Belinda Lee Movies

Lantern-jawed British comedian Frankie Howerd, best known to American TV fans as the star of the raucous historical satire Up Pompeii, heads the cast of The Runaway Bus. Howard plays Percy Lamb, a novice bus driver assigned to drive a coach from one London ariport to another. Alas, the city is enveloped in a thick fog, and poor Percy gets lost, along with his half-dozen passengers and a hidden cache of stolen gold. Most of the film's best moments go to Margaret Rutherford as a not-so-sweet old lady and Belinda Lee as a spy-novel addict. Petula Clark, who was already a top recording star in 1954, appears as a perky airline hostess. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dane Clark plays a down-at-heels war vet who enters into an odd agreement. If he'll marry a gorgeous blonde (Belinda Lee), Clark will be paid a hefty sum of money. Unfortunately he's being set up as the fall guy in a murder scheme. Awakening from a drunken stupor, Clark finds that all the evidence in the murder points to him--and even he is convinced that he's guilty. Filmed in England, Blackout is based on the Helen Nielsen novel Murder by Proxy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Footsteps in the Fog is a cat-and-mouse Victorian melodrama in the grand tradition. Jean Simmons plays scheming servant girl Lily Watkins, who was hired by sinister nobleman Stephen Lowry (Stewart Granger) and his ailing wife. The wife dies of "natural causes," but Lily knows better, and uses this knowledge to her advantage. In exchange for her silence, she forces Lowry to cater to her every whim. He is forced to go along lest he face the gallows, but in a switch reminiscent of the "lost" ending of 1987's Fatal Attraction, he sees to it that Lily herself is carted away by the constabulary. Filmed in appropriately dank Technicolor, Footsteps in the Fog is an unusual foray into Gaslight territory for director Arthur Lubin, normally a comedy specialist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Norman Wisdom made his third film appearance in the slapstick musical Man of the Moment. This time, Norman is a clerk in the British ministry who is forced to sub for an ailing delegate at a Geneva Peace Conference. In his usual bumbling fashion, our hero becomes intimately involved in the affairs of a tiny Pacific-island monarchy. As a result, the island's queen refuses to participate in any sort of negotiations unless Norman sits in at the proceedings. The nervous British government immediately bestows a knighthood on the hapless delegate. . .and then the fun begins, as several scurvy types try to kill off Norman and topple the Queen from her throne. Featured in the cast of Man of the Moment is Norman Wisdom's music-hall straight man Jerry Desmonde in a prominent but thankless role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ian Carmichael plays the "white sheep" in a family of successful thieves. Everyone in the clan has made a healthy career out of crime except poor Ian, so he decides to redeem himself with a single spectacular caper. Somehow this involves a passel of Arabs and an unctuous TV news team, all of whom converge in a slapstick free-for-all. Jailed, Carmichael realizes that he's doomed to honesty, and vows to pursue the straight and narrow with leading lady Belinda Lee. Though a British film, The Big Money seems geared exclusively for American audiences with its garish Technicolor, hyperactive musical score and sledgehammer humor. Made in 1956, the film wasn't widely shown in the US until it was released to television in 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Already a popular TV comedian in 1956, Benny Hill heads the cast of the zany comedy-mystery Who Done It? Eschewing his usual double entendres in favor of pure-and-simple slapstick, Hill plays a would-be private eye named Hugo. Before he quite knows what's happening, Hugo is up to his neck in espionage intrigue. Belinda Lee plays Hugo's dewey-eyed blonde assistant, George Relph is cast as a flustered Scotland Yard inspector, and David Kossof and George Margo portray a couple of sinister Iron Curtain spies. Who Done It? was scripted by T. E. B. Clarke, a mainstay of the droll Ealing comedies of the early 1950s. The film remained unreleased in the US until the late 1970s, when it was put on the market to cash in on the international success of The Benny Hill Show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

What if the Dauphin of France managed to escape the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution? That's the premise of the opulent British swashbuckler Dangerous Exile. Louis Jourdan stars as the Duc de Beauvais, who manages, at great personal sacrifice, to smuggle the son (Richard O'Sullivan) of King Louis XVI into England. The boy takes up residence in Wales, where he is protected by local lass Virginia Traill (Belinda Lee) and her wealthy Aunt Fell (Martita Hunt). When time comes for the boy to return to France, he refuses--but local newspaper editor Patient (Finlay Currie), a spy for the French revolutionaries, has other ideas. Keith Michell, future star of TV's Six Wives of Henry VIII, is well cast as a French Republican with whom the Duc de Beauvais must inevitably cross swords. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, a young woman spends all her time caring for her ailing mother. The one bright spot in her life is her African pen pal. Her mother finally dies, and the woman immediately sets off for Africa to meet the pen pal. There she finds that he is too busy chasing elephants to notice her. Instead she ends up falling for his brother.The two brothers find themselves entangled in various adventures involving African wildlife. The film was shot on location in Africa. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

British sex symbol Belinda Lee stars in the overheated Italian costume melodrama La Venere di Cheronea (The Venus of Cheronea). Lee is cast as Afrodite, the girl who allegedly inspired the greatest works of famed Greek sculptor Praxiletes (Massimo Girotti). According to the screenplay, Afrodite was also the romantic bone of contention between Praxiletes and fugitive warrior Claudio (Jacques Sernas). Naturally, the plotline requires the curvaceous Lee to disrobe at the slightest provocation, and just as naturally, the censors had a hissy-fit every time she bared her knee or shoulder. The principal attribute of La Venere di Cheronea is the excellent color cinematography of Arturo Galles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is the first film directed by the well-known Jean-Pierre Mocky who at this stage in his young life had something in common with the age group in question -- two youths out on the night circuit, looking for women. Freddy (Jacques Charrier) and Joseph (Charles Aznavour) have high hopes as they set out one evening in search of, if not the perfect woman, at least someone in the ballpark. Alas, most of the women they meet fall short of their minimal expectations, except in one case. It looks as if one of the pair will miss the brass ring again. Mocky has created a great Parisian night scene, adding some sharp nuances in the mating habits of young French men. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

British actress Belinda Lee stars in this her third film within several months, once again for a company outside of her native England. This time around the setting is the 17th century, somewhere on a group of tropical islands, and she plays Marie, a damsel in distress. The upright governor of the islands is kidnapped by pirates on the orders of an ambitious and villainous nobleman. Knowing full well that Marie is likely to fall prey to the villains and fearing for the lives of his friends, the governor escapes. He manages to return and begins to dismantle the defenses of the usurpers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Based on an actual post-war murder in Frankfurt, this standard docudrama by Rudolf Jugert is a serious treatment of the story as compared to the earlier, satirical film The Girl Rosemarie. The history of the case of Rosemarie, a hooker, and how she came to be strangled in her apartment is not completely clear. One of the suspects in the case was first charged, later acquitted, but never really free of an aura of culpability. British actress Belinda Lee plays the title role with her voice dubbed over in German. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide