Peter Illing Movies

An Englishman finds himself on the holiday from hell in this horror movie. He had gone to Britanny for rest and relaxation. Instead he finds himself involved in a satanic cult run by a sophisticated vampire. Two of the man's friends are killed there because the cult requires human sacrifices. The man really gets mad when the vampire kidnaps his girlfriend. The angered Englishman soon exposes the creature's identity leaving the bereft vampire to wander through a cemetery. There, he stumbles upon a cross and dies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Terrence Rattigan, the playwright who brought us the multicharactered, multistoried Separate Tables, again offers us an episodic cross-section of humanity in The V.I.P.'s. When a heavy London fog paralyzes all air traffic, the lives of several people are profoundly affected. As indicated by the title, most of the characters in this portmanteau film are of the social and/or financial elite. Elizabeth Taylor wishes to leave her enormously wealthy husband Richard Burton in favor of playboy Louis Jourdan. Peripatetic European film producer Orson Welles is hoping to escape London with his newest protegee Elsa Martinelli in order to avoid paying his income tax. Australian businessman Rod Taylor, accompanied by his devoted (and adoring) secretary Maggie Smith, is anxious to head to New York to stave off a hostile takeover of his firm. And impoverished aristocrat Margaret Rutherford (who won an Oscar for her performance) would rather not go to Florida to accept a job as a social arbiter, but the wolf must be kept from the door. Before the fog disperses, you can be sure that at least one of the many plotlines will intersect with another. David Frost, in a tiny part as a reporter, was fond of recalling in later years that, while the major stars of The VIPS were introduced in the opening titles with animated limousines, he was consigned a tiny Volkswagen; alas, no such cartoon joke appears in the film, though on occasion the actors-particularly Mr. Welles-behave as though they were cartoons. Mercilessly skewered by the critics, The VIPS was a winner at the box-office, due in great part to the Cleopatra-inspired publicity concerning the top-billed Liz Taylor and Dick Burton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A spy ring is responsible for the death of Betty McDowall's husband as discovered by reporters. ~ All Movie Guide

When a traveling salesman arrives to hawk his wares in an economically depressed Italian village, the last thing he expects is to be assailed by the most beautiful single girls in town, but that is exactly what happens. The reason for it stems from the fact that all but one of the town's eligible bachelors have left to find work. The only available man left is a wealthy emigrant. He is looking for a wife and the impoverished parents of the daughters push their children to compete for his love. This creates considerable conflict until the village elders step in and decide that the rich man's bride will be selected by the first outsider to enter the village. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this detective film, a Chinese detective breaks up a drug smuggling ring and tries to find the "Daffodil Killer." The drug smugglers had devised the ingenious method of smuggling heroin from Hong Kong in the stems of daffodils. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

W. Lee Wilder, the lesser-known brother of Billy Wilder, directed this unexceptional story based on the actual history of French serial killer Henri Landru. The killer (played by George Sanders) has been changed here from an ordinary, inconsequential man to a suave antique dealer with a passion for Odette (Corinne Calvet), a nightclub singer whose only interest in him is monetary. The plot places Odette's need for money at the basis of Landru's maniacal killing spree but as the duped, female victims are dispatched one after another, the horror of it all never quite coalesces into gripping suspense. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Industrial espionage becomes a deadly game when Peter Thal (played by Charles Gray, aka "The Criminologist" in The Rocky Horror Picture Show) murders Professor Harper (Robert Raglan) and steals valuable scientific documents. With the blessing of the British Secret Service, Harper's colleague Peter Brady, also known as "The Invisible Man", trails Thal to Amsterdam. Upon arrival, Brady must not only recover the documents, but also prove that Jenny Reyden (Sarah Lawson), a British undercover agent, did not murder Thal in cold blood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An uneven, bland tale of escape and capture on the River Rhine, Whirlpool features Juliette Greco as Lora, the girlfriend of a petty criminal. She wants to leave him but does not make the desperate effort leaving requires, until after he shoots a policeman. Then she escapes him by boarding a German tanker. Her obvious charms captivate the captain (O.W. Fischer), his First Mate, and another deck hand, but after her last experience she shuns all of them. Trouble brews as one of the wives on board is overcome with jealousy, and worse yet, as Lora's old boyfriend, now on the run from the police, decides to join her on the tanker. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly) directed this cloak-and-dagger yarn (based on a bestseller by Leon Uris), filmed on sumptuous locations in Greece. Set in Athens in 1941, before the Nazis overran the country, Robert Mitchum plays American war correspondent Mike Morrison, who has come into the possession of a list of 16 Greek underground leaders that he agrees to deliver to British intelligence in London for a $20,000 fee. Trying to keep him from getting there is the local Gestapo chief Conrad Heisler (Stanley Baker) and fifth columnist Tassos (Theodore Bikel). Morrison also becomes involved with a group of Greek freedom fighters -- particularly the beautiful Eleftheria (Gia Scala). But then Morrison comes down from the mountains and back to Athens, where he finds himself trailed, not only by the Nazis, but by charming widow Lisa Kyriakides (Elisabeth Muller). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

When a movie star dies mysteriously, insurance investigator Jeff Keenan (Rod Cameron) is put on the case. It seems that the dead man was attending a private psychiatric clinic on the Riviera. Keenan learns that one of the staff doctors has been tinkering with an experimental "dream machine," designed to soothe his more disturbed patients. But Paul Zakon (Peter Illing), the ex-Nazi owner of the clinic, has been using the machine for brainwashing purposes. There's really no "monster" to speak of, but there's plenty of Frankenstein-style electric bolts and sparks in the climactic melee. Charles Eric Mayne adapted the gimmicky screenplay from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Lemmon and Robert Mitchum star as Tony and Felix, co-owners of a tramp-steamer service in the West Indies. Threatening their friendship is itinerant trollop Irena (Rita Hayworth). Tony seethes with jealousy as Irena gravitates towards Felix, leading to a heated confrontation. Felix retaliates by blowing the whistle on Tony's under-the-counter smuggling activities. Tony in turns plots to kill his former partner, but changes his mind when Felix saves his life during a shipwreck. The supporting cast includes Herbert Lom, Bernard Lee, and Anthony Newley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide