Moira Lister Movies
South African actress Moira Lister acted in her native country from childhood. She made her first London stage appearance at age 14, and her first film in 1943. Usually cast in "landed gentry" roles, Lister has been seen in such internationally popular films as White Corridors (1952), The Cruel Sea (1952), Abandon Ship (1957) and The Yellow Rolls Royce (1965). Many of her fans consider Moira Lister's performance as an avaricious London lass in the 1949 Ealing comedy A Run for Your Money to be her best screen work. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1948
Taking advantage of Paramount's "frozen funds" in Britain, producer Hal Wallis was able to film much of So Evil My Love in London. Based on a novel by Joseph Shearing, whose previous Gothic romances included Moss Rose and Blanche Fury, the film stars Ray Milland in his first (but hardly his last) all-out villainous characterization. Milland is cast as charming scoundrel Mark Bellis, or at least that's what he's calling himself at the moment. Escaping his latest criminal escapade by boat, Bellis falls victim to a malaria epidemic. Nursed back to health by young widow Olivia Harwood (Ann Todd), Bellis repays the favor by pretending to fall in love with her, all the while intending to deplete her of her estate and bank account. Eventually Bellis' evil nature corrupts Olivia as well, prompting her to indulge in blackmail, with her old school friend Susan Courtney (Geraldine Fitzgerald) as the victim. Eventually, Olivia is driven to commit murder, carefully arranging the evidence to convict poor Susan. But when Bellis double-crosses her one time too many, Olivia belatedly does the "right thing," clearing her conscience if not her good name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Todd, Ray Milland, (more)
- 1948
In this British drama, an ingenious but impoverished young man is determined to live on a Tahitian island. To achieve his goal, he begins hanging out on a street corner in one of London's most dangerous sections in the hopes of getting the chance to save a wealthy person, who should then generously award him by paying his passage to the South Seas. His plans go somewhat awry when a gorgeous woman swings past. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Beatty, Moira Lister, (more)
- 1948
Before detective Slim Callaghan (Michael Rennie) can meet with prospective client Col. Stenhurst, he gets drugged, is ordered not to take the case by the colonel's step-daughter, and finds Stenhurst's dead body. So, of course, Callaghan investigates for himself, accurately predicting that several of the relatives will hire him. What he finds is a sordid history of murder and blackmail. Vernon Sewell's Uneasy Terms is a scrambled British attempt at American-style hard boil. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Rennie, Moira Lister, (more)
- 1947
Set in 1783, this romance chronicles the doomed relationship between a prince regent and a Catholic widow. The prince falls for her first, but as there is a great gulf in social class, she laughs at his advances. The poor prince is so distraught he attempts suicide. The widow then feels compassion and secretly marries him. Unfortunately, their secret becomes grist for the rumor mill and when it threatens the relationship between the prince and the king, the prince denies his marriage. The jilted woman runs away, and the prince marries the woman to whom he was originally betrothed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, Joyce Howard, (more)
- 1947
Once a Jolly Swagman is the story of Bill Fox (Dirk Bogarde), a factory worker who dreams of fame and fortune as motorbike racer. After the standard romantic complications with "right" and "wrong" girl, the film arrives at its central crisis: Fox's attempts to organize a driver's union, and the repercussions he suffers because of this activity. The dedicated-but-dour Dirk Bogarde is complemented by Bonar Colleano, essaying another of his "wise guy Yank" characterizations as driver Tommy Possey. The speedway sequences are excellent. Though only his second film, Once a Jolly Swagman was Dirk Bogarde's first starring assignment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, Bonar Colleano, (more)
Anne Fielding (Dulcie Gray), a shop clerk, meets Jack Williams (Derek Farr), a bus conductor, on the London Underground. She's delayed by the train for a meeting with her friend Victor Colebrooke (Eric Portman) at Hampstead Heath; the two of them take a liking to each other while she's trying to find Victor. She finally locates him and they leave at virtually the same moment that a young woman is found strangled -- the latest in a series of six stranglings in London. The police investigate anyone who might have been with the victim -- that includes Jack, who was seen leaving in a fury late in the evening, and Victor, whose handkerchief was found in the vicinity of the body by a derelict. In a neatly Hitchcockian twist, however, the police soon get on to the right man, but between the ineptitude of one officer and sheer bad luck, Scotland Yard is unable to make an arrest or even secure a search warrant. A bizarre cat-and-mouse game ensues as Inspector Conway (Roland Culver) tries to pressure the killer into tipping his hand, which puts Anne in deadly danger. It all comes down to a race against time through London as all of the threads draw together, but around whose neck? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Portman, Dulcie Gray, (more)
- 1945
Future Dr. Who star William Hartnell heads the cast of the 1949 sociopolitical melodrama The Agitator. Set in a British industrial town, the film stars Hartnell as idealistic union organizer Peter Pottinger. His value as an agitator is compromised when Peter falls heir to the very factory where he works. Now that he's "Capital," Peter finds that he hasn't a friend in the world: his old co-workers despise him for what he represents, while his new colleagues can't forget his previous radicalism. Perhaps to avoid movie-industry ramifications, Capital and Labor are treated with equal fairness in The Agitator. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hartnell, Mary Morris, (more)
- 1945
The crown jewels are at stake in this crime comedy featuring the efforts of London bobby Gray against American gangster Hunter. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1944
Filled with lots of WW II-era propaganda, this tuneful war drama tells the syrupy tale of a strong and beautiful Scottish lass who works in a Glasgow factory while her true love is in the Navy. One day she receives word that her beau is missing in action and presumed dead. Unable to believe this she continues her war-efforts, saving the factory from a strike and making efforts to boost the workers' flagging spirits on the stage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1944
No relation to the 1970 box-office blockbuster of the same name, the 1944 British film Love Story was originally released in the US as The Lady Surrenders. Margaret Lockwood stars as one of those brilliant but troubled concert pianists, so beloved of British wartime filmgoers. Knowing that she suffers from a potentially fatal heart condition, Margaret has one last fling with RAF pilot Stewart Granger, who is slowly going blind. As in such earlier romantic dramas of the One Way Passage variety, Margaret and Stewart keep their afflictions secret from each other. When the truth comes out, Granger agrees to a dangerous and experimental operation to restore his sight. This sets the stage for a war of wills between Lockwood, who wants Granger to undergo the surgery, and Gragner's fiancee Patricia Roc, who, for reasons of her own, does not. Love Story was cowritten and directed by Leslie Arliss, son of eminent British stage star Sir George Arliss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Stewart Granger, (more)
- 1943
The Shipbuilders is a rare film of true merit from prolific British "quota quickie" director John Baxter. Clive Brook heads the cast as the owner of a shipbuilding firm, presently dedicated to the War effort. Though naturally concerned that his business will flag once the war is over, it is shown that Brook has nothing to worry about, so long as diligent, patriotic men like riveter Morland Graham are on his payroll. The film's message is clear: While it's important to think of one's service to the present National Crisis, it is equally important to take the Future into consideration. Actual footage shipbuilders at work give this hastily assembled patriotic exercise a veneer of reality. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Brook
