Michael Martin Harvey Movies

On a trip from France to Allied-occupied Berlin, a group of travelers -- a mysterious and very secretive European woman (Merle Oberon), an American agricultural expert (Robert Ryan), a British educator (Robert Coote), a Soviet Army officer (Roman Toporow), and a French official (Charles Korvin) -- all cross paths in the cramped quarters of a military train. They discover that the notion of the "Allied forces" is breaking down amid their victory in the war; they neither like nor trust each other, nor each other's countries, except where the Germans are concerned, where they share a distrust. And then they cross paths with a German VIP who makes them wonder if they've got all of the Germans pegged right. A bomb goes off, killing their newfound acquaintance, and the suspicions start anew. The mystery surrounding the victim only deepens when they discover that he wasn't who he claimed to be -- and that the army isn't saying who he was. Ryan, Oberon, et al. soon find themselves up to their necks in unrepentant Nazis and militant German nationalists who have banded together against the occupiers to destroy any chance of success for a peace plan being put forward by a visionary German (Paul Lukas). They find Frankfurt a hotbed of sabotage and armed underground resistance, with the occupying armies seemingly caught flat-footed by the plotting in their midst, which includes murder and blackmail. Berlin Express is a spellbinding mix of action, suspense, and topical political intrigue, laced with idealism and a surprising degree of sophistication, a level a wit almost worthy of Graham Greene, and an eye for suspense worthy of Hitchcock. Indeed, the film could almost be considered director Jacques Tourneur's postwar equivalent to Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940). It also represents a fascinating cultural snapshot, depicting the very last moments of hope for peaceful relations with the Soviets that could be seen in American movies for decades. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

One of several low-budget mellers directed by scriptwriter Maxwell Shane, Fear in the Night was based on the short story Nightmare by William Irish (pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich). In his first starring role, DeForest Kelley plays Vince Grayson, a young man who has a terrible nightmare wherein he sees himself killing someone. When he awakens, Vince finds a couple of pieces of evidence indicating that his dream was no dream. Detective Cliff Herlihy (Paul Kelly) doesn't believe that Vince has killed anyone, but agrees to investigate. While taking shelter from a storm in a remote mansion, the detective and the young man stumble upon a mirrored room -- just like the one in Vince's dream. The frenzied Vince is nearly driven to suicide, but Detective Herlihy deduces that his friend's nightmare was the handiwork of Lewis Belnap (Robert Emmett Keane), the mansion's owner, who is a dabbler in hypnosis. Fear in the Night was remade in 1956 as Nightmare, with Kevin McCarthy and Edward G. Robinson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The hard lives of those living on the rugged Hebrides are chronicled in this drama that is partially comprised of footage from a documentary. The story centers on a farmer's wife who becomes miserable when her husband loses his livelihood and is forced to become a herring fisherman on those barren isles. The woman loathes life near the sea, and after her husband is forcibly inducted into the Navy, she moves in with her aunt. In the new village, she meets the handsome captain of a herring boat and they fall in love. Unfortunately, a cholera outbreak erupts. She must also cope with her son's desire to become a fisherman. Storms also wreak havoc in her life, but fortunately, she weathers it all and at last is able to be with the man she truly loves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the 1580s, the Sea Hawks -- the name given to the bold privateers who prowl the oceans taking ships and treasure on behalf the British crown -- are the most dedicated defenders of British interests in the face of the expanding power of Philip of Spain. And Captain Geoffrey Thorpe (Errol Flynn) is the boldest of the Sea Hawks, responsible for capturing and destroying more than 50 Spanish ships and ten Spanish cities. His capture of a Spanish galleon, however, leads to more than he bargained for, in a romance with the ambassador's niece (Brenda Marshall) and the first whiff of a plan to put Spanish spies into the court of Elizabeth I (Flora Robson). Thorpe's boldness leads him to a daring raid on a treasure caravan in Panama which, thanks to treachery within Elizabeth's court, gets him captured and, with his crew, sentenced to the life of a slave aboard a Spanish ship. Meanwhile, Philip of Spain decides to wipe the threat posed by Elizabeth's independence from the sea by conquering the island nation with his armada. Thorpe, though chained to an oar, knows who the traitor at court is and plans to expose him and Philip's plans, but can he and his men break their bonds and get back to England alive in time to thwart the plans for conquest?

The Sea Hawk was the last and most mature of Flynn's swashbuckling adventure films, played with brilliant stylistic flourishes by the star at his most charismatic, and most serious and studied when working with Flora Robson, whom he apparently genuinely respected. Boasting the handsomest, most opulent production values of a Warner Bros. period film to date, The Sea Hawk was made possible in part by a huge new floodable soundstage. Another highlight was the best adventure film score ever written by Erich Wolfgang Korngold; and the script's seriousness was nailed down by various not-so-veiled references not to 16th century Spain but 20th century Nazi Germany. The movie was cut by over 20 minutes for a reissue with The Sea Wolf, and the complete version was lost until a preservation-quality source was found at the British Film Institute. Since then, that 128-minute version -- which actually contains a one-minute patriotic speech by Robson as Elizabeth that was originally left out of U.S. prints, as well as amber tinting in all of the Panamanian sequences -- has become standard. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Not to be confused with either Nicholas Ray's melancholic 1949 crime tale They Live by Night or Raoul Walsh's 1940 action-melodrama (which borrowed only its title), this British thriller concerns one flawed man's attempts at clearing his name. They Drive by Night stars Emlyn Williams as Shorty, a just-released convict eager to reunite with his girlfriend -- whom he finds strangled to death when he reaches her apartment. Certain the police won't look favorably upon him should he report the dead body, Shorty enlists the help of ex-girlfriend Molly (Anna Konstam) in an attempt to find the real killer, amidst the intrusions of Walter Hoover (Ernst Thesiger), a creepy forensic criminologist who might know more than he lets on. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

This British-made production was based on the "celebrated" (circa 1906) stage play by Freeman Wills, which was based on the Charles Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities. Sydney Carton (Sir John Martin Harvey) is a brilliant barrister who has a drinking problem. He loves Lucy Manette (Betty Faire), but she marries Charles Darnay (Frederick Cooper). The French Revolution endangers Darnay, who is really royalist St. Evremonde. He is arrested and condemned to death. Carton, ever loyal to Lucy, overcomes his faults to rescue her husband. But the revolutionaries capture Darnay once again and it looks like he will not be able to escape. Carton, however, looks quite a bit like Darnay, and he makes the ultimate sacrifice by switching places with him. As a result, it is Carton who goes to the guillotine, while Darnay is able to reunite with Lucy. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide