John Le Mesurier Movies

In the British farce School for Scoundrels, Ian Carmichael plays a naïve young loser, Henry Palfrey, who is anxious to get ahead in the world. He enrolls in a "school" that specializes in teaching one-upmanship -- the slogan is "How to win without actually cheating." Through fair means and foul, Henry learns how to come out top dog in any situation, with such experts as (the real-life) Stephen Potter (Alastair Sim) as his guide. A perceptive series of comic blackouts exposing the essential hypocrisy in all walks of life, School for Scoundrels was based on the book by Potter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This crime caper based on a legendary robbery stars Aldo Ray as Norgate, the ringleader of the thieves out to steal a bundle from the Bank of England. But it is a young Peter O'Toole as the guard Fitch who steals the show -- two years before Lawrence of Arabia would make him an internationally acclaimed star. The year is 1901 and Norgate is an avid supporter of Irish Home Rule, avid enough to plan this robbery to get the bullion needed to make his independence wishes come true. He gathers together the necessary crew of brains, brawn, and bravado, and the would-be thieves make their way through a sewer system that runs under the bank. What they do not count on is that Fitch may not be quite as dumb as he seems. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In the 17th century, the arrogant, cruel Hugo Baskerville (David Oxley) brutalizes a servant and prepares to turn the man's daughter over to his equally depraved companions, but she escapes. When he catches up with the girl in a ruined abbey, he kills her and then is attacked and killed himself by a huge hound that is never seen. The audience then learns that this story is being told in flashback to Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) and Dr. Watson (Andre Morell) by Dr. Richard Mortimer (Francis DeWolff). He was the physician and friend to the late Sir Charles Baskerville, who recently died -- apparently of fright -- on the Devonshire moors near that same ruined abbey. Holmes is very skeptical, but agrees to meet Sir Henry Baskerville (Christopher Lee), who has just arrived in London to claim the estate. Sir Henry is cold and aloof but becomes convinced he's in danger when he's almost bitten by a tarantula. Holmes insists that he not go to Baskerville Hall alone, so Holmes sends Watson to Devonshire with Sir Henry.

In Devonshire, Sir Henry and Watson learn that an escaped convict, Selden, is at large on the moor. Watson meets local Bishop Frankland (Miles Malleson), and later on the moor, Baskerville's neighbors, Stapleton (Ewen Solon) and his daughter, Cecile (Marla Landi). Watson is almost trapped in one of the many bogs that dot the moors, but he escapes. Later, leaving Sir Henry stricken with a mild heart attack at the hall, Watson ventures again onto the moors, and to his surprise, discovers Sherlock Holmes there. Holmes has been hiding and watching for developments. They hear the howl of the hound, and are too late to prevent the huge beast from killing a man they take for Sir Henry. But back at Baskerville Hall, they find Sir Henry alive and well: the dead man was the convict Selden, dressed in some old clothes of Sir Henry's. At the ruined abbey, they find evidence that a strange rite has been performed.

When Holmes visits Frankland for information, he learns that someone has stolen the bishop's tarantula. (He's an amateur naturalist.) Meanwhile, near Baskerville Hall, Sir Henry meets Cecile, and they are attracted to one another. Holmes, Mortimer and Stapleton descend into a disused tin mine in search of evidence, but a cave-in almost traps Holmes. That evening, when Sir Henry goes to meet Cecile on the moors, he learns that she actually hates him, and that the hound is now on his trail. Holmes and Watson arrive almost too late to save him, but Holmes kills the hound and reveals it's an ordinary, if large, dog in a mask. The villain is a descendant of Sir Hugo's from "the wrong side of the sheets"; he and his daughter were determined to use the legend of the Hound to kill those standing between them and Baskerville Hall.
No movie version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous novel follows its source very closely, and this colorful Hammer film is no exception. An extra killer is added, events are compressed, and even the novel's most famous line -- "they were the tracks of an enormous hound!" -- is omitted. The film also suffers at times from a budget too low for its ambitions and by extraneous elements aimed at making it more like a Hammer movie, such as the unexplained "rite." However, the movie has a brisk pace and particularly strong characters. Lee, initially icy and arrogant -- perhaps to remind us of Sir Hugo -- thaws into a likable person romantic enough to fall in love, atypically for Lee. Andre Morell is one of the most solid and realistic Watsons ever; there's nothing whatever of the harrumphing Nigel Bruce, no comedy elements to the role at all. He's straightforward, heroic in his own right. But the triumph of the film
was the casting of Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes. Cushing's Holmes is vivid, dynamic and arrogant; the actor does not even attempt to make Holmes likable, but instead plays the character exactly as Doyle wrote him. It's a performance of steely integrity and terrific skill, one of the greatest Holmes performances ever. Cushing later played Holmes in a television series, and became as identified with the role in England as Basil Rathbone was in the United States. Cushing returned once again to the role late in life, in the TV movie The Masks of Death, as well as writing about Holmes for several books. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

Combining music, comedy, and pathos, this tale of a gullible singer and the people around him is simple but effective. Norman Wisdom stars as Norman Truscott, someone with a good singing voice who wants to perform but lacks the confidence to get up on stage. His voice teacher (Hattie Jacques) and his girlfriend Judy (June Laverick) both know he can do it, but he actually cannot perform unless Judy is there next to him, playing the piano. Meanwhile, Norman manages to drive his psychiatrist crazy and generally wreaks havoc wherever he goes. When the unscrupulous singer Vernon Carew (Jerry Desmonde) takes unfair and wholly illegal advantage of Norman's singing, he inadvertently leads to the solution of at least a few of the man's problems. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

One of the covert operations at the beginning of World War II is enacted in this fast-paced docudrama about a government-approved diamond heist. A Major from the British army (Tony Britton) joins up with a Dutch diamond expert (Alexander Knox) and another adventurous Dutchman (Peter Finch) to steal a fortune in diamonds from a bank vault in Amsterdam before the Nazis completely close off the city. The trio are launched under the covering fire of a British battleship in the harbor and then chauffeured into Amsterdam by Anna (Eva Bartok), one of many people they encounter who could be either friend or foe. There is no time to waste in emptying the bank vault because it is estimated that the city will be overrun by the Nazi army in just fourteen hours. Meanwhile, the war is intensifying all around them, and the Nazi soldiers already on patrol are a continual threat. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Set in the 1950s in Britain, this award-winning social comedy by director and co-writer John Boulting features Ian Carmichael as the inept Stanley Windrush, a hopeless twit with -- we are to believe -- an Oxford degree. Unlike others in his social circle, Stanley wants to work. When he tries out for jobs in industry with the full expectation of working his way into a management position, he sets off disasters and alienates his interviewers. So his uncle gives him a job in his munitions factory, knowing what an idiot he is, and relying on him to eventually cause a strike (the uncle needs this for his own reasons). Fred Kite (Peter Sellers in a performance that would launch him as an international star) takes Stanley under his wing yet that does not exactly turn out as expected either. Stanley screws up by accidentally being too efficient, and the entire British work force is affected. If one can accept a portrayal of factory workers as shiftless men unwilling to work, and managers as good 'ole boys whose jobs are gained only by networking, then this film will be all the more entertaining. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This is an uneven though occasionally hilarious comedy about a remote British colony and diplomatic blunders. Terry-Thomas as a British diplomat and Peter Sellers as a nasty, vile Prime Minister on the island, tend to overshadow the roles they are playing. Carlton-Browne (Terry-Thomas) is sent to the remote island of Gaillardia to prevent any other powers from tapping into its potentially rich mineral deposits. The fact that the Brits have ignored Gaillardia for the last fifty years or that Carlton-Browne is a walking disaster does not stop the Foreign Office. Circumstances quickly spin out of control as the island colony heads toward revolution with a new, young king (Ian Bannen) on the throne. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

British producers Robert Baker and Monty S. Berman, the team later responsible for the classic TV series The Saint, assembled the 1953 crime melodrama Blind Spot. U.S. Army officer Dan Adams Robert MacKenzie, blinded during the war, is framed on a diamond-smuggling rap. Upon regaining his sight, Adams goes after the real thieves in an effort to clear his name. In order to trap the wily criminals, Adams pretends that he's still bereft of his vision. With the delightful Delphi Lawrence as his leading lady, Robert MacKenzie must have been hard put to feign blindness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An uneven but at times hilarious slapstick comedy, Too Many Crooks features an inept gang of four would-be criminals who manage to botch every job they plan. After a few dismal failures they try to rob the wealthy, philandering Billy Gordon (Terry-Thomas) and fail again. Unwilling to let go of a good resource when they see it, the gang decides to kidnap his daughter, drug her, put her in a coffin in a hearse, and take off to their safe hideaway in a mad, mad dash. The plan amazingly succeeds except for one minor detail -- they have kidnapped the tycoon's wife, and he could not be happier. The offended spouse sees red at her philandering husband's attitude and sets the stage for revenge. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

If official documentation didn't exist, we'd never believe a fantastic yarn like I Was Monty's Double. Actor M.E. Clifton James plays himself, a British stock-company actor who becomes an unsung hero during World War II. It seems that James, serving his country as a junior officer, is the exact double of General Montgomery. Major John Mills trains James to impersonate Montgomery to the last detail, then sends the actor on a tour of North Africa, the better to divert the German's attentions away from the real "Monty." Based on James' own written reminiscences, I Was Monty's Double was released in the U.S. under the baffling title Hell, Heaven or Hoboken! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Man Who Wouldn't Talk was coproduced by husband-and-wife Herbert Wilcox and Anna Neagle, with Ms. Neagle filling the role of Queen's Council representative Mary Randall. The title character is American scientist Frank Smith, played by Anthony Quayle, who is honeymooning in London with his new bride Eve Trent (Zsa Zsa Gabor). What the authorities don't know is that Frank and Eve are secret agents, bound and determined to pick up germ-warfare information from Hungarian scientist Horvad (Leonard Sachs). By prearranged agreeement, Smith will relay this information, and the purpose of his mission, to one man and one man only. His self-enforced silence proves to be a severe handicap when Eve is murdered and Smith is unable to provide an alibi for himself. It is up to lady lawyer Mary Randall to defend the close-mouthed Smith in court. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the English Civil War is winding down but the Roundheads and Royalists are still at odds with each other, it is decided that the King, Raymond, should be moved from England to France for safekeeping. When the Cavalier assigned the task is thwarted by the discovery of the scheme, other measures must be taken. Good action scenes with a smidgen of romance thrown in for good measure. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

In this drama, the commanding officer of a British Royal Air Force flight training school must deal with an ornery, irresponsible cadet. The lad reminds the officer of himself when he was young. It also reminds him that his own youthful arrogance and foolishness caused the death of the new recruit's father. The young man only settles down when the C.O. saves him during maneuvers. The boy is injured during the flight which gives him serious pause for thought. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide