Pat Heywood Movies

It is the 19th century in Italy, and Maria (Angela Bettis) has joined a convent in order to explore her strong feeling that she has a calling to become a nun. She has adapted to live at the convent quite nicely, and is relatively untroubled, but a cholera outbreak sends her back to be with her family for a while, near the steaming peak of Mount Etna. She enjoys her freedom to move around the countryside, and is wooed (unsuccessfully, it seems) by a charming young man named Nico, but returns to the convent when the danger is past. There, she is troubled by the thought that she truly loved Nico, and that her calling may not be as firm as she thought. When she learns that Nico has married her sister, she nearly goes mad with self-recrimination, but eventually weathers the storm. All the dialog in this Italian-made film by Franco Zeffirelli is in English. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, Inspector Morse investigates the murder of an ex-police commissioner and discovers that it is linked to a death he looked into nearly twenty years before. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on Elizabeth Jane Howard's novel, Getting It Right this charming comedy follows the story of Gavin Lamb (Jesse Birdsall), a 31 year-old virgin who is terrified with women and still lives with his parents. Nevertheless, he becomes the subject of desire for a variety of women, including a single mother (Jane Horrocks), a wealthy pregnant girl (Helen Bonham Carter) and a middle-aged socialite (Lynn Redgrave). Gavin eventually finds love with one of the three women in this engaging, low-key romantic comedy. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden stars Gennie James as spoiled-rotten Mary Lennox. When her parents die of cholera, Mary is whisked from her home in India to live in the forbidding Victorian mansion of her flint-hearted uncle (Derek Jacobi). Thanks to the friendship--and vivid imagination--of gardener's son Jadrien Steele, Mary learns that life is lived best when one cares for others. At the same time, her uncle begins to act like a human being. The only false note in this otherwise flawless production was the decision to clumsily frame the story with the narration of the adult Mary Lennox. Blessed with a top-rank British cast, including Michael Hordern, Billie Whitelaw, Lucy Gutteridge and Alison Doody (Harrison Ford's vis-a-vis in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, this 1987 Secret Garden was first telecast as a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Elvira, mistress of the dark (aka Cassandra Peterson) is the insouciant host of the 60-minute melodrama Rude Awakening. Denholm Elliot plays a British real-estate broker who is plagued by disturbingly vivid dreams. Soon Elliot can't separate his dreams from reality, and vice versa. His shattered emotional state has a negative effect on his family, but that's nothing compared to the pull-out-the-rug finale. Made for television, Rude Awakening was packaged for videocassette release as part of Elvira's Thriller Video series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a play by Terence Rattigan, The Nelson Affair recounts an infamous 18th century British scandal in slow-paced, talk-heavy fashion. Lord Nelson (Peter Finch) returns from battling Napoleon's navy and takes some well-deserved leave. He immediately picks up where he left off with Lady Hamilton (Glenda Jackson), blatantly carrying on their affair in public view of his family and beleagured wife (Margaret Leighton). Hamilton herself is under strain due to her advancing age and Nelson's unflagging need to return to sea. The picture plays more like a filmed theater piece than an epic historical romance (the famous Battle Of Trafalgar was filmed indoors and utilized stock footage), but Finch and Jackson turn in their usual excellent performances. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

10 Rillington Place is the true story of British mass murderer John Reginald Christie, played with chilling "normality" by Richard Attenborough. Throughout the late '40s, Christie lures middle-aged women to his London flat promising to cure their ailments with nitrous oxide, then kills them, assaults their dead bodies, and buries them. One of his victims is Beryl Evans (Judy Geeson), who misguidedly comes to Christie seeking an abortion -- and in the process, not only loses her own life, but sets in motion a horrid sequence of events that threatens to endanger her husband as well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Warren Mitchell stars in All the Way Up as a dimwitted British salesman. Though a bit shy in the brains department, Mitchell has hopes of climbing the corporate ladder. To do this, he tries to whip his addled family into a semblance of social acceptability. This being a comedy, Mitchell soon learns that his high-society aspirations are not only beyond his reach, but also not worth all the bother. All the Way Up was based on Semi-Detached, a play by David Turner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Homosexuality is only incidentally important in this drama of dependence and intimacy between two aging hair stylists, and nothing shocking to staid and heterosexual sensibilities takes place in this movie, a star turn for Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. Whether the original play was as patently offensive to actual homosexuals as this movie is, is open to question. What is certain is that it grossly exaggerates every unpleasant "fag" stereotype in the books, However, the lead actors skillfully make art out of these very same offensive tics, demonstrating the mysterious power of great performers to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. In the story, Charlie (Harrison) and Harry (Burton) have been roommates, business partners and intimates for many long years, and their convoluted mutual dependency is every bit as complicated as that between any aged but incompatible couple who have grown used to one another over the years. Charlie thinks he can do without Harry, but Harry knows better and patiently bears the barbs and arrows that come his way. One of the nicer aspects of the stereotypical portrayal is that both men get to demonstrate some beautifully sharp, barbed wit. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Writer/director Paul Czinner, who in 1936 adapted Shakespeare's As You Like It to the screen, was the guiding force behind the 1966 feature Romeo and Juliet. Unlike Czinner's earlier Shakespeare film, however, not a word of the Bard's text is spoken in the 1966 production. Rather, this is a filmed record of a performance of Prokofiev's ballet version of Romeo and Juliet, as originally presented at the Royal Opera House. The stars are the matchless Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, who brilliantly overcome the disappointingly bland choreography of Kenneth McMillan. For the benefit of non-ballet aficionados, each of the production's three acts is introduced by a spoken synopsis. Others in the corps de ballet include David Blair as Mercutio, Desmond Doyle as Tybalt, Gerd Larsen as Nurse and Ronald Hynd as Friar Lawrence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide