Phillip Friend Movies

All available information indicates that Manutara was a working title for the infamous horror-rama The Vulture. Broderick Crawford plays Brian Stroud, the scion of an accursed Cornish family. Two hundred years earlier, a Spanish seafarer, buried alive with his pet vulture, placed an onus on the heads of everyone in Stroud's family. Stroud's scientist brother-in-law, Dr. Eric Lutens (Robert Hutton), is worried that the curse will strike again, especially after discovering a huge vulture's nest. Sure enough, Akim Tamiroff, the descendant of the unfortunate sailor, has developed a hideous mutant -- an enormous vulture with the face of a human being. The best scene occurs when Brian Stroud (or Broderick Crawford's stuntman) is carried aloft by a pair of papier-mâché talons. Filmed in color but released in the U.S. in black-and-white, The Vulture was restored to its full-hued splendor (if that is the word) for its ubiquitous late-night TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A movie star is typecast as a ruthless gangster. His troubles begin when he gets reality confused with his job and becomes deluded into believing that he really is a mobster. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, a girls school gym teacher is almost lynched after he is accused of murder. Fortunately, the art teacher, his girl friend, saves him. Together they begin investigating the crime and successfully expose the real culprit before he strikes again. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Honor Blackman, the future "Pussy Galore" of Goldfinger fame, guest stars as Katherine Holt, a blind woman married to a British pilot (played by Jack Watling, the father of Invisible Man regular (Deborah Watling). Wrongly accused of trafficking in illegal drugs, Katherine's husband is killed before he can clear his name. In order to flush out the dope-dealing murderer, "Invisible Man" Peter Brady orchestrates an elaborate ruse to convince the culprit that Katherine is able to see...and is even capable of driving a car. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this WW II espionage drama, a secret agent must simultaneously capture a notorious spy out to steal highly classified information, and deal with his meddlesome girl friend who inadvertently botches his mission. After that fiasco, many years pass and the girl friend is a fashion reporter at a new show. There, the spy is masquerading as a waiter. The two old flames meet and rekindle their affair. This time, the woman is a real asset in capturing the enemy spy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Martin Albrand, Desperate Moment is set in postwar Germany. Simon van Halder (Dirk Bogarde) serving a life term for murder, escapes to prove innocence. After linking up with his girlfriend Anna de Burgh (Mai Zetterling), Simon relates, in flashback, the events leading up to his current dilemma. He also explains why he initially confessed to the crime. To tell more would be to tell all. It's rather enjoyable to watch the hero and heroine outwitting both British and German authorities, who aren't depicted as stupid, simply not equipped for so resourceful a fugitive. Billed at the bottom of the cast list, Theodore Bikel has a pivotal role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Highwayman is based on the famous narrative poem by Alfred Noyes. The title character, played by Philip Friend, is a bold masked bandit of 18th-century England, who robs from the rich and gives (a little) to the poor. He is loved by Bess (Wanda Hendrix), the lovely daughter of an innkeeper. The film doesn't pick up the plotline of the Noyes poem until some ten minutes before the end. Everyone who read The Highwayman in high school will recall that King George's men camp themselves in the inn awaiting the Highwayman's appearance--and so that Bess won't tip off her lover, they tie her up with a musket aimed at her heart. Bess courageously manages to fire the musket just as the Highwayman approaches, saving his life at the cost of her own. Upon the subsequent death of the Highwayman, he and Bess are reunited in the Hereafter. Fairly pedestrian for the most part, The Highwayman comes to a poignant climax, but it still pales beside the Alfred Noyes original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jeff Chandler stars in the Universal actioner Smuggler's Island. Chandler plays ex-Navy frogman Steve Kent, now employed as a diver for hire in Macao. On the verge of bankruptcy, Kent is bailed out by mystery woman Vivian Craig (Evelyn Keyes), who wants him to locate a stolen cache of gold. Other interested parties include Vivian's shifty husband (Philip Friend) and ruthless pirate Bok-Ying (Marvin Miller). Crosses, double-crosses and triple-crosses abound before fadeout time. The climax is a Technicolorful fireworks display aboard Kent's sloop, wherein all loose plot strands are neatly tied up. Smuggler's Island doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but this fact does not lessen its entertainment value one iota. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Buccaneer's Girl of the title, played by Yvonne de Carlo, is Deborah McCoy, an entertainer who's been around a bit. While visiting New Orleans, Deborah falls in love with aristocratic Frederick Baptiste (Philip Friend), who turns out to be a pirate. Baptiste is basically a decent fellow: his piracy is aimed exclusively at the crooked shipowner who destroyed his father. Deborah is a bit more mercenary, hoping to marry into wealth by posing as a high-born lady. By the seventh reel, however, she's perfectly content to settle down with the raffish Baptiste. Though played tongue-in-cheek, Buccaneer's Girl never resorts to "camp": it invites the audience to laugh with the film, rather than at it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Most of the story in this five-hanky British melodrama takes place over a 50 year period within a single London home, 99 Wiltshire Place, the birth place of a noted general who has not been back since he was a young man and had a terrible wrenching fight with his sister over his love for their adopted sister. Just before he stormed out, he vowed that he would never return until the troublesome sibling, who was always jealous of the beautiful orphan girl, died. Many years pass and the general now sits there alone with his old butler musing about his lost love. His American granddaughter, an ambulance driver for the war effort, shows up distraught. It seems she has fallen in love with the Canadian nephew of the general's old flame and is undecided whether she marry him right away or wait until after the war. He then tells her his tragic tale in hopes that she will change her mind. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

American first lady Eleanor Roosevelt's impending visit to a tiny English country village is the motivation of the Anglo-American coproduction Great Day. As the villagers prepare for their prestigious guest, all sorts of internal squabbles and personal foibles rise to the surface. The story concentrates on embittered WW1 veteran Captain Ellis (Eric Portman), whose insecessant drinking and sponging is a source of embarrassment for his long-suffering family. The Captain's daughter Margaret (Sheila Sim) is on the verge of entering into a wealthy but loveless marriage so that she can rescue her mother (Flora Robson) from her father's excesses. In the Lesley Storm stage play on which this film was based, Captain Ellis comes to a bad but not entirely undeserved end; the film allows him a last-minute reprieve, as well as a chance to change his ways before Mrs. R. shows up. A moderate hit in England, Great Day sank like a stone when released in the US by RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, 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