Roddy Hughes Movies

This enjoyably twisted British thriller was shot back-to-back with the equally warped Haunted Strangler and is one of the first films of any genre to address the subject of drug addiction. It stars Boris Karloff as Dr. Thomas Bolton, a London surgeon who believes he has developed a safe and effective anesthetic serum which he hopes will revolutionize the world of medicine. Unfortunately, a demonstration of the drug before a panel of his peers ends in a horrific mishap -- with his patient awakening under the knife -- and he is forced to leave his position in disgrace. To complicate matters, Bolton has become addicted to his own concoctions and is forced to enter an illicit arrangement, forging death certificates for a pair of grave-robbers (including Christopher Lee) in exchange for a regular fix and the means to continue his experiments. As one would imagine, this shady partnership leads him further down the road to ruin, culminating in his unwitting participation in murder -- for which he becomes the victim of a blackmail scheme. Karloff's multi-layered performance is one of his finest, bringing a great deal of pathos to his tragic character. This film was also something of a turning point for Lee, who had already risen to international fame in many Hammer productions by the time this film was acquired by MGM for American distribution. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this melodramatic adventure set after the British evacuated Singapore in 1942, a ship is torpedoed and only four people survive. They are a nun, an RAF officer, a godless bigoted business magnate, and a black purser. The four drift for days before getting themselves washed up on a small desert island. Before they reach the shore, a shark consumes the purser. The other three safely land and struggle to survive. Time passes and the RAF officer falls in love with the nun, who never tells him that she is one. Later they are rescued, and the officer begins looking for her in vain. At one point he passes her dressed in her habit on a London street, but he doesn't recognize her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this crazy British comedy, a Cockney corporal dreams of getting promoted so that he can finally receive his inheritance. To facilitate the raise in status, he masquerades as a priest and goes out one night with the vicar's glamorous, blond wife. His action starts a trend and soon he runs into a number of men in priestly garb. The trouble is, he cannot discern the real ones from the fakes until the end when he finds a fugitive convict and gets him arrested. Soon after, the plucky corporal gets his promotion. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This children's mystery involves two kids vacationing on an island and the two kids they become friends with there. They discover a smuggling ring working out of the island's bird sanctuary and must turn them in. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Released in the U.S. by Lippert Studios, I'll Get You was filmed in Britain as Escape Route. George Raft stars as Steve Rossi, an FBI man, sent to London on the trail of an international kidnapping ring. The villains specialize in abducting nuclear scientists, then smuggling them behind the Iron Curtain. Rossi's British contact is military intelligence agent Joan Miller (Sally Gray). Several false leads and red herrings later, the two agents close in on the kidnappers on the docks of the Thames. But the terrorists aren't about to give up peaceably, a fact that leads to an explosive finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alf Donkin (Jerry Desmonde) and his two nitwitted brothers (C. Dernier Warren and Mark Daly) adopt an orphaned baby girl. She grows up to be the delectable Pauline Stroud, whose beauty and vulnerability prompts the good-hearted Alf to be all the more protective of her. When Pauline falls in love with a crook (Peter Hammond), Alf and his siblings try to prevent their foster child from making the mistake of her life. Alf's Baby was based on It Won't Be a Stylish Marriage, a play by A.P. Dearsley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, a woman desiring to locate her missing employer engages the services of "The Toff," a suave amateur detective. Mayhem ensues until the detective reveals that the boss wanted to disappear so he could hide from the man behind an insurance fraud who wants to kill him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Widely considered to be the definitive of the many film versions of Charles Dickens' classic novel is this 1951 British adaptation, starring Alastair Sim (entitled "Scrooge" in its U.K. release). Sim plays Ebenezer Scrooge, a London miser who, despite his wealth, refuses to make charitable contributions and treats his sole employee, Bob Cratchit, as an indentured servant. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his late business partner, Jacob Marley, who was as selfish as Scrooge in life and has been condemned to an eternity of wandering the Earth in shackles. Marley informs Scrooge that he's to receive a trio of spirits that night who will take him on a journey through Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come. As Scrooge encounters each apparition, he is taken on a tour of his life and realizes what a wretch he is, transformed by greed from an idealistic youth into an embittered ogre. Infused with a new, cheery outlook, Scrooge sets about earning his redemption. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Once again comedian Arthur Lucan dons an old woman's togs to become the tart-tongued Irish washerwoman. This time Mother Riley gets into the thick of things when her daughter finds a South Seas treasure map and they set sail to find it. Upon their arrival to the remote island, Mother Riley ends up far more than she bargained for. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A movie based on a true story, this is the story of a man who was exiled as a thief from his village but later returns for revenge. He plans to buy the entire district up as part of a water reservoir project but an old woman and her stepson stand in his way. Revenge, murder, desperation and love all intertwine in this moving account. This was Richard Burton's first screen role, having been a stage actor prior to his stint in the Royal Air Force as a navigator during WWII. ~ Tana Hobart, 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

The "progressive" new British teaching methods of 1948 are sharply contrasted with the tried-and-true methods of the past in Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill. Self-content and thoroughly set in his ways, college instructor Vincent Perrin (Marius Goring) resents the arrival of non-traditional young prof David Traill (David Farrar). Exacerbating the situation is the fact that both Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill are both in love with Isobel Lester (Greta Gynt). Descending into petty, crass behavior, Mr. Perrin typifies all that was wrong with the postwar educational system; still, he is not entirely sympathetic, nor is the aggressive Mr. Traill 100% likeable. Based on a novel by Hugh Walpole, Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill remains surprisingly timely when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide