Frank Gatliff Movies

Similar to the 1991 Dead Again starring Kenneth Branagh, this story of reincarnation and murder also features two couples who meet again in a new lifetime. Brooke Ashley (Jaclyn Smith) is a ballerina and Michael Richardson (Nigel Terry) is her lover, and they both perish in a fire that destroys their home. Fifty years go by, and Gregory Thomas (Terry), a screenwriter, sees an old film clip of Ashley who could easily pass for his fiancee Maggie Rogers (Smith). Intrigued by this coincidence, he starts to research a screenplay on the ballerina's life, and to help get more material, he visits a medium (Shelley Winters) who used to know her. The medium reveals that Gregory is the reincarnation of the dead Richardson -- which means the former couple is back together again. Before any celebration is in order, some of the increasingly sinister mystery of how and why the couple died in the long-ago fire has to be cleared up. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Under the leadership of Tarrant (Steven Pacey), the Liberator crew steals the Kairopan crystal harvest, which would otherwise be used for the Federation's weaponry. Unfortunately, Servalan (Jacqueline Pearce) and her Federation minions have managed to board the disabled Liberator, leaving the crew stranded on Kairos, now a dangerous place, indeed. The fate of the good guys may well rest with the ship's computer, Zen -- but only if Servalan is unable to corrupt Zen's memory banks. "The Harvest of Kairos" first aired on February 4, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Also titled The Price of Freedom, Operation Daybreak is a retelling of the terrible consequences attending the assassination of Nazi-occupation leader Richard Heydrich. When Heydrich puts all of Czechoslovakia under his thumb, a group of Czech expatriates parachute into their homeland to kill the man known as "The Hangman." They succeed, and in retaliation the Nazis wipe the tiny Czech village of Lidice off the map, killing its male residents and carting off its women and children to concentration camps. For the purposes of the plot, assassins Timothy Bottoms and Martin Shaw survive the massacre, albeit only briefly. The Heydrich/Lidice tragedy was previously dramatized in two wartime films, Hangmen Also Die (1943) and Hitler's Madman (1943). Operation Daybreak was adapted from Seven Men at Daybreak, a novel by Alan Burgess. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the second episode of the six-part story "The Monster of Peladon," the Doctor is forced to mediate between labor and management in a bitter mining dispute on the planet Peladon. Adding to the dilemma is the possibility that the ghost of the sacred Pel warrior Aggedor (Nick Hobbs) may again be at large. Though Aggedor had proved to be rather benign during the Doctor's last visit to the planet, such is definitely not the case this time around. Originally telecast March 30, 1974, "The Monster of Peladon, Episode 2" was written by Brian Hayles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the fourth episode of the six-part story "The Monster of Peladon," the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) has traced the cause of all the dissension on the planet Peladon to a small subversive group, in league with the dreaded Ice Warriors, led by the formidable Azaxyr (Alan Bennion). Will the Ice Warriors be able to strip the planet of the precious mineral trisilicate? And if so, what will be the consequence for the Doctor and his companion, Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen)? Originally telecast April 14, 1974, "The Monster of Peladon, Episode 4" was written by Brian Hayles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An experiment gone wrong gives new meaning to the saying "you can't get there from here" in this sci-fi drama. Professor Steiner (Bryant Halliday) is a scientist working on a machine that will "project" matter from one place to another; while he's making considerable progress, the device is not yet perfect. Steiner believes that he's close to a breakthrough, but his superior Dr. Blanchard (Norman Wooland) doesn't believe in the project and cuts off Steiner's funding. Not willing to give up on his invention, Steiner learns that visiting researcher Prof. Lembach (Gerard Heinz) might be willing to back him, so with the help of his assistant Shelia (Tracey Crisp), he attempts to "project" himself into Lembach's hotel room with his experimental machine. However, the equipment goes awry, and Steiner emerges as a hideous electrically charged mutant whose touch can kill, sending him on a spree of revenge against those who tried to stop him. The Projected Man was the sole directorial credit for TV writer Ian Curteis. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Vacationing in Greece, Steed is asked to investigate the death of a deep-sea diver, a member of an elite corps known as the Frogs. Suspecting that the victim was murdered by one of the passengers on a Mediterranean ocean liner, Steed secretes himself aboard the vessel, where his off-and-on partner Venus Smith (Julie Stevens) is working as an entertainer. Though there's no shortage of suspects, the guilty party is fairly obvious from the get-go. Written by Martin Woodhouse, "A Chorus of Frogs" was first telecast in England on March 9, 1963; it made its American cable TV bow on February 28, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This effective crime caper involves an attempted robbery of no one less than the U.S. Army, a heist which has its beginnings when Turpin (Stanley Baker) is drummed out of the service for his black-market activities. Apparently chaffing at this unjust treatment and also fueled by greed, Turpin enlists two cohorts -- Swavek and Fenner (Helmut Schmid and Tom Bell) to help him carry out his revenge. After much rehearsal of his plan, the three put on uniforms and walk into an army camp just before the troops are mustered out to the Middle East during a crisis over the Suez Canal. The trio's intention is to rob the payroll ($700,000), stash the cash in a spare tire, and drive out of there. That is the plan, but the reality turns out quite different, after one of the three gets a reaction to a vaccination and another is called up for KP duty ("kitchen police"). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Although there'd been "doomsday dramas" before it, Stanley Kramer's On the Beach was considered the first "important" entry in this genre when originally released in 1959. Based on the novel by Nevil Shute, the film is set in the future (1964) when virtually all life on earth has been exterminated by the radioactive residue of a nuclear holocaust. Only Australia has been spared, but it's only a matter of time before everyone Down Under also succumbs to radiation poisoning. With only a short time left on earth, the Australian population reacts in different ways: some go on a nonstop binge of revelry, while others eagerly consume the suicide pills being issued by the government. When the possibility arises that rains have washed the atmosphere clean in the Northern hemisphere, a submarine commander (Gregory Peck) and his men head to San Diego, where faint radio signals have been emanating. The movie's all-star cast includes: Peck as the stalwart sub captain, Ava Gardner as his emotionally disturbed lover, Fred Astaire as a guilt-wracked nuclear scientist, and Anthony Perkins and Donna Anderson as the "just starting out in life" married couple. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi