John Forrest Movies
- 1976
This is not the same kind of film as the 1962 production, Tom Jones. In fact, it is a "nudie musical", as evidenced by the presence of singing star Georgia Brown in the dual role of Jenny Jones and Mrs. Waters. The project originated as a Las Vegas stage presentation, with Nicky Henson in the lead. The plot of the Henry Fielding novel about the "boy born to be hanged" is followed in spirit rather than to the letter, with busty Joan Collins thrown in like a lagniappe as a lady highwayman. Wandering through the proceedings are such English stalwarts as Trevor Howard and Terry-Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicky Henson, Trevor Howard, (more)
- 1961
Essentially a one-joke comedy hanging on the thinnest of plots, this routine series of slapstick situations is directed by Don Chaffey and concerns the ineptitude of an Air Force officer, Captain Kingsley (Jimmy Edwards). The likeable Captain has a fixation on mechanical contrivances, but at the same time he is an accident waiting to happen. The wait is never long, and so the Prime Minister himself orders everyone into action when the Captain comes up missing -- who knows what disaster may lie in the wings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Edwards, Kenneth Connor, (more)
Very Important Person is an amusing British comedy set in a German POW camp during World War II. Sir Ernest Pease (James Robertson Justice) is a self-important professor with a bloated ego and a lightning put-down. When he is flown over Germany disguised as a navy officer to check out the effectiveness of one of his radar inventions, his plane is shot down and he lands in the POW camp. All sorts of misunderstandings arise, since the other prisoners suspect him of being a spy. In the meantime, there are the expected clashes of wit between the British prisoners and their dour German captors and the inevitable camp-organized concert. In the midst of these activities, the professor is challenged to find a way to escape. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Phillips, Stanley Baxter, (more)
- 1954
Peter Reynolds stars as the son of a respectable British family, who despite his position and privilege chooses to pursue a life of crime. Starting with petty thievery, the misguided young man intends to cap his career with a major casino heist. A policeman (Patric Barr), in love with the young man's sister (Rona Anderson), figures out the boys' intentions and sets about to prevent the robbery. When the chips are down, the malfeasant shows what a rat he truly is, thereby losing whatever family loyalty his sister might have felt towards him. The villain's ultimate demise is befitting his loathsome personality. Produced in England, Black 13 was released stateside by 20th Century-Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Reynolds, Rona Anderson, (more)
- 1952
Also known as Glory at Sea, a World War II British commander and his crew wage a fierce sea battle against the Germans in spite of their inferior vessel. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Howard, Richard Attenborough, (more)
- 1951
Tom Brown's Schooldays was the second film version of Thomas Hughes' semiautobiographical novel. John Howard Davies, who'd previously essayed the title role in Oliver Twist, stars as first-year Rugby student Tom Brown. In his efforts to adjust to boarding-school life, Tom must contend with the calculated cruelties of all-around bully Flashman (John Forrest). One of the boy's few allies is new schoolmaster Doctor Arnold (Robert Newton), who believes that discipline can be tempered with kindness, a "radical" notion so far as his colleagues are concerned. Despite the authenticity of its British surroundings, the 1951 version of Tom Brown's Schooldays isn't quite as good as the 1940 Hollywood adaptation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Howard Davies, Robert Newton, (more)
- 1950
Set in a quiet British village, Franchise Affair details the ramifications of a malicious lie. Schoolgirl Ketty Kane (Ann Stephens) hopes to cover up her own misbehavior by claiming that two local women, Marion Sharpe (Dulcie Gray) and Marion's mother (Marjorie Fielding), have kidnapped and abused her. Though the authorities swallow Ketty's story, village lawyer Robert Blair (Michael Dennison) had his doubts. Risking ostracism from the community, Blair quietly sets about to prove the innocence of the two women. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dulcie Gray, Anthony Nicholls, (more)
- 1949
Adam and Evelyne stars Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons, who were husband and wife in the 1950s. Granger plays a "sang froid" gambler with little room for emotional entanglements in his life. When his best friend dies, Granger agrees to adopt the friend's daughter. She grows up to be Jean Simmons; Granger falls in love, but says nothing about his feelings because Jean accepts him as her real father. The denouement is right out of Daddy Long Legs, but is still effective within its new framework. When Adam and Evelyne made the Atlantic crossing and opened in the US, it was retitled Adam and Evelyn. Who knows why? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, Jean Simmons, (more)
- 1948
In one of his rare visits to his home turf, British actor David Niven essayed the title role in Bonnie Prince Charlie. The film's principal challenge was to transform 18th-century Scottish Prince Charles into a sympathetic character, which, patriotism aside, he most decidedly was not in real life. The court-intrigue scenes are the weakest aspect of the film; the strongest moments take place on the battlefield, where Charles "the pretender" and his followers face down the battalions of King George II (Martin Miller). Even in defeat, Charles is the victor, successfully eluding his British pursuers and escaping to France. Filmed in Technicolor at a cost of $4 million, Bonnie Prince Charlie fell with a thud when it premiered at a kidney-busting 140 minutes. Subsequent reissues were cut by as many as 40 minutes, and some were economically reprocessed in black-and-white. Thanks to constant exposure on American television, this notorious flop finally posted a profit in the late 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Margaret Leighton, (more)
- 1948
Not a film about scientific research, The Guinea Pig (US title: The Outsider) is the story of an incipient "affirmative action" program. An impoverished young British boy wins a scholarship. As part of a sociological experiment, he becomes the first product of his "class" to be accepted in a snooty upper-crust public school. Most of the film concentrates on the effect this experiment has on the school staff. Written by actor Bernard Miles, who also plays a supporting role, The Guinea Pig stirred up controversy at the time of its release because of the presence of an alleged profanity in its dialogue. If you must know, it's the same "filthy word" Audrey Hepburn shouts at the Ascot races in My Fair Lady (64). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, (more)
Immediately grabbing the audience's attention with a heart-stopping opening scene in a dark graveyard, acclaimed British director David Lean realizes the cinematic potential of Charles Dickens' classic 1861 novel, and the result is considered by many to be one of the finest literary adaptations ever made as well as one of the greatest British films of all time. Crystallized into a tight 118-minute running time by Lean, Ronald Neame, and a corps of uncredited contributors, this is the story of young Pip, a lad of humble means whose training as a gentleman is bankrolled by a mysterious benefactor. Along the way, Pip falls in love with the fickle Estella, befriends the cheerfully insouciant Herbert Pocket, has memorable encounters with the escaped convict Magwitch and the lunatic dowager Miss Havisham, and almost (but not quite) forgets his modest origins as the foster son of kindhearted blacksmith Joe Gargery. The role of Pip is evenly divided between Anthony Wager as a child and John Mills as an adult; Alec Guinness makes his starring film debut as the jaunty Pocket; Jean Simmons and Valerie Hobson are costarred as the younger and older Estella; and Martita Hunt is unforgettable as the mad Miss Havisham ("It's a fine cake! A wedding cake! MINE!") Remade several times, Great Expectations resurfaced in 1989 as a TV miniseries, with Jean Simmons, originally the young Estella, tearing a passion to tatters as Miss Havisham; and in 1998 it was remade again, in a contemporary version, with Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert DeNiro, and Anne Bancroft in the Miss Havisham role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Valerie Hobson, (more)
Predating 20th Century-Fox's Somewhere in the Night by at least a year, Identity Unknown is one of the first (if not the first) 1940s melodramas centering around an amenisiac ex-GI. Richard Arlen plays Johnny March, who returns from WW2 with nary a clue as to his true identity or the details of his past. March begins a long and arduous trek across America, visiting a wide variety of people who've lost loved ones in the war, in hopes of piecing together his own previous existence. In the manner of The Fugitive, March profoundly affects the lives of everyone he meets, helping them understand what the sacrifices of the war were all about and enabling them to face the future with optimism and pride. Though it may have been merely coincidental, Identity Unknown was released around the same time that the United Nations' first San Francisco Conference was about to convene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Cheryl Walker, (more)
- 1944
Strange Confession was the fourth in Universal's "Inner Sanctum" B-picture series, all of which starred Lon Chaney Jr. Chaney plays an idealistic writer who allows himself to be used by a politically ambitious publishing mogul (J. Carroll Naish). Not only does the publisher distort the sociological content of Chaney's works for his own purposes, but he also steals the writer's wife (Brenda Joyce). Chaney exacts a grisly revenge and turns himself over to the police. This is a scene-for-scene remake of the 1934 Claude Rains vehicle, The Man who Reclaimed His Head, which in turn was based on a play by Jean Bart. Universal was forced to completely withdraw the remake from theatrical and TV distribution when the studio realized that it no longer controlled the rights to the original Bart play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Whorf, Allyn Joslyn, (more)
- 1943
This patriotic WW II-era bit of anti-Japanese propaganda centers on a white Texas college student who becomes such good friends with Japanese students on campus that he goes to their country after he is wrongfully accused of being a traitor. All this happened before the U.S. declared war on Japan. After the war begins, the fellow willingly makes pro-Japanese radio broadcasts. Fortunately, the fellow turns out to be a red-blooded American boy through and through and thanks to him, the Japanese are rendered helpless by the end of the film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Quine, Noah Beery, Jr., (more)
