Margaret Johnston Movies
Australian lead actress, onscreen from 1940. ~ All Movie Guide- 1947
A novel by Francis Brett Young and its theatrical adaptation by John Perry were the sources for the even-keeled melodrama A Man About the House. Handsome Italian laborer Kieron Moore works as caretaker of the Neopolitan villa inherited by plain-Jane Englishwomen Margaret Johnston and Dulcie Gray. Johnston is swept off her feet by the raffishly charming Moore, and before long they are wed. Their connubial bliss lasts just long enough for Moore to poison his bride; the villa had once belonged to his family, and he's willing to use any means to get it back. Though it seems as if Moore has committed the perfect crime, Dulcie joins forces with doctor Guy Middleton to prove that Moore murdered Johnston. Since the villa fronts a vertigo-inducing clifftop, it is inevitable that someone will topple into the ocean with a piercing scream. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Johnston, Dulcie Gray, (more)
- 1993
- R
In this suspense thriller, a woman wonders if she can trust her memory when her father returns from prison a very different man from the violent psychopath she remembers. Karen (Amy Irving) is a single mother who twenty years ago delivered the testimony that put her father Frank (Donald Sutherland) behind bars for the murder of her mother. While Karen has no doubts that Frank is guilty of the crime, the years have clouded her memory a bit and she doesn't recall all the events with complete clarity. Now that Frank has been released, he's returned to Karen's neighborhood and is going out of his way to ingratiate himself with Pete (Rider Strong), her son, and Dan (Christopher McDonald), her boyfriend. A furious Karen confronts Frank, but she discovers a father who is not the ogre she sent to prison but a calm, charming, well-spoken gentleman who seems to bear her no ill will. They discuss the death of Karen's mother and Frank begins to convince her that it was all a terrible accident. Frank begins to work his way back into Karen's life as he gradually cuts her off from her circle of friends; when Dan dies under mysterious circumstances, Karen thinks nothing of it, but Sheriff Calhoun (Graham Greene) wonders if Frank might have something to do with the crime. Benefit of the Doubt marked the feature debut for producer Jonathan Heap. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Amy Irving, (more)
- 1965
Life at the Top is a belated sequel to Room at the Top, John Blaine's "angry young man" British novel that was made into a film in 1959. Laurence Harvey is back as Joe Lampton, the man-on-the-rise protagonist who in Room had given up true love in favor of a career-boosting (and antiseptic) marriage to his boss' daughter. Ten years have passed: Lampton is a business success, but utterly bored by his dead-end marital setup. His wife feels the same, and it isn't long before Mr. and Mrs. Lampton begin conducting separate affairs. While the original Room was a fairly accurate evocation of its era, Life at the Top works too hard and too noisily to be "mod," in reflection of the ethereal Swinging London era. The inclusion of flashbacks from Room at the Top, in which Harvey is seen making love to Simone Signoret, only serves to emphasize the shortcomings of the sequel. The best moments in the later version can be found in the early establishing scenes set in Yorkshire. Life at the Top was followed by a TV series called Man at the Top, starring Kenneth Haigh as Lampton, which in turn was followed by a theatrical feature of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Jean Simmons, (more)
- 1954
Rene Clement's Monsieur Ripois was released in English-speaking countries as The Knave of Hearts and Lovers, Happy Lovers. Relying heavily on voiceover narration and subjective camerawork, the film has Gerard Phillipe in the title role. Believing himself to be love with his wife's best friend (Natasha Parry), Ripois pours out his heart to her by recounting his past amours. Though he has known many women, he has never truly loved any of them. This has proved more troublesome for Ripois than for the ladies in his life, but somehow he never learns his lesson--not even during the film's final scene. British actresses Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood are well cast as Ripois' wife and former girlfriend, respectively, while Germaine Montero has an effective cameo as a warm-hearted prostitute. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Philipe, Germaine Montero, (more)
- 1962
Night of the Eagle was the second film version of Fritz Leiber Jr.'s Conjure Wife (the first was Weird Woman, perhaps the best of Universal's low-budget "Inner Sanctum" series of the 1940s). The film's title was possibly meant to invoke memories of the earlier Night of the Demon (58); both films involve a rational scientist (in the case of Night of the Eagle, Peter Wyngarde) forced to accept the existence of the supernatural. All evidence points to the conclusion that the scientist's American wife Janet Blair is the reincarnation of a witch, and a practitioner of voodoo. The actual villain is supposed to be a mystery, though the identity was made clear in the Leiber original and in both other film versions of Conjure Wife (there was a 1980 parody version titled Witches Brew). The supernatural aspect of Night of the Eagle is convincingly handled, including a knockout sequence with a wild eagle rampaging through the scientist's tranquil study. Adapted by Twilight Zone stalwarts Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont, the British-made Night of the Eagle was released in the US as Burn, Witch, Burn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Blair, Peter Wyngarde, (more)
- 1945
Rex Harrison stars in this stylish British drama that caused problems with U.S. censors, who forced the film to be trimmed due to what was considered graphically amoral and sexual content for its time. Harrison is Vivian Kenway, an unrepentant cad who embarks on a campaign of irresponsible behavior after being ejected from Oxford. Among his many sins are seducing Jill Duncan (Jean Kent), the wife of his best friend Sandy (Griffith Jones), marrying a rich Austrian Jew, Rikki Krausner (Lilli Palmer), for her money, and dallying with the secretary (Margaret Johnson) of his father, Colonel Kenway (Godfrey Tearle). The feckless Vivian's actions cause no small amount of collateral damage to his loved ones, including the drunken death of his father and the attempted suicide of Rikki. Vivian ends up serving in World War II, however, where his non-heroic ultimate sacrifice may (or may not) redeem him. The Rake's Progress (1945 was released in the U.S. under the title Notorious Gentleman. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rex Harrison, Lilli Palmer, (more)
- 1950
Portrait of Clare is largely offered in flashback. The title character, played by Margaret Johnston, spends 10 years in seclusion with her son (Jeremy Spenser) after the death of her young husband (Ronald Howard). For her son's sake, Clare enters into a loveless marriage with lawyer Dudley Wilburn (Robin Bailey). But she doesn't find true happiness until turning to her cousin, Robert Hart (Richard Todd). Produced by British Pathe, Portrait of Clare was released in the U.S. by Pathe's sister-firm Monogram (aka Allied Artists). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Johnston, Richard Todd, (more)
- 1968
Sebastian (Dirk Bogarde) is an undisciplined mathematics genius who works in the "cipher bureau" of the British government. While cracking enemy codes, Sebastian finds time to romance co-worker Susannah York. The film dwells upon Sebastian's rather lax morals (even by 1968 standards), culminating in his refusal to commit himself to York once he's rendered her pregnant. This aspect of the story is frankly more fascinating than the main espionage plotline. Keep an eye out for Canadian actor Donald Sutherland in a bit as an American. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, Nigel Davenport, (more)
- 1963
Inspector Birkett (Ian Hendry) and his faithful assistant Saunders (Ronald Fraser) are assigned to investigate the murder of a fashion model. they arrive at the scene of the crime, scouring the dead girl's apartment for clues. On the surface, it appears robbery is the motive, and the detectives find a concealed pistol, a ball point pen, and the girls diary. Her last entry is about a luncheon date, the last place the woman was seen alive. The sleuths must sift through a series of bogus clues and interview unwilling potential suspects before uncovering a ring of drug dealers. The duo systematically eliminate the innocent in their effort to bring the murderer to justice. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Hendry, Margaret Johnston, (more)
- 1951
The Magic Box was the English film industry's contribution to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Its all-star cast generously forsook their usual salaries for the privilege of paying tribute to that unsung pioneer of cinema, William Friese-Greene, here played by Robert Donat. Adapted by Eric Ambler from the controversial biography by Ray Allister, Magic Box contends that Friese-Greene was the true father of motion pictures, and not such upstarts as W. K. L. Dickson and Thomas Edison. Told in flashback, the film details Friese-Greene's tireless experiments with the "moving image," leading inexorably to a series of failures and disappoints, as others hog the credit for the protagonist's discoveries. The huge cast includes such British film luminaries as Joyce Grenfell, Miles Malleson, Michael Redgrave, Eric Portman, Emlyn Williams, Richard Attenborough, Peter Ustinov, Cecil Parker, Kay Walsh, and, best of all, Laurence Olivier as the confused bobby who witnesses Friese-Greene's first motion picture demonstration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Donat, Margaret Johnston, (more)
- 1964
When a beautiful model is found shot in her apartment, a famous television star is felt to be the murderer in a failed extortion plot. Although the investigation turns up a surprise ending, by the time most viewers get there they could not care less who did it. Singularly uninspired murder drama. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Though scripted by Psycho author Robert Bloch, this is neither a sequel nor a variant on the Alfred Hitchcock classic. Instead, we are presented with a more subdued British version of an Italian "giallo" thriller, as interpreted by acclaimed director Freddie Francis. The plot involves a pattern of grisly murders whose perpetrator leaves a small doll by the body of each victim. The plot thickens as police eventually link each of the victims to the lost fortune of a German tycoon, whose dirty business dealings were uncovered shortly after World War II; what seems at first to be the work of a single revenge-minded maniac hints at a wider-reaching and more devious plot. Bloch's script, though lean and filled with surprises, is a bit too overloaded with manipulative twists, red herrings, and futile attempts to outdo Psycho's manic intensity, but Francis still builds sufficient momentum to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Wymark, Margaret Johnston, (more)
- 1955
Touch and Go stars Jack Hawkins as the head of a British family who decides to kick over the traces and emigrate to Australia. No one in the family, least of all wife Margaret Johnston, is enthused over this move, but they prepare themselves with dignity. As the technical and legal obstacles preventing their move begin to mount, even Hawkins has second thoughts about hitching his star Down Under. Since no one behaves very believably in the film, Touch and Go rises and falls on its individual comic sequences, some of which are quite good. The title Touch and Go has been used so often that when the film was released in the US, it was retitled The Light Touch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Hawkins, Margaret Johnston, (more)
