Ronald Adam Movies
Round-faced, heavily eye-browed British character-player Ronald Adam was the son of actors Blake Adam and Mona Robin. Even while pursuing his own career, Adam had time to participate in two World Wars; he spent much of World War I as a POW, while in World War II he successfully campaigned for an officer's commission despite his age. Often seen playing stern officials, Adam made his first film, The Drum in 1938, and his last, Song of Norway, in 1970. In addition to his many stage and screen appearances, Ronald Adam was also a fairly productive playwright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
An institutionalized schizophrenic with a Messiah complex inherits the position of an English Earl in this cutting satire of British society, based on a play by Peter Barnes. The film's irreverent tone is established with the disturbingly hilarious death of the thirteenth Earl of Gurney during a bizarre attempt at auto-erotic asphyxiation. To the dismay of the earl's family, the title passes to his son Jack (Peter O'Toole), who has been locked away for eight years after claiming to be the second coming of Jesus Christ. Mad but harmless, Jack is released to assume his seat. However, his embrace of Christianity proves incompatible with a position of power in "normal" society, where peace and love are considered serious weaknesses, and a somewhat unhinged psychiatrist is called to help him adjust. Meanwhile, Jack's scheming uncle, Sir Charles (William Mervyn), works on developing a complex scheme to trick Jack out of his position. Loaded with idiosyncratic touches from eccentric camera angles to unexpected outbursts of song, the film creates an experience nearly as inspired and mad as O'Toole's brilliantly hilarious central performance. The film's devilish invention may at times seem overloaded, but most drawbacks are redeemed by the sharpness of the satire, particularly during the memorably disturbing finale. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Alastair Sim, (more)
- 1971
Set during World War I, Zeppelin stars Michael York as Geoffrey Richter-Douglas, a British defector who goes to work in the fledgling German airship industry. In truth, Richter-Douglas is a spy, who has feigned defection in order to steal the plans for the revolutionary new Zeppelin. Our hero goes under cover so well that, when he tries to inform his own government of a German plan to steal the Magna Carta and thus irreparably damage British morale, no one believes him! Marius Goring costars as the inventor of the Zeppelin, who is racked with guilt when he learns that his creation is to be used for underhanded purposes, while Elke Sommer plays Goring's wife, who ends up helping Richter-Douglas to thwart the robbery scheme. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael York, Elke Sommer, (more)
- 1970
This musical biography of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (Torval Maurstad) is based on the play of the same name. Living in poverty after graduating from a music conservatory, Grieg scandalizes his family by marrying his cousin Nina (Florence Henderson). Grieg has an affair with a former schoolmate, Therese Berg (Christina Schollin), a wealthy woman who makes a deal with her influential father to end the romance if he'll arrange a concert for Grieg in Stockholm. Grieg eventually travels to Rome, where his significance as an artist begins to find appreciation. His association with Therese is not really finished and Grieg's humble piano, a gift from the self-sacrificing Nina, is overshadowed by Therese's gift of a grand piano. Back to back with the subsequent and equally unsuccessful The Great Waltz (1972), the last two films of writer, producer, and director Andrew Stone ended his nearly 50 year career. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toralv Maurstad, Florence Henderson, (more)
- 1966
Three elderly spinsters become amateur detectives when someone poisons their beloved cat in this strange drama. The three determine the murder was committed by their mean old landlady. With an eye-for-an-eye attitude, they decide to poison her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Once again Vincent Price stars for director Roger Corman in The Tomb of Ligeia, the last of Corman's eight Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, a film graced by a script by Robert Towne and moody cinematography by Nicolas Roeg. Price has the creepy lead role of Verden Fell. In 1821, when Verden's wife Ligeia (Elizabeth Shepherd) dies, she is buried in a churchyard, despite the parson's objections that she can't be buried there since she isn't a Christian. Before the grave is closed, abetted by the screech of a black cat, Ligeia eyes shoot open, startling Verden, who becomes convinced that she is not dead. Months later, Lady Rowena (also played by Shepherd) is thrown from her horse and lands at the foot of Ligeia's grave. Verden tends to her and soon falls in love with her. They marry and move into Verden's gloomy Gothic abbey, where Rowena begins to have strange dreams involving Ligeia and a black cat. One night she awakens to discover a dead fox in her bed. When Ligeia's grave is exhumed, instead of Ligeia's corpse, a wax figure is discovered. Then Rowena finds, to her horror, Verden in the arms of his dead wife in a hidden room of the abbey. Having hypnotized Verden before she died, Ligeia had Verden convinced she will live forever. Verden, now possessed by the spirit of his dead wife, takes a torch to the abbey, trapping himself and Rowena in the flaming conflagration. But Christopher (John Westbrook), an admirer of Rowena, endeavors to rescue Rowena from the flames. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Elizabeth Shepherd, (more)
- 1963
Steed is assigned to transport a shipment of live corneas to Switzerland to be used in a delicate eye-graft operation. But when one of the surgeons involved is murdered, Steed and Cathy uncover a sinister plot involving a sightless millionaire (John Carson). Also figuring in on the proceedings is a cache of valuable jewels. Written by Martin Woodhouse, "Second Sight" was originally broadcast in England on November 16, 1963; it remained unseen in America until March 14, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
One of the most highly regarded haunted house films ever produced, Robert Wise's The Haunting (based on Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House) weaves the dark tale of a questionably sane young woman and a sinister house which holds a terrifying past. Invited to join anthropologist Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson), ESP expert Theodora (Claire Bloom), and probable heir to the estate Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn) in order to dispel the near mythical tales that surround the house, unstable Eleanor Vance (Julie Harris) agrees to spend a few nights in the house following the death of her mother. As they slowly begin to discover, the horrific and seemingly unbelievable tales may hold more truth than the skeptical guests might have previously expected. With a seemingly unstoppable supernatural force lurking in every shadow, the probability of anyone escaping the evil clutch of the cursed mansion seems increasingly remote. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, (more)
- 1962
Timothy Bateson stars as a timorous bank clerk who fancies himself a brilliant scientist. Experimenting with alchemy in his spare time, Bateson stumbles across a method of manufacturing gold. Naturally, a group of unscrupulous businessmen gets wind of Bateson's marvelous discovery, and do their best (or worst) to appropriate it for themselves. Before the picture is over, the nervous clerk is obliged to rescue his kidnaped girlfriend Maureen Beck. Featured in the cast of The Golden Rabbit is Willoughby Goddard, whom 1950s TV addicts will remember as Gessler on the weekly series William Tell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
In this routine, slapstick, frenetic tale, British comic Spike Milligan stars as Harold Petts, a rural mailman with a sudden promotion that ends up getting him into a lot of trouble. Harold is supposed to be trained behind the scenes at London's busiest post office but even after his first day in the city he is already in difficulties. He soon meets Jean (Barbara Shelley), a mediocre art student with big aspirations for her future. The duo eventually find themselves as top suspects in a mail-theft ring, with the police and the Post Office higher-ups close on their heels. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spike Milligan, Barbara Shelley, (more)
Director Leo McCarey returned to the religious themes of his classics Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) for this action drama, his final film. William Holden stars as Father O'Banion, a Catholic priest assigned to relieve the retiring Father Bovard (Clifton Webb) at a mission in China. Along the way, O'Banion has unwittingly picked up a follower with a crush on him, Siu Lan (France Nuyen). The girl becomes the mission's cook, but before Bovard can depart, Mao's 1949 communist takeover begins. Red soldiers led by Chung Ren (Robert Lee) seize the mission as their local command center. Chung Ren rapes Siu Lan, impregnating her, while O'Banion is forced to watch. Unable to cross China's closed borders, both priests remain at the mission, ministering to the locals despite harassment by Chung Ren. Delighted by his son's birth, Chung Ren begins undergoing a change of heart. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Clifton Webb, (more)
- 1962
In this crime drama, a TV star tries to prove that her lover did not murder his boozy wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this comedy, a young man stands to inherit a vast fortune, but first he must spend a small fortune in two months. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Watling, Carole Lesley, (more)
- 1961
In this spy thriller clever reporters outfox Communist spies who have come to Geneva to learn more about Western nuclear science. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this mystery, a Scotland Yard agent must break up a ring of jewel thieves. He goes undercover and successfully infiltrates the gang, but trouble begins when he finds himself falling for one of the late gang members' widows, and she learns his real identity. She threatens to expose him until he decides to quit the Yard and become a real criminal. Fortunately, Fate intervenes, and he accidentally leads the gang to the waiting police. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Sylvester, Mai Zetterling, (more)
Please Turn Over is an updated British variation on a theme put forth by the old Hollywood film Theodora Goes Wild. A bored young teenage girl (Julia Lockwood) causes a scandal when she pens a torrid bestseller. Those close to the girl recognize themselves as characters in the book; all they can hope for is that no one else does. But as the girl's fame escalates, her friends and family enter the realm of notoriety--which turns out not to be so bad after all. Clearly inspired by the Peyton Place brouhaha, Please Turn Over was based on the long-running West End stage farce Book of the Month by Basil Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
An A.P. Dearsley stage play was the basis for the seven-reel British comedy And the Same to You. Brian Rix stars as the pugnacious nephew of clergyman Sydney Mullett. Stuck with the name "Dickie Dreadnought," Rix feels he has no choice but to pursue a career as a boxer. To mollify his uncle, Rix pretends to be the soul of religiosity, while his tough-talking manager William Hartnell poses as a Man of the Cloth. The script for And the Same to You was penned by melodrama specialist John Paddy Carstairs and veteran comic actor John Junkin (the too-tall road manager in A Hard Day's Night). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
After emerging as a potent force in the genre with Horror of Dracula, Hammer Films added their handsome Gothic touch to this lesser-known remake of the 1944 suspenser The Man in Half Moon Street (itself adapted from a play by Barre Lyndon). Anton Diffring stars as a century-old artist who maintains a youthful appearance by regularly replacing certain glands -- in transplants that he receives thanks to the unwilling participation of healthy donors. Despite his outward physical vitality, his advanced years lead to an increasing mental instability, evinced by his mad obsession with an old flame (Hazel Court) whose newfound love for a suave doctor (Christopher Lee) compels Diffring to commit acts of diabolical cruelty that ultimately become his grisly undoing. Directed by Hammer regular Terence Fisher, who applies a high polish to this atmospheric period thriller. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anton Diffring, Hazel Court, (more)
- 1959
This is an uneven though occasionally hilarious comedy about a remote British colony and diplomatic blunders. Terry-Thomas as a British diplomat and Peter Sellers as a nasty, vile Prime Minister on the island, tend to overshadow the roles they are playing. Carlton-Browne (Terry-Thomas) is sent to the remote island of Gaillardia to prevent any other powers from tapping into its potentially rich mineral deposits. The fact that the Brits have ignored Gaillardia for the last fifty years or that Carlton-Browne is a walking disaster does not stop the Foreign Office. Circumstances quickly spin out of control as the island colony heads toward revolution with a new, young king (Ian Bannen) on the throne. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, (more)
- 1958
In this sad drama, a boozy reporter must cope with a series of personal disasters begin with the death of his wife in a car crash. Next he loses his job. Finally he learns that his son must have a $5,000 eye operation in Switzerland. In desperation he decides to ask his old boss for his job back. Upon arriving to his office, he finds the man dead. He is then offered money by the killer, a diamond smuggler to take the murder rap. What else can the desperate man do? Later he confesses all to Scotland Yard. Unfortunately, they do not believe him. The smuggler hears of the attempt, and thinking the police believe the reporter, attempts to prevent the boy's plane from taking off. The late editor's niece gets involved and makes sure the plane does take off. She then captures the smuggler and his gang. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In this lightweight drama, an adventurous couple endeavors to open a coffee bar and record production company. They begin searching for a recording star to promote. Their first choice is their own handyman, a bit of an amateur singer. He and some of the other new singers for the company hit the popular charts. This attracts the notice of a major record company that immediately tries to take the little company over. Just as it looks like the little company is to be swallowed up, an American company merges with them and the day is saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Patterson, Mary Steele, (more)
- 1957
In this melodrama, a surgeon overcomes his humble beginnings to become a renowned physician. His success is threatened when he messes up during an operation and a patient dies. To save his career, the desperate doctor kills the two assistants who saw the mistake. He then prepares to murder his wife. Fortunately, he ends up killed before he can get at her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
The British Assignment Redhead stars Hollywood's Richard Denning as a devil-may-care secret agent. The blonde Denning is, of course, not the redhead of the title: that honor goes to luscious nightclub vocalist Carole Mathews. The girl is up to her pretty neck in intrigue, thanks to a $12 million robbery masterminded by chameleon-like criminal Ronald Adam. When she has the chance to ice Denning, Carole refuses to do so, throwing her lot with him to foil the villains. Based on a novel by Al Bocca, Assignment Redhead was released in the US (in a radically chopped-up version) as Million Dollar Manhunt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this melodramatic adventure set after the British evacuated Singapore in 1942, a ship is torpedoed and only four people survive. They are a nun, an RAF officer, a godless bigoted business magnate, and a black purser. The four drift for days before getting themselves washed up on a small desert island. Before they reach the shore, a shark consumes the purser. The other three safely land and struggle to survive. Time passes and the RAF officer falls in love with the nun, who never tells him that she is one. Later they are rescued, and the officer begins looking for her in vain. At one point he passes her dressed in her habit on a London street, but he doesn't recognize her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Collins, Richard Burton, (more)
