Roy Ward Baker Movies
London-born Roy Ward Baker served his cinematic apprenticeship from 1934 to 1939 in the Gainesborough Studios assistant-director pool. After World War II service, Baker directed several documentaries, moving to dramatic subjects with his first feature, the psychological melodrama The October Man (1947). While employed at Two Cities Productions, Baker held the directorial reins of I'll Never Forget You, filmed in England on behalf of Hollywood's 20th Century-Fox. This led to a handful of directorial assignments at Fox's home studios, most notably the Marilyn Monroe vehicle Don't Bother to Knock (1952) and the 3-D thriller Inferno (1953). Returning to England, Baker turned out such first-rank product as The One That Got Away (1957), A Night to Remember (1958) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967). Amidst several theatrical horror films in the 1960s, Baker entered television as one of the most prolific directors of The Saint TV series. Roy Ward Baker's later video assignments included such TV movies as The Monster Club (1980) and Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death (1984), as well as the unorthodox British detective series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), syndicated to the U.S. in 1974 as My Partner the Ghost. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 2002
Von Werra is an offbeat documentary which, while investigating the life of a historical figure, also explores the fine line between fact and fiction. Franz Von Werra was an aviator from one of Switzerland's most provincial regions, Canton Valais. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he volunteered as a fighter pilot for the Luftwaffe and his exploits made him a darling of the Nazi press. When Von Werra was shot down over England, he managed to pull off a miraculous escape which was later recounted in the British film, The One That Got Away. The actor who played Von Werra, Hardy Kruger, serves as narrator and chief investigator here as he and director Werner Schweizer set out to discover the real man behind the legend, who was reported to have said: "making war was terribly entertaining". With the use of archive footage, written memoirs, and interviews, the lives of Von Werra and Kruger are scrutinized side-by-side as intertwined dramas about the making of history, and the exploiting of it. ~ Connor McMadden, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hardy Kruger, Marthe Rey-Von Werra, (more)
- 1984
Twenty-seven years after Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Peter Cushing makes a belated return to the role of Sherlock Holmes in the made-for-television Masks of Death. Befitting his age, Cushing plays Holmes in retirement, content to play his violin and look after his bees. He is dragged back into action by a series of baffling East End murders. Each one of the victims has been discovered with an expression of stark, raw fear frozen on his or her face. With faithful Dr. Watson (John Mills) at his right hand, Holmes puts the pieces together. Ray Milland and Anne Baxter co-star in this stylish bouquet to the Baker Street Irregulars of the world. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, John Mills, (more)
Based on an autobiographical novel by Elspeth Huxley, this 1981 film tells the story of the Grant family -- little Elspeth (Holly Aird) and her parents, Robin (David Robb) and Tilly (Hayley Mills) -- after they arrive in Kenya to start a coffee plantation. The episodic production begins when a lion greets the horse-drawn carriage transporting Tilly and Elspeth to the site of the plantation. Tilly stares the lion down with the help of a poised shotgun, demonstrating her resolve to make a go of it in the rugged new land. After the Grants construct a home with the help of Kikuyu natives, they hold a housewarming attended by neighbors Hereward (Nicholas Jones) and Lettice Palmer (Sharon Maughan), fellow Brits who have also settled in Kenya. Meanwhile, 11-year-old Elspeth revels in the land, the wildlife, and her new Kenyan friends. While her parents are away, Elspeth stays with Mrs. Nimmo (Carol MacReady), a Scotswoman who corrects the little girl's manners and makes her dress formally for dinner. During the day, Elspeth travels back and forth to her home on a pony to feed her pet deer and pet chameleons. On one trip, she meets and makes friends with Englishman Ian Crawfurd (Ben Cross), a newcomer. After her parents return and host the Palmers and Crawfurd at a get-together, Crawfurd and Lettice Palmer, who is bored with her husband, Hereward, and Africa, fall in love and begin an affair. A leopard carries off a dog Lettice cherishes, and everyone joins in a hunt for the animal, including wily Boer huntsman Mr. Roos (William Morgan Sheppard). On the hunt, Lettice and Ian Crawfurd, whose affair has become obvious to all, provoke Hereward. Ian and Hereward brawl. A native whom Hereward insults with a racist remark stabs Hereward, but he survives. When the first World War begins, Robin and Ian both do service. Will they come back? That is the question that gnaws at Elspeth and her mom -- and Lettice -- while life goes on at Thika. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hayley Mills, David Robb, (more)
This quaint horror anthology is loosely based on the works of horror novelist R. Chetwynd-Hayes -- who is portrayed by John Carradine as an active participant in his own tales. The author is invited by a suave vampire (Vincent Price) to accompany him to the title establishment, where he observes the secret social customs of various species of monsters -- which apparently include drinking, dancing, and watching undead strippers remove more than just their clothing. He is also made privy to the mating patterns of these creatures, whose tendency to inter-breed creates such new strains of monsters as the "shadmock" (a vampire-like entity with a deadly high-pitched whistle) and the "humgoo" (the sullen offspring of a human and a flesh-eating ghoul). Price's descriptions of these new beasties trigger accompanying vignettes far less entertaining than the framing story, which is rife with horror movie in-jokes, cheesy rubber monster masks, and music by pop-reggae band UB40(!). Accomplished horror-omnibus director Roy Ward Baker seems to delight in the opportunity for pure camp, although the overall silliness of the proceedings has put off more than a few horror buffs. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Donald Pleasence, (more)
The 13-part Danger UXB was the third presentation in the 1980-81 season of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. Based upon the memoirs of Major A. B. "Bill" Hartley, this British production stars Anthony Andrews as engineer Brian Ash. In the early days of World War II, Brian volunteers for the Royal Engineers' UXB, or "Unexploded Bomb", division. Making his already dangerous job doubly perilous is the fact that many of the "dead" bombs that have fallen in the London vicinity have been booby-trapped by German technicians; they can go off without warning at any time, so it's not surprising that the ranks of the UXB unit diminishes on a near-daily basis. The storyline traces Ash's rise through the ranks to Lieutenant, as well as his romance with Susan Mount (Judy Geeson). Danger UXB's American TV run extended from January 4 through March 30, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1977
The Persuaders were a pair of globe-trotting, sophisticated playboys who solved crimes of passion and espionage every week on television. This video contains some of their most memorable exploits. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Mission: Monte Carlo is a "movie" comprised of two episodes from the 1971 British/US TV series The Persuaders - which accounts for the presence of Basil Dearden, who died that year. The only element that the two hour-long episodes truly have in common is their setting: Southern France's Cote D'Azur. The discovery of an exotic dancer's corpse leads playboy secret agents Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) and Lord Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore) on a merry chase after a gang of stock swindlers. This storyline is expanded with scenes from a second Riviera-based Persuaders installment, written by Val Guest, wherein Wilde and Sinclair pursue a contingent of gold smugglers. The guest stars appearing in this jerry-built feature film include Annette Andre, Susan George, and Alfred Marks. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1975
The Persuaders were a pair of globe-trotting, sophisticated playboys who solved crimes of passion and espionage every week on television. This series of videos contains some of their most memorable exploits. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1973
- R
This creepy, atmospheric horror film from England's Amicus Productions dispenses with much of the tongue-in-cheek presentation of their popular '70s horror anthologies (such as Asylum and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors) in favor of a more adult-oriented approach. The story begins in the 18th century, as a young stable hand tries to prevent nobleman Fengriffen (Herbert Lom) from raping a young servant girl -- who happens to be the stable hand's wife -- and for this transgression has his hand lopped off. Flash forward to the present, where Fengriffen's ancestor (Ian Ogilvy) and his wife (Stephanie Beacham), now living on the ancestral estate, are haunted by the servant's vengeful spirit, as well as the severed hand itself, which roams the gloomy corridors of the mansion. Most video versions are taken from the TV print, which is missing some scenes of violence and nudity. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1973
- R
Vault of Horror is the first sequel to 1972's horror hit Tales from the Crypt. It is also known as Tales from the Crypt, Part II. It continues it's predecessor's popular formula of using established stars in five witty short horror episodes. The first, "Midnight Mass," shows that having a vampire for a relative can be upsetting, to say the least. In "The Neat Job" a nagging neat-freak is neatly nullified. In "This Trick'll Kill You," a colonial overlord learns that it's not safe to steal magic tricks from natives. "Bargain in Death" exposes the greed of two insurance swindlers, and "Drawn and Quartered" takes "The Picture of Dorian Grey" one better. Among the stars appearing in these episodes are Terry-Thomas, Glynnis Johns, Curt Jurgens, Denholm Elliott and Tom Baker. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1973
In this strange but fun genre hodgepodge, Prof. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) is up against seven rotting vampires clad in gold masks. They were revived by Dracula (John Forbes-Robertson) at the behest of a Chinese priest in 1804 and a century later are terrorizing the village of Ping Kuei. One of the locals attends Van Helsing's lecture in Chungking and enlists the vampire-hunter, his son, and a pretty heiress (Julie Ege) in ridding the village of its curse. There's a lot of skillfully handled martial arts swordplay, hopping vampires, and more blood than usual before Cushing gets to run Dracula through with a spear. It's an interesting mix of Shaw Bros. martial-arts and Hammer gothic that doesn't always work, particularly with Forbes-Robertson's tarted-up Dracula apparently lingering way too long at the makeup table, but it's enjoyable enough for a rental. This was, sadly, Hammer's last Dracula film, despite plans to pit the vampire and Van Helsing in India the following year. Anchor Bay's widescreen video release contains both the original film and the hopped-up 75-minute 7 Brothers Meet Dracula, which played in American grindhouses. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Chang, Peter Cushing, (more)
- 1972
A top-secret government agency called the Web was the catalyst for the action in this weekly, hour-long British TV series. The individual episodes concentrated on the thrilling undercover activities of the Web's three top agents: Lottie Dean (Patricia Cutts), Wallis Ackroyd (Veronica Carlson), and Clive Hawksworth (Anthony Ainley). Roger Lloyd-Pack played the agents' boss, while the guest-star roster included the likes of Ferdy Mayne and Andre Morell. The 13 episodes of Spyder's Web were broadcast by ATV from February 22 to April 14, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1972
- PG
Four short stories by master of macabre Robert Bloch are related by the inmates of a mental institution. In the first story, Richard Todd murders his wife and cuts her body into little pieces -- but that doesn't stop her from seeking revenge. In the second, Peter Cushing orders crooked tailor Barry Morse to weave a coat from a magic fabric in order to bring Cushing's son back from the dead (this one was previously dramatized on the TV series Thriller). The third story stars Charlotte Rampling as a schizophrenic whose "doppelganger" is manifested in the person of Britt Ekland. The final tale involves demented toymaker Herbert Lom and his army of killer robots. Robert Bloch himself adapted his original source material for the screen. Asylum was also known as House of Crazies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland, (more)
- 1971
In a clever, gender-bending twist on the classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale, the research done by Dr. Henry Jekyll (Ralph Bates) in the field of artificially-induced human longevity involves experimentation with female hormones. When he partakes of his own formula and the inevitable Jekyll-into-Hyde transformation takes place, he changes into a ravishing female version of himself (famed "B"-movie siren Martine Beswick). Claiming to be Jekyll's sister, Ms. Hyde is lovely but lethal: she uses her alluring charms to seduce men then kills them and absconds with their bodies for use in further experiments. A much more interesting twist comes when Jekyll finds himself falling in love with the girl next door (Susan Brodrick), while simultaneously lusting after the girl's brother (Lewis Fiander) as Hyde. Although Brian Clemens' script manages to exploit this unique premise for shock value, the story fumbles where it counts, failing to fully explore the implicit questions of sexual identity which haunt Jekyll's psyche and burst to the surface when Hyde is on the prowl. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Martine Beswicke, Ralph Bates, (more)
- 1971
The Persuaders were a pair of globe-trotting, sophisticated playboys who solved crimes of passion and espionage every week on television. This video contains the second episode in the series. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
One of a handful of Hammer "Dracula" films starring Christopher Lee, The Scars of Dracula begins as Count Dracula (Lee) rises from the grave once again. Buckets of blood and vats of violence will delight fans of horror. A young man and his girlfriend find themselves in Dracula's castle where Dracula sinks his teeth into five victims and tortures a servant in a graphically violent scene. A priest is attacked by a bat and meets his maker much earlier than anticipated. Naturally, the girl is soon coveted by Dracula, and the heroic young man must come to her rescue. There are typical scenes of religious defilement, arson, and the requisite wooden cross that wards off the evil bloodsucker. Dracula meets his fiery demise (yeah, right) when the foreboding castle is torched. No matter how he meets his end, rest assured Dracula will rise once again from any grave he finds himself in at the end of every film. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christopher Lee, Dennis Waterman, (more)
- 1970
In this espionage film, an American detective becomes part of a British spy organization's attempt to free a Russian expatriate hidden away in England. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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