Bernard Lee Movies
Born into a theatrical family, British actor Bernard Lee first trod the boards at age six. Supporting himself as a fruit salesman, Lee attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, making his West End stage bow in 1928. In films from 1934, Lee showed up in dozens of bits and minor roles, his screen time increasing throughout the 1950s. He showed up prominently as the resident police inspector in several of the "Edgar Wallace" "B"-picture series of the early 1960s. In 1962, Lee was cast as M, the immediate superior to Secret Agent 007 James Bond, in Dr. No. Bernard Lee continued to portray M in all subsequent Bond endeavors, up to and including 1979's Moonraker; he also essayed the role in the 1967 Bond spin-off, Operation Kid Brother, which starred Sean Connery's younger brother Neil. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
10 Rillington Place is the true story of British mass murderer John Reginald Christie, played with chilling "normality" by Richard Attenborough. Throughout the late '40s, Christie lures middle-aged women to his London flat promising to cure their ailments with nitrous oxide, then kills them, assaults their dead bodies, and buries them. One of his victims is Beryl Evans (Judy Geeson), who misguidedly comes to Christie seeking an abortion -- and in the process, not only loses her own life, but sets in motion a horrid sequence of events that threatens to endanger her husband as well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, (more)
- 1977
In this adaptation of Dickens' classic, Scrooge and company are animated. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Hordern, John Le Mesurier, (more)
- 1964
British pop performer Michael Sarne stars as young Ricky, a kid from London's East End who is yet another victim of urban socio-economic blight. Discouraged and frustrated, Ricky gets involved with a local gang hoping to support his family by turning to a life of crime. Rita Tushingham, in her third film appearance, plays the role of Ricky's girlfriend Catherine. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Lee, Rita Tushingham, (more)
A Graham Greene novel was the basic source for the British psychological melodrama Across the Bridge. Rod Steiger plays Carl Schaffner, a prominent financier who has absconded with company funds. A genius at improvisation, he plans to elude the authorities by murdering Paul Scarff (Bill Nagy) and assuming the dead man's identity. Upon arriving in Mexico, however, Schaffner learns to his chagrin that Scarff was himself an even more notorious fugitive from justice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, David Knight, (more)
- 1951
Don't be misled by the title, and by the presence of Glynis Johns in the cast. The "Venus" in Appointment with Venus is a prized cow. The time is World War II: special operatives David Niven and Glynis Johns are dispatched to a Nazi-held island to rescue Venus, who for some reason or other is vital for British morale. Naturally, this isn't easy and leads to all sorts of complications. Released in the US as Island Rescue, Appointment with Venus was based on a novel by Jerrard Tickell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Glynis Johns, (more)
Humphrey Bogart stars as one of five disreputable adventurers who are trying to get uranium out of East Africa. Bogart's associates include pompous fraud Robert Morley, and Peter Lorre as the German-accented "O'Hara", whose wartime record is forever a source of speculation and suspicion. Becoming involved in Bogart's machinations are a prim British married couple (Edward Underdown and blonde-wigged Jennifer Jones). As a climax to their many misadventures and double-crosses, the uranium seekers end up facing extermination by an Arab firing squad. The satirical nature of Beat the Devil eluded many moviegoers in 1953, and the film was a failure. The fact that the picture attained cult status in lesser years failed to impress its star Humphrey Bogart, who could only remember that he lost a considerable chunk of his own money when he became involved in the project. Peter Viernick worked on the script on an uncredited basis. Beat the Devil eventually fell into public domain, leading to numerous inferior editions by second and third-tiered labels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, (more)
- 1976
This Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast stars George C. Scott and his wife Trish Van Devere in the title roles -- and it should not take a rocket scientist to determine who plays what role. It all begins when Edward Beaumont (Bernard Lee) makes the fatal error of offending a bestial nobleman (Scott), whose ugly, boarlike countenance seemingly reflects a malevolent personality. To save her father from harm, Edward's gorgeous daughter, Belle (Van Devere), agrees to live as a permanent guest in the beast's huge, forboding mansion. Although he has all the resources of magic and mysticism at his beck and call, the Beast comes to the melancholy conclusion that the otherwise dutiful Belle will never consent to become his bride. But miracles do happen, and the virtuous Belle is able to burrow through the Beast's hideous façade and reveal the kindly, fragile soul within -- and in so doing, she herself grows and matures as a human being. Filmed in England, this production originally aired December 3, 1976, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George C. Scott, Trish VanDevere, (more)
- 1959
Set in an Italian P.O.W. camp during World War II, this conventional escape drama shines the most in the portrayals of the various prisoners. Richard Todd is Lt. Col. David Baird, intensely and single-mindedly set on escaping. Bernard Lee is Lt. Col. Huxley who is the careful senior British officer with a view of the entire situation. Michael Wilding plays the deceptively dashing Major Charles Marquand, and some comic relief is provided by Dennis Price, an actor-prisoner more devoted to his production of Hamlet than leaving before the curtain goes up. The hitch in the plans to escape is insidious -- there is a traitor among the prisoners and before they can succeed, they have to find him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Todd, Bernard Lee, (more)
- 1950
Cage of Gold was a rare non-comic effort from Britain's Ealing Studios. Jean Simmons stars as Judith, who awakens the morning after her wedding to discover that her new husband has deserted her. Later on, she is told that her husband is dead. After a period of mourning, Judith remarries--only to be subjected to blackmail by husband number one. It's all a racket, of course, but Judith doesn't go to the police until it's almost too late. Featured in the cast of Cage of Gold as a slimy smuggler is Herbert Lom, who later gained worldwide fame as Inspector Dreyfus in the "Pink Panther" comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Simmons, David Farrar, (more)
- 1951
All the various Bulldog Drummond movie series had run their courses by 1951; nonetheless, MGM decided to revive the property (and simultaneously liquidate some "frozen funds") with the British-filmed Calling Bulldog Drummond. Walter Pidgeon stars as novelist Sapper's soldier-of-fortune, here retooled as a respectable retired military officer. Summoned to London by Scotland Yard, Drummond is assigned to break up a dangerous criminal gang. He is aided by female undercover officer Helen Smith (Margaret Leighton), who turns out to be not much help at all. Trapped in a bombed-out building and surrounded by hulking henchmen, Drummond seems to have run out of luck. Some of the film's brightest moments are provided by David Tomlinson as a traditional "silly ass" type who is lot smarter than he seems. Bernard Lee, the future "M" in the James Bond films of the 1960s, appears as a secondary villain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Margaret Leighton, (more)
- 1968
Ramon (Francis DeWolff) is the Armenian merchant who lives in his mansion outside of London. He has augmented his income over the years by blackmailing his clients. Fearful of retribution, he installs a room in his mansion that is supposedly impenetrable, complete with a hotline to Scotland Yard in the event of a break-in. One by one, Ramon's friends and associates are murdered, as the trail of blood oozes closer to his door. Scotland Yard sends out special agent Meredith (Bernard Lee) at the request of the local police commissioner (A.J. Brown) after the local lawmen are baffled. Meredith must apprehend the killer before he can strike again in this suspenseful crime mystery taken from the novel by Edgar Wallace. This feature first appeared in 1960. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Knight, Francis de Wolff, (more)
- 1960
Captain Gort (Bernard Lee) is an airline pilot who must answer to a Court of Inquiry after the crash of a Phoenix jet. Although he passes a battery of tests, pilot error is the determined cause of the accident. Sir Hobbes (George Sanders) is the Queen's council whose relentless prosecution helps blame Gort. When a second crash occurs, Gort is defended by Captain Judd (Peter Cushing), who is convinced that mechanical malfunctions, not the pilot, caused both crashes. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Craig, Peter Cushing, (more)
- 1954
Crest of the Wave is the original British title of Seagulls over Sorrento, filmed at MGM's Elstree facilities in 1953 and released stateside one year later. Based on a popular play by Hugh Hastings, the story concentrates on a group of British and American naval personnel, stationed on a Scottish island. The men are engaged on a top-secret project involving a revolutionary--and highly volatile--new torpedo. The British officers resent the intrusion of American scientist Bradville (Gene Kelly), while the Yank sailors can't seem to get along with their English counterparts. Tension mounts from the outset when the first test of the weapon fails, killing several men. After a second test likewise proves disastrous, the urgency to succeed the third time round becomes even more crucial. Can Bradville prove the efficacy of the torpedo without sparking another tragedy--and will he ever gain the full confidence of his most formidable foe, British lieutenant Wharton (John Justin)? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Kelly, Jeff Richards, (more)
Though Roger Moore was born in England and established himself as star of the British TV series The Saint, Crossplot represents Moore's very first British theatrical film. He stars as an advertising executive swept up in a plot to murder a visiting African statesman. Lensed in "swinging" London, the film is "mod" to an almost depressing degree, obscuring what is at base a solid espionage thriller. Moore ultimately thwarts the villains by decoding a message secreted in a crossword puzzle -- hence the film's title. A climactic shootout in Hyde Park tops this dry run for Roger Moore's subsequent stint as James Bond. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Martha Hyer, (more)
- 1981
In this comic-detective movie, Dangerous Davies, a bungling gumshoe uses archaic methods to solve his cases. This time he must solve a 15-year-old murder involving an adolescent girl. He finds himself on a convoluted trail surrounded by the lowest of the lowlife. It is not until the picture is almost over that he realizes that the solution to the mystery has been under his nose all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Cribbins, Bill Maynard, (more)
- 1933
Tom Tyler and Wally Wales, both refugees from the silent range, starred in this very low-budget oater from Poverty Row company Monarch. Tyler played an innocent victim of circumstances and Wales was the law-fighting postal inspector who mistakes him for a notorious outlaw known only as The Hawk. The real villain, however, is none other than Butch Cassidy, here depicted by an actor as far removed from Paul Newman as possible: Charles "Slim" Whitaker. Alice Dahl, another refugee from the silent era, played the heroine, the daughter of the sheriff (Lafe McKee). Carlotta Monti, W.C. Fields' longtime companion, was a fiery senorita named Lolita. Tyler starred in four Monarch Westerns in-between contracts with Monogram and Reliable. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
After George Lazenby portrayed James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Sean Connery returned to the tux, gimmicks, and catchphrases of Secret Agent 007 in his penultimate Bond outing, Diamonds Are Forever. Fragments of Ian Fleming's original 1954 novel remain, including the characters of the alluring Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) and fey hitmen Wint (Bruce Glover) and Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith). The remainder of Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz's script diverges dramatically from the novel, involving Bond in a scheme by the insidious Ernst Blofeld (Charles Gray) to force the world powers to disarm so that he can take over the globe. Folksinger Jimmy Dean shows up briefly as a Howard Hughes-like reclusive billionaire, while Lana Wood (Natalie's sister) participates in one of the film's edgiest cliffhangers. Agreeing to make Diamonds Are Forever only because of the money offered him, Sean Connery parted company with the role for 12 years after this film; he returned to the role once more in 1983, for Irvin Kershner's underrated Thunderball remake Never Say Never Again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Jill St. John, (more)
Terence Young directed this first of a long line of screen adventures with Ian Fleming's unflappable British Secret Service Agent 007 in a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek style that set the tone for the rest of the popular series. Sean Connery sets the standard by which all future takers must measure themselves as the insouciant and devil-may-care James Bond. The story concerns Bond being sent to Jamaica to investigate the murders of a British agent and his secretary. During his investigation, he comes into contact with the evil and unscrupulous Chinese scientist Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) who, living on an island called Crab Key, is hard at work in a nuclear laboratory. Dr. No's scheme is to divert rockets being fired from Cape Canaveral off their charted course and to blackmail the United States to get their rocket launches restored to normal. Helping Bond is Ursula Andress (mostly undressed in a bikini throughout most of the film), as well as bad gals like Zena Marshall, who almost leads Bond to his death in her bedroom, and Eunice Gayson, a Bond pickup in a London gambling house who proves herself a greater adversary than even James Bond can handle. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, (more)
- 1965
Not to be confused with David Hewitt's abominable Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors (AKA The Blood Suckers), this clever horror omnibus is one of the better early anthologies from Amicus Productions, thanks to Freddie Francis' stylish direction and a tongue-in-cheek approach from writer Milton Subotsky (who would later apply the same sardonic treatment to the EC Comics-based productions Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror). The framing story is set in a train car, where five passengers have their fortunes told by the all-seeing Dr. Schreck (Peter Cushing), who refers to his ominous tarot deck as his "House of Horrors." Their respective stories involve all manner of occult happenings: a jazz musician's involvement with a voodoo curse; an estate haunted by a werewolf; a doctor (Donald Sutherland) who suspects that his wife has become a vampire; a cottage besieged by a monster kudzu vine; and the most entertaining segment, in which arrogant art critic Christopher Lee is avidly pursued by a snubbed artist's severed hand. In the end, it doesn't take a jaded horror buff to deduce Schreck's true identity or the ultimate destination of the train passengers, but it's a fun ride nonetheless. Not all of the stories work (the vampire story's "twist" ending is rather silly, the voodoo tale painfully dated), and the effects are generally sub-par, but Francis keeps the pace snappy throughout, giving the entire film a throwaway, Halloween spook-house feel. Hammer horror fans will certainly find this a keeper on the strength of Cushing and Lee's performances. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, (more)
- 1971
In this melodrama, a runaway flees a bad home life and ends up working on an aging widower's farm. Time passes, and the man gradually begins falling in love with his young employee. He is just about to pop the question when she suddenly breaks his heart by running away with a handsome young gamekeeper. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
One of the most significant moments in the history of British warfare (in both the best and worst sense) is given reverent but reserved treatment in Dunkirk. The film takes place during the 1940 evacuation of Allied troops across the English channel. One party of British soldiers becomes detached from the rest of the retreating Allies. John Mills plays an inexperienced lance corporal who resists an increase in rank, but when the chips are down performs with courage and authority in organizing the lost troop and shepherding them to Dunkirk. Running 135 minutes in its original release (much of the footage comprised of newsreel shots), Dunkirk was based on two novels: Eleston Trever's The Big Pick-Up and Lt. Col. Ewan Hunter and Maj. J. S. Bradford's Dunkirk. The above time pertains to the original British theatrical version; the film was reedited and shortened to 113 minutes for U.S. release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Bernard Lee, (more)
- 1948
Fans of British film star Anna Neagle had a field day with her bravura Technicolor vehicle Elizabeth of Ladymead--though not enough fans showed up back in 1948 to make the film a success. Neagle portrays four different characters from four different historical periods, each named Elizabeth. The first, Beth, lives in 1854 London, as the Crimean War rages thousands of miles away. The second, Elizabeth, lives in 1903, just after the Boer war. The third, Betty, is a girl of 1919, the year after World War I. And the fourth, Liz, is a contemporary lass of post-World War II London. We watch as each of the four Elizabeths emerges as a woman of independence while the menfolk are off to war. Whenever the film becomes too repetitious, Elizabeth of Ladymead scores on the charm of Anna Neagle and her attractive deportment while wearing period costumes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Hugh Williams, (more)
Jack Lemmon and Robert Mitchum star as Tony and Felix, co-owners of a tramp-steamer service in the West Indies. Threatening their friendship is itinerant trollop Irena (Rita Hayworth). Tony seethes with jealousy as Irena gravitates towards Felix, leading to a heated confrontation. Felix retaliates by blowing the whistle on Tony's under-the-counter smuggling activities. Tony in turns plots to kill his former partner, but changes his mind when Felix saves his life during a shipwreck. The supporting cast includes Herbert Lom, Bernard Lee, and Anthony Newley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1951
The Adventurers is set in South Africa at the end of the Boer war. Commando Pieter Brandt (Jack Hawkins) comes across the dead body of a diamond courier. Brandt buries both the courier and his valuable cache of diamonds then heads back to his regiment. After the cessation of hostilities, Brandt raises money for an expedition back into the mountainous regions where the diamonds are hidden. There's no love lost among Brandt and his three treasure-hunting companions; particularly prickly is the relationship between Brandt and Clive Hunter (Dennis Price), whose wife is Brandt's former fiancé. Sort of an African variation of Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Adventurers is buoyed by an unusually vicious performance by Jack Hawkins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Hawkins, Peter Hammond, (more)
- 1974
- Add Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell to QueueAdd Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell to top of Queue
The sixth entry in Hammer Films' Frankenstein series, this film finds Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) in charge of a lunatic asylum. When young doctor Simon Helder (Shane Bryant) is institutionalized for attempting to create synthetic life, Frankenstein is delighted: now he'll have an assistant for his own diabolical experiments. This time out, the monster is played by David Prowse, who later went on to international fame as Darth Vader in Star Wars (though of course Vader's voice was provided by James Earl Jones). A new wrinkle to the old story is the Monster's cannibalistic tendencies, allowing for a number of gruesome, gore-encrusted horror highlights. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, Shane Briant, (more)
