Vanda Godsell Movies

Years before the story proper in The Wrong Box gets under way, a "tontine" is drawn up on behalf several young British boys. Each of the boys' parents had placed 1000 pounds in a pool, to be invested and expanded upon. The resultant fortune will go to the last surving member of the tontine. A series of montages depicts the various demises of the heirs (our favorite occurs when one of them is inadvertently beheaded while being knighted by Queen Victoria). Finally, only two of the tontine participants are left: aged brothers Ralph Richardson and John Mills. On his last legs, Mills is determined that Richardson will not outlive him, and to that end attempts to kill his brother; each attempt fails spectacularly, with the doddering Richardson none the wiser. Standing to benefit from the tontine are Mills' dimwitted med-student son Michael Caine and Richardson's greedy nephews Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. When Richardson is supposedly killed in a train wreck, Cook and Moore don't want the authorities to find out, so they appropriate what they think is their uncle's corpse and ship it home in a box. Thus it is that Caine finds the body of a perfect stranger on his doorstep. The farcical complications begin flying about thick and fast from this point onward. Among the participants in this wacky gigglefest are such formidable talents as Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Wilfred Lawson, Thorley Walters, Norman Rossington, Irene Handl and Cicely Courtenedge. Based on a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Wrong Box is a delightful harkback to the glory days of Britain's Ealing comedies. We were so wrapped up in the story that we didn't even notice all those TV antennae sprouting up on the rooftops of Victorian London. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This suspenseful crime drama features cameo appearances by some of Great Britain's more popular pop groups of the mid-1960s as it tells the tale of an ex-crook who finds success managing several of the groups. The trouble begins when a master jewel thief blackmails him into becoming a gem smuggler. Together, they set sail across the Channel to get a fortune in diamonds safely to Amsterdam. They are pursued by two determined detectives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This obscure little science fiction/horror film (a British-American co-production) stars Willard Parker as a heroic astronaut who returns from a test flight to discover that most of England has been utterly destroyed by alien invaders, whose armies of killer robots have transformed nearly all of their victims into zombies. Parker manages to rally together a small resistance army from a few scattered survivors in outlying villages, and they eventually find the earth-based relay point for the transmissions which have enabled the invaders to coordinate the robot attack by remote control. Although entertaining overall, the story lags after a thrilling first half, with the final battle hampered by budget limitations. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Adapted by David Storey from his own novel, This Sporting Life stars Richard Harris as Frank, an athletic coal miner who aspires to the greener pastures of professional rugby. Soon establishing himself as one of the most brutal and arrogant players in the business, Frank begins to amass a fortune. He also falls in love with his landlady, Mrs. Hammond (Rachel Roberts), who initially resists his advances. When she finally gives in, their relationship hinges on sex alone, as Frank practically begs Mrs. Hammond to give of herself emotionally and she remains incapable. At the wedding ceremony for one of Frank's teammates, Mrs. Hammond unexpectedly lashes out at her swaggering lover. They split up, but Frank, who until now has equated happiness with wealth, is unable to get over the permanent loss. In the end, with nothing else left, all of Frank's self-worth becomes contingent on his rugby performances, though Frank and the other players are exploited to such a degree that this also proves disastrous. Widely regarded as one of the finest British feature films ever produced, the gritty and bleak This Sporting Life not only marked former documentary filmmaker Lindsay Anderson's first feature, but became one of the harbingers of the "Angry Young Man" school of filmmaking. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a gang of London thieves, disguised as policemen, begin robbing other thieves....well, that's just not cricket. Benevolent burglar Peter Sellers, the man in charge of all "respectable" crooks in town (he even offers such incentives as a vacation plan and filmed training sessions!), sets about to ascertain how the renegade criminals have received inside information concerning upcoming robberies. He arranges a temporary truce with Scotland Yard so that both criminal and constable can work together in nabbing the miscreants. Alas, he must now contend with incompetent peacekeeper Lionel Jeffries, who poses an even greater threat than the "mole" who's been tipping off the phony cops (who is closer to Sellers than he'd ever suspect). Short, simple and sweet, the black-and-white Wrong Arm of the Law manages to pack more solid laughs than any three of Sellers' later overproduced Technicolor vehicles combined. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

British doctor Richard Johnson arrives in the city of Bath, where a smallpox epidemic has broken out. If he has any hope of stemming the disease, he must locate and isolate its source. As if he hasn't got enough trouble on his hands, Johnson must contend with his failing marriage to Claire Bloom. Both of his problems are solved to everyone's satisfaction, but not without a few hypertense moments along the way. Director Val Guest lifts 80,000 Suspects out of the ordinary with his inventive utilization of darkness and shadows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fitzjohn (Peter Sellers) is a retired general who is miserable at home with his shrewish wife Emily (Margaret Leighton). He dreams of younger days when he enjoyed the platonic company of the beautiful Ghislaine (Dany Robin). After many years, she shows up at his door and expresses her desire to take their relationship beyond the platonic level. When his plans are temporarily postponed, he leaves her in care of his right hand man. His aid and Ghislaine fall in love, prompting Fitzjohn to begin court-martial proceedings against his unfaithful aide. When the lineage of his aide is discovered, he tries to halt the trial in this ironic comedy taken from the play by Jean Anouilh. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Billie Whitelaw dominates this crime melodrama, not as a criminal but as vengeful bystander Jackie Parker. Parker's husband, an armored car driver, is killed during a carefully orchestrated robbery. The police have an idea of who's responsible, but they lack proof. On her own, Parker goes after the suspects one by one, using psychological torture (phone calls, poison pen letters) to break them down. She reduces inside man Pearson (William Lucas) to a quivering mass of gelatin, and indirectly sends Monty (Kenneth Griffith) to a sticky end in a mire of quicksand. The film's climax is a showdown between Parker and gang boss Mellors (Michael Craig). Payroll was based on a novel by Derek Bickerton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A normally placid pussy turns into a ferocious feline hell-bent for revenge against the treacherous trio who murdered her mistress in this interesting horror film. One of the killers was the woman's husband; the other two were her servants. The woman was quite wealthy, and the avaricious trio killed her to get at her fortune. Unfortunately, the crime was witnessed by the cat. Later the husband tries to convince his niece that the cat and the will must be destroyed. Soon after, the killer kitty leaps out and literally scares him to death. The cat then takes the niece and her lover to her aunt's corpse. In the end, the three inherit the fortune. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Sean Connery plays one of his early roughneck types in the British gangster picture Frightened City. The story takes place in a rundown section of London, where the citizens are held in the grip of extortionists. After several months of gang warfare, the six major "protection" rings agree to bury the hatchet and combine their efforts under the leadership of a mob boss (Herbert Lom). One of the gangsters opposes the mobster's rule, and is promptly rubbed out. Paddy Damion (Sean Connery), the dead man's best friend, swears revenge. After a bloody confrontation, Damion agrees to provide information to the police -- after plea-bargaining himself into a light sentence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With an award-winning screenplay by director Val Guest, this is a first-rate cops-and-robbers crime drama about a dangerous escaped convict and the police inspector who goes after him. The gritty industrial town of Manchester and its outlying moors provide a somber backdrop to the action. Inspector Martineau (Steve Baker) suspects that the escaped thief, Don Starling (John Crawford) is going to return to Manchester to retrieve a cache of jewels he hid away before being convicted. The sudden, brutal murder of a woman and the missing money she was carrying, tips the Inspector off that his suspicions were right. He starts tracking down the killer and the gang of men he knows must be working with him, as suspense builds at every turn. The gang falls one by one, until only the killer is left. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide