other smoke-eating melodrama, with perhaps more emphasis on comedy than usual. The omnipresence of the Luftwaffe gives the film an urgency that others in its genre tend to lack. Making it all the more remarkable is the fact that most British studios were just as vulnerable as London's burned-down landmarks--a fact not lost on the actors, who perform with heightened credibility. Many of the better composed shots in The Bells Go Down would find their way into TV documentaries of the 1950s and 1960s as "reality" footage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Even while back in his native England, Miles Mander couldn't completely escape underhanded roles. In Case for the Crown, however, Mander's dishonesty is in the name of a good cause. When his business partner commits suicide, Mander rearranges the evidence to make it look like murder. It's all on behalf of the dead man's daughter (Meriel Forbes), who could not withstand the public scandal that would have been fomented by the truth of her father's demise. Case for the Crown is based on An Error in Judgment, a story by Anthony Gittins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Whenever one sees a title like The Gentle Sex, one braces oneself for an ironic switcharound. The supposedly gentle girls of the title--seven in all--are actually determined young British moderns who go into military service during World War II. In true "Army bomber crew" fashion, the film explores the widely varied backgrounds of the ladies involved, showing the events which led them to their patriotic commitment. As propaganda, Gentle Sex served its wartime purpose; as entertainment, it holds up reasonably well after five decades. The film was coproduced and codirected by actor Leslie Howard, who functions as narrator and (according to one source) can be glimpsed from behind in a couple of scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, an aged wine maker ignores his sons' disapproval and marries a much younger woman. The angered sons then do all they can to destroy the relationship. They nearly succeed when they inform her that her hubby, whom she thought was 45, is really 62 years old. Angered by his lie, she leaves. Fortunately, the husband's granddaughter gets involved and persuades her to return. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide