Mark Jones Movies

Up on Bear Island -- somewhere off the northeast American coast -- a U.S. meteorological team discovers German submarines stashed with gold. Though the plot is difficult to follow, it does involve murder and a certain amount of intrigue, though many have felt that this movie version of the excellent Alistair MacLean novel left most of the intrigue between the covers of the book. ~ All Movie Guide

In The Medusa Touch Brunel (Lino Ventura), a French detective on temporary assignment with Scotland Yard, investigates a mysterious series of disasters. The uncanny events begin happening shortly after writer John Morlar (Richard Burton) was hit over the head by an unknown intruder and rendered comatose. Slowly, Brunel begins to connect the strange things that are happening in the world with the deranged dreams of the comatose Morlar. He gets the final clue he needs from Morlar's reluctant psychiatrist, Dr. Zonfield (Lee Remick), who holds the key to Morlar's past. Once it is discovered that Morlar has the ability to think horrible thoughts and make them come true, Brunel and Zonfield must take off with dispatch to a London cathedral, where the Queen is scheduled to make an appearance -- but Morlar is thinking about the cathedral, and it is crumbling fast. Well-liked in Britain, this movie did not do well in the U.S. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In the third episode of the six-part story "The Seeds of Doom," the Doctor (Tom Baker) and his UNIT colleagues manage to escape death in the Antarctic at the hands of mad horticulturalist Harrison Chase (Tony Beckley). Returning to England, the Doctor discovers that Chase has smuggled back the seeds from two Krynoid pods, intelligent plants with an insatiable appetite for all living things. The villain intends to destroy all mankind to make the world safe for his beloved plants! First telecast February 14, 1976, "The Seeds of Doom, Part 3" was written by Robin Banks Stewart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "Seeds of Doom" in this six-part Doctor Who adventure are discovered in a vegetable pod in the Antarctic. This discovery is closely followed by a series of mysterious attacks on the members of the expedition party. UNIT is summoned to Antarctica to investigate -- and when UNIT arrives, can the Doctor (Tom Baker) and Sarah (Elizabeth Sladen) be far behind? First telecast January 31, 1976, "The Seeds of Doom, Part 1" was written by Robin Banks Stewart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the fifth episode of the six-part story "The Seeds of Doom," the Doctor (Tom Baker) saves Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) from being infected by the Krynoid seeds. Unfortunately, mad plant-fancier Harrison Chase (Tony Beckley) succeeds in transforming his assistant Keeler (Mark Jones) into a host body for the voracious Krynoids. Before long, the Krynoid influence has spread throughout all plants within a one-mile radius of Chase's home -- and from the looks of things, mankind is doomed to destruction. First telecast February 28, 1976, "The Seeds of Doom, Part 5" was written by Robin Banks Stewart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this fast-paced, lighthearted, sci-fi sex comedy, a lusty alien from Venus disguises herself as a beautiful woman in order to research sex on Earth. Landing in London's seedy Soho district, the randy extraterrestrial experiences a series of sexual encounters that help her to better understand our earthbound mating customs and sexual mores. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This melodrama explores the relationship between tenants in a boarding house. Included are a street musician, an ex-school teacher, and an angry young man who brings chaos to their quiet lives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Adapted from his own Royal Shakespeare Company production of Peter Weiss' play entitled The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, Peter Brook directs this fascinating look into revolution, power, and human frailty. During the 19th century, fashionable theatergoers would attend ostensibly therapeutic stage performances by mental asylum inmates. The film opens on July 19, 1809, with Monsieur Coubnier (Clifford Rose), the officious head of the Charenton asylum, introducing that night's show -- a drama about the assassination of French Revolutionary War firebrand Jean-Paul Marat, written by that institution's most notorious resident, the Marquis de Sade (Patrick Magee). The play begins conventionally enough , considering that the lead actress (Glenda Jackson) is a narcoleptic, the actor playing Marat (Ian Richardson) is a paranoiac, and another actor, a sex maniac with very pressing urges, is kept in chains. But the work soon evolves into a dialogue between Marat and De Sade. Though both men were early supporters of the Revolution, their ideas of the shape of the movement took very different courses. Espousing a form of proto-Marxism, Marat is at first presented as the sort of tyrannical idealist that became depressingly familiar in the 20th century, a la Lenin and Pol Pot. But then later, Marat seems haunted by the terror he has unleashed and unable to understand where he went wrong. De Sade, on the other hand, preached his own unusual brand of Nietzschean existentialism. Unlike Marat, he not only recognizes the inherent weakness of the human character, but he revels in it. Murder as an act of individual passion should be celebrated, De Sade at first argues; murder as an anonymous act of statecraft should be deplored. The individual is not given meaning though politics but through acts of spontaneous passion and desire. As the play progresses, the revolution depicted in the play soon develops into an outright revolution on the stage. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide