Everley Gregg Movies
- 1939
The success of the British Q Planes spawned a brief cycle in airborne espionage pictures--at least until all British aircraft was impounded for actual combat use. The title Spies of the Air tells all: The central character is a test pilot who turns out to be in the employ of The Enemy. Since the film is adapted from Jeffrey Dell's stage play Official Secrets, much of the action takes place on the ground. The flight sequences blend stock footage and newly-shot aerial scenes with acceptable expertise. Spies of the Air was filmed in 1939, but not released until 1940--by which time its topicality had increased tenfold. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Barnes, Roger Livesey, (more)
- 1938
Gordon Harker stars as a goonish London cabbie who finds himself up to his brimmed cap in espionage. Harker innocently thwarts an assassination attempt on a Middle-Eastern potentate. The perpetrator is a demonic British oil executive who'll stop at nothing to corner the "black gold" market. The villain sets Harker up as the fall guy for his next attempt on the potentate's life, Yeh, we know: Where are the blondes? Well, cast your eye upon leading ladies Enid Stamp-Taylor and Janet Johnson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon Harker, Janet Johnson, (more)
Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller star in Anthony Asquith's and Leslie Howard's classic version of George Bernard Shaw's satiric comedy. Henry Higgins (Howard) is an upper class phonetics professor who encounters low-class guttersnipe Eliza Doolittle (Hiller) and bets his friend Colonel Pickering (Scott Sunderland) that he can pass her off as a duchess within three months. Pickering accepts Higgins' bet, with Eliza readily agreeing to the proposal, since she will get to live in Higgins' fancy home. Once in Higgins' house, Eliza is subjected to intensely repetitive phonetics lessons in an effort to transform her Cockney accent into the speech of proper English. Things are a bit rocky at first, with Eliza blurting out "Not bloody likely" at a tea party. But when Eliza is presented at the Ambassador's Ball, she is not only accepted as a princess but is the talk of the ball, everyone in attendance commenting on her charm, beauty, and poise. Relishing his success, Higgins abruptly dismisses her. But Eliza has fallen in love with Higgins and is aghast at her cursory treatment by him. She tells him, "I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself. Now you've made a lady of me, I'm not fit to sell anything else." When Eliza leaves, Higgins realizes that he loves her too, but Eliza has announced to Higgins that she plans to marry high society playboy Freddie Eynsford-Hill (David Tree). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wendy Hiller, Leslie Howard, (more)
- 1937
In this satire of British-American relations, Edward G. Robinson stars as Dan Armstrong, a hard-sell American saleman whose company sends him to England to learn how to tone down his act. There he meets some distant relatives, the aristocrats Sir Peter and Lady Challoner (Arthur Wontner and Annie Esmond). They invite him to their mansion for the weekend, where among the house guests are the penniless aristocrats the Duke and Duchess of Glenavon (Nigel Bruce and Constance Collier) and their daughter Lady Patricia (Luli Deste), as well as a conniving stockbroker, Henry Graham Manningdale (Ralph Richardson). The Duke and Duchess own only an apparently worthless mine in Rhodesia that supposedly contains a metal called magnelite. Manningdale says that he will develop the mine in exchange for permission to marry Lady Patricia. Armstrong also has designs on Patricia, however, and he engineers a scheme to start a company and sell stock in the mine. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Luli Deste, (more)
- 1935
This modern "Flying Dutchman" story stars actor/playwright Noel Coward as a class-A heel. Coward uses his position as a powerful publisher to break as many hearts as is humanly possible. When Coward does his usual hatchet job on poet Julie Haydon, she plants a curse on his head, praying that he'll die and that no one will mourn him. Within the week, Coward is killed in a plane crash. Slated for Purgatory, Coward is given a second chance; if he can find someone who will weep for him, his soul will be saved. As expected, the sole mourner turns out to be Haydon, whose fiance's life is saved by the repentant Coward. As with most of the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur film productions of 1930s, The Scoundrel is hard to warm up to because the characters are so unappealing. Still, it's fascinating to see Noel Coward playing a villain, and to spot legendary critic/curmudgeon Alexander Woollcott in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noël Coward, Julie Haydon, (more)
- 1935
Wealthy American Joe Martin (Eugene Pallette) purchases an ancient Scottish castle and then has it dismantled and transferred to his Florida estate where he plans to reconstruct the castle brick by brick. Martin is unaware that his new acquisition comes equipped with an 18th-century ghost, played by Robert Donat. As the spectre, who feels as though his honor has been besmirched, flits around haunting one and all, Martin's daughter Peggy (Jean Parker) carries on a romance with the ghost's descendant, also played by Donat. It is only natural that the "live" and "dead" Donat will become mixed up, and this comedy of errors dominates the final scenes of The Ghost Goes West. The film was the first English-language production of French director René Clair -- and almost the last, due to producer Alexander Korda's insistence upon tampering with the original concept as laid down by Clair and screenwriter Robert E. Sherwood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Donat, Jean Parker, (more)
- 1933
Charles Laughton became an international star by chewing both mutton and scenes in his Oscar-winning turn as King Henry VIII. Alexander Korda's British super-production also put the British cinema on the map, which, until this film, received precious little respect in the international film community. The film, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, details the private life of the famous British monarch. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, is barely mentioned -- explained away by a prologue which states that she was "too respectable to be included." Henry then marries Anne Boleyn (Merle Oberon) but she is soon beheaded. His next wife, Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie), dies during childbirth. His next wife is Anne of Cleves (Elsa Lanchester, in a prelude to her Bride of Frankenstein role), whom Henry reluctantly beds with his famous sigh, "The things I've done for England." They divorce and Henry next marries Katherine Howard (Binnie Barnes), who also finds herself beheaded when she has an affair with Henry's friend, Thomas Culpepper (Robert Donat). Finally, Henry is brought down to size with his final wife, Catherine Parr (Everley Gregg). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Laughton, Binnie Barnes, (more)
