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Dermot Kelly Movies

1969  
R  
Homosexuality is only incidentally important in this drama of dependence and intimacy between two aging hair stylists, and nothing shocking to staid and heterosexual sensibilities takes place in this movie, a star turn for Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. Whether the original play was as patently offensive to actual homosexuals as this movie is, is open to question. What is certain is that it grossly exaggerates every unpleasant "fag" stereotype in the books, However, the lead actors skillfully make art out of these very same offensive tics, demonstrating the mysterious power of great performers to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. In the story, Charlie (Harrison) and Harry (Burton) have been roommates, business partners and intimates for many long years, and their convoluted mutual dependency is every bit as complicated as that between any aged but incompatible couple who have grown used to one another over the years. Charlie thinks he can do without Harry, but Harry knows better and patiently bears the barbs and arrows that come his way. One of the nicer aspects of the stereotypical portrayal is that both men get to demonstrate some beautifully sharp, barbed wit. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

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Starring:
Richard BurtonRex Harrison, (more)
 
1968  
 
CIA agent Donovan (Gene Barry) travels to Britain to untangle a web of international spies. He falls for the estranged wife of local secret agent Langley (Tom Adams). Anne (Joan Collins) starts a romance with Donovan before her son is kidnapped by rival agents. While any other mom would worry herself sick, Anne spends her time getting her hair done and selecting a fabulous gown in which she appears in the following scenes. Donovan narrows the suspects down to a trio of agents, all who may have reason to turn double agent and place their country in political turmoil with counter espionage. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

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Starring:
Gene BarryJoan Collins, (more)
 
1968  
 
This musical comedy stars Herman's Hermits, the popular British pop group that made the title song from the movie a million-selling hit record. Herman (Peter Noone) inherits a greyhound and decides to enter the dog in the races. The dog, appropriately named Mrs. Brown, and the group travel from Manchester to London in hopes of entering a national invitational. The group finds work as a pop group (quite a stretch) as Herman falls for the girl next door. The group sings nine songs including the title track and the romantic tune "There's A Kind Of Hush." Herman's Hermits were much more popular in America than they ever were in England. Peter Noone later developed into a competent actor. The original group toured together until 1976. Guitarist Derek Leckenby and drummer Barry Whitwam continued to tour as Herman's Hermits into the 1990s on the oldies circuit. Noone has appeared in several films and television shows and also delivers his string of nostalgia in concert. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

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Starring:
Peter NooneKeith Hopwood, (more)
 
1968  
 
In this upbeat children's film, an enterprising pack of children decide to run the newspaper of an ailing father. Mayhem ensues until they figure it all out. Then they end up doing a marvelous job until the sick man gets better. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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1967  
 
In this slapstick comedy two bumbling workmen attempt to take a long wooden plank through a London suburb to a building site. Mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Tommy CooperEric Sykes, (more)
 
1966  
 
In this crime melodrama, a Swiss woman finds herself unwittingly involved in a plot to steal from her employer, a London diamond merchant. Her boyfriend is behind the scheme. First he sends two accomplices disguised as German jewelers to see the boss. He is not fooled by their ruse and is killed while the woman is knocked unconscious. She awakens with amnesia and begins aimlessly wandering the London streets. Thinking that his girl has squealed to the police, her boy friend begins scouring the town to find her. Meanwhile, she is taken in by a boxer who returns to the ring to win the money needed to get her out of the country. Trouble ensues when her lover finally finds her after the match and begins beating on the exhausted fighter. To stop him, the woman shoots the villainous lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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1965  
 
In this children's sports drama the police team up with a local soccer league help a children's team thwart the evil plans of a local leader. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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1964  
 
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In this drama, from director Anthony Asquith, the lives and stories of three different people are linked together by their possession of an unusual car, a yellow Rolls Royce Phantom II. Lord Frinton (Rex Harrison) is a diplomat who purchases the exquisite auto as a gift for his wife (Jeanne Moreau). After Frinton's horse wins the Royal Gold Cup, Lady Frinton incurs the Lord's wrath when she is caught in the back seat of the Rolls with his underling John Fane (Edmund Purdom). In the 1930s, the car is bought by Italian gangster Paolo Maltese (George C. Scott), who is carrying on with the hatcheck girl Mae Jenkins (Shirley MacLaine). The two take a tour of Italy and see all the historic sights, but Mae is less than impressed. While Paolo is in the United States on one of his frequent hit-man assignments, Mae and a street photographer try out the back seat for comfort and carnal pleasure. Art Carney plays Paolo's associate Joey. In the final episode, Gerda Millett (Ingrid Bergman) is the married American woman who buys the car in 1942. With Hitler attacking Yugoslavia the brave and brazen beauty helps fight the Nazis by smuggling Davich (Omar Shariff) across the border, and this duo also find themselves in the back seat for a roll in the Rolls. Davich shows his gratitude by shipping the car along with Gerda back to the United States. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

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Starring:
Rex HarrisonJeanne Moreau, (more)
 
1963  
 
Add The Wrong Arm of the Law to Queue Add The Wrong Arm of the Law to top of Queue  
When a gang of London thieves, disguised as policemen, begin robbing other thieves....well, that's just not cricket. Benevolent burglar Peter Sellers, the man in charge of all "respectable" crooks in town (he even offers such incentives as a vacation plan and filmed training sessions!), sets about to ascertain how the renegade criminals have received inside information concerning upcoming robberies. He arranges a temporary truce with Scotland Yard so that both criminal and constable can work together in nabbing the miscreants. Alas, he must now contend with incompetent peacekeeper Lionel Jeffries, who poses an even greater threat than the "mole" who's been tipping off the phony cops (who is closer to Sellers than he'd ever suspect). Short, simple and sweet, the black-and-white Wrong Arm of the Law manages to pack more solid laughs than any three of Sellers' later overproduced Technicolor vehicles combined. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Peter SellersLionel Jeffries, (more)
 
1962  
 
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Brendan Behan, the quixotic, eternally sloshed Irish poet/playwright, peppered his play The Quare Fellow with plenty of "gallows humor." The film version dispenses with most the play's morbid jests, leaving us with a grim, straightforward account of a Dublin death-row prison guard (Patrick McGoohan) and his growing empathy with two condemned prisoners. One could understand the removal of the play's comic elements had the film been made in timorous Hollywood. But since Quare Fellow was financed and produced in Ireland, it seems a inappropriately glum tribute to one of the country's boldest and most brilliant talents. Quare Fellow was directed by American "B" specialist Arthur Dreifuss, who also adapted Behan's play for the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Patrick McGoohanSylvia Syms, (more)
 
1959  
 
Broth of a Boy is an even-keel film version of a play by Irish dramatist Hugh Leonard. Barry Fitzgerald plays the world's oldest man, a taciturn centenarian Irishman. Media representatives converge on Fitzgerald's village on the occasion of the old coot's 110th birthday. The eager TV exec who stages the event discovers that damage control is definitely in order: not only is Fitzgerald a widely despised poacher, but he also truculently refuses to participate in the ceremony. Broth of a Boy is a pleasant, easygoing satire of exploitive journalism--a target that is as viable today as it was in 1959. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1959  
 
This well-acted drama about an Irishman just released from jail is filled with rich characterization. The story is adapted from a stage play by Walter Macken who also plays the role of the ex-convict Paddo in this screen version. Direction is by J. Fielder Cook. Once Paddo returns home after being sentenced to five years for killing a man, his old friends try to put him back in their niche of local hero but Paddo will have none of it. He is disillusioned and changed. His son Willie (Arthur Kennedy) walks with a limp that keeps him too self-conscious to assert himself as he would like with the young woman of his dreams. While other people come in and out of Paddo's life, from his taciturn friend the trapper to the local tinker, it is Paddo's son Willie suffering from his own disability who makes the difference in his father's life. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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Starring:
Walter MackenEileen Crowe, (more)
 
1959  
 
In this suspenseful drama a baker accidentally whips up a batch of bad bread and must somehow find it before people begin to die. He enlists the aid of a police sergeant and together they begin their desperate search. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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1958  
 
One of the few Irish-made films of the 1950s to get an American release, The Poacher's Daughter stars Broadway actress Julie Harris, supported by members of the Abbey Players. Harris portrays an Irish colleen who sets her cap for Tim Seely, a young roisterer who's inherited a farm. Seely is a stranger to responsibility, and proves it by selling off his valuable sheep to buy a motorcycle. Thanks to the intervention of Harris's poacher father (Harry Brogan), Seely is dragged back to town and coerced into marriage at gunpoint. This is a comedy, mind you. Originally titled Sally's Irish Rogue, The Poacher's Daughter was based on George Shiels' stage play The New Gossoon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Julie HarrisTim Seely, (more)
 
1958  
 
Befitting its title, Dublin Nightmare deals with the activities of the Irish Republican Army. British photographer John Kevin (William Sylvester) arrives in Dublin to attend the funeral of his friend. It turns, out however, that the friend isn't dead at all. Moreover, the "decedent" is an IRA leader, preparing for a bloody all-out offensive. John Tully's screenplay tries to cram way too much into a 64-minute running time. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1948  
 
In this British drama, an ingenious but impoverished young man is determined to live on a Tahitian island. To achieve his goal, he begins hanging out on a street corner in one of London's most dangerous sections in the hopes of getting the chance to save a wealthy person, who should then generously award him by paying his passage to the South Seas. His plans go somewhat awry when a gorgeous woman swings past. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Robert BeattyMoira Lister, (more)