Patrick Barr Movies

This (13th) time around, "007" receives the usual call to come and visit "Mother" when another agent drops off a fake Faberge jeweled egg at the British embassy in East Berlin and is later killed at a traveling circus. Suspicions mount when the assistant manager of the circus Kamal (Louis Jourdan), outbids Bond for the real Faberge piece at Sotheby's. Bond follows Kamal to India where the superspy thwarts many an ingenious attack and encounters the antiheroine of the title (Maud Adams), an international smuggler who runs the circus as a cover for her illegal operations. It does not take long to figure out that Orlov (Steven Berkoff), a decidedly rank Russian general is planning to raise enough money with the fake Faberges to detonate a nuclear bomb in Europe and then defeat NATO forces once and for all in conventional warfare. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This meandering distaff variant on The Omen begins with a visit from a strange pregnant woman (Angela Pleasence) to the house of a young suburban couple (Malcolm Stoddard and Cyd Hayman), where she gives birth to a baby girl and promptly exits stage left. The befuddled pair decide to adopt the white-haired, angelic-looking infant, only to discover the child's true nature in the years to come. One by one, the couple's natural offspring are killed off in horrible ways; any future attempts at conception end in miscarriage and Stoddard's eventual sterility. These horrific events unfold over a period of several years -- a concept which probably served better in print than on screen, where such leisurely plot development dooms any chance for suspense. Worse, the vague supernatural explanation is not adequately clarified by the film's denouement, leaving little more than a somber tale of meaningless tragedy. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Michael Caine stars as an espionage agent whose young son is kidnapped. Complicating matters is the fact that the kidnappers (John Vernon and Delphine Seyrig) are Caine's own colleagues. They want to secure Caine's aid in rounding up a diamond smuggling ring, and they don't care who they have to hurt to do so. He agrees to go along, all the while searching for his missing son. Janet Suzman co-stars as Caine's estranged wife, who is compelled to join him in his search. Helmed by veteran filmmaker Don Siegel, The Black Windmill is based on Seven Days to a Killing, a novel by Clive Egleton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This sick little horror film from British gore/exploitation director Pete Walker finds a group of actors summoned by an anonymous producer to take part in a gruesome Grand Guignol play being staged at an isolated resort, only to find that their characters' elaborately staged theatrical deaths are designed to do them in for real. It is revealed that their unseen benefactor is a former stage performer, driven psychotic after catching another actor in bed with his wife, who now seeks symbolic retribution against all actors for their immoral behavior. Though not quite as sleazy as some of Walker's later work, this is still fairly gruesome stuff. The same theme gets vastly superior treatment in the following year's Theatre of Blood, featuring a tour-de-force performance from Vincent Price. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Sturdy supporting player Edward Underdown is afforded a rare leading role in The Great Pony Raid. The scene is rural Dartmoor, where a gang of thieves have been regularly stealing the farmers' ponies. Because they operate under cover of night, the rustlers manage to elude the law. Ah, but they're not clever enough to avoid detection by a group of precocious children. Banding together, the kids appoint themselves protectors of the remaining ponies, and, in so doing, set the stage for the rustlers' downfall. Clearly designed for the Saturday-matinee trade, Great Pony Raid serves its purpose well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 2070 A.D., the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his friends arrive at the moonbase which controls the Earth's weather. Here they become aware of a sinister presence, but at first the Doctor isn't certain what that presence might be. As various members of the moonbase staff mysteriously disappear, it becomes increasing obvious who -- or what -- is behind it all. Written by Kit Pedler and (uncredited) Gerry Davis, the four-part "The Moonbase" presented its first episode on February 11, 1967. Neither this episode nor the third chapter is presently available in the BBC archives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the third episode of the four-part story "The Moonbase," the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) is now fully aware that the Cybermen intend to destroy the earth by spreading deadly disease. Armed with this knowledge, the Doctor does his darnedest to stop the Cybermen from taking over the moonbase, which controls the Earth's weather. Written by Kit Pedler and (uncredited) Gerry Davis, "The Moonbase, Episode 3" was originally broadcast on February 25, 1967; this episode apparently no longer exists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bernard Lee plays an irresponsible British warrant officer who loses his post in Warsaw. Lee is reassigned to a navy underwater weapons establishment in Portland. Humiliated, he falls for the entreaties of enemy spy William Sylvester, who recruits him to steal secret papers. Lee convinces a female coworker (Margaret Tyzack) that Sylvester is a NATO agent; thus, the woman is unwittingly sucked into the spy ring. The British turncoat outsmarts himself when he begins spending more money than he makes, arousing the suspicions of the government. Ring of Spies was based on the real-life Portland espionage scandal which dominated British headlines throughout the very early 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama the badly mutilated body of a local tavern owner's daughter is found upon a nearby dock. The police suspect that a retarded boy did it. Fortunately for him, the police superintendent does not believe this. When another corpse is found, he begins investigating and proves the boy's innocence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Old-timer Dennis O'Keefe and newcomer Ann Sears star in the British melodrama Lady of Vengeance. O'Keefe plays an American publisher headquartered in London, whose young ward (Eileen Elton) is driven to suicide. The distraught O'Keefe hires a professional criminal (Anton Diffring) to plot the murder of the man responsible for the girl's death, with the proviso that the victim undergo the torments of the damned before he is finally killed. Trouble is, the wrong man is targeted for the publisher's revenge. Nominal leading lady Ann Sears does what she can with the nondescript role of O'Keefe's secretary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide