Eunice Gayson Movies
A runaway baby carriage rolls to a halt, revealing that it carries a dead body. Following the trail of clues, Steed and Emma wind up at a dancing school, which is actually the headquarters of an organization that enables enemy spies to infiltrate England. Posing respectively as a potential customer and a dance instructor, Steed and Emma bluff their way into the school -- and of course, nearly end up waltzing into the Next World. Written by Robert Banks Stewart, "Quick-Quick Slow Death" was originally telecast in England on February 5, 1966; though it was not included in ABC's Avengers package, the episode was eventually seen in America via syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Rigg, Eunice Gayson, (more)
From Russia With Love, the second in the series of James Bond films, is the film that solidifies all the Bond film elements into a formula -- the action sequences are intensified and lend greater tension to the proceedings; John Barry's inimitable score makes its first appearance; Q is seen for the first time; and Sean Connery as Bond has nailed down his role as 007 -- accentuating Bond's stylishness and sophistication, while toning down his cold-bloodedness. In From Russia With Love, the bad guys don't want to take over the world. They want something more mundane -- a Russian decoding device. Assigned to the mission of stealing the decoding device are No. 3, former KGB agent Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), and No. 5, Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal), an expert chess player who has plotted every move of the mission. Kronsteen's plan requires using Bond's weakness for women as an element in acquiring the decoding device. Once Bond obtains the decoding device from Russian cipher clerk Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), SPECTRE muscleman Red Grant (Robert Shaw) is to forcibly take it from Bond and kill him. But Bond suspects a trap. Being Bond, however, he can't resist the lure of a beautiful woman. So, flaunting danger, Bond travels to Istanbul to meet Tatiana. The centerpiece of this 007 feature is the thrilling fight to the death between Bond and enemy agent Red Grant aboard the Orient Express. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, (more)
Terence Young directed this first of a long line of screen adventures with Ian Fleming's unflappable British Secret Service Agent 007 in a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek style that set the tone for the rest of the popular series. Sean Connery sets the standard by which all future takers must measure themselves as the insouciant and devil-may-care James Bond. The story concerns Bond being sent to Jamaica to investigate the murders of a British agent and his secretary. During his investigation, he comes into contact with the evil and unscrupulous Chinese scientist Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) who, living on an island called Crab Key, is hard at work in a nuclear laboratory. Dr. No's scheme is to divert rockets being fired from Cape Canaveral off their charted course and to blackmail the United States to get their rocket launches restored to normal. Helping Bond is Ursula Andress (mostly undressed in a bikini throughout most of the film), as well as bad gals like Zena Marshall, who almost leads Bond to his death in her bedroom, and Eunice Gayson, a Bond pickup in a London gambling house who proves herself a greater adversary than even James Bond can handle. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, (more)
He may be calling himself "Dr. Stein," but the audience isn't fooled: that popular general practitioner (Peter Cushing) in the mittel-European village of Carlsbruck is none other than our old friend, Victor Frankenstein. No one seems unduly concerned when the patients in a charity clinic begin losing their arms and legs during Dr. Stein's emergency operations -- no one except his young rival, Dr. Kleve (Kerwin Mathews). Threatening to expose Dr. Stein as the fugitive from justice he really is, Kleve is instead persuaded to be Stein's partner. Things really begin heating up when Stine and Kleve use the brain of vengeful village hunchback Karl (Oscar Quitak) for their new synthetic monster. Adding to the climactic melee is another monster, built in the image of Dr. Frankenstein himself! Full of clever (if gory) touches, Revenge of Frankenstein is among the best of Hammer Studio's late-1950s output. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, Francis Matthews, (more)
Long, long, after her days of filmic glory in the 1930s and 1940s, skating star Sonja Henie made her last movie appearance in the British Hello, London. Henie plays herself, a rich-as-Croesus ice-show celebrity making a tour of Europe. Michael Wilding and Eunice Gayson contrive to keep Sonja in London long enough so that she'll feel obliged to perform at a charity function. Also appearing under their own names are such British showbiz luminaries as Ronnie Graham, Stanley Holloway and Dennis Price; in addition, Oliver Reed shows up in a surly bit part. In the spirit of Auld Lang Syne, Hello London was released in the US by Ms. Henie's longtime home studio, 20th Century-Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The grass is always greener.... In this British comedy, two drunken comrades find out the truth of that saying when they decide to trade places for a while. One of the boozers is a public relations man who knows nothing about sailing, while the other is a captain for the Royal Navy. Riotous comic mayhem ensues as the hapless "captain" tries to run his ship and follow orders. When the bumbling fellow's inadvertence sinks one of the fleet's own ships, he ends up locked in a rubber room until the two manage to extort someone into helping them resume their rightful identities. The film was originally titled The Ship was Loaded, and bears no relation to the popular "Carry On" series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Tomlinson, Peggy Cummins, (more)
In this comedy, a woman finds herself addicted to auctions and begins bringing the strangest things back to her home. Her husband, ignorant of her passion, begins suspecting her of kleptomania and hires a detective to spy on her. He next sends her to a psychiatrist. After the woman gets wise to the schemes, she reveals the identity of the real thief. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Though his Hollywood career had petered out, Tom Conway continued to star in British films throughout the 1950s. In Last Man to Hang, Conway heads the cast as Roderick, who at present is on trial for his life. Accused of poisoning his wife, Roderick's fate rests in the hands of the jury, who must decide whether or not the death was accidental. The most damning evidence is provided by Roderick's housekeeper Mrs. Tucker (Freda Jackson), who will do anything to see her ex-employer swinging from a gibbet. The title refers to the British Parliament's mid-1950s efforts to outlaw capital punishment; this legislation would in fact not come about until after the miscarriage of justice dramatized in 1972's Ten Rillington Place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conway, Elizabeth Sellars, (more)
In this desert adventure, a bandit chieftain roams the northwest deserts of India. Wherever he goes, he leaves a trail of ruin and raped women. A British major is assigned to capture the bandit and his gang. He succeeds, but soon the bandit, with the assistance of a sadistic nomad, escapes. The raiders then head for a British garrison where more bloodshed ensues as they begin slaughtering the hapless soldiers. The nomad captures the colonel and begins torturing him. The bandit, who has grown to respect his British adversary, sacrifices his own life to stop him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
Hollywood's Danziger brothers dashed off the British The Count of Twelve in approximately two weeks. With only 51 minutes' worth of running time, the storytelling has to be quick and to the point, and it is. The film is divided into two separate but tenuously connected plotlines. In the first, a man tries to avoid being murdered at the stroke of midnight, only to expire from a heart attack. In the second, a doctor's intended adulterous affair comes to an ironic-and tragic-sudden conclusion. One suspects that Count of Twelve was the pilot for a never-produced TV anthology series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alexander Knox is the One Just Man in this British crime melodrama. Knox plays a judge who takes the law in his own hands when obviously guilty miscreants get off scot-free. When Knox's tale is told, we are introduced to Peter Reynolds as a duplicitous playboy who attempts to defraud an insurance company. One Just Man looks suspiciously like two half-hour TV pilot films strung together. This 55-minute package was prepared by the brothers Danzinger, purveyors of many a pulse-pounding British programmer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Basil Dearden was co-producer and co-director of the British "slice of life" drama Out of the Clouds. Filmed in quasi-documentary fashion, the story takes place during one unusually busy day at London's Heathrow Airport. The dramatis personae includes Gus Randall (Anthony Steel), a pilot with a chronic (and potentially fatal) gambling weakness; chief duty officer Nick Milbourne (Robert Beatty), who yearns to be a pilot himself; American engineer Bill (David Lorenz), who finds romance in the form of Jewish girl Leah (Margo Lorenz); and Captain Brent (James Robertson Justice), whose doubts about a new aircraft prove to be well-founded. The obligatory romantic triangle involves Gus, Nick and airline -hostess Penny Henson (Eunice Gayson). Out of the Clouds is an intriguing small-scale precursor to the Airport school of multicharactered drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Steel, Robert Beatty, (more)
The "little lady" in this British melodrama is the amply proportioned Mai Zetterling. The actress plays prima ballerina Nina Gordon, who is exploited by her avaricious husband Mark (Terene Morgan). During a celebration of Nina's triumphal debut at the Royal Opera House, she discovers that Mark is not only greedy, but unfaithful. She becomes so upset by this that she drives off madly into the night, breaking her leg in a motor accident. Told that she'll never dance again, Nina is callously abandoned by Mark. With the help of a kindly doctor (Guy Rolfe), Nina is able to walk once more--and to live her life vicariously through her talented daughter (Mandy Miller) When Mark reenters Nina's life, intending to take control of the daughter's dancing career, it is he who emerges the loser--and how! Dance Little Lady was one of several ballet dramas produced in the wake of the phenominally successful The Red Shoes (1948). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Morgan, Mai Zetterling, (more)
The philosophies and practices of London policewomen provide the basis of this exciting and interesting docu-drama that centers on three such women. The film is also known as Street Corner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Street Corner was a marginally realistic study of British policewomen. The film takes its female cast through a typical day on the Chelsea beat. In the manner of Dragnet and The Blue Lamp, the skimpy plotline is merely there to string together several anecdotal incidents, illustrating that while a policewoman's lot is not a happy one, neither is it dull. Feminist film fans might point with pride to the fact that Street Corner was written and directed by a woman, Muriel Box. The fact that Box had been working in this capacity in the British film industry for years, while Hollywood had been relegating women to second-class status during the same period of time, is equally worthy of being pointed out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peggy Cummins, Anne Crawford, (more)
In this British comedy, a group of World War II spies attempt to capture a secret atomic formula and it is up to military-man Harry Jones (Harry Secombe) and Carole Gayley (Carole Carr) to stop them. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
In this whimsical fantasy, a mild-mannered writer of wild adventure novels for young girls finds himself presented with an intriguing proposition from an elderly fan. She suggests that they conspire together to steal the whiskey formula from the distillers who took it from her family many years ago. They do so, and with the recipe find themselves receiving many partnership offers from distillery's. The writer's partner then insures that he has plenty of young fans to inspire him to keep on writing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this melodrama, a man is permanently crippled in a horseback riding accident and then learns that he will soon die. He spends his last few days taking care of his family and trying to get his wife to find another man. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Just before directing the comedy classic The Lavender Hill Mob, Charles Crichton dashed off the romantic melodrama Dance Hall. The story takes place in a London dance emporium, frequented by the local working girls. Natasha Parry stars as Eve, whose marriage to Phil (Donald Houston) is imperiled when she takes a different partner for an upcoming dance contest. Her reasoning is that Phil is a lousy dancer, but she loves him all the same; Phil, however, is the jealous type, who doesn't quite see things Eve's way. Among the familiar faces floating by in Dance Hall are Bonar Colleano, Diana Dors, and Petula Clark (yes, her career went back that far). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natasha Parry, Jane Hylton, (more)
In this drama, a young Englishman wants to become a surgeon, but after medical school, his father dies, leaving him the responsibility of supporting his mother and paying for his brother's education. He becomes a partner in a small practice and watches the woman he wanted to marry go off with his brother. The brother is killed in WWI, after which his illegitimate son is born. The doctor marries the woman, but she dies in childbirth, leaving him to raise his brother's child. Eventually, he finds a new wife. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hilda Bayley, Beatrice Campbell, (more)
A solid script by John Guillermin bolsters the otherwise so-so British filler Melody in the Dark. Eunice Gayson plays an actress who inherits a forbidding old mansion. Using her new domicile as a rehearsal hall for herself and her fellow thespians, Eunice is scared out of her wits by mysterious sounds emanating from nowhere. There's a logical explanation, of course, but try telling that to the cast during the film's first five reels. Musical relief is provided by such home-grown acts as The Keynotes, The Stardusters and The London Lovelies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
















