Anne Heywood Movies

In this comedy-thriller, a woman returns to the country to see her godmother only to learn that the old woman has mysteriously disappeared. She quickly enlists the aide of a doctor to help her look. Like her godmother, the woman ends up in the clutches of the robbers. The fugitive thieves have been using the godmother's house as a hide-out and home base. The women are saved by the brave doctor and the police squad he brings with him. The bandits are captured and locked away. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

What if the Dauphin of France managed to escape the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution? That's the premise of the opulent British swashbuckler Dangerous Exile. Louis Jourdan stars as the Duc de Beauvais, who manages, at great personal sacrifice, to smuggle the son (Richard O'Sullivan) of King Louis XVI into England. The boy takes up residence in Wales, where he is protected by local lass Virginia Traill (Belinda Lee) and her wealthy Aunt Fell (Martita Hunt). When time comes for the boy to return to France, he refuses--but local newspaper editor Patient (Finlay Currie), a spy for the French revolutionaries, has other ideas. Keith Michell, future star of TV's Six Wives of Henry VIII, is well cast as a French Republican with whom the Duc de Beauvais must inevitably cross swords. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Italy, this pulse-pounding race-car melodrama stars Anthony Steel as ambitious driver Bill Fraser. Stanley Baker costars as O'Donovan, the purchasing agent for unscrupulous auto magnate Warren Ingram (James Robertson Justice). O'Donovan has no reservations about resorting to murder to steal the blueprints for a revolutionary new vehicle. While escaping, O'Donovan offers Fraser a huge sum of money for safe transport to the Swiss border. For a while, Fraser succumbs to greed, but eventually common sense overtakes him. There's a particularly suspenseful denoument when it looks as though Fraser is going to be the fall guy for O'Donovan's misdeeds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After years of suffering through lookalike MGM musicals (at least, that was his complaint), Howard Keel was able to sink his teeth into a dramatic role in the British Floods of Fear. Serving a life term for murder, Donavan (Howard Keel) breaks out of jail with sadistic convict Peebles (Cyril Cusack), taking along a wounded guard (Harry H. Corbett) as hostage. It is Donavan's intention to exact revenge against the man who framed him, but this will have to wait: a driving rainstorm is threatening to precipitate a raging flood. Taking refuge in the tiny house owned by the terror-stricken Elizabeth (Anne Heywood), the convicts and their captives nervously wait out the storm. Slowly, Elizabeth and Donavan are drawn to one another, while Peebles threatens to erupt into a fit of homicidal rage at any moment. When the flood reaches the danger level, Donavan performs several self-sacrificial acts of courage, prompting Elizabeth to try to save him from ruining what's left of his life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A humorous, sometimes absurd and sometimes just light-hearted comedy, this story sets up the premise of a couple's search for a housemaid, with a series of impossible women providing the hilarity. When Richard and Kate (Michael Craig and Anne Heywood) return from their honeymoon, they discover that Kate's father has given them a maid as a wedding gift. The trouble is that the maid has a good portion of the U.S. Navy in the house when they arrive, in a more-or-less wild orgy. Exit maid. The couple then hire Rosemary (Joan Hickson) who tipples to excess, making her service at a dinner party an insurmountable challenge. Exit Rosemary. Enter Blodwen (Joan Sims) a homesick woman from Wales who cannot live outside her native environment. Exit Blodwen. And so it goes, even through a gorgeous French maid (Mylene Demongeot) who causes more than a mild uproar among the couple's friends. It seems the help is either too bad or too good. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This costume drama with spectacular special effects but a less-than-adequate storyline was one of the last films by director Carmine Gallone. The tale is set in 200 BC when Rome and Carthage were going at it, sending warships into battle over control of Carthage. Against this backdrop of warfare is a romantic tangle between two women in love with the same warrior and two men in love with the same woman. As the romantic and military battles progress, it becomes clear that Carthage will burn and at least a few of the erstwhile lovers are going to get burnt as well, in more ways than one. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Dr. Paul Vernon (Tony Britton) is a gynecologist who is estranged from his wife in this situation comedy of errors. He gets drunk at a party, picks up a pretty French girl and takes her home for a night of pleasure. The perplexed physician wakes up to find the French femme has spent the night in the other room. He then decides to offer her a job as his housekeeper. Things go smoothly until wife Lisa (Anne Heywood) shows up and announces she is pregnant. To complicate matters, the French maid is also with child. The noble doctor devises a plan to have his wife claim both children, keeping the single maid from shame. Lisa agrees to pretend she will give birth to twins. The plan goes haywire when the doctor discovers both women are pregnant with twins. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This melodramatic tale of a sexual assault on a married woman has a few implausible moments but is believably acted by Anne Heywood as Tracey, the victim, Richard Todd as her husband Lawrence, and Jack Hedley as the man from Scotland Yard sent to track down the violent attacker. Tracey is pregnant and happily married to Lawrence, an architect. She has few cares in the world until the day a maniac breaks into the house, rapes her, and ultimately causes her to miscarry. Tracey falls to pieces and is so affected by the encounter she finds men repulsive, including her husband. Her attitude does not soften with time, and sooner rather than later, her husband takes up with his secretary. But in the meantime, the Scotland Yard detective has still not been able to track down the psychotic rapist, and there is no guarantee that Tracey is safe. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Based on a novella by D.H. Lawrence, this drama concerns Jill (Sandy Dennis) and Ellen (Anne Heywood), a lesbian couple who live in a remote, snowbound cabin. While Ellen dominates the relationship, she has also grown dissatisfied and is no longer sure she wants to stay with Jill. When Paul (Keir Dullea), a handsome stranger, happens by, the women invite him in. Soon Paul and Ellen are having an affair, which leads to an ugly confrontation among all three. The Fox won a Golden Globe Award as Best English Language Foreign Film of 1968 (it was made in Canada). Originally rated R in 1968, it was re-edited and rated PG in 1973. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone) directed this Cold War action thriller. Gregory Peck is the American Dr. John Hathaway, a Noble Prize-winning scientist, teaching at a university in London. Lieutenant General Shelby (Arthur Hill), from the American Embassy, asks Hathaway to go on a mission to Communist China to obtain an enzyme, being developed by his old teacher Soong Li (Keye Luke), that permits crops to grow in any climate. Since the country holding the formula to this growth enzyme would be able to control the world, Shelby tells Hathaway that both the United States and the Soviet Union are anxious that the enzyme not stay in China. Hathaway doesn't want to go because of a burgeoning love affair with attractive professor Kay Hanna (Anne Heywood) and an opposition he holds to American foreign policy. But a call from the President changes his mind, and he is off to China. A transmitter is placed in his skull so that he can communicate with London. But Hathaway doesn't realize that the head implant can also be detonated from London, if necessary, and blow Hathaway's brains out. In China, Hathaway works with his old mentor Soong Li to perfect the enzyme. As they are near completion, the Red Guard storms the laboratory and attack Soong Li because of his opposition to the new movement in China, and Hathaway has to flee the country. Detecting the transmitter in Hathaway's head, the Chinese are in full pursuit. Hathaway makes it to the Sino-Soviet border, but then Shelby decides to activate the explosive device in Hathaway's head once he crosses over into Russia. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by William Inge, this drama follows the attempts of two doctors to help a 35-year-old educator deal with a brutal rape. The incident is complicated by the fact that she was a virgin when it happened and that her attacker was a man she had been trying to help. The racial implications of the story may be offensive to many audience members. The film is also known as The Sin, The Shaming, and Secret Yearnings (on video). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

John Dexter's film explores the struggles faced by a young British man who wants to live as a woman and considers a sex change operation. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide