Melvyn Hayes Movies
British comic actor Melvyn Hayes appeared in a number of films during the '50s and '60s. He started acting on stage during adolescence. During the 1970s, Hayes became a popular figure on television series and game shows. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1996
Inspector Raymond Fowler is in for a whole new set of headaches when Ms. Wickerham, the new Mayoress of Gasforth, decides to begin legislating political correctness. As luck would have it, Wickerham's campaign coincides with the arrival of an illegal immigrant and the EC Commissioner for Human Rights (each of whom is mistaken for the other). On another front, Sgt. Patricia Dawkins tries to save a woman from being beaten -- thereby lousing up yet another carefully contrived "sting" operation by Detective Inspector Grim. "Ism, Ism, Ism" first aired on November 21, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Serena Evans, (more)
- 1990
- PG
This family adventure movie, based on the novel by Marguerite Henry, is about a mute Arab boy and his constant companion, a beautiful stallion, who have to overcome all manner of hazards and setbacks and later get to meet the King and Queen of England. ~ Mark Hockley, All Movie Guide
After introducing how Santa and Mrs. Claus came to the North Pole and began their work delivering toys at Christmas time, this routine children's film segues into a story about an evil corporate magnate (John Lithgow). One of Santa's elves (Dudley Moore) goes to work for the nasty tycoon and invents a wild array of far-out toys. Then there is a little boy who does not believe in Santa Claus and a girl who finds out about the toymaker's plans to defraud his company. Santa's reindeer are a little under the weather, not to mention Santa himself. This labyrinth of subplots quickly draws attention away from the story, wherever it is. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Huddleston, Dudley Moore, (more)
- 1978
When a brilliant doctor fathers 837 genius sons through an artificial insemination program, it seems like every woman on the planet wants to birth one of the exhausted medico's super smart babies. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- R
The long-running series of British "Carry On" comedies was nearing the end of the line when this 28th film in the cycle was released in 1976. Set in World War II, Carry On England explores what happens when the British military decides to set up an experimental mixed-gender anti-aircraft battery. While commanding officer Captain Melly (Kenneth Connor) is a stickler for military discipline, it soon becomes obvious that the interaction of male and female soldiers doesn't lend itself to a crack fighting unit, though it makes for plenty of broad physical comedy, especially with Major Bloomer (Windsor Davies), Melly's second-in-command, on deck. Judy Geeson, Patrick Mower, Jack Douglas, and Joan Sims lead the supporting cast. This feature was followed by That's Carry On (1977), a "greatest hits" collection of highlights from the series, and Carry On Emmanuelle (1978), which marked the end of the series until 1992's Carry On Columbus. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth Connor, Windsor Davies, (more)
- 1971
This well-animated version of Dickens' classic Christmas story stays quite faithful to its source as it chronicles the painful lesson learned by a bitter old miser whose money lust alienates him from humanity. His lesson comes in the form of ghostly intervention from a trio of spirits who force him to reassess the direction of his life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alastair Sim, Michael Hordern, (more)
- 1969
- PG
Heron of Foix (Assaf Dayan) hears the call of the ocean and leaves his school in Paris to walk to the sea. He meets the fair Claudia (Anjelica Huston) and the two fall in love and journey together to escape the ongoing Hundred Years War. They witness the brutal and bloody murder of a peasant who is drawn and quartered by the sadistic Sir Meles (John Hallam), the unforgiving tax collector who hates the poor. The couple seeks refuge in a monastery where the Father Superior (Anthony Nicholis) refuses their request to be married. This slow-paced but beautifully lensed feature marks the screen debut for Anjelica Huston. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Assaf Dayan, Anjelica Huston, (more)
- 1964
In this musical comedy, a popular singer and his band find themselves stuck in the Canary Islands. While there a neurotic filmmaker brings his cast and crew to make a film. The singer ends up falling for the leading lady and decides to make a musical version of the film on the sly using the other director's equipment. Both pictures are lousy until the two filmmakers team up and combine them. A smash hit is born. Songs include: "Wonderful Life," "A Girl in Every Port," "Home," "A Little Imagination," "On the Beach," "In the Stars," "We Love a Movie," "Do You Remember," "What I Gotta Do," "All Kinds of People," "A Matter of Moments," "Youth and Experience" (performed by Richard and the Shadows), "Theme from Young Lovers," and "Walkin"' (performed by the Shadows). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Richard, Walter Slezak, (more)
- 1964
In this comedy, crooks on the lam hide-out in an abandoned island monastery. Along with their leader, the robbers put on monks' habits and begin living a quiet pastoral existence centered around raising animals and crops. It takes them a while to get the hang of it. As they learn, they are occasionally visited by tourists, and at once point, by real monks. Trouble ensues when one of the "brothers" is caught gambling in town. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Fraser, Barbara Windsor, (more)
- 1963
British filmmaker Peter Yates directs singer Cliff Richard in the starring role in this early 1960s pop music romp. Richard plays Don, a mechanic who, with three friends, is preparing to launch an offbeat European continental travel service using an old London double-decker bus. On a test run, they collide with a car occupied by a group of female rock musicians, demolishing it -- so they offer to give the girls a ride to Athens. They also pick up an American pop singer, Barbara (Lauri Peters), who is posing as a boy to hide from her press agent and mother, who refuse to allow her a vacation from a demanding tour schedule. Don and Barbara fall in love, but Barbara's mother accuses him of abducting her, and the bus and the music roll on to Greece after a series of comic misadventures. The cast includes the real rock group The Shadows. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Richard, Lauri Peters, (more)
- 1962
In this melodrama set during WW II, a Frenchwoman ignores common sense and tries to pursue romance with a handsome Nazi captain. It is a passionate affair that ends tragically when her brother, an underground Resistance fighter, is killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Wonderful to Be Young! was released in Britain as The Young Ones. Given the later output of director Sidney J. Furie, one might suspect that the original title was meant as irony, but in fact this is an upbeat, life-affirming vehicle for British pop singer Cliff Richard. In this one, Richard, the son of millionaire Robert Morley, wants to buy a piece of property before his father can use it for avaricious purposes. Having no spending money of his own (!), Richard puts on a Big Show with his friends to raise the necessary funds. Morley outwits his son, leading one of the kids to kidnap the old guy out of vengeance. But Richard comes to the rescue with several more swingin' tunes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Richard, Robert Morley, (more)
Mania is the venerable Burke and Hare story, previously cinematized by producer Val Lewton as The Body Snatcher. Peter Cushing plays a respectable 19th-century Edinburgh doctor who needs fresh cadavers in order to continue his crucial research. Since the exhuming of bodies for medical purposes is illegal, Lee must rely upon grave-robbers George Rose and Donald Pleasance for his corpse supply. What Lee doesn't know is that Rose and Pleasance frequently cut out the middleman by "creating" their own corpses. The good doctor catches on when the latest cadaver turns out to be his own fiancee. Its excessively violent climax has prevented Mania from being shown completely intact on commercial television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, June Laverick, (more)
- 1960
British comic actor Jimmy Edwards demonstrates his versatility in Bottoms Up by playing a character named Jimmy Edwards. Actually, it's Professor Jim Edwards, doctor of dunderheads. In the tradition of Will Hay, Edwards tries to maintain decorum in the boys' school where he serves as headmaster, but it's a losing battle. The fun really begins when the son of Edwards' bookie enrolls while disguised as a Middle-Eastern potentate. Producer/director Mario Zampi knows where the laughs are and knows how to get them in full measure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Edwards, Arthur Howard, (more)
One of the covert operations at the beginning of World War II is enacted in this fast-paced docudrama about a government-approved diamond heist. A Major from the British army (Tony Britton) joins up with a Dutch diamond expert (Alexander Knox) and another adventurous Dutchman (Peter Finch) to steal a fortune in diamonds from a bank vault in Amsterdam before the Nazis completely close off the city. The trio are launched under the covering fire of a British battleship in the harbor and then chauffeured into Amsterdam by Anna (Eva Bartok), one of many people they encounter who could be either friend or foe. There is no time to waste in emptying the bank vault because it is estimated that the city will be overrun by the Nazi army in just fourteen hours. Meanwhile, the war is intensifying all around them, and the Nazi soldiers already on patrol are a continual threat. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Finch, Eva Bartok, (more)
- 1958
In direct contrast to his later lush-budgeted international epics, director J. Lee Thompson turns his lenses towards the London slums in the sincere but saccharine No Trees in the Street. Based on the play by Ted Willis, the film is set in the years just before World War II, when England hadn't completely dug itself out of the worldwide depression. Melvyn Hayes is featured as an aimless teenager, who tries to escape his squalid surroundings by entering a life of crime. He falls in with local hoodlum Herbert Lom, who holds the rest of the slum citizens in the grip of fear--including Hayes' own family. No Trees in the Street chronicles Hayes' sordid progress from nickel-and-dime thefts to murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Syms, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1957
1957's The Good Companions was the second film version of the well-known J. B. Priestly play. The story revolves around the Dinky Doos, a provincial musical troupe living from hand to mouth. Eric Portman, Celia Johnson and John Fraser are three Britons from various classes and walks of life who become involved in the fortunes of the Dinky Doos. Pooling their resources, the diverse "good companions" save the troupe from disbanding. Good-natured and high-spirited, Good Companions might have even been better had the director adopted a more intimate and less showbizzy approach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Portman, Celia Johnson, (more)
- 1957
Based on a popular British television drama, this 1957 film features a riveting performance from Yvonne Mitchell as a housewife who can't keep house. Mitchell plays Amy Preston, who after 25 years of marriage still hasn't mastered the domestic arts necessary to sustain a traditional 1950s-style marriage. Her long-suffering husband Jim (Anthony Quayle) finally gets fed up with Amy's unpalatable dinners, her slovenly dress, and the messy home. He takes up with Georgie Harlow (Sylvia Sims), a young woman at his workplace and realizes that he will soon have to choose between the two women. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yvonne Mitchell, Sylvia Syms, (more)
Curse of Frankenstein was the "breakthrough" picture for the fabled Hammer Studios. Told in flashback, the story centers around Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing), a dangerously arrogant scientist who takes it upon himself to play God. Using portions of dead bodies, Victor fashions a synthetic monster (Christopher Lee) with a bad attitude. In a radical departure from the Frankenstein canon, it is the imperious Victor who orchestrates the film's two murders by "borrowing" the brain of a learned professor, then leaving his next victim at the mercy of the monster. In 1958, the film spwaned the sequel Revenge of Frankenstein. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, (more)
- 1955
Framed in flashback form, The Man Who Loved Redheads is an anecdotal comedy about a man (John Justin) whose life is defined by his first romantic experience. That liaison occurred in Justin's youth with the luscious Moira Shearer (for her alone, this film must be seen in its original Technicolor). When the young man matures and enters the diplomatic world, he spends the rest of his career searching for his first love. Along the way, he romances two redheaded damsels who look exactly like Ms. Shearer--as well they may, since Shearer plays all the women in Justin's life. Terence Rattigan adapted The Man Who Loved Redheads from his own stage play Who Is Sylvia? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Moira Shearer, John Justin, (more)
- 1954
Popular British juvenile star Mandy Miller carries the dramatic weight of Adventure in the Hopfields on her firm little shoulders. After breaking one of her mother's prize pieces of bric-a-brac, Miller must scrimp and save to pay for a replacement. A group of tough kids steal her money, tie her up and leave her in a decrepit old mill. The junior-grade crooks turn heroes when they rescue her during a violent electrical storm. Surprisingly tense for a kiddie-matinee feature, Adventure in the Hopfields was based on The Hop Dog, a book by Nora Lavin and Molly Thorp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
