Rosemary Leach Movies
Seasoned British actress Rosemary Leach wasn't seen much in films until the early 1970s. In 1974, she made her first major impression on movie audiences with her portrayal of the mother of the John Lennon counterpart (David Essex) in That'll Be the Day. Since then she has been well represented by such films as SOS Titanic (1979) and Turtle Diary (1985). In the Oscar-winning Merchant/Ivory effort Room with a View (1985), Rosemary Leach was seen as Mrs. Honeychurch, the blinkered aristocratic mother of idealistic Helena Bonham-Carter and ne'er do well Rupert Graves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1964
When Vince Howard is released from prison, he impersonates his cellmate (still in prison) and goes to live with his cellmate's wife, who is blind, in the hopes of learning where money from a robbery has been hidden. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
Long before Grease was even thought of, the British came out with That'll Be The Day, the story of a young man (David Essex) growing up in the dreary working-class world of Britain who comes of age and finds his proper outlet in the first outgrowths of the rock-and-roll world in Britain. This film and its accompanying album were extremely successful in Britain. Along with an excellent (and nostalgic) soundtrack, it features acting performances by rockers David Essex, Billy Fury, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Essex, Ringo Starr, (more)
- 1974
Ignoring the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," producer Carlo Ponti mounted a TV remake of the 1945 British masterpiece Brief Encounter. Sophia Loren (Mrs. Ponti) stars as a bored married woman who embarks upon a brief romantic fling with an equally married man (Richard Burton). Throughout their relationship, Loren and Burton are plagued by guilt; ultimately, they sacrifice their potential happiness in favor of "the right thing." John Bowne based his script on the 1936 Noel Coward playlet Still Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Richard Burton, (more)
- 1974
Released several years after it was filmed, this standard Peter Sellers comedy focuses on Dick Scratcher (Sellers), a bumbling, roughly-hewn chief cook on a pirate ship trying to keep an unsteady control of things after he murders the captain. Once the captain is dead, Scratcher is the only one who knows where the pirate's stash lies hidden and that is the source of his control over everyone, even the second mate Pierre (Anthony Franciosa). Into this precariously balanced situation comes little Jeremiah (Richard Willis) who wants to learn all about sailing the high seas and becomes a third factor in the struggle for control of the ship and the hidden treasure. Meanwhile, Bill Bombay (Spike Milligan), another pirate captain, is also out for the same treasure, complicating everything. Both Sellers and Milligan launch into improvised routines -- but in general, the acting is frenetic and underpar while the story runs aground instead of pulling into port with a reasonable ending. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Anthony Franciosa, (more)
An Anglo-American co-production, S.O.S. Titanic is a costly, 150-minute reenactment of the infamous sea disaster of 1912. Heading the cast is David Janssen as millionaire John Jacob Astor, who went down with the Titanic, and Cloris Leachman as raucous Denver dowager Molly Brown, who didn't (for the record, Leachman had previously played Brown on a 1957 episode of the TV anthology Telephone Time). Third-billed is Susan Saint James as fictional passenger Leigh Goodwin, who carries most of the dramatic load. Written by Hallmark Hall of Fame veteran James Costigan, the made-for-television S.O.S. Titanic premiered September 23, 1979. In subsequent network and syndicated showings, the film was pared down to 102 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Othello (Anthony Hopkins) is a noble black Moor held in high regard by Venice for his service as a military general. However, he makes a deadly enemy in his ensign Iago (Bob Hoskins) after he promotes Michael Cassio (David Yelland), not Iago, to the position of personal lieutenant. To gain revenge, Iago secretly attempts to break up the new marriage of Othello and his lovely wife Desdemona (Penelope Wilton) by having Desdemona's former suitor Roderigo (Anthony Pedley) inflame Desdemona's father, Senator Brabantio (Geoffrey Chater), against Othello as a sorcerer who used witchcraft to woo his daughter. In the Venetian Senate, which is discussing a Turkish threat against Cyprus, the duke exonerates Othello of wrongdoing and dispatches him to Cyprus to defend it and become the new governor. Unaware that Iago was behind Brabantio's earlier protests against his marriage, Othello orders Iago to accompany his wife to Cyprus, and Roderigo goes along at the urging of Iago, who tells him that Desdemona will eventually tire of Othello. Once in Cyprus, Iago manipulates Roderigo and his own wife Emilia (Rosemary Leach) into helping him to discredit Cassio and make Desdemona appear unfaithful. His plan works. Othello tells Iago he plans to poison Desdemona, but Iago persuades him to kill her in the bed she ''contaminated.'' As for Cassio, Iago says, ''Let me be his undertaker.'' Believing Iago has killed Cassio, the Moor returns to his castle for the awful task of executing his wife. Othello, still loving his wife, kisses her awake, asks her to prepare her soul for death -- and after an exchange of accusations and denials -- smothers her in her bed. When Emilia tells Othello the truth about the scheming Iago, the wounded Cassio backs up Emilia's story. Othello wounds Iago, then kills himself. Iago kills Emilia. After Iago is led away in chains, Cassio becomes governor of Cyprus. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Bob Hoskins, (more)
Like Watership Down, Plague Dogs is an animated cartoon feature based on a novel by Richard Adams and produced by Martin Rosen. And also like Watership Down, it is more appropriate for an older audience. Two dogs escape from a British government research lab. As the authorities hunt down the canine fugitives, the two dogs search for their original master and for a place where they'll be free from the iniquities and cruelties of Mankind. Plague Dogs was completed in 1982, but was not released in the US until two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Hurt, Christopher Benjamin, (more)
This WW II drama is set in a Czech village and centers on a strong 30-year-old Jewish woman who must marry a man she dislikes to avoid being sent to a work camp. Eventually the stress of the marriage, the racism, and the war itself builds up and begins to slowly erode the woman's will and mind. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lisa Hartman, Rosemary Leach, (more)
- 1985
D.P. is also known as Displaced Person, the original title of the Kurt Vonnegut short story from which this TV drama is adapted. As World War II winds down, a young black boy is raised by an order of nuns in a small German town. The locals tease the boy, claiming that his long-lost father is an African-American GI from the occupation troops. The eager youth heads off to be reunited with the man (Stan Shaw) alleged to be his father. D.P. originally aired May 6, 1985, on PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
- PG
Adapted by Harold Pinter from the novel by Russell Hoban, Turtle Diary stars Glenda Jackson as a famed author/illustrator of children's books. In the midst of her success, Jackson suffers from writer's block. While casting about for new ideas, she makes several visits to the turtle tank at the local aquarium, where she becomes acquainted with shy bookstore clerk Ben Kingsley. From this point on, nothing is in the least predictable. What can one say that's sensible about a plotline that climaxes with a turtle hijacking? Screenwriter Pinter has a cameo role as "Man in Bookshop." Turtle Diary was the maiden effort of United British Artists, a consortium consisting of Glenda Jackson, Harold Pinter, and producer Richard Johnson (who also appears in the film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenda Jackson, Ben Kingsley, (more)
Adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by E.M. Forster, A Room with a View is a shining example of Merchant-Ivory's ability to achieve maximum quality and opulence at minimum cost. Set during the Edwardian Era, the film stars Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy Honeychurch, who like all proper young British ladies is compelled to tour Europe in the company of an older chaperone -- in this instance, her spinster cousin Charlotte Bartlett (Maggie Smith). While in Italy, the ladies make the acquaintance of a wide variety of personalities; the most fascinating of their fellow tourists -- at least in Lucy's eyes -- is free-spirited George Emerson (Julian Sands). Aware that her cousin is becoming too familiar with Emerson, Charlotte demands that Lucy return to England posthaste. Lucy complacently settles for the tiresomely traditional courtship of nerdish Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis) -- and then Mr. Emerson moves into the neighborhood. Lucy now finds herself on the horns of a dilemma: Should she opt for a safe, proper marriage to Cecil, or the bohemian unpredictability of the charismatic Emerson? A winner of three Academy Awards, A Room with a View is not what one could call fast-moving, but fans of the Merchant-Ivory team will enjoy luxuriating in the film's leisurely pace and stimulating cast of characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, (more)
- 1988
Across the Lake details the final two months in the life of British "speed king" Donald Campbell, here played by the ubiquitous Anthony Hopkins. Haunted by the spectre of his equally famous father, who years earlier had set the world land speed record, Campbell is determined to carve his own niche by challenged the water speed record in his own personal motored vessel, the Bluebeard. Alas, this undertaking proves to be the headstrong Campbell's undoing. Verteran stage and screen actress Phyllis Calvert makes a rare TV appearance as Donald's mother, Lady Campbell. Across the Lake was telecast by BBC1 in 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Adapted by John Mortimer from his own novel, the British miniseries Summer's Lease starred Susan Fleetwood as British housewife Molly Pargeter who, with her family, spent an eventful summer vacation at La Felicita, a villa in Tuscany. Molly had hoped to soak in the local color and revel in the artistic masterpieces all around her, but instead ended up trying to solve a couple of mysteries involving a dried-up water supply and a missing landlord (who turned out to have several shady "friends"). In the process, Molly took up with an old flame, all the while attempting to patch up her tottering marriage to the plodding Hugh Pargeter. Stealing the show (and winning several TV awards in the process) was John Gielgud as Molly's father, Haverford Downs, a libidinous and slightly daft author. First telecast by BBC2 in 1989, the four-part Summer's Lease was subsequently aired in America as part of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre anthology in the spring of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annette Crosbie, Susan Fleetwood, (more)
- 1990
In this British drama, the sorts of Britons who live in colonial encampments outside of Britain tend to be the most conventional people imaginable, recreating a little bit of home (and not the most interesting bits) in whatever uncouth foreign place they have landed in. In this story, they are living in Africa, and Johnny Deacon (Tom Bell) is so very tired of them. He's tired of his ex-girlfriend who married another; he's tired of his ex-girlfriend's mother, and he's tired of the men. Instead of coping with them any longer, he goes on a solo journey down the Dark River, and there is a good possibility (which he knows at the outset) that he will not survive the experience. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Bell, Kate Buffery, (more)
- 1991
- R
Ben Kingsley stars in this solid adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel (filmed previously in 1929 as The Marriage Playground). Kingsley plays Martin Boyne, an engineer in 1920s Europe who, after five years of correspondence, is planning to travel overseas to marry the recently widowed Rose Sellars (Kim Novak). On his way to marry Rose, he stops off in Venice to visit his old friend Cliffe Wheater (Joe Don Baker), who with his wife Joyce (Geraldine Chaplin) has a large group of children. Rose then contacts Martin, telling him that due to complications arising from her husband's will, he should wait another year before marrying her. Meanwhile, Cliffe and Joyce's fifteen-year-old daughter Judith (Siri Neal) arrives at Rose's door with the younger children. Because of marital problems, the children convince Martin to become their guardian. But Martin, spending too much time around Judith, ends up falling in love with her. Tongues begin to wag and Rose, crestfallen, leaves for France. Martin and Rose split up and Martin disappears in shame, trying to get control of his life and all that he has lost. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Kingsley, Kim Novak, (more)
Stuart Urban's war film An Ungentlemanly Act transpires during the first few hours and days of the Falkland Islands War. Ian Richardson portrays the political head of the Falklands, who, surprised by the invasion by Argentineans, focuses on getting his wife to a secure location just as much as he does on protecting his citizens. Major Mike Norman (Bob Peck) leads an elite group of soldiers in combat against the enemy. Meanwhile, the citizens of the islands discover how their previously placid lives have been altered by the beginning of the war. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1992
The British psychological thriller The Hawk stars Helen Mirren as Anne Marsh, a housewife with a history of mental illness who begins to suspect that her husband (George Costigan) is a hunted serial killer. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, George Costigan, (more)
- 1993
This drama is adapted from Dicken's unfinished novel and centers upon a choirmaster who is insanely jealous of his fiancee. This jealousy causes him many problems down the road. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Powell, Jonathan Phillips, (more)
Based on a novel by Edith Wharton, The Buccaneers follows four wealthy young women -- Nan (Carla Gugino), Virginia St. George (Alison Eliott), Conchita Closson (Mira Sorvino), and Lizzy Elmsworth (Rya Kihlstedt) -- throughout their eventful journey from America to London. Though they set off intending to hunt down potential husbands for themselves, what they find has less to do with love and more to do with the repressive nature of turn-of-the-century English society. Shunned as "new money" by London's elite and courted by a slew of noblemen lacking any code of personal honor, the quartet is forced to examine society's focus on social status and personal wealth. Directed by Philip Saville, this film also features Mark Tandy and Greg Wise. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carla Gugino, Alison Elliott, (more)
- 1997
Based on a novel by mystery specialist P.D. James, the British drama series An Unsuitable Job for a Woman starred Helen Baxendale as the attractive title character. Employed by a seedy private detective agency, Cordelia Gray (Baxendale) was obliged to take over the business when her boss committed suicide. With next to no detective experience, Cordelia stumbled her way through a variety of life-threatening cases, managing to keep alive and to round up any and all culprits with the assistance of protective office assistant Edith Sparshott (Annette Crosbie). A co-production of Britain's HTV and America's WGBH-TV, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman debuted in England on October 24, 1997, yielding a total of six hour-long and two two-hour episodes as of 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In turn-of-the-century London, three nannies from drastically different backgrounds form a tight-knit bond that guides them through the good times and the bad times in this period miniseries starring Clare Wilkie, Victoria Smurfit, and Tabitha Wady. As the caretaker for the children of London's most elite families, headstrong East End girl Mattie (Wilkie) has struggled to build a solid career as a trusted nanny. On the heels of a disastrous romance with the son of a respected Yorkshire family, Hannah (Smurfit) arrives in London with little more than her young infant and a prayer. Though former farm girl Lydia (Wady) may be a bit naïve, her relative innocence doesn't stop her doing her best for her forward-thinking new employers. When fate brings these three nannies together, a bond forms between them that will help them navigate life's unpredictable twists while learning the true value of friendship. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clare Wilkie, Victoria Smurfit, (more)
