Jack Hawkins Movies

British stage and film star Ralph Richardson stepped behind the cameras for the first and last time to direct Murder on Monday. Richardson also starred in the film, portraying a clerk who suffers a blackout after a blow on the head. Upon recovering, Richardson is led to believe that he has committed murder during the past 24 hours. Originally released in Great Britain as Home at Seven, Murder on Monday was based on a play by R. C. Sheriff. No Orson Welles he, Ralph Richardson invited Sheriff to the set to help him properly interpret the original material; with the input of the author, and with the technical advice of producer Alexander Korda, was able to shoot the film in less than 14 days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Angels One Five" is the cognomen bestowed upon a group of WW II British fighter pilots. The squadron leader is Tiger Small (Jack Hawkins), who is taken out of commission after an accident. Despite the protests from his fellow flyboys, Tiger insists upon taking to the air again, thereby setting the stage for the film's exciting and inspirational finale. Angels One Five differs from other combat films in that the battles generally take place offscreen; the progress of the principal characters is relayed to the audience via radio reports and control-room charts. If this sounds dull and static, it isn't: in fact, Angels One Five is among the best of the "Battle of Britain" war epics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Adventurers is set in South Africa at the end of the Boer war. Commando Pieter Brandt (Jack Hawkins) comes across the dead body of a diamond courier. Brandt buries both the courier and his valuable cache of diamonds then heads back to his regiment. After the cessation of hostilities, Brandt raises money for an expedition back into the mountainous regions where the diamonds are hidden. There's no love lost among Brandt and his three treasure-hunting companions; particularly prickly is the relationship between Brandt and Clive Hunter (Dennis Price), whose wife is Brandt's former fiancé. Sort of an African variation of Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Adventurers is buoyed by an unusually vicious performance by Jack Hawkins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Partly conceived as a follow-up to Prince of Foxes, 20th Century-Fox's The Black Rose, reunites the earlier film's two stars, Tyrone Power and Orson Welles. Filmed on location in England and Morocco, the story concerns 13th-century Saxon nobleman Walter of Gurnie (Tyrone Power), who, after sparking an unsuccessful rebellion against the Norman conquerors of his homeland, sets out to seek his fortune in the Far East. In the company of his friend Tristam (Jack Hawkins), Walter makes the acquaintance of megalomanic North African warlord Bayan (Orson Welles). Journeying farther, Walter and Tristam arrive in China, where they are treated with deference--so long as they never try to leave. Eventually escaping his Chinese hosts, Walter returns to his native country. Previously renounced by King Edward (Michael Rennie) because of his role in the a Saxon rebellion, Walter is welcomed back with open arms because of all the cultural and scientific wonders he's brought back from China (including gunpowder). The "Black Rose" of the title is the beauteous Maryam (Cecile Aubrey), with whom Walter fell in love while both were the prisoners of Bayan. A bit lacking in terms of spectacular adventure sequences, Black Rose scores points on its star power and splendid Technicolor photography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1948, "The Archers" -- the writing and directing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger -- had completed The Red Shoes, one of their greatest international successes, but it had yet to be released when the Rank Organization, doubting the commercial appeal of the picture, severed ties with the team and Powell and Pressburger signed a new deal with Alexander Korda's London Films. Their first project for Korda, The Small Back Room, was a dramatic change of pace, a thriller set in London in the midst of World War II. Sammy Rice (David Farrar) is explosives expert who works with British military intelligence as part of a ragtag munitions research team studying new ways to defuse enemy weapons and improve allied arms. While he's brilliant on the job, Rice is a troubled man with an artificial leg that causes him chronic pain and an appetite for alcohol that stands between him and those around him, especially his girlfriend and secretary Susan (Kathleen Byron). Rice's latest project is finding a way to defuse a new German bomb that's cleverly disguised as a children's toy, but Rice finds himself battling his superiors when Waring (Jack Hawkins), an unscrupulous businessman who has been pressed into service with the explosives team, and his colleague Professor Mair (Milton Rosmer) begin lobbying the Army to purchase a new weapon that Rice feels is both ineffective and dangerous. Despite excellent reviews and a fine cast that includes Cyril Cusack, Sidney James and Robert Morley in a cameo appearance, The Small Back Room was a box office disappointment on its original release, and it appeared in edited form in the United States under the title Hour of Glory, though later video releases allowed Americans to see the film in its original British cut. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the Graham Greene story The Basement Room, director Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol is told almost completely from a child's eye view-but it isn't a children's story. Young Bobby Henrey idolizes household butler Ralph Richardson. Therefore, when it seems as though Richardson might be implicated in a murder, Bobby does his best to throw the police off the track. The boy succeeds only in casting even more suspicion upon Richardson. As the story progresses, Henrey's hero worship is eroded by Richardson's shifty behavior, and even more so when the boy discovers that the butler's boasts of previous heroism are just so much hot air. The ending of the film differs radically from Greene's story. While it would seem that director Reed was merely paying homage to the "happy ending" philosophy (hardly likely, given the doleful climaxes of such films as Odd Man Out and The Third Man), the director had very solid reasons for altering the story: he was more fascinated by the concept of the boy's imagination nearly sending his idol to the gallows, rather than having the butler entrapped by facts. And though the ending is happy for the boy, the butler's fate is much more nebulous. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in England, Flying Squad was the final effort of veteran silent-film director Herbert (Peter Pan) Brenon. The script was based on a popular play by suspense specialist Edgar Wallace, adapted by the late Wallace's son. Carol Goodner stars as the sister of a young man who was murdered by drug smugglers. Carol joins the gang, hoping to bring the criminals to justice. She learns that her brother was knocked off by a crooked cop, who is in deep with the gang and can't escape their clutches. Someone falls in love with someone else in The Flying Squad, and we'll wager you can guess who it is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this WWI drama, a group of captured British soldiers imprisoned in a German POW camp attempt to escape by building a tunnel beneath the camp. One of the prisoners is unable to stand the strain and lets the cat out of the bag, forcing the others to leave ahead of time. The pressure increases when the newest prisoner discovers that the group leader is the husband of his lover. In the end, the philandering new prisoner sacrifices his life for the leader. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This drama chronicles the love affair between a composer and the concert singer who jilts him for the love of a count. In anger, the composer kills the count in a duel, but loses the use of his right arm. Later the singer dies, and the composer stops writing music. Twenty years pass and he ends up falling in love with the singer's daughter who inspires him to write an operetta. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

British author W.W. Jacobs, whose love of the sea and seafarers permeated everything he wrote, was responsible for the story upon which Beauty and the Barge was based. Judy Gunn plays the headstrong daughter of an Army officer who runs away from home. She is later adopted by bargeman Gordon Harker. A very young Jack Hawkins portrays a handsome lieutenant (or "leff-tenant", if you prefer) who signs on as a common seaman on Harker's barge in hopes of winning Hawkins' love. Beauty and the Barge also features the unforgettable Margaret Rutherford, doing pretty much what she'd been still doing in movies nearly thirty years later-shamelessly stealing every scene she's in. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally released in 1934 as Death at Broadcasting House, this musty British whodunit was distributed in the US in 1941 to cash in on the Hollywood-engendered popularity of its star, Ian Hunter. Set in a BBC radio studio, the story gets under way when a much-despised airwaves personality is murdered in the middle of a live broadcast. Scotland Yard inspector Gregory (Ian Hunter) shows up to piece together the clues and sift through the suspects. The solution of the mystery hinges on the fact that the victim insisted upon broadcasting in a private room, far removed from his fellow actors. Inspector Gregory provides this solution by coming up with a transcription of the fatal broadcast (this at a time when few radio programs were recorded for posterity). Elements of Death at a Broadcast resurfaced in the 1942 Abbott & Costello comedy Who Done It? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide