Angela Lansbury Movies

In the early years of Walt Disney Studios, the company was associated largely, if not exclusively, with animated entertainment. Yet, as time rolled forward -- especially into the 1960s and '70s -- this began to shift. The production entity extended its reach to live-action entertainment, especially comedies, with movies such as The Happiest Millionaire, The Boatniks, The World's Greatest Athlete, and The North Avenue Irregulars. This documentary program focuses on that shift, drawing on interviews with numerous individuals who watched it happen or were involved on some level. Participants include Tim Conway, Roy E. Disney, Michele Lee, Dean Jones, Kurt Russell, and Dick Van Dyke. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Angela Lansbury guest stars as Eleanor Duvall, the wealthy and politically powerful mother of suspected serial rapist Gabriel Duvall (Alfred Molina). The SVU team has built up a persuasive case against Gabriel, accusing him of preying upon illegal aliens who are in no position to testify against him. Using her hotshot lawyer Jason Whittaker (Bradley Cooper) as her mouthpiece, Eleanor threatens dire consequences against the detectives if they continue to "harrass" her son--and she has the clout to back up these threats. The situation becomes painfully personal when, shortly after Gabriel is released for lack of evidence, Assistant DA Novak (Diane Neal) is savagely attacked. Rita Moreno costars as a feisty immigrant-rights activist. Originally telecast May 3, 2005, "Night" is the first episode of a two-part story which concluded the same evening on the Law&Order: Special Victims Unit's "sister" series Law & Order: Trial by Jury, with that show's regulars Bebe Neuwirth, Kirk Acevedo and Fred Dalton Thompson appearing in both episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A nanny reveals ways of making children behave that are much more effective than a time-out in this fantasy comedy based on the "Nurse Matilda" books for children by Christianna Brand. Near the dawn of the twentieth century, Mr. Brown (Colin Firth) is a widower who must tend to his business as an undertaker while looking after his brood of seven children. Brown's offspring are a singularly ill-mannered lot who have managed to drive away 17 different nannies when their father arranges for one Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) to help out with the children. McPhee is an strange looking woman with a large nose, protruding teeth, and pock-marked skin, but it isn't long before the kids realize she has magical powers and isn't afraid to use them to help keep them in line. While the children aren't taken with McPhee's insistence on such things as saying "please" and listening to their elders, it becomes clear everyone has bigger things to worry about. Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) has insisted that if Mr. Brown cannot find a new wife within a month, she'll take custody of one of the children and cut off Brown's inheritance, and while Brown and the widow Mrs. Quickly (Celia Imrie) seem fond of one another, his ineptitude in courtship seems to insure he'll never get her to the altar. But while the Brown Children realize Nanny McPhee is a formidable opponent, she can also be a valuable ally as they learn to make use of her talents by being better children; they also discover that as they behave better, she begins to look less frightening. Emma Thompson, who played the title role in Nanny McPhee, also wrote the film's screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Legendary film preservationist Kevin Brownlow (infamous for his 1982 restoration of Abel Gance's Napoléon) and Patrick Stanbury co-helm the affectionate cinematic homage Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic. As narrated by Kenneth Branagh, this documentary explores the life, legacy, and cultural contributions of director extraordinaire DeMille, widely regarded as the 20th-century equivalent of P.T. Barnum -- and hence, one of the greatest showmen in modern history. The film documents how DeMille became the first individual to define the perfect cinematic admixture to satisfy the taste of the average lay viewer: a combination of unearthly sets, magnificent costumes, and earth-shaking spectacles, cloaked in an oxymoronic blend of two-dimensional moralizing and envelope-pushing sexuality -- in other words, the very same formula still employed by Hollywood, decades after DeMille's death. A number of top American filmmakers turn up to offer insights into DeMille's craft, including Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, as well as actors including Charlton Heston and Angela Lansbury; several of DeMille's family members also shed light on the director's private life and personal relationships. The film discusses DeMille's childhood and early theatrical career, his co-establishment of Paramount Pictures, and his production of some of Hollywood's most magnificent spectacles, including Cleopatra (1934), Samson and Delilah (1949), and The Ten Commandments (1956, for which, Brownlow and Stanbury interpolate stunning behind-the-scenes footage of the parting of the Red Sea). Brownlow received the coveted Mel Novikoff Award in the year of this film's release. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Broadway's Lost Treasures is a two-hour collection of musical highlights, culled from 19 years (1967-1986) of Tony Awards telecasts by Christopher A. Cohen, son of the original telecasts' producers, Alexander H. Cohen and Hildy Parks. The program is divided into four self-explanatory segments -- "Broadway Divas," "Leading Men," "Dancin'," and "Record Breakers" -- and presented by hosts Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, and Chita Rivera. Musical numbers include the "Broadway Divas": Vivian Blaine ("Adelaide's Lament" from Guys and Dolls), Patti LuPone("A New Argentina" from Evita), Angela Lansbury ("The Worst Pies in London" from Sweeney Todd), Carol Channing ("Before the Parade Passes By" from Hello Dolly), and Julie Andrews ("Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music). Next up are the "Leading Men": Zero Mostel ("If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof), Yul Brynner ("Shall We Dance?" from The King and I), John Raitt ("Hey There" from The Pajama Game), Robert Preston ("Trouble" from The Music Man), and Paul Lynde("Kids" from Bye Bye Birdie). Now for the "Dancin'": Joel Grey ("Wilkommen" from Cabaret), Tommy Tune and Twiggy ("Chasin' the Clouds Away" from My One and Only), Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon perform "All That Jazz" and "Nowadays" from Chicago, and Jerry Orbach from 42nd Street ("Lullaby of Broadway"). Then there are the "Record Breakers": Andrea McArdle and cast ("Tomorrow" from Annie), the cast of Annie ("You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile"), and Betty Buckley and the cast of Cats) ("Jellicle Songs" and "Memory"). This also includes the bonus performances not seen on the PBS pledge-special broadcasts: Ann Miller and Mickey Rooney ("McHugh Medley" from Sugar Babies), Patti LuPone ("Buenos Aires" from Evita), Barbara Harris ("Movie Star Gorgeous" from The Apple Tree), Bonnie Franklin ("Applause" from Applause), and Dorothy Loudon and cast ("Easy Street" and "Tomorrow" (reprise) from Annie). ~ Laura Mahnken, Rovi

Stage and screen actress Angela Lansbury joins The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square for a special celebration of the holidays in this live concert performance that finds the Tony-award winning actress performing such holiday gems as "We Need a Little Christmas" and "Not While I'm Around" before the 360-voice choir performs such timeless classics as "Joy to the World", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", and "For Unto Us a Child is Born". ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this feature-length follow-up to the long-running TV series Murder, She Wrote, homespun mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) leaves her Cabot Cove residence to attend a big-city writer's conference. As generally happens wherever Jessica shows up, a murder takes place; in this instance, the victim is a former KGB agent (Duncan Regehr) who was about to publish his tell-all memoirs. Teaming up with fellow author Warren Pierce (Richard Crenna), Jessica sets about to solve the murder -- much to the dismay of the local constabulary. Allegedly written as far back as 1998 (by Babylon 5 stalwart J. Michael Straczynski), Murder, She Wrote: A Story to Die For finally arrived on the CBS prime-time manifest on May 18, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Initially released to IMAX theaters at the crescendo of millennial fever and 60 years after the original Fantasia, Fantasia 2000 was meant to revitalize Walt Disney's goal of a constantly evolving film, with new segments replacing old ones with each re-release. Only The Sorcerer's Apprentice remains, with seven new shorts. Angular, abstracted butterfly-like shapes fly through the air in Beethoven's Symphony No. 5; computer-animated whales take flight in Respighi's Pines of Rome; Al Hirschfeld's caricatures of New York life come alive in George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue; Hans Christian Andersen's The Steadfast Tin Soldier is retold with computer animation against Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102; frantic flamingos try to stop their yo-yoing comrade in Camille Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals, Finale; Donald and Daisy Duck play Noah and his wife trying to manage the ark to Sir Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance; and the cycle of life, death, and rebirth are celebrated in Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. ~ Emru Townsend, Rovi

The history of color photography in motion pictures is lovingly detailed with vibrant film clips and first-person interviews in this 60-minute cable TV special. Beginning with such experimental processes as hand-tinting each frame of film (a specialty first of Edison, then perfected by the French Pathe company) and the "Kinemacolor" technique (a cumbersome procedure requiring special high-speed projectors and two separate strips of film), the special then moves on to the swaddling days of Technicolor, with rare vignettes from such silent films as The Toll of the Sea (1922), The Black Pirate (1926), and Ben-Hur. The two-color Technicolor process gives way in 1933 to an improved three-strip format, yielding such splendiferous results as Becky Sharp (1935), The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Gone With the Wind. But because of the dictatorial policies of Technicolor consultant Natalie Kalmus (who gained control of the company in a divorce proceeding), moviemakers were forced to adhere to firmly controlled policies of how the colors could be arranged and toned, with no wiggle room for individual creativity. Fortunately, Kalmus did not wield as much power over British filmmakers like Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger who freed the Technicolor process from the shackles of conformity and corporate thinking in the 1940s, yielding such visual feasts as The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. The special concludes with the final years of the three-strip format in the early '50s, with interviews from such Technicolorful stars as Esther Williams and Arlene Dahl. Drawing heavily from Turner's vast MGM film library, Glorious Technicolor originally aired over the Turner Classic Movies service. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Three years after the cancellation of her popular series Murder She Wrote, Angela Lansbury returns for the first of several TV-movie followups to that selfsame series. Once again, Lansbury is cast as Jessica Fletcher, best-selling mystery writer and amateur sleuth. As indicated by the film's title, Hitchcock references abound in the plotline, beginning when a lady vanishes on the train that Jessica is taking to El Paso to deliver a lecture. Helpful Jessica accepts a message for the mystery woman, whereupon she is attacked by an assailant in search of "it." Our heroine is rescued by a journalist who may not be a journalist, then when attempting to ascertain the missing woman's whereabouts Jessica is warned to mind her own business by a guy identifying himself as an FBI agent. Inasmuch as such warnings have never stopped Jessica in the past, she follows the trail of clues to the desert town of Agua Verde, Arizona, adopting a few aliases alng the way. The climax is an echo of Hitch's The 39 Steps, wherein Jessica not only solves the mystery but also unmasks the Least Likely Suspect (or in this case, Least Likely Suspects). Produced and directed by Angela Lansbury's sons, Murder She Wrote: South by Southwest first aired November 2, 1997 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Angela Lansbury shows off her gifts as a singer and dancer in this holiday-themed made-for-TV musical. Near the turn of the century, Stanta Claus (Charles Durning) is busy getting ready for his annual toy delivery -- in fact, he's so busy he hasn't had much time for his wife, Mrs. Claus (Angela Lansbury), and his spouse has developed a case of cabin fever. Determined to get away and have some some fun on her own, Mrs. Claus hitches up the reindeer and takes them out for a quick spin around the world; however, she has reindeer trouble over New York City, and is forced to make an emergency landing. Stuck in New York for a week as her deer heal, Mrs. Claus's desire to help others quickly comes into play when she befriends a handful of children working in a sweatshop, as well as a group of women who've embraced the cause of sufferage for all. Mrs. Santa Claus first aired on December 8, 1996. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This episode of Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories is narrated by Angela Lansbury. The story centers around Gloria, a hapless witch-in-training at Madame Pestilence's Academy of Young Goblins and Witches. While the other students don't seem to have a problem learning how to cast magic spells or riding on their flying brooms, Gloria just gets in trouble for smiling too much as she messes up trick after trick. When a storyteller teaches her about the wonderful Christmas holiday, Gloria becomes determined to become a Christmas witch. Her true test comes when she must stop the longstanding feud between the Pepperwills and the Valdoons. With her newfound Christmas friends, Gloria uses love and generosity to bring the peaceful spirit of Christmas to their planet. ~ Sarah Block, Rovi