Trevor Howard Movies

Released in the US as Stowaway Girl, Manuela top-bills Trevor Howard as Prothero, the stalwart middle-aged skipper of a tramp steamer. Though he has a weakness for alcohol, Prothero is a model of restraint when it comes to the opposite sex. Thus, when his first mate Mario (Pedro Armendariz) smuggles the beautiful Manuela (Elsa Martinelli) on board, the captain administers a beating to Mario and sternly informs the girl that she'll be put off the ship at the first opportunity. It doesn't take long, however, for Prothero to fall prey to Manuela's considerable charms. Soon his passion is so overwhelming that he doesn't even notice that his ship has caught fire! Despite its melodramatic trappings, Manuela is intellegently written, directed and acted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Razzle-dazzle showman Michael Todd hocked everything he had to make this spectacular presentation of Jules Verne's 1872 novel Around the World in 80 Days, the second film to be lensed in the wide-screen Todd-AO production. Nearly as fascinating as the finished product are the many in-production anecdotes concerning Todd's efforts to pull the wool over the eyes of local authorities in order to cadge the film's round-the-world location shots--not to mention the wheeling and dealing to convince over forty top celebrities to appear in cameo roles. David Niven heads the huge cast as ultra-precise, supremely punctual Phileas Fogg, who places a 20,000-pound wager with several fellow members of London Reform Club, insisting that he can go around the world in eighty days (this, remember, is 1872). Together with his resourceful valet Passepartout (Cantinflas), Fogg sets out on his world-girdling journey from Paris via balloon. Meanwhile, suspicion grows that Fogg has stolen his 20,000 pounds from Bank of England. Diligent Inspector Fix (Robert Newton) is sent out by the bank's president (Robert Morley) to bring Fogg to justice. Hopscotching around the globe, Fogg pauses in Spain, where Passepartout engages in a comic bullfight (a specialty of Cantinflas). In India, Fogg and Passepartout rescue young widow Princess Aouda (Shirley MacLaine, in her third film) from being forced into committing suicide so that she may join her late husband. The threesome visit Hong Kong, Japan, San Francisco, and the Wild West. Only hours short of winning his wager, Fogg is arrested by the diligent Inspector Fixx. Though exonerated of the bank robbery charges, he has lost everything--except the love of the winsome Aouda. But salvation is at hand when Passepartout discovers that, by crossing the International Date Line, there's still time to reach the Reform Club. Will they make it? See for yourself. Among the film's 46 guest stars, the most memorable include Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, Jose Greco, Frank Sinatra, Peter Lorre, Red Skelton, Buster Keaton, John Mills, and Beatrice Lillie. All were paid in barter--Ronald Colman did his brief bit for a new car. Newscaster Edward R. Murrow provides opening narration, and there's a tantalizing clip from Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon (1902). Offering a little something for everyone, Around the World in 80 Days is nothing less than an extravaganza, and it won 5 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Les Amants du Tage (The Lovers of Tage) was based on a novel by Joseph Kessel. Daniel Gelin plays a soldier who is acquitted after committing a crime of passion. Relocating to Lisbon, and still feeling remorse over his impulsive killing of his faithless wife, Gelin manages to find love in the form of gorgeous widow Francoise Arnoul. Alas, it turns out that Arnoul has a sordid past of her own, leaving our hero sadder but wiser. Trevor Howard, whose presence in this essentially Gallic entertainment comes as a surprise, plays the relentless police inspector who exposes the seemingly virtuous Arnoul. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Heart of the Matter is a faithful if somewhat austere adaptation of the same-named novel by Graham Greene. Set in Sierra Leone during WW II, the film stars Trevor Howard as assistant police commissioner Scobie. While his wife Louise (Elizabeth Allan) is away on vacation, Scobie falls in love with Helen (Maria Schell), the widow of a U-boat victim. Scobie would like to get a divorce from his wife, and she from him, but their Catholicism prevents not only this break but Scobie's planned remarriage to Helen. In despair, Scobie chooses a desperate means of solving his dilemma--which only furthers to exacerbate the religious quandary in which everyone finds themselves. Posing several ethical questions throughout its 105 minutes, Heart of the Matter wisely allows the viewers to come up with their own answers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Partially filmed on location in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Outcast of the Islands is a reasonably faithful adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel. Trevor Howard plays a degenerate British expatriate who wanders aimlessly around a Malayan island. Most of the film involves the search for Howard by those on whom he's turned his back. None of the characters is particularly likable; even Howard loses audience sympathy for his plight by betraying one of his closest friends (Ralph Richardson), a ship's captain who'd raised Howard from boyhood. The unrelenting pessimism of Outcast of the Islands was such that the American distributors felt the need to ease the characters' pain by editing the picture down from 102 minutes to 94. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This espionage drama was based on the true story of Odette Sansom Churchill, who became an unlikely hero during WWII. Born in France, Odette (Anna Neagle) was married to an Englishman who died in battle. When the British Army made an appeal for photos of the French coastline, Odette mailed a set of old holiday snapshots to the War Office. As a result, Odette was approached to serve as a British agent in France during the Nazi occupation. Under the guidance of Capt. Peter Churchill (Trevor Howard) and French resistance soldier Arnaud (Peter Ustinov), Odette's ability to blend in as a typical French citizen was put to excellent use by Allied intelligence. Odette was eventually found out and subjected to brutal torture by Gestapo Col. Henri (Marius Goring), but she never gave up any information on her work. She was then sentenced to death in a concentration camp, and when American forces arrived to liberate the compound, Odette was held hostage by the camp's Commandant (Alfred Schieske), believing that she was too valuable to let go. Anna Neagle consulted with the real life Odette Sansom Peter Churchill (who married after the war) to prepare for her performance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Clouded Yellow stars Trevor Howard as David Sommers, a former member of the British Secret Service. After the war, Sommers takes a low-profile job cataloguing butterfly specimens. While thus employed, he make the acquaintance of Sophie Malraux (Jean Simmons), a curious young lady who seems to be hiding something. Indeed she is, as Sommers discovers when Sophie is brought up on murder charges. Championing her cause, Sommers helps Sophie escape, prompting Scotland Yard to put another ex-secret agent on the couple's trail. The chase extends from London to Liverpool, culminating in a tangled web of murder and madness. The Clouded Yellow was the first independent production supervised by Betty E. Box. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Cold War spy classic, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a third-rate American pulp novelist, arrives in postwar Vienna, where he has been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Upon his arrival, Martins discovers that Lime has been killed in a traffic accident, and that his funeral is taking place immediately. At the graveside, Martins meets outwardly affable Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) and actress Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), who is weeping copiously. When Calloway tells Martins that the late Harry Lime was a thief and murderer, the loyal Martins is at first outraged. Gradually, he discovers not only that Calloway was right but also that the man lying in the coffin in the film's early scenes was not Harry Lime at all--and that Lime is still very much alive (he was the mysterious "third man" at the scene of the fatal accident). Thus the stage is set for the movie's famous climactic confrontation in the sewers of Vienna--and the even more famous final shot, in which Martins pays emotionally for doing "the right thing." Written by Graham Greene, The Third Man is an essential classic, made even more so by the insistent zither music of Anton Karas. The film is currently available in both an American and British release version; the American print, with an introduction by Joseph Cotten, is slightly shorter than the British version, which is narrated by director Carol Reed. Nominated for several Academy Awards, The Third Man won Best Cinematography for Robert Krasker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At a World War II emergency hospital, a postman dues under anesthetic during a relatively minor operation. One of the nurses who was present announces that the man's death was no accident, but a murder -- and then she, too, is murdered. The police are called in, led by Inspector Cockrill (Alastair Sim) of Scotland Yard, and he soon determines that any one of the five surviving members of the surgical team might have had a motive for the murders. In the course of his investigation, he also uncovers an array of both eccentric and ugly personal information about most of those present, but no killer that he can ascertain for certain. He must finally draw the murderer out by putting one of the suspects at risk. In the midst of the suspense are moments of droll comedy, of the sort that one would expect from a movie made by the authors of The Lady Vanishes, along with a palpably rich late wartime atmosphere which, surprisingly, did not repel war-weary audiences on either side of the Altantic. Indeed, Sim is so beguilingly witty and charismatic in his eccentric way as Inspector Cockrill, that the wonder is that there was never a follow-up movie or even a series built around his character. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Based on Noël Coward's play "Still Life," Brief Encounter is a romantic, bittersweet drama about two married people who meet by chance in a London railway station and carry on an intense love affair. Sentimental yet down-to-earth and set in pre-World War II England, the film follows British housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), who is on her way home, but catches a cinder in her eye. By chance, she meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), who removes it for her. The two talk for a few minutes and strike immediate sparks, but they end up catching different trains. However, both return to the station once a week to meet and, as the film progresses, they grow closer, sharing stories, hopes, and fears about their lives, marriages, and children. One day, when Alec's train is late, both become frantic that they will miss each other. When they finally find each other, they realize that they are in love. But what should be a joyous realization is fraught with tragedy, since both care greatly for their families. Howard and Johnson give flawless performances as two practical, married people who find themselves in a situation in which they know they can never be happy. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Originally released in England as The Way to the Stars, Johnny in the Clouds is the story of how the Battle of Britain affected the lives of combatants and civilians alike. Terence Rattigan's screenplay concentrates on three groups of people: an American pilot and his wife, a doomed British officer with a wife and child, and a young couple who plan to marry despite the precariousness of wartime romances. Most of the action takes place at an air base and the neighboring village, where the private citizens react to rationing and other restrictions with various degrees of nobility and selfishness. The American title of this film is derived from the poem "Johnny in the Clouds," recited in tribute to the decease British airman; the U.S. version, which was released after the war, includes a prologue set in the deserted air base, with the bulk of the film offered as a flashback. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide