Irene Handl Movies

A confirmed bachelor and a reclusive movie star tangle in this lively French comedy. The trouble begins when the bachelor vows to disprove the star's Garboesque claim that she wants to be alone. Saying that all women are alike, he sets out to seduce her. First he poses as a Realtor and offers to let her hide out in his lavish country estate. There he and she gradually get to know each other. Much to his surprise, she is quite sincere on wanting to be alone. When the woman discovers the "Realtor's" ruse she decides to teach him a lesson by promptly marrying him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Outrageously sexist, The Perfect Woman is also very funny if you're in a politically incorrect mood. A dotty scientist (Stanley Holloway), fascinated with the concept of artificial life, creates a synthetic woman (the staggeringly beautiful Patricia Roc) in his lab. This ersatz female is considered the "perfect woman" because she will do anything she is told, and will keep her mouth shut in the bargain. The scientist's niece (also Patricia Roc) decides to have some fun by posing as the robot girl. Based on a play by Wallace Geoffrey and Basil Mitchell, The Perfect Woman takes a while getting started, but the payoff makes up for the slow build. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, a man returns to his wife after the war, but is disturbed by his continuing fixation upon the woman he met who claims to be a Russian princess. He leaves his wife to find the princess. When he does, at long last, find her, he discovers that she lied. The man quickly goes back to his wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Originally released in 1945 as Shop at Sly Corner, Code of Scotland Yard is an effective British imitation of the Hollywood film noir genre. Oscar Homolka plays a seemingly benign antique dealer who maintains a comfortable lifestyle by fencing stolen goods. Homolka's daughter (Muriel Pavlow), an aspiring musician, is the only person he genuinely cares about. Thus when the girl's future is threatened by a slimy blackmailer (Kenneth Griffith) who is unsatisfied with a mere cash settlement, Homolka is left with no choice but to get rid of the bounder. Oscar Homolka, a Viennese character actor who worked prolifically on both sides of the Atlantic, is the principal attraction in Code of Scotland Yard, which was based on popular London stage play by Edward Percy. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

American first lady Eleanor Roosevelt's impending visit to a tiny English country village is the motivation of the Anglo-American coproduction Great Day. As the villagers prepare for their prestigious guest, all sorts of internal squabbles and personal foibles rise to the surface. The story concentrates on embittered WW1 veteran Captain Ellis (Eric Portman), whose insecessant drinking and sponging is a source of embarrassment for his long-suffering family. The Captain's daughter Margaret (Sheila Sim) is on the verge of entering into a wealthy but loveless marriage so that she can rescue her mother (Flora Robson) from her father's excesses. In the Lesley Storm stage play on which this film was based, Captain Ellis comes to a bad but not entirely undeserved end; the film allows him a last-minute reprieve, as well as a chance to change his ways before Mrs. R. shows up. A moderate hit in England, Great Day sank like a stone when released in the US by RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

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

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

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

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

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