Stewart Harwood Movies

Director Bob Rafelson fulfilled a lifelong dream when he finally received backing to complete Mountains of the Moon. The film recreates the exploratory adventures of 19th century visionaries Sir Richard Burton (Patrick Bergin) and John Henning Speke (Iain Glen). The heart of the film is the effort by Burton and Speke to discover the true source of the Nile river. This occurs well into the film, after several torturous scenes involving the injuries sustained by the protagonists during other expeditions and their growing friendship (which, the film intimates, goes far beyond friendship). Rafaelson's fascination with this story, and his insistence upon painstaking historical accuracy, unfortunately compromises his ability to make an interesting film. There are so many starts and stops during the first half that we sincerely hope Burton and Speke will chuck it all and set up a pub in Bristol or something. What saves Mountains of the Moon is the rapport between its stars and the brilliant, epic-like cinematography of Roger Deakins. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

With a cruel, keen edge, this taut social drama slices deeply into Thatcher's England to expose a grim underbelly of racism, cynicism and despair. Reuben James is a black paratrooper who has spent the last nine years serving in the British army and who finally gets discharged to return to his home in South London. There he discovers that the residents have been ravaged by the poverty of the decade and many have turned to crime to survive, while others do their best in the midst of crushing hopelessness to find order and meaning. He too fights the same battles as he struggles to find work. He is disillusioned to discover that to racist employers, his sterling service record is almost worthless. The poor veteran suffers a final blow when he learns that because he was born on the common-wealth island of St. Lucia, and because the laws have suddenly changed, he is no longer considered a British citizen. Now he must quickly make a decision about the rest of his life. Meanwhile, back in the neighborhood, tempers fray, frustration mounts and violence ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Set in sexually repressive 1950's London, We Think the World of You features actor Alan Bates as Frank, a gay middle-aged businessman whose lover Johnny (Gary Oldman) is married and in jail for burglary. While Johnny (Oldman) is behind bars, his beloved German shepard Evie becomes the center of a heated custody battle between himself, his wife (Frances Barber), his mother (Liz Smith), his stepfather (Max Wall), and finally, Frank (Bates). Frank eventually becomes more enamoured with the scene-stealing German shepard than he is with her absent master. We Think the World of You was directed by Colin Gregg and based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Joseph R. Ackerley, one of the first modern authors to come out as openly gay. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Lady Jane Grey, the 16-year-old girl who for nine days in the 16th century was Queen of England, is here portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter. Lady Jane Grey's sickly cousin, who becomes Edward VI upon the death of Henry VIII, is on the threshold of death himself. The Protestant powers-that-be, fearing that England will fall under Catholic rule, contrive to marry off Edward VI's most likely successor Lady Jane to the wastrelly Guilford Dudley (Cary Elwes), the future Duke of Suffolk. The dying Edward is coerced into naming Jane as his successor. Jane is forced to assume the throne, attempting to impose reforms on the corrupt Protestant government during her brief reign. A coup led by Jane's cousin Princess Mary (Jane Lapotaire) results in the ouster, and eventual execution, of Queen Jane and her consort. The story is told through anti-establishment themes; teen-agers Lady Jane and Guilford Dudley are seen as the only hope for a brighter future, making their deaths all the more tragic. An earlier version of the same story, Tudor Rose, was filmed in 1936. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Box of Delights, based on the children's book by English poet laureate John Masefield, was produced by the BBC, from a screenplay by Alan Seymour under director Renny Rye in mid-1984. Set in 1934, the six-part miniseries tells the story of young Kay Harker (Devin Stanfield), who, while on his way home from school to join his family for Christmas, meets an old Punch and Judy man named Cole Hawlings (Patrick Troughton), and then a pair of clergymen (Geoffrey Larder, Jonathan Stephens) who seem to have picked his pocket -- and all of whom seem to know all about Kay, who he is, and where he is going. Before long, he is in the center of a struggle for the title object, an artifact dating from pagan times that allows the holder to manipulate time and space. The evil Abner Brown (Robert Stephens) wants the box and will stop at nothing, including kidnapping and murder to get it, while Cole Hawlings, who is actually a 500-year-old alchemist, has sought out Kay's help to keep Brown and the forces he serves from stealing the box. Kay's adventures include a visit to an embattled Arthurian camp beset by wolves, an encounter with flying unicorns and other magical beasts, and other fantastic visions. Kay gradually comes to understand the magical world he has entered, but can he learn enough of the powers he controls before Abner -- who has embarked on a final great wickedness, culminating on Christmas Eve -- can succeed? ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

It was Richard Attenborough's lifelong dream to bring the life story of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi to the screen. When it finally reached fruition in 1982, the 188-minute, Oscar-winning Gandhi was one of the most exhaustively thorough biopics ever made. The film begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Mohandas K. Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of "passive resistance," endeavoring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed. In the horrendous "slaughter" sequence, more extras appear on screen than in any previous historical epic. The supporting cast includes Candice Bergen as photographer Margaret Bourke-White, Athol Fugard as General Smuts, John Gielgud as Lord Irwin, John Mills as the viceroy, Martin Sheen as Walker, Trevor Howard as Judge Broomfield, and, in a tiny part as a street bully, star-to-be Daniel Day-Lewis. Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Doing Time is the American title for the British-made Porridge. Based on a popular TV sitcom, the film stars Ronnie Barker as the unofficial leader of a group of cut-up inmates in Slade Prison. These lovable lawbreakers engineer the escape of a timorous first offender who has been railroaded into a long sentence. Barker accidentally winds up "outside" with the escapee--and spends the rest of the film struggling to break back into jail. British fans of Porridge weren't happy with this film version, citing attenuated material and repetition as its chief shortcomings. For the record, Porridge was the basis for a brief American sitcom titled On the Rocks, which ran (not without resistance from the National Association for Justice) from September 1975 to May 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Michael Apted-directed crime melodrama features Stacy Keach as Jim Naboth, a Scotland Yard cop on the skids, suffering from depression and alcoholism. He is summoned by Foreman (Edward Fox), a British security expert whose wife Jill (Carol White) and daughter are being held hostages by kidnappers until Foreman pays the crooks a million-dollar-plus ransom. Jim has to marshal his forces and regain his clarity to save Foreman's family. The pressure is even more intense for Jim, since Foreman's wife, Jill also happens to be his former spouse. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi