Irene Handl Movies
One of British filmdom's most beloved interpreters of cockneys and eccentrics, pleasantly plump Irene Handl didn't begin her acting career until she was approaching middle age. For nearly five decades, Handl delighted her fans in a multitude of plays, films, and TV series. Her first movie was 1937's Believed Married, and her last was 1980's Hound of the Baskervilles; in between, she sparkled in such productions as Millions Like Us (1943), Great Day (1946), Adam and Evelyne (1949), Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953), Brothers in Law (1958) and Next to No Time (1960). She even found time to write two popular novels. On British television, Irene Handl starred in the weekly efforts For Love of Amy (1970-72) and Maggie and Her (1978-79). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1938
In this detective drama, a secret service agent is assigned to investigate the death of a bag lady who was discovered to be carrying highly classified airplane blueprints. He ends up taking a room at the boarding house where she lived. There he soon discovers that all of her housemates are part of a ring of spies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Walls, Renée Saint-Cyr, (more)
- 1939
In this British thriller, a barber must steal to fund his wife's addiction to spending money. She uses the cash he took to pay off a drape maker. The stolen bills are traced back to him. The unscrupulous seamster then begins blackmailing the couple and the barber kills him. He then has his wife leave town until the trouble blows over. Just as he hears that his wife was killed in a collision, police surround him and shoot him down. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Richardson, Diana Wynyard, (more)
- 1939
In this British drawing room mystery, a detective begins looking into the strange deaths of two members of a psychic club. The detective really enjoys her work, and soon exposes a phony medium for a killer thereby saving an heiress from her doom. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1940
Boozy doctor O'Dowd gets into deep trouble after he is accused of operating under the influence and causing the death of his daughter-in-law in this sudsy drama. Now the Irish physician must somehow redeem his good name. He gets his chance during a diphtheria outbreak. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peggy Cummins, Mary Merrall, (more)
- 1940
In this family comedy, the life of a suburban clan is disrupted when they learn that two old friends are coming to call. The house is thrown into a tizzy as they struggle to prepare. One of the three brothers then chooses an inopportune moment to announce that he is planning to marry the maid. The cook then organizes a kitchen strike. Finally things settle down, and the household is ready to entertain the esteemed guests -- they never show up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Lohr, Judy Kelly, (more)
The popular British troupe The Crazy Gang do their zany thing in this fast-paced comedy adventure. The story begins as the Gang balloon themselves over enemy lines. There they become friends with a crazy old prisoner who has the plans for a tunnel-boring tank tattooed upon his back. To get him out, they dress him up as Hitler. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1940
Also known as Girl in the Case, this early Carol Reed effort tended to be dismissed or ignored by its director in later interviews. Even so, the film is a worthwhile effort, with an intricate and sometimes amusing script by Sydney Gilliat. Young lawyer Stephen Garringdon (Barry K. Barnes) manages to clear his first client, nurse Anne Graham (Margaret Lockwood), of charges that she has been systematically murdering his patients. At first exultant, Garringdon begins suffering pangs of guilt because he never completely believed in his client's innocence. When another murder occurs during Anne's shift, the lawyer begins to wonder if he is actually an accessory after the fact. Admittedly, things look bad for Anne, but unexpected salvation is at hand in form of affable Mr. Tracy (Emlyn Williams), who knows a lot more about the killings than anyone else-except, of course, the victims. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Barry Barnes, (more)
- 1941
In this supernatural drama, a college student finds himself fixated upon thoughts of his late lover. Unable to forget her, he attempts to contact her spirit by holding a seance. The experience so frightens him and afterward he suffers a breakdown. Eventually he heals with the assistance of a childhood friend who has secretly loved him all along. He finally awakens to her love and returns it. Soon he has forgotten his unhealthy obsession on the other girl. The story is also known as Spell of Amy Nugent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1942
This WWII drama, based on a novel by Oscar E. Millard, takes place in Nazi-occupied Belgium. Andre Delange (Eric Portman) owns a nightclub but is connected with the resistance movement. He used to secretly publish an anti-Nazi paper before the German invasion. Now his underground comrades want to put out the paper again. Delange's assistant publisher is the alluring Julie Lanvin (Phyllis Calvert). But the co-owner of the cabaret, Charles Neels (Peter Glenville), is jealous of Lanvin's relationship with Delange. Neels informs on the publishers, the Nazis raid the newspaper, and the staff is arrested -- but Delange and Lanvin escape. When the two of them manage to put out another issue of the paper, the Nazis believe that they have arrested the wrong people, and they release the staff. Veteran British director Anthony Asquith was at the helm. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Portman, Phyllis Calvert, (more)
- 1943
Millions Like Us is a fundamentally honest dramatization of the British "home front" during World War II. Patricia Roc plays a worker in a defense plant who lives in an all-female rooming house. Shy and sheltered, Roc loses some of her inhibitions when she falls in love with an airman (Gordon Jackson). After they marry, he is killed in battle. Roc's coworkers and friends rally round her, giving her the strength to persevere. Millions Like Us attempts to show the temporary breakdown of the British class structure during the war, with everyone--highborn to low--pitching in, working together, and bolstering one another's morale. That the old social system would inevitably resume after the war wasn't important to British movie fans, who lined up in droves to see Millions Like Us. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Portman, Patricia Roc, (more)
- 1943
In this patriotic but romantic musical comedy, a young teacher runs a day school for the workers at a munitions factory. As she makes arrangements to locate the school in the empty home next to her apartment building, she falls in love with the property owner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1943
Mechanic Formby bests a neighboring rival at a Home Guard exercise and when others obtain an army weapon, Formby converts a truck into a tank to get the weapon back. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1943
The popular British music hall and radio team of Gert and Daisy (Elsie and Doris Waters) heads the cast of It's in the Bag. The whole thing starts when the cackling cockney duo sells an old dress. Turns out that there's 20,000 pounds sewn in the lining of the frock, a fact that precipitates a merry chase. Also in pursuit of the money is Reginald Purdell, whose honesty is a matter of grave doubt. It's in the Bag comes to a literally explosive climax in a deserted theater. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1943
In this melodrama, two lovers plan to marry when the man returns from his stint in the war. The woman's life is shattered when she learns that he is listed as missing in action. She then becomes a nurse and falls in love with a doctor. Later the husband, an amnesiac returns. His memory also returns when he hears his favorite romantic song. This reunites him with his true love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1943
The Flemish Farm is based on a true story. Clifford Evnas plays Duclos, a Belgian airman who joins the British air corps at the outbreak of WW2. Feeling the need to do something more for his country than merely dropping bombs on Nazi installations, Duclos flies back to his German-occupied homeland to symbolically retrieve a Belgian Air Force flag he'd buried just before evacuating. He hides out in the farm of the title, where he is given aid and support by the Belgian underground. Ultimately, however, his presence becomes known to the Nazis, leading to a tension-filled denouement. Jane Baxter costars as Trescha, who in true WW2-propaganda fashion gives her life for her cause. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Brook, Clifford Evans, (more)
- 1943
Released in the US as The Randolph Family, Dear Octopus was based on the internationally popular play by Dodie Smith. The story is motivated by the Golden Wedding anniversary of Charles and Dora Randolph (Frederick Leister, Helen Haye). As the relatives gather, each reveals his or her personal quirks and shortcomings. Caught in the middle is family secretary Penny Fenton (Margaret Lockwood), who has the unenviable task of sorting and smoothing out the family's many deep-set hostilities and jealousies so that a good time will be had by all. The basic premise of Dear Octopus is established early on; the rest of the film is variations on a single theme, albeit consistently amusing ones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1944
The Caryl Brahams-S. J. Simon novel The Elephant is White is the basis for the British Give us the Moon. Comic actor Vic Oliver delivers a broad performance as Sascha, a dour suicide-prone chap who belongs to an "I won't work" club. The organization was founded by Nina (Margaret Lockwood) on behalf of those who have no intention of ever making a living, and who make no bones about it. Romance enters the picture when the industrious son (Peter Graves) of a hotel owner poses as a member of the idle rich, the better to be close to Nina. To take the curse off an "unemployment" comedy in the middle of WW2 (when everyone was expected to "do their bit"), Give Us the Moon is set in a fanciful postwar London. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Vic Oliver, (more)
- 1944
English without Tears is a gentle satire of the temporary relaxation of class barriers in wartime England. Michael Wilding portrays the faithful family butler to a fabulously wealthy household. Each member of the family greets the news of upcoming world conflict with a different reaction, the most altruistic of which is that of the daughter (Penelope Dudley Ward), who joins the home service. When the butler rises to the army rank of lieutenant, the daughter sees him in a whole new light and falls in love with her onetime employee. There's little in this frivolous film that hasn't been done elsewhere, except perhaps for the opening-scene romantic complications in Geneva, which set the stage for the film's finale. English without Tears was released in the US in 1948 as Her Man Gilbey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Wilding, Sr., Lilli Palmer, (more)
- 1944
A proud but aging WW I war-horse is deeply offended when his offer to lead during WW II is rejected by the government that once lauded his bravery with a series of medals. Embittered and despondent over their callousness, he heads back to his isolated country estate where he plots his permanent escape from the cold cruel world. When the government sends six mischievous cockney youths to stay with him during the bombing of London, the despondent old man must abandon his suicidal musings and attend to the ensuing chaos of the rambunctious rapscallions. This touching British drama follows the tough general's attempts to control and understand the energetic little hellions. As he comes to know them, he reluctantly begins to care and in so doing, finds renewed zest for life ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Godfrey Tearle, Jeanne de Casalis, (more)
- 1944
In this romance, a young woman gets into a real mess when her mother begins meddling in her romantic life by conning her into becoming engaged to her boss. Unfortunately, the girl loves another who has gone off to fight the war. Upon his return, he is enraged to learn about the engagement. Mayhem ensues until the whole mess is straightened out and the lovers are reunited. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1944
Though a top-billed British stage star, Feliz Aylmer seldom rose above the supporting cast in films: Mr. Emmanuel is a rare exception. Aylmer plays the title role, an elderly European Jew living in Manchester, England. Honoring a promise to a young refugee, Mr. Emmanuel makes a perilous journey to Nazi Germany to search for the boy's mother. The gentle, even-tempered old man is subject to all manner of persecution by the jack-booted Gestapo thugs, but he is saved from the Concentration Camps through the intervention of Greta Gynt, a British woman who is the mistress of a high-ranking Nazi. While Mr. Emmanuel himself emerges from Germany intact, his mission ends on an unexpectedly melancholy note. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Felix Aylmer, Greta Gynt, (more)
- 1944
Like the better-known (and more popular) A Canterbury Tale, Welcome Mr. Washington is a sometimes amusing, sometimes poignant dramatization of what happened when American troops "invaded" England during WW II. Dismissed as "overpaid, oversexed and over here," the Yanks face some hostility while trying to adjust to British manners and mores. But when a farming community finds itself dangerously short-handed at harvest time, the American GIs pitch in and help their British brethren in true "hands across the sea" fashion. Real-life American army lieutenant Donald Stewart is cast as the nominal romantic lead, his lack of professional polish all the more obvious in his scenes with the talented Barbara Mullen. The film is stolen by Peggy Cummins as a precocious teenager, some three years before Cummins was brought to Hollywood to star in Forever Amber (which, as it turned out, she didn't). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Mullen, Donald Stewart, (more)
- 1945
When blind veteran Whiley realizes that the love of his life, Brook, is in love with Griffith, Whiley bows out gracefully in this musical. ~ All Movie Guide
Based on Noël Coward's play "Still Life," Brief Encounter is a romantic, bittersweet drama about two married people who meet by chance in a London railway station and carry on an intense love affair. Sentimental yet down-to-earth and set in pre-World War II England, the film follows British housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), who is on her way home, but catches a cinder in her eye. By chance, she meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), who removes it for her. The two talk for a few minutes and strike immediate sparks, but they end up catching different trains. However, both return to the station once a week to meet and, as the film progresses, they grow closer, sharing stories, hopes, and fears about their lives, marriages, and children. One day, when Alec's train is late, both become frantic that they will miss each other. When they finally find each other, they realize that they are in love. But what should be a joyous realization is fraught with tragedy, since both care greatly for their families. Howard and Johnson give flawless performances as two practical, married people who find themselves in a situation in which they know they can never be happy. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, (more)
