Michael Gough Movies

This 1948 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was produced in England by Alexander Korda, and released in the US by 20th Century-Fox. Vivien Leigh plays the title role, a 19th-century Russian gentlewoman married to Czarist official Ralph Richardson. Though her marriage is not intolerable, Anna is swept off her feet by dashing young military officer Vronsky, played by Kieron Moore. The ensuing scandal ruins Anna's status in society. Anna Karenina had previously been filmed twice in Hollywood, with both versions starring Greta Garbo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1948, "The Archers" -- the writing and directing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger -- had completed The Red Shoes, one of their greatest international successes, but it had yet to be released when the Rank Organization, doubting the commercial appeal of the picture, severed ties with the team and Powell and Pressburger signed a new deal with Alexander Korda's London Films. Their first project for Korda, The Small Back Room, was a dramatic change of pace, a thriller set in London in the midst of World War II. Sammy Rice (David Farrar) is explosives expert who works with British military intelligence as part of a ragtag munitions research team studying new ways to defuse enemy weapons and improve allied arms. While he's brilliant on the job, Rice is a troubled man with an artificial leg that causes him chronic pain and an appetite for alcohol that stands between him and those around him, especially his girlfriend and secretary Susan (Kathleen Byron). Rice's latest project is finding a way to defuse a new German bomb that's cleverly disguised as a children's toy, but Rice finds himself battling his superiors when Waring (Jack Hawkins), an unscrupulous businessman who has been pressed into service with the explosives team, and his colleague Professor Mair (Milton Rosmer) begin lobbying the Army to purchase a new weapon that Rice feels is both ineffective and dangerous. Despite excellent reviews and a fine cast that includes Cyril Cusack, Sidney James and Robert Morley in a cameo appearance, The Small Back Room was a box office disappointment on its original release, and it appeared in edited form in the United States under the title Hour of Glory, though later video releases allowed Americans to see the film in its original British cut. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The brilliant British documentary filmmaker Paul Rotha made his feature-film debut with 1950's No Resting Place. Filmed on location in Ireland, the film is a lightly fictionalized study of that country's itinerant workmen. Michael Gough plays tinker Alec Kyle, whose life is thrown into turmoil when he accidentally kills a man. Kyle spends the rest of the film evading Guard Mannigan (Noel Purcell), a civil servant who relies on instinct rather than scientific deduction to get his man. Without ever trying to elicit sympathy for his characters, director Rotha manages to compellingly detail the miserable living and working conditions of Ireland's nomad artisans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This British psychological melodrama stars Michael Gough as a man who is lost in the Brazilian jungles and presumed dead. He returns to civilization, only to discover that his wife (Elizabeth Sellars) has remarried. When it becomes obvious that Gough's mind has been unhinged by the ordeal, his former wife does what she can to help and comfort him. Instead of being grateful, the addled Gough commits suicide, arranging the evidence so that his wife will be accused of murder. The Night Was Our Friend was the sort of second feature on which director Michael Anderson cut his teeth before being entrusted with such loftier projects as Around the World in 80 Days (56). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This comedy is essentially a prototype of Disney's 1961 film Parent Trap and tells the tale of twin girls, separated after their parents divorce, who meet each other at summer camp and hatch an elaborate scheme to get their parents back together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The second of Disney's British-produced "historicals" (the first was Robin Hood, the last was Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue), The Sword and the Rose eschews historical accuracy in favor of wall-to-wall adventure and eye-filling pageantry. The film takes place in the court of King Henry VIII (James Robertson Justice), whose sister Mary Tudor (Glynis Johns) has fallen in love with soldier of fortune Charles Brandon (Richard Todd). Mary appoints Brandon Captain of the Guards, which rests not at all well with her erstwhile suitor, the Duke of Buckingham (Michael Gough). Rather than foment court intrigue, Brandon decides to move on to America, only to end up in the Tower of London when Mary tags along with him, disguised as a boy. Mary is ordered by Henry to wed the aging King of France (Jean Mercure), who promptly dies, leaving the girl at the mercy of the evil Dauphin (Gerard Oury). When rescued by the Duke of Buckhingham, Mary is informed that Charles is dead, but in fact her true love still lives, as he proves beyond doubt in a climactic battle with the duplicitous Duke. Sword and the Rose was based on Charles Major's novel When Knighthood Was in Flower, previously filmed in 1923 with Marion Davies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michael Gough stars in this scary British ghost story. ~ All Movie Guide

One of the many inspirational true stories told about WWII, this is the story of Douglas Bader, an undauntable character who was involved in an accident which cost him both of his legs. Despite this, he became a WWII squadron commander and was a hero during the Battle of Britain. Shot down over France and held prisoner by the Germans, he still survived and returned to England leading 3,000 planes over London in a victory flight. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Eschewing the Shakespearean original title (it's a quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream), the British Ill Met by Moonlight was released stateside as Night Ambush. This superb Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger concoction is set during World War II on the island of Crete. Dirk Bogarde and David Oxley play Major Paddy Leigh Fermer and Captain Billy Stanley Moss, two British officers whose job it is to kidnap Nazi general Karl Kreipe (Marius Goring) and spirit him off to Cairo. The motive of this mission is to weaken German morale on Crete and to provide hope to the enslaved locals. With the help of a group of resistance fighters, Fermer and Moss manage to trap the general; now they must transport their captive back to their own lines, avoiding German patrols every inch of the way. Originally 104 minutes, Ill Met by Moonlight was cut to 93 minutes by its American distributor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Hammer Studios classic is far closer to the letter (and spirit) of the Bram Stoker novel than the Bela Lugosi version of Dracula. The premise finds the infamous count journeying from his native Transylvania to England, where he takes a headfirst plunge into the London nightlife, and begins to rack up victim after victim. In the process, Dracula also runs into his arch-nemesis, Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), which ignites a battle of wills between the two. Heavily censored in Britain when released (with the goriest moments truncated), this outing was restored by the BFI in the mid-late 2000s. It put Lee and Cushing on the map and paved the way for many sequels starring the two, and for many non-Dracula follow-ups with these actors as well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The power of hypnotism provides the basis of this film that was released in "Hypnovision" (yet another promotional gimmick) A budding and frustrated mystery writer takes extreme steps to insure that his latest thriller contains accurate descriptions of horrible murders in this gory horror thriller. He decides that the best way to do this is to set up and witness similar murders first- hand, so, not wanting to bloody his own hands, he hypnotizes his assistant, turns him into a deformed monster and has him do the dirty work using a few devilishly clever gadgets that include binoculars equipped with spring-loaded spikes, a secret guillotine poised above a young woman's bed, and deadly ice tongs. Afterward, the writer drops the bodies in a vat of acid. Several people die before the assistant rebels and gets bloody revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mr. Topaze was based on a play by Marcel Pagnol, previously filmed twice before with John Barrymore and Fernandel. Peter Sellers stars as a French college professor, known far and wide for his integrity. He refuses to improve a grade on the paper of one student, whose influential father sees to it that Sellers is fired. Cast adrift in the business world, Sellers is hired by a crooked liquor executive (Herbert Lom) to act as "front" for the benefit of the authorities. When Sellers catches on how much money there is in the business, his honesty evaporates and he becomes as underhanded as the next fellow. The love of Joan Sims enables Sellers to change his ways before his dishonesty can become disastrous. Mr. Topaze was rereleased in 1963 as I Like Money; once again, however, no one wanted to see a "straight" Peter Sellers in a role that called out for the broad comedy he did so well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide