Edward Fox Movies

It was Richard Attenborough's lifelong dream to bring the life story of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi to the screen. When it finally reached fruition in 1982, the 188-minute, Oscar-winning Gandhi was one of the most exhaustively thorough biopics ever made. The film begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Mohandas K. Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of "passive resistance," endeavoring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed. In the horrendous "slaughter" sequence, more extras appear on screen than in any previous historical epic. The supporting cast includes Candice Bergen as photographer Margaret Bourke-White, Athol Fugard as General Smuts, John Gielgud as Lord Irwin, John Mills as the viceroy, Martin Sheen as Walker, Trevor Howard as Judge Broomfield, and, in a tiny part as a street bully, star-to-be Daniel Day-Lewis. Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Angela Lansbury takes over the legacy of Margaret Rutherford as Agatha Christie's dogged sleuth Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack'd. The story takes place on a film set in a small British town in the 1950s. Elizabeth Taylor plays a washed-up actress trying to make a comeback but is plagued by a mysterious incident from her past. Unfortunately for her mental state, a collection of murders jar the quiet village where the movie is being made. Miss Marple arrives on the scene with her nephew, Inspector Craddock (Edward Fox), to investigate. In addition to Taylor, an assortment of other movie stars grace the roster of suspects, including Rock Hudson, Kim Novak, and Tony Curtis. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Frank Willard's 1927 stage play The Cat and the Canary was filmed several times before this 1978 version saw the light of day. In the story, Annabelle West (Carol Lynley) is one of several potential heirs to a huge fortune. Brought to his foreboding mansion to learn who will benefit from his death, the anxious heirs must sit still for the deceased's taped recitation of his bequests. The dead man, Cyrus West (Wilfred Hyde-White), takes advantage of the occasion to scold his greedy and unpleasant relatives. He leaves behind several posthumous practical jokes which drive his points home. It's a rainy night, the mansion is full of surprises, most of the heirs are an anxious, unpleasant lot, and at least one of them is not above committing murder to have his way. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Force 10 From Navarone was a sequel to the 1961 blockbuster The Guns of Navarone and tells the tale of ten widely divergent WW II troubleshooters who attempt to blow up a crucial bridge in Yugoslavia. As in the first Navarone film, one of the guerillas is a traitor: group leader Mallory (Robert Shaw) knows the identity of the turncoat, but can't prove it until it's almost too late. The beautiful female resistance leader is played by Barbara Bach, while Harrison Ford, fresh from his Star Wars success, is the romantic lead. Others in the cast include Edward Fox, Franco Nero and Alan Badel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's late 1944, and the Allied armies are confident they'll win the World War II and be home in time for Christmas. What's needed, says British general Bernard Law Montgomery, is a knockout punch, a bold strike through Holland, where German troops are spread thin, that will put the Allies into Germany. Paratroops led by British major general Robert Urquhart (Sean Connery) and American brigadier general James Gavin (Ryan O'Neal) will seize a thin road and five bridges through Holland into Germany, with paratroops led by Lieutenant Col. John Frost (Sir Anthony Hopkins) holding the most critical bridge at a small town called Arnhem. Over this road shall pass combined forces led by British Lieutenant Gen. Brian Horrocks (Edward Fox) and British Lieutenant Col. Joe Vandeleur (Michael Caine). The plan requires precise timing, so much so that one planner tells Lieutenant Gen. Frederick Browning (Dirk Bogarde), "Sir, I think we may be going a bridge too far." The plan also has one critical flaw: Instead of a smattering of German soldiers, the area around Arnhem is loaded with crack SS troops. Disaster ensues. Based on a book by historian Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge Too Far is reminiscent of another movie based on a Ryan book, The Longest Day. Like that movie, it is loaded with more than 15 international stars, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Hardy Krueger, Gene Hackman, Maximilian Schell, and Liv Ullman. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide

Strange as it seems, the 1977 adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times was the first full-scale adaptation of this work ever seen on British television. Set (of course!) during the Industrial Revolution, the multiplotted story line was held together by the travails of Louisa Gradgrind (Jacqueline Tong), a former circus employee who was adopted by a stern businessman and whisked off to a bleak industrial village called Coketown. With four-hour-long episodes at its disposal, this TV version managed to retain most of the characters and incidents of the Dickens original, and also kept sight of the author's indictment of the iniquitous social conditions which determined the behavior and the destinies of the main figures. Produced by Granada Television, Hard Times later aired in America via PBS. The 1994 BBC TV version, sometimes also referred to as a "miniseries," was actually intended to be seen in a single showing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Joseph Losey-directed 1973 version of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House marks one of two cinematizations of the story released during the same year. Here, Jane Fonda plays Nora Helmer, the mousy Norwegian wife who eventually turns on her insensitive husband Torvald (David Warner). At the time of its release, A Doll's House was castigated for allowing Ms. Fonda to espouse her "feminist dogma" in the role. In truth, what Losey and Fonda give us is not the traditional mindless "hothouse rose" who finally comes to her senses in Act Three, but instead a woman who knows she is trapped in a stereotype, but is willing to play along as long as her husband loves and trusts her. Only when Torvald proves to be a thick-headed jerk by condescendingly forgiving his wife for entering into a potentially scandalous but household-saving financial arrangement, does Nora reject his values and slam the door on him. Trevor Howard plays the slimy Dr. Rank, who assumes that his monetary hold over Nora grants him certain intimate privileges. A Doll's House was exquisitely photographed on location in Norway by Gerry Fisher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The third collaboration between director Joseph Losey and writer Harold Pinter, following The Servant and Accident, continues their exploration of class rituals and the darker recesses of desire. Pinter's script adapts the 1953 L.P. Hartley novel about Leo Colston, a middle-aged man (Michael Redgrave), recalling a summer of his early adolescence at a country estate. Young Leo (Dominic Guard) observes the machinations of the adults in the household, all but two of whom conveniently ignore his presence. Marion Maudsley (Julie Christie) is promised in marriage to another aristocrat, but she is secretly in love with farm worker Ted Burgess (Alan Bates). They enlist Leo as their messenger, with tragic consequences for all concerned. The older Leo has never married, and as the story winds on, it becomes clear that his own infatuation with Marion irrevocably altered his life. The Go-Between won several British Academy Awards, including one for Pinter's screenplay, and was one of four films awarded a grand prize at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

Several board members of the Acme Precision Corporation are murdered, and Steed is on hand to witness each killing. The culprit appears to be a sleepwalker, but that's only part of the story. Investigating, Steed and Tara trace the clues to a demented psychologist -- who, in yet another twist, may not be the principal villain. Written by Philip Levene, "My Wildest Dream" first aired in America on January 6, 1969, and was subsequently seen in England on April 9 of that year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hammer recut and repackaged two installments of their popular television series Journey to the Unknown (one of the earliest projects of longtime Hammer director Roy Ward Baker) for this theatrical release. The first tale involves a guest at an unusual masquerade party at which he is given an unflattering look at his past misdeeds; the second installment stars The Haunting's Julie Harris as a rich woman pursued by a slimy, gold-digging potential suitor who meets his comeuppance thanks to an ancient Indian spirit. Though rather staid in comparison to Baker's flamboyant anthology work for Amicus, this is nevertheless a moody and stylish pair of tales, if not fully representative of the series' finer moments. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Frank Sinatra stars in this espionage thriller filmed at the height of the Cold War. Sam Laker (Sinatra) is an American industrial designer working in London. When Laker travels to East Germany on business, he brings along his ten-year-old son, and he ends up running into Martin Slattery (Peter Vaughn), an old Army buddy now working with British intelligence. Slattery tries to persuade Laker to put his wartime skills as a sniper to good use against a rogue agent now working with the communists. Laker refuses, but he reluctantly agrees to deliver a message to Karen Gisevius (Nadia Gray), who worked with the anti-Nazi resistance during the war. Laker returns from his errand to discover that his son has been kidnapped; Col. Hartmann (Derren Nesbitt), a communist operative, informs Laker that his boy will be held until he is willing to perform an assassination on their behalf. The Naked Runner was produced by Brad Dexter; Frank Sinatra, a man of fierce loyalties, often worked with Dexter after the producer saved Sinatra's life in a drowning incident. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The imprisoning aspects of Success are humorously analyzed in this British-made film. Oliver Reed plays a wealthy advertising man who feels he has sold his soul and wishes to return to his happier earlier existence as a poor but swinging Londoner. Reed is goaded on by his boss, Orson Welles, who represents all the mercenary crassness that Reed despises. Handed a crucial commercial account, Reed plans to destroy himself by producing as offensive and confusing an ad campaign as possible. But Welles and the client are delighted by the "insult," and the disgruntled Reed is more successful than ever. Directed in the fragmentary "psychedelic" style typical of the late 1960s, I'll Never Forget What's'is Name gained notoriety upon its initial release by being the first mainstream British film in which the "F" word was spoken on-screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide