Julia Foster Movies
British lead actress Julia Foster first appeared onscreen in the early '60s. ~ All Movie Guide- 1982
Part of a television series entitled "The Shakespeare Plays," this is the conclusion of the Henry VI chronicles, which ends with the Duke of Gloucester's plan to murder Henry VI. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Another episode of the short-lived but wonderfully creepy "Hammer House of Horror" TV series, this supernatural thriller is spiced with some darkly comic touches. The title refers to a nickname given to a weird-looking little African fetish doll, from which emanates a curse that claims the lives of a small circle of friends -- specifically, all of those pictured in a single group photograph -- who took part in its theft under the misguided belief that it would bring them luck. The deaths are cleverly staged, and mostly involve some particularly nasty stab wounds (though Charlie doesn't actually spring to hideous life like his fetish compatriot in Trilogy of Terror). This and other installments of Hammer's well-made BBC series were introduced to the U.S. through pay-TV, then appeared on the now-defunct Thrillervideo label, hosted (and endlessly heckled) by slinky horror-hostess Elvira. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1981
While working on an average assignment about a health club, a female reporter discovers a strange secret society. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1978
In this British variation on the old "Thin Man" theme, John Stride starred as detective novelist Rupert Wilde, with Julia Foster as his wife Amy. Not surprisingly, on each episode Rupert got mixed up with an actual crime (usually murder), using his accumulated literary knowhow to come up with a solution. Equally unsurprising were the efforts by wife Amy to be Dr. Watson to Rupert's Sherlock Holmes, sometimes with amusing results. Created by Ian Mackintosh, the first of the 13 The Wilde Alliance episodes aired on January 17, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Stride, Julia Foster, (more)
- 1976
This TV movie delves into the unhappy later years of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald (here played by Jason Miller). Broke and virtually written-out by the late 1930s, Fitzgerald is compelled to accept screenwriting work in Tinseltown where he is frustrated that his work is extensively rewritten and revised -- if not rejected altogether. On a personal level, Fitzgerald must deal with his wife Zelda (Tuesday Weld), now sequestered in a North Carolina mental institution. Seeking some reason for living, Fitzgerald inaugurates an affair with Hollywood columnist Sheila Graham (Julia Foster). Not all that incisive, and saddled with an unsympathetic drunkard as a central character, F. Scott Fitzgerald is still superior to Hollywood's previous version of the Fitzgerald/Graham romance, Beloved Infidel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
That matchless British farceur Spike Milligan stars in The Great McGonagall. The story concerns indigent Scotsman William McGonagall, who aspires to become Poet Laureate of Great Britain. McGonagall might have a better chance of accomplishing this if he had any talent, but he is hilariously inept. The plot is abandoned somewhere in the middle of the film in favor of a series of virtually unrelated comic episodes. Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan's onetime Goon Show cohort, steals the show in drag as a sexually voracious Queen Victoria! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, (more)
- 1972
When three old acquaintances are thrown together after several years, they are shocked to realize that they are looking at each other from different sides of the law. ~ All Movie Guide
Low-brow British humor abounds in this farcical account of Edwin Anthony, the first man to receive a successful penis transplant. Anthony becomes quite attached to his new appendage and even gives it the title name. The alleged humor comes in when Anthony and Percy set out to investigate the life of the latter's former owner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1967
British musical star Tommy Steele had starred in Half a Sixpence in London and on Broadway, thus he was first choice for this garish film version. Based on the H.G. Wells story Kipps (previously filmed in 1941 with Michael Redgrave), Half a Sixpence tells the tale of a humble London drapery clerk (Steele) who inherits a fortune. He briefly forgets his old mates and his faithful girl friend (Julia Foster), but soon discovers that High Society isn't his cup of tea. Filmed during the "monster musical" cycle fostered by The Sound of Music, Half a Sixpence isn't really suited for the spectacular approach dictated by co-producer Charles H. Schneer. Fortunately, the guiding directorial hand is the film's other producer: George Sidney, a veteran of MGM's Arthur Freed unit, who knew how to successfully weld music with story. Thanks to Sidney and star Steele, Half a Sixpence never gets too out of hand, though we'd argue with some of the eyestrain-inducing color choices in the bigger numbers. The film might have done better at the box office had the score yielded a few hit songs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Steele, Julia Foster, (more)
- 1966
The System is a "Swinging London" comedy with an unsettling undercurrent of bitterness and cynicism. Oliver Reed plays a girlie-magazine photographer, the self-appointed leader of a group of handsome but unscrupulous bachelors who hang out in a British seaside resort. Their avowed goal is to seduce and abandon as many wealthy young girls as possible. One of the group, jealous of Reed's success, uses their "system" to hoist the leader on his own petard. Michael Winner solidified his reputation as a "mod" director in The System--and also displayed his utter contempt for the pretty young people he depicts. The film was released to the US under the more bankable title The Girl Getters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oliver Reed, Jane Merrow, (more)
Michael Caine's first starring role was a foray into dramatic irony, scripted by Bill Naughton from his novel and play. Alfie (Caine) is a charming, rogueish Cockney who cannot get his fill of women. He uses them without shame or malice, jumping from one promiscuous female's bed to another without much thought or feeling. Of course, Alfie's not as carefree as he would have the audience -- to whom he often speaks directly -- think: he treats his pregnant, common-law wife, Gilda (Julia Foster), quite shabbily, and has an affair with a married woman (Vivien Merchant) that leaves her pregnant, for which Alfie arranges an abortion. In the end, Alfie never finds lasting meaning or pleasure but remains an unrepentant, if low-class, Don Juan. Caine was Oscar-nominated for his performance. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1965
This farcical British comedy follows the eccentric misadventures of a family who have their own rather unusual way of doing things. Mr. Groomkirby (Eric Sykes) is redecorating his living room to resemble the courtrooms at Old Bailey, with a mind toward staging mock trials for fun. His wife, Mrs. Groomkirby (Alison Leggatt) hates to see leftovers go to waste, so she hires a woman to eat them. Their daughter Sylvia (Julia Foster) is fascinated by primates and spends much of her time at the zoo, and son Kirby (Jonathan Miller) believes that scales can have other uses rather than just weighing things -- they can be used to make music, too! Based on a popular novel, One Way Pendulum was directed by Peter Yates, who would go on to make Bullitt and Breaking Away. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Sykes, George Cole, (more)
- 1965
A British sex farce, this movie stars Nyree Dawn Porter as a flirtatious young waitress, Eileen. Her seductive ways so arouse a young customer, Alan Crabbe (Michael Crawford), that he tries to seduce her. But he is so inept that she becomes bored and ditches him. Eileen goes off to a nightclub to find more experienced men. Alan hooks up with a shop clerk named Beth Crowley (Julia Foster). At a wedding of another friend, Alan sees Eileen and is again smitten with her, so much so that he gets into a fight with her boyfriend. The film is based on a coming-of-age novel, In My Solitude, by David Stuart Leslie. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Crawford, Nyree Dawn Porter, (more)
- 1964
This British comedy comes from Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, writers of the hit television program Steptoe and Son. Harry H. Corbett (who played Steptoe, Jr. on the tube) is Hemel, a canal-cruising bargee who is dead-set against marriage. He goes about his freewheeling ways until he finds out that he has impregnated one of his playthings (Julia Foster). Unfortunately for him, the young woman's father (Hugh Griffith) is the lock-keeper and he is not about to get out of this predicament without a vow or two. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry H. Corbett, Hugh Griffith, (more)
- 1963
Based on a BBC television program, this underworld drama set in London's Soho district created a different sort of role for star Anthony Newley, normally a performer associated with light musical comedy. Newley is the titular character, the master of ceremonies at a sleazy strip club owned by Gerry (Robert Stephens). Sammy owes a substantial amount of money to a bookie, Fred (Kennth J. Warren), and has only five hours to pay off the debt, but he strikes out with his deli-owner brother Lou (Warren Mitchell). Desperately trying to raise the money before Fred's goons rough him up, Sammy is forced to help a naïve young girl, Patsy (Julia Foster), who shows up to the club ready to strip -- based on Sammy's outrageous claims and promises at an earlier meeting. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Newley, Julia Foster, (more)
- 1962
- Add The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner to QueueAdd The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner to top of Queue
One of the key "angry young man" films which helped define the British "Kitchen Sink Drama" style of the late 1950's and early 60's, this story centers on Colin Smith (Tom Courtenay), a bitter young man from a working-class family. Uninterested in school and determined not to follow his father into factory work, Colin and his friend Mike (James Bolam) make their pocket money through petty crime, until they're arrested after the robbery of a baker's shop and sentenced to Borstal (British reform school). The Governor of the school (Michael Redgrave) takes a keen interest in Colin, but he cares less for his rehabilitation than his gifts as a broken-field runner; Colin finds himself torn between the need to please his captors and his determination not to play along with what he sees as a corrupt system. The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner was the first film for Courtenay, whose performance earned him the "Most Promising Newcomer" prize at the 1962 British Film Academy awards. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Courtenay, Michael Redgrave, (more)
