Jill Ireland Movies
A dancer from age 12, British performer Jill Ireland became an audience favorite in her teens thanks to her many engagements at the London Palladium. Signed to a Rank Organization contract in 1955, Ireland made her first screen appearance as a ballerina in Oh, Rosalind. In 1957, Ireland married actor David McCallum, with whom she would later appear in several Man From UNCLE TV episodes. Her second husband was action star Charles Bronson, whom she married in 1967. From 1970 onward, Ireland seldom appeared onscreen without her husband; their best collaborative efforts include Hard Times (1975) and From Noon Til Three. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984, Ireland underwent a mastectomy, gaining the respect of friends and fans alike for her courage in the face of death: she wrote a book on her recovery, Life Wish, in 1987, and served as chairperson of the National Cancer Society. Ireland then devoted herself to rehabilitating her adopted son Jason McCallum, who had become a drug addict. She penned another book called Life Lines, this one devoted to her struggle to bring her son back to health. His death from an overdose in 1989 weakened Ireland's already precarious physical state. Refusing to surrender to despair, Ireland was busy at work on her third book of reminiscences, Life Times, when she died in 1990. One year later, a TV biopic, Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story was telecast, with Jill Clayburgh as Ireland and Lance Henriksen as Charles Bronson (though not so named, as Bronson was dead-set against the film and refused to allow his name to be mentioned onscreen). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1955
The ever-adventuresome Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are responsible for the British musical farce Oh, Rosalinda! Set in postwar Vienna, the film stars Michael Redgrave as Colonel Eisenstein, a military officer who because of a little legal misunderstanding must serve a few months in prison. While sitting alone in her sumptuous house, the colonel's wife Rosalinda (Ludmilla Tcherina) is romanced by American officer Alfred Westerman (Mel Ferrer). When the guard assigned to escort Rosalinda to prison marches in, Westerman, hoping to save Rosalinda from disgrace, claims that he's her husband, and winds up in the pokey himself. Later on, Rosalinda attends a costume ball, where she flirts outrageously with her own husband. Sound familiar? It should: Oh, Rosalinda is a modernized version of Johann Strauss' comic opera Die Fledermaus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Redgrave, Mel Ferrer, (more)
- 1955
Comparatively little known, the British A Woman for Joe is an excellent showcase for leading lady Diane Cilento (later better known as Mrs. Sean Connery). The actress is cast as Mary, a carnival performer hired by fairground impresario Joe Harrap (George Baker). Mary was employed at the behest of midget George Wilson (Jimmy Haroubi), the real brains behind Harrap's sideshow. Mary is instantly attracted to Joe, which does not rest well with the jealous, manipulative George. The plot is resolved by a sudden death during one of George's performances. What could have been an exercise in tawdriness is redeemed by the colorful camerawork of Georges Perinal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diane Cilento, George Baker, (more)
- 1955
Love, marriage and show business provide the basis of this lively comedy that centers on a husband and wife, who are chosen by television producers to embody the perfect married couple on an upcoming television series. The show is to be filmed and broadcast live from the home of Simon and Laura, who on camera are indeed the perfect couple. Unfortunately, the minute the camera is off, the two are going at it hammer and tong. Still, their show is very popular, and many couples look up to them until the ill-fated shooting of a Christmas special in which the couple begin tippling alcoholic beverages during the filming and end up letting their true relationship come out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Finch, Kay Kendall, (more)
- 1956
Ian Carmichael plays the "white sheep" in a family of successful thieves. Everyone in the clan has made a healthy career out of crime except poor Ian, so he decides to redeem himself with a single spectacular caper. Somehow this involves a passel of Arabs and an unctuous TV news team, all of whom converge in a slapstick free-for-all. Jailed, Carmichael realizes that he's doomed to honesty, and vows to pursue the straight and narrow with leading lady Belinda Lee. Though a British film, The Big Money seems geared exclusively for American audiences with its garish Technicolor, hyperactive musical score and sledgehammer humor. Made in 1956, the film wasn't widely shown in the US until it was released to television in 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Carmichael, Belinda Lee, (more)
- 1957
In this efficient British crime drama, Tom Yately (Stanley Baker) is an ex-con looking for honest work. He thinks he's found it when he takes a job as a truck driver, but he soon discovers that the trucking firm he's signed on with is not playing by the rules. Red (Patrick McGoohan), the company's best driver, and Cartley (William Hartnell), the manager, have created five fictional drivers who have been added to the payroll. The other staff drivers are given the shifts that the phony drivers are supposed to be working, while Red and Cartley divide their pay packets. When Tom attempts to expose the corruption at the trucking firm, he soon discovers that he's taken his life in his hands in the process. Keep an eye peeled for a supporting performance by a young Sean Connery (it was only his fifth screen role); the cast also includes Herbert Lom, Jill Ireland, Peggy Cummins, and David McCallum. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1957
One of several feature film versions of the late 19th century novel by Rolf Boldrewood, this frontier adventure is set not in the Wild West of the U.S., but in the equally untamed Australian Outback of the same era. Two brothers, Jim (David McCallum) and Dick Marsten (Ronald Lewis) follow in their father's footsteps by leaving home to seek adventure as gunfighters. They become outlaws in the roving band led by stylish Captain Starlight (Peter Finch), who leads them on a series of escapades robbing banks and rustling cattle. Though they find the excitement and romance they craved, the Marstens soon become disillusioned with a life on the run and begin to wish that they could resume the mantle of honest, hard-working citizens. Unfortunately, events transpire to put the entire Starlight gang out of operation before the brothers can recommence their formerly law-abiding ways. Produced by Britain's Rank Organization, Robbery Under Arms (1957) was followed by a television series remake in 1985 and a handful of other films set against the colorful backdrop of the Australian frontier, including The Man from Snowy River (1982) and Quigley Down Under (1990). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Finch, Ronald Lewis, (more)
- 1957
In this comedy, a milque-toast bank clerk is forced to deliver blackmail money to a seductive woman. Misunderstandings abound when the clerk's brother-in-law sees him leaving the woman's house. Soon word that the clerk has become a dashing rake is spread around the town. In the end, the owner of a sexy lingerie factory offers the clerk a partnership in his business. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Three Men in a Boat is the second film version of the comic novel by Jerome K. Jerome. The titular trio is played by popular British comedian Jimmy Edwards, up-and-coming leading man Laurence Harvey and stalwart character actor David Tomlinson. Escaping their dull weekday pursuit, the three pals take a pleasure excursion down the Thames in a small boat, encountering all sorts of comic and romantic complications. Jill Ireland makes an early screen appearance as a young lady who briefly bewitches the bookish Harvey. Though dated, Three Men in a Boat was just as capable of eliciting laughter as it had been in its first cinematic incarnation in 1933. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards, (more)
- 1959
Originally telecast as part of the British Saturday Serial anthology, The Voodoo Factor starred Maurice Kaufman as dedicated disease specialist Dr. David Whittaker. The supernatural revivification of a 200-year-old Polynesian spider goddess threatened to unleash a deadly malaria-style virus upon the world. All that stood between mankind and its destruction was the tireless Dr. Whittaker, who had of course been targeted for early extermination by the Goddess' fanatical followers. The six half-hour episodes of The Voodoo Factor were shown from December 12, 1959 to January 16, 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Kaufman, Maxine Audley, (more)
- 1959
In this drama, a reporter and his girlfriend pursue a jewel thief through rural Sussex. The tables turn when the thief abducts the girlfriend and holds her hostage in a castle forcing the reporter to assist him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
The "Carry On" gang take up residence in the men's ward of a British hospital in this wildly funny and wildly crude farce. There's not much of a plot, but plenty of nudging and winking, as the male patients line up by their bedpans as a mixed assortment of female nurses tend to their every whim. Included in the menagerie is Bert Albie (Wilfrid Hyde White), who enjoys killing time by taunting an overweight student nurse; Bernie Bishop (Kenneth Connor), a sharp-tongued boxer; and Hinton (Charles Hawtrey), who likes to amuse himself at the radio. There's also a slight romantic storyline, hinging around Ted York (Terence Longdon) and his amorous advances upon the attractive Nurse Denton (Shirley Eaton). But the gag's the thing in this rambunctious entry. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth Connor, Kenny Williams, (more)
- 1960
The 1960 British film Girls of Latin Quarter offers a few then-popular Calypso tunes amidst its treacly storyline. Bernard Hunter plays a nerdish young sprout who inherits a fortune. In order to collect his legacy, he must take over the failing family farm and turn it into a winning proposition. To raise funds, Hunter goes the Mickey Rooney route and stages a Big Show. Co-starring as a dancer in Girls of Latin Quarter is a young, pre-Charles-Bronson Jill Ireland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
An innocent young woman is falsely accused of robbery and sent to a hellish reform school in this socially conscious prison drama. There the woman is tormented by a ruthless matron who treats her charges like POWs. Meanwhile, the inmate struggles to escape so she can prove herself innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Director Gerald Thomas and most of the cast and crew that worked in his "Carry On...." series of comedies are all back again in the funny, sometimes slapstick Raising the Wind. The plot is no more than a situation which then invites multiple sidetracks -- it seems the students at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Arts are going all out to get a coveted award. Thrown into their competitive ambiance is the classic absent-minded professor (Eric Barker), the more commonly found bad-tempered professor (James Robertson Justice), and a host of subsidiary characters, all played with gusto by professionals known for their comedic talents. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Phillips, Sidney James, (more)
- 1962
This entertaining farce is from the director who brought the world the highly successful "Carry On..." comedies -- Gerald Thomas -- and exhibits some of his hand at slapstick situations. The premise, based on the play Ring for Catty, is hardly complex. Nurse Catty (Juliet Mills) is one of the main attractions -- along with two other nurses (played by Jill Ireland and manda Reiss) -- in the TB ward of a local hospital. An important daily goal is to avoid unwanted lascivious attention from patients, and aside from that subplot, there are enough bedpan jokes and similar types of hospital humor to keep the scenes moving along. Eventually, Catty begins to take more than a nursing interest in one of her saner patients, Bob White (Ronald Lewis). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliet Mills, Donald Sinden, (more)
- 1962
Battleax is proof positive that "mother in law" jokes are not the exclusive domain of American TV comedians. The middling British comedy stars Francis Matthews and Jill Ireland as an engaged couple. Matthews' and Ireland's pre-connubial bliss is shattered by the future bride's domineering mother. Unable to withstand this wicked witch of the Northlands, Matthews tries to weasel out of the marriage by suing Ireland for breach of promise--the broken promise being that momma would stop meddling. Joan Haythorne is the title character, as well as the sole reason to spend the 66 minutes required to sit through Battleax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
In this crime drama, a mugger accidently kills a man during a robbery and finds himself blackmailed into cracking a nightclub safe. The mugger escapes by double crossing the blackmailer by stealing the money and his girlfriend to boot. Unfortunately the police are in hot pursuit. They eventually capture him, but not before he kills an innocent tailor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
When a scientist team at Ice Station T is mysteriously killed, the Seaview must investigate the cause. Complicating the mission are three not-wholly-welcome guests -- Dr. Reisman (David Opatoshu), a brilliant but personally unpleasant researcher who once worked for Hitler's government; Julie Lyle (Jill Ireland), a young agricultural researcher; and Philip Wesley (John Milford), a representative of the corporation financing the mission with the government. Each has his own agenda, and one may be an enemy spy -- but unknown to all of them, the plankton research project they're working on has created a monstrous, incredibly dangerous creature. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1965
While testing out his spaceship's magnet, Martin (Ray Walston) accidentally brings down a foreign space vessel containing a female cosmonaut named Zelda (played by Jill Ireland!) from the People's Republic of Slobodia. Worried about fomenting an international crisis, Martin induces amnesia in Zelda and convinces her that she's his niece, allowing him time to repair her ship and send it back. Complicating matters is Mrs. Brown's snoopy brother George (played in this episode by future Love Boat costar Bernie Kopell). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Ordered to evacuate a planetary colony that is under the threat of deadly radiation, Captain Kirk faces unexpected resistance when the settlers claim they have no desire to leave. When Kirk, McCoy, and Spock investigate further, they discover that the colony's inhabitants are both perfectly healthy and oddly blissful. The reason for this behavior becomes clear when McCoy and Spock unintentionally inhale the spores of a native plant, and become seized with the same contented lethargy. The spores' effects spread when several of the plants are brought aboard the Enterprise, and Kirk must find a way to win back his crew before the ship and planet are destroyed in this installment of the landmark science fiction television series. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- 1967
The Man from UNCLE comes to the big screen in this spy thriller comprised of episodes from the popular television series. The story centers around the attempts of evil THRUSH operatives who endeavor to abduct a professor who has developed a formula for turning salt water into gold. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Yul Brynner stars as the legendary Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in this 1968 epic that was originally written by Sam Peckinpah, who hoped to direct it. But studio bosses instead hired Buzz Kulik and cut the script. Villa is commanded by General Huerta (Herbert Lom) and assisted by the sadistic Fierro (Charles Bronson). Captain Francisco Ramirez (Frank Wolff) is a counter-revolutionary leader for whom an American pilot, Lee Arnold (Robert Mitchum), is smuggling guns from Texas. While Arnold is in a small village waiting for his place to be fixed, he sees Ramirez's troops attack the village and get routed by Villa. The rebels arrest Arnold for gun-running and sentence him to face a firing squad. He works a deal to save his skin by agreeing to fly missions for the revolutionaries. While Villa's men attack a train, Arnold bombs government troops with grenades. Arnold's aerial support saves Villa when he is sent on a doomed mission by Huerta, who is vying with Villa for power. Arnold escapes to Texas and Villa is arrested for disobeying Huerta's orders. Villa eventually escapes, finds Arnold in Texas, and convinces him to fight again for the revolution, which is now targeting Huerta, who has assassinated the Mexican president and taken power. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Robert Mitchum, (more)
