James Harcourt Movies

Blacklisted in Hollywood, director Edward Dmytryk managed to find work in England. Dmytryk's Obsession is based on Alec Coppel's suspense play A Man About a Dog. Robert Newton stars as Dr. Clive Riordan, the insanely jealous husband of unfaithful Storm Riordan (Sally Gray). Aware that Storm is having a torrid affair with an American named Bill Kronin (Phil Brown), Riordan kidnaps the man and chains him up in a deserted building, intending to kill him with an acid bath. The wife's dog, however, turns up at the last minute and spoils his plot. Obsession was released in the U.S. as The Hidden Room. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Captive Heart is set in a German POW camp for British soldiers. Michael Redgrave plays a Czech patriot, who has assumed the identity of a deceased British officer to avoid being executed by the Nazis. When captured and placed in the camp, the British prisoners suspect the still-incognito Redgrave of being a spy. Only his conspicuous courage during an escape sequence vindicates the secretive Redgrave. The film's tinderbox tension is relieved with a joyous finale, which utilizes a fireworks display as adroitly as Hitchcock did in To Catch a Thief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An old junk dealer is assisted by 3 young boys when he sets out for a journey down the coast of England to confront the man responsible for his smuggler son's death. ~ All Movie Guide

In this British comedy, set in Tangleton, a small English village, a handyman finds himself in trouble when he inadvertently assists two London reporters in their investigation of corruption in the town's postwar plans. To protect themselves, the town fathers have the handyman destroy several incriminating housing forms. Unfortunately an errant gust of wind sends the flying. Enlisting the aid of an eccentric inventor, the handyman succeeds in getting the corrupt officials out of office. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Penn of Pennsylvania was the original British title of the economical biopic The Courageous Mr. Penn. Clifford Evans stars as Quaker leader William Penn, who leaves the comfort of his family estate to fight for the rights of his religious brethren. Penn's crusade for spiritual freedom leads him to the New World and the ultimate founding of the colony of Pennsylvania. The film's highlight is Penn's courtroom trial, an admittedly overlong sequence redeemed by the give-and-take between actors Evans and Joss Ambler (as the judge). Deborah Kerr is merely decorative in the thankless role of Penn's wife Gulielma. Honorable in its intentions, Penn of Pennsylvania is compromised somewhat by its minimal production values, including some of the most unconvincing miniature work ever seen on film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The pageantlike This England was designed by the Anglo-American film corporation to boost the morale of the war-besieged island nation. The story unfolds in the ancient British community of Claverly Village, which has already weathered serveral centuries of political upheavals, both foreign and domestic. A.R. Rawlinson and Bridge Boland's screenplay traces the history of the village from the Feudal Era to the Second World War, with Emlyn Williams (who also contributed additional dialogue), John Clements and Constance Cummings enacted the roles of several Claverly citizens throughout the years. Cummings is at her best in the "Spanish Armada" sequence, portraying a fetching gypsy not unlike her Latin American charmer in Harold Lloyd's Movie Crazy (1932). Perhaps because of its episodic construction, This England is one of those unfortunate films that never seems to turn up intact when shown today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an amiable steel worker suddenly changes when he becomes a foreman. Suddenly Mr. Nice Guy becomes Mr. Hard Nose and he mercilessly pushes his men to work harder and faster. His callous attitude comes home with him and his wife, too suffers. Trouble ensues when the foreman pushes the men so hard that a man dies. The other workers revolt, and at home, his wife leaves. The foreman turns to his friend, a preacher, for guidance and begins to see where he went wrong. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this British thriller, a chemist finds himself framed for a murder. He leaves his lover and escapes to South Africa. There he quickly becomes renowned for his good work with the medical profession. Unfortunately, a terrible explosion in a lab disfigures him so badly that he believes himself unidentifiable. He now feels that it is safe to return to London. He does and learns that his lover has married. More trouble ensues when, despite his scar, he is recognized. Fortunately, the whole mess is straightened out by the film's end. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

James Mason stars in this nerve-wracking British suspenser. Mason plays a henpecked farmer, driven over the edge by his spiteful wife. He kills her and buries her in their garden. Convinced that he'll be caught someday, Mason becomes a fugitive. He briefly enjoys a romantic relationship with authoress Pamela Kellino until he realizes that Pamela's interest is purely professional: she plans to use Mason as "material" for her upcoming novel "I Met a Murderer." But that's not the end of the story, which contains more twists and surprises than are dreamt of by the relatively unimaginative Pamela. Unlike her character in the film, Pamela Kellino was able to concoct the screenplay of I Met a Murderer without any first-hand experience; she also coproduced the film with her husband, director Roy Kellino. As for Roy, he may very well have had second thoughts about teaming Pamela with James Mason; Pamela divorced Roy in 1941, and went on to marry...you guessed it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A. J. Cronin's novel was brought to the screen by director Carol Reed. The film is set in a northern England mining town (far more realistically depicted than the back-lot Welsh village in John Ford's How Green Was My Valley. The parents of Michael Redgrave have labored long and hard so that their son can escape his grimy environs and make something of himself. While away at school, Redgrave is trapped into marriage by Margaret Lockwood, previously the lady friend of ill-tempered Emlyn Williams (the actor was himself a product of the Welsh mining community). When Lockwood and Williams resume their romance, the disillusioned Redgrave returns home, where he becomes deeply involved in a labor dispute. He ultimately decides that it is best for all if he remains in the village of his birth, working tirelessly on behalf of his friends, relatives and neighbors. Denied the larger budgets indigenous to Hollywood films, Carol Reed invested a gritty documentary "feel" into The Stars Look Down; the film brought him international acclaim, serving as a stepping stone for even greater cinematic accomplishments. Curiously, Reed himself didn't subscribe to A. J. Cronin's opinions vis-a-vis the nationalization of the coal mines; he was simply attracted to the dramatic possibilities of the tale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a police inspector pursues a Lord's secretary suspected of stealing his gold bullion. She is the prime suspect because she is the leader of an infamous gang of thieves. The cops do not realize that the gang acted on their own accord. The secretary and the inspector then team up and board a train to try and stop their getaway cars. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this early film from director Sir Carol Reed, Edmund Gwenn stars as Joe Higgins, a hardworking tugboat captain who is ecstatic when he learns that he has won a lucrative soccer pool. To celebrate, Higgins quits his job and invites all his pals to the local tavern for a wingding. But during the party, the validity of the Liverpudlian captain's win comes into question. Star Gwenn would later be remembered by most movie lovers for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of Kris Kringle in 1947's Miracle on 34th Street. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Though director Carol Reed seldom included Laburnham Grove on his resumé, he allowed that it was quite successful, and a cut above the minor programmers he was usually assigned in the mid-1930s. Based on a novel by J. B. Priestley, the film stars Edmund Gwenn as Mr. Radfern -- solid citizen by day, counterfeiter by night. Saddled with a pack of tedious in-laws, Radfern decides to dispose of them by handing them a roll of "funny money" and inviting them to shop in town to their heart's content. He then skips town, secure in the knowledge that his unwelcome guests will soon be rounded up by the authorities. Edmund Gwenn would later play a more benign (and less skilled) counterfeiter in the 1950 Hollywood production Mister 880. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide