Marius Goring Movies
Frequently cast as a world-weary continental, Marius Goring actually hails from the British Isle of Wight. The son of a physician, Goring was educated at Cambridge and in Europe, picking up an "ear" for foreign dialects along the way. An amateur actor since his teens, Goring made his professional stage debut in the early 1930s. His official film debut was in the lush-budgeted Rembrandt (1936), though in fact he first appeared on camera in the 1935 quota quickie Consider Your Verdict. Goring was at his flamboyant best in a brace of Powell-Pressburger productions of the 1940s: he played the Gallic "Operator 71" in the 1946 fantasy A Matter of Life and Death and was seen as the brilliant composer Julian Craster in The Red Shoes (1947). As the neurotic millionaire yachtsman Alberto Bravano in The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Goring elicited boos from the gentlemen in the audience as he tried to purchase the affections of Ava Gardner. A more heroic Goring was seen in the 1954 television series The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel; he later starred on the British TV espionager The Expert, which ran sporadically from 1968 through 1974. Marius Goring was the husband of actress Lucie Mannheim, who died in 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Lightning steadfastly refused to strike twice for the director/actor team of Alexander Korda and Charles Laughton. Though the pair had scored an international success with the 1933 quasi-biopic The Private Life of Henry VIII, they couldn't make the magic happen again with 1936's Rembrandt. Laughton's performance is solid throughout, and Korda's recreation of Rembrandt's Holland is meticulous, but the film suffers from a lack of overall dramatic tension. Except for his artistic achievements and the deaths of his two wives, nothing really "happens" to Rembrandt--at least nothing as colorful as the escapades of Henry VIII. The best element of the film is the successful effort by cinematographer Georges Perinal to recreate the famous "Rembrandt lighting" effect in each scene. Laughton is given fine support by Elsa Lanchester (his real-life wife), and by legendary stage star Gertrude Lawrence in a rare film role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Laughton, Gertrude Lawrence, (more)
- 1939
In this crime drama, a boys' school matron is brutally murdered after she wins the French lottery. The story tells how it was done. She is killed by a French loan shark who tricks her into coming to his place. He then kills her and has another woman put on her clothing and collect the lottery winnings. The law pursues the killer, who commits two more murders before he kills himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emlyn Williams, Sara Seegar, (more)
- 1939
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A stage play by the astonishingly prolific Edgar Wallace was the source for the British melodrama Case of the Frightened Lady. The story focuses on the aristocratic Lebanon family, with Dowager Lady Lebanon (Helen Hayes) harboring a Deep Dark Secret. It seems that every generation or so, the Lebanon clan produces a homicidal maniac. The unfortunate candidate this time around seems to be Lord Willis Lebanon (Marius Goring), a fact that the Dowager Lady hopes to hide from the world. Alas, blood will tell and murder will out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marius Goring, Helen Haye, (more)
- 1939
The Spy In Black is the story of a German World War I submarine captain (Conrad Veidt) who is given a mission to discover British intelligence secrets. Once he arrives in the Orkney Islands, he meets up with a female schoolteacher (Valerie Hobson), who happens to be a German agent. Veidt falls in love with Hobson before discovering she's actually a double agent for the British. In America, Spy in Black was originally released under the title U-Boat 29. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Conrad Veidt, Sebastian Shaw, (more)
- 1940
In this patriotic drama, the courage of a German pastor is presented as he makes a public stand against Nazi philosophies and actions. Unfortunately, the outspoken fellow is sent to a concentration camp where he is beaten and tortured. Still he manages to escape and give one final sermon to his congregation before he is gunned down. The story is based on an actual event. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wilfred Lawson, Nova Pilbeam, (more)
- 1942
Having underestimated Hitler in the 1930s, British propaganda specialists spent the early war years insisting they were prepared for any international contingency. Big Blockade was a morale-boosting film produced in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Welfare. In documentary fashion, the film underlines the importance of the economic blockade which Britain directed against Germany. An all-star cast (Michael Redgrave, Leslie Banks, John Mills, Robert Morley etc.) appears in brief sketches dramatizing the effect of the blockade and the reactions of the British public. While it received good reviews at the time, The Big Blockade quickly fell out of favor once it served its wartime purpose. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Banks, Morland Graham, (more)
- 1943
In this WWII thriller, an agent parachutes into Holland to retrieve an important document, posing as an American reporter. He meets a baroness sympathetic to the British, and they fall in love and are able to escape the Nazis. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- 1946
Also known as Stairway to Heaven, A Matter of Life and Death is the remarkable British fantasy film that became the surprise hit of 1946. David Niven stars as Peter Carter, a World War II RAF pilot who is forced to bail out of his crippled plane without a parachute. He wakes up to find he has landed on Earth utterly unharmed...which wasn't supposed to happen according to the rules of Heaven. A celestial court argues over whether or not to claim Carter's life or to let him survive to wed his American sweetheart (Kim Hunter). During an operation, in which Carter hovers between life and death, he dreams that his spirit is on trial, with God (Abraham Sofaer) as judge and Carter's recently deceased best friend (Roger Livesey) as defense counsel. The film tries to have it both ways by suggesting that the heavenly scenes are all a product of Carter's imagination, but the audience knows better. Among the curious but effective artistic choices in A Matter of Life and Death was the decision to film the earthbound scenes in Technicolor and the Heaven sequences in black-and-white. The film was a product of the adventuresome team known as "The Archers": Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Kim Hunter, (more)
- 1946
If nothing else, the British melodrama Night Boat to Dublin had topicality going for it. As Captain David Grant, Robert Newton heads the cast of this spy-hunt caper. The plot concerns the efforts to rescue a Swedish scientist from the clutches of Nazi ringleader Keitel (Herbert Lom) and his minions. The scientist is of course of the "atomic" variety, meaning that it's crucial to smuggle him to safety before the Germans can learn his secrets. The authentic Dublin dialects heard throughout the film add charm and authenticity to the proceedings, though they are a bit hard to understand at times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Newton, Raymond Lovell, (more)
- 1948
Cinematographer Ronald Neame made his directorial debut with the 1947 murder melodrama Take My Life. When a Covent Garden violinist is found murdered, her ex-lover, show business manager Nicholas Talbot (Hugh Williams) finds himself under suspicion. The only person who believes that Talbot is innocent is his wife, opera diva Phillipa Shelley (Greta Gynt). Unable to convince the authorities, Phillipa plays detective herself, utilizing a snatch of a newly written song as her main clue to the true killer's identity. If the mysterious murderer isn't all that mysterious to the audience, it is only because the actor in question had played too many similar roles in the past. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Williams, Greta Gynt, (more)
- 1948
The "progressive" new British teaching methods of 1948 are sharply contrasted with the tried-and-true methods of the past in Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill. Self-content and thoroughly set in his ways, college instructor Vincent Perrin (Marius Goring) resents the arrival of non-traditional young prof David Traill (David Farrar). Exacerbating the situation is the fact that both Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill are both in love with Isobel Lester (Greta Gynt). Descending into petty, crass behavior, Mr. Perrin typifies all that was wrong with the postwar educational system; still, he is not entirely sympathetic, nor is the aggressive Mr. Traill 100% likeable. Based on a novel by Hugh Walpole, Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill remains surprisingly timely when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Farrar, Marius Goring, (more)
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's influential musical tragedy set the stage for the climactic dance ballets that became a staple of the Arthur Freed-MGM musicals (An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon) of the early 1950s. Hans Christian Andersen's tragic fairy tale forms the basis of this film about betrayal, love and art. The story begins as struggling composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) attends a performance of the Lermontov Ballet Company and recognizes his own score in the production of "Hearts of Fire." Julian protests to ballet company director Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) about the unauthorized use of his music. Impressed by Julian's talent, Boris hires him to compose the score for his next ballet -- a dance version of "The Red Shoes." Boris also hires an attractive young dancer, Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), to perform in the ballet. When the lead ballerina announces that she plans to get married, Boris, in a pique over being abandoned, casts Victoria in the starring role. As Julian works on the score and Victoria struggles to perfect her dance technique, the two fall in love. When "The Red Shoes" ballet is premiered -- seen in a stunning and glorious fifteen-minute sequence -- it is a raging success and it makes Victoria a star. But when Boris learns that Julian and Victoria have fallen in love, Boris, who is secretly in love with Victoria, in a fit of rage forces Julian to leave the ballet company; Victoria leaves with him. Since Boris owns the rights to "The Red Shoes" ballet, he forbids Victoria to perform the dance and she becomes unemployable. Time passes and Julian and Victoria are now happily married. Julian's compositions have made him an international success. One day, with Victoria disembarking from a train in Paris, she meets Boris, who implores her to do one performance of "The Red Shoes" in Monaco. Victoria agrees as Julian cancels an engagement in London to travel to Monte Carlo in order to convince his wife not to perform the ballet. But Victoria goes on with the performance, with tragic results. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, (more)
- 1950
This espionage drama was based on the true story of Odette Sansom Churchill, who became an unlikely hero during WWII. Born in France, Odette (Anna Neagle) was married to an Englishman who died in battle. When the British Army made an appeal for photos of the French coastline, Odette mailed a set of old holiday snapshots to the War Office. As a result, Odette was approached to serve as a British agent in France during the Nazi occupation. Under the guidance of Capt. Peter Churchill (Trevor Howard) and French resistance soldier Arnaud (Peter Ustinov), Odette's ability to blend in as a typical French citizen was put to excellent use by Allied intelligence. Odette was eventually found out and subjected to brutal torture by Gestapo Col. Henri (Marius Goring), but she never gave up any information on her work. She was then sentenced to death in a concentration camp, and when American forces arrived to liberate the compound, Odette was held hostage by the camp's Commandant (Alfred Schieske), believing that she was too valuable to let go. Anna Neagle consulted with the real life Odette Sansom Peter Churchill (who married after the war) to prepare for her performance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Trevor Howard, (more)
- 1950
Britain's Margaret Lockwood is teamed with Hollywood's Dane Clark in Highly Dangerous. Set in a mythical Iron Curtain country, the film casts Lockwood as an entomologist who hopes to stop a planned volley of bacteriological warfare. Facing danger at every turn, our heroine is rescued time and again by a two-fisted American reporter (Clark). The story culminates in a glass-enclosed hothouse, where the two protagonists race against time to neutralize thousands of poisonous insects. One bizarre sequence finds a drug-benumbed Lockwood imagining herself as the star of a popular British radio serial! Future Saint mentor Roy Baker directed from a script supplied by no less than Eric Ambler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Dane Clark, (more)
- 1951
The Magic Box was the English film industry's contribution to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Its all-star cast generously forsook their usual salaries for the privilege of paying tribute to that unsung pioneer of cinema, William Friese-Greene, here played by Robert Donat. Adapted by Eric Ambler from the controversial biography by Ray Allister, Magic Box contends that Friese-Greene was the true father of motion pictures, and not such upstarts as W. K. L. Dickson and Thomas Edison. Told in flashback, the film details Friese-Greene's tireless experiments with the "moving image," leading inexorably to a series of failures and disappoints, as others hog the credit for the protagonist's discoveries. The huge cast includes such British film luminaries as Joyce Grenfell, Miles Malleson, Michael Redgrave, Eric Portman, Emlyn Williams, Richard Attenborough, Peter Ustinov, Cecil Parker, Kay Walsh, and, best of all, Laurence Olivier as the confused bobby who witnesses Friese-Greene's first motion picture demonstration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Donat, Margaret Johnston, (more)
- 1951
Circle of Danger stars Ray Milland as an American at large in London, Wales and Scotland. During World War 2, Milland's brother had died in a commando raid. The details of his death were somewhat murky, and Milland would like to know the truth. The truth is murder in every sense of the word, though rather disappointingly, Milland himself is never in any peril. While Circle of Danger was produced by longtime Hitchcock associate Joan Harrison, the Master's touch is noticeably absent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Patricia Roc, (more)
- 1951
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Many cineastes consider Pandora and the Flying Dutchman as the masterpiece of filmmaker Albert Lewin, while others write the film off as a pretentious bore. Ava Gardner stars as Pandora Reynolds, a predatory creature who destroys the lives of all men who've been unfortunate enough to fall in love with her. Enter Hendrick van der Zee (James Mason), a mystical figure who proves to be Pandora's match. It turns out that van der Zee is the legendary 17th Flying Dutchman, whose spirit is doomed to wander the earth until he is able to find a woman willing to love him with all her heart -- and thereby sacrifice her own life. Further elaboration would spoil the film for potential Lewin enthusiasts. Suffice it to say that the director's many cinematic obsessions (cat figurines, Egyptology, obscure literary allusions) are exercised to their fullest potential. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Ava Gardner, (more)
- 1951
Nachts aut den Strassen (Detour) stars German film favorite Hans Albers as a middle-aged truck driver named Heinrich. Coming across a traffic accident, Heinrich finds a small bagful of money. Figuring that no one will miss it, he pockets the cash and in so doing, condemns himself to a Living Death. The dramatic thrust of Nachts auf den Strassen is not so much that Crime Does Not Pay, but that no man can ever escape his most diligent nemesis -- himself. The film represented the first postwar effort from producer Erich Pommer, whose name hadn't been seen on screen since the 1940 Hollywood production They Knew What They Wanted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hans Albers, Hildegarde Neff, (more)
- 1952
So Little Time takes so much time to tell its thinnish story. The scene is Nazi-occupied Belgium. Maria Schell plays a proud Belgian aristocrat; Marius Goring is a ruthless but innately decent German colonel who is billeted in Schell's mansion. At first hostile toward each other, the conqueror male and conquered female fall in love. This alliance may be foredoomed, but is fun while it lasts. So Little Time was produced during a period in which German officers were occasionally cast in a sympathetic light (e.g. Erwin Rommel in Desert Fox), but had to die for the sins of Hitler anyway. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Bailey, Maria Schell, (more)
- 1953
Scripted by Eric Ambler from a novel by Geoffrey Household, the British Rough Shoot top-bills Hollywood stars Joel McCrea and Evelyn Keyes. McCrea plays Taine, an American colonel stationed in England. When he spots what appears to be a prowler, Taine tries to scare the fellow away with a round of buckshot. The prowler immediately falls to the ground -- dead. Assuming that he's responsible, Taine hides the body, an act that sparks a chain reaction of sinister events, resulting in the colonel's involvement in an Iron-Curtain spy ring and an exciting finale at Madame Tussaud's wax museum. Evelyn Keyes' role as Colonel Taine's wife is overshadowed by the scene-stealing performances of supporting actors Herbert Lom and Marius Goring. Rough Shoot was originally released in Great Britain as Shoot First. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Evelyn Keyes, (more)
- 1953
A Georges Simenon novel was the source for the Anglo-American The Man Who Watched Trains Go By. Claude Rains stars as Kees Popinga, chief clerk for a Dutch trading company. Scrupulously honest, Popinga goes off the deep end when he discovers that his employer has been cooking the books to support a mistress. Upon learning that his boss intends to abscond from Brussels to Paris with company funds, Popinga prevents this from happening by stealing the money himself. Through a series of wild coincidences, he winds up entangled with the very woman (Marta Toren) who'd caused his boss' downfall. The Man Who Watched Trains Go By was released in the U.S. as Paris Express. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Rains, Märta Torén, (more)
- 1954
A fair stab at yet another World War II comedy, this film by Michael Relph features the humorous antics of an ENSA troupe (the British equivalent of the American USO) and an absurd involvement with an army major (Alfred Marks) that leads to the capture of a German commanding officer (Marius Goring). The troupe of entertainers includes a pair of seasoned crooners, a level-headed piano player, a leader who seems to fail equally well at comedy and singing, his wife, and a few others. This disparate group gets mixed up in the Brit Major's agenda and precipitates a series of unexpected circumstances that somehow lead everyone to bumble through to ultimate triumph. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfred Marks, Sidney James, (more)
The Barefoot Contessa begins at the funeral of Ava Gardner, a former Spanish peasant, cabaret dancer and movie star, who at the time of her death was a full-fledged contessa. Her life story unfolds in flashback recollections from her mourners. Film director Humphrey Bogart recalls how his career was saved when he discovered Gardner on behalf of Howard R. Hughes-like mogul Warren Stevens. Press agent Edmond O'Brien remembers how Ava was wooed and then abandoned by mercurial millionaire Marius Goring, and Italian count Rosanno Brazzi reflects on how he was able to wed the tempestuous Gardner, only to watch his world crumble after revealing on their wedding night that he was "only half a man." O'Brien received Best Supporting Actor awards at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes in 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, (more)
- 1955
Sir Walter Scott's medieval take on the "John Alden" story formed the basis of Quentin Durward. Robert Taylor dons armor in the title role, playing the son of an aging Scottish nobleman. He has been dispatched to propose to a high-born Frenchwoman (Kay Kendall) on his uncle's behalf, but one look at the lady and Quentin Durward falls head over heels. But there are villains to vanquish in several sword fight setpieces, the best of which is the climactic battle in which the hero and the head bad guy (Duncan Lamont) dangle on bell ropes. Quentin Durward was the fifth MGM Robert Taylor picture filmed in whole or in part in England; the others were Conspirator, Quo Vadis, Ivanhoe and Knights of the Round Table. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Kay Kendall, (more)
