Roger Livesey Movies

The classic Greek tragedy by Sophocles stars Christopher Plummer as the psychologically tortured Oedipus. The successful monarch begins his downward slide after he discovers he has murdered his father and had children with his own mother. Oedipus is called on to avenge the death of the previous ruler, but his mother Jocasta (Lilli Palmer) hangs herself in the process. The tormented king tears out his own eyes and wanders the land as a destitute, disabled pauper. Orson Welles plays the insightful but sightless prophet Tiresias. The chorus, key to all Greek classical plays, is lead by Donald Sutherland. Roger Livesy is the shepherd who has raised the boy who would be king. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This third screen adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel about the destructiveness of sexual obsession stars Laurence Harvey as Philip Carey, a club-footed artist who after two unsuccessful years in Paris decides to pursue a career in medicine instead. During his medical studies he falls in love with a waitress, Mildred Rogers (Kim Novak), who takes advantage of his attraction to her. When Mildred leaves him to marry another man, Philip falls in love with a writer (Siobhan McKenna), who encourages him to complete his studies. Under her tutelage, Philip excels in medical school. But when Mildred returns, pregnant and abandoned by her husband, Philip takes her in and cares for her, breaking off with the kind-hearted writer. Staying with Philip at his flat, Mildred has an affair with his best friend. Confronting her with her indiscretions, Mildred tells Philip how repulsed she is by his club foot and walks out on him. Philip once again throws himself into his studies, passing his examinations and taking an internship at a London hospital. There he hears Mildred has become a cheap prostitute. Philip travels to the brothel where she is living in poverty with her child and takes her under his wing once again. As before, Mildred walks out on Philip, trashing his apartment and taking to the streets. When Philip comes upon her again, he finds that her child has died and she is suffering from the advanced stages of syphilis. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

An engrossing suspenser with dashes of comedy, League of Gentlemen is about a daring group of highly trained army men, turned bank robbers. When Hyde (Jack Hawkins) is drummed out of the army after years of devoted service, he decides to get back at society in general. One by one, he finds seven other army officers who are now broke and who walk on the shady side of the law. All eight men go into hiding as they plan the robbery with the care and attention of a behind-the-lines reconnaissance mission. As they undertake tasks like raiding a military depot for explosives and similar stunts, suspense and incidental humor increase, leading up to bank day when the really big show has to be pulled off without a hitch. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Based on a novel by George Simenon, Le Passager Clandestin was one of the few French-Australian co-productions of the 1950s -- or of any decade, for that matter. Shot on location in Tahiti, the film stars Martine Carol as a stowaway on a naval vessel. She hopes to eventually be reunited with her former lover, but instead falls for a handsome ship's officer. The two men detest one another on sight, culminating in a deadly confrontation. With no one else left standing, Carol switches her allegiance to a feckless young sailor. One of Carol's amours is played by Karlheinz Boehm, who later gained international stardom as Karl Boehm. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A noted expatriate filmmaker's hard work to reestablish himself in Britain is nearly undone when a woman who claims to be his one-time mistress begins writing him threatening letters. This sudden revelation threatens not only his marriage but also his career. It doesn't help that the director doesn't know the blackmailer's identity. He finds out that her letters are coming from Newcastle, and so he and his wife head off to learn the truth. They meet her and his wife is so convinced that she leaves. Unfortunately, the director still doesn't recognize this woman who seems to have such intimate knowledge of him, and he begins to question his own sanity. The rest of the mystery centers on his attempts to learn the truth about the woman and her true motives. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Errol Flynn buckled his last swash in The Master of Ballantrae, playing out the final film of his Warner Brothers contract in this high seas adventure, liberally adapted from the Robert Louis Stevenson yarn. Flynn plays Jamie Durrisdeer, a Scottish heir, who fights for freedom against the British. When the rebels are defeated, Jamie must flee to the West Indies with Col. Francis Burke (Roger Livesey), an Irish soldier of fortune, in order to escape capture. After battling pirates, Jamie puts together a small fortune and returns to Scotland to marry his true love, Lady Alison (Beatrice Campbell). But Jamie's hopes are dashed when he finds that Lady Alison, thinking that Jamie was dead, is now engaged to his brother Henry (Anthony Steel), who may have betrayed Jamie to the English. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The British That Dangerous Age is based on Autumn, a play by Margaret Kennedy and Ilya Surgutchoff. Myrna Loy heads the cast as Lady Brooke, the wife of famed barrister Sir Brian Brooke (Roger Livesay). Neglected by her husband, Lady Brooke inaugurates an affair with a younger man. Meanwhile, Monica (Peggy Cummins), Brooke's daughter by a previous marriage, enters into her own romantic entanglement. When Sir Brian falls ill, his wife comes to her senses, and the result is lasting happiness for all, especially Monica. The story is set on the isle of Capri, allowing for several restful and pleasing landscape shots. That Dangerous Age was originally released as If This Be Sin. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Also known as Stairway to Heaven, A Matter of Life and Death is the remarkable British fantasy film that became the surprise hit of 1946. David Niven stars as Peter Carter, a World War II RAF pilot who is forced to bail out of his crippled plane without a parachute. He wakes up to find he has landed on Earth utterly unharmed...which wasn't supposed to happen according to the rules of Heaven. A celestial court argues over whether or not to claim Carter's life or to let him survive to wed his American sweetheart (Kim Hunter). During an operation, in which Carter hovers between life and death, he dreams that his spirit is on trial, with God (Abraham Sofaer) as judge and Carter's recently deceased best friend (Roger Livesey) as defense counsel. The film tries to have it both ways by suggesting that the heavenly scenes are all a product of Carter's imagination, but the audience knows better. Among the curious but effective artistic choices in A Matter of Life and Death was the decision to film the earthbound scenes in Technicolor and the Heaven sequences in black-and-white. The film was a product of the adventuresome team known as "The Archers": Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's much-lauded epic Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, which satirizes British traditionalism, stirred up impassioned hostilities and indignations among the Brits when released in 1943. It so infuriated Winston Churchill, in fact, that he refused to allow its exportation to other countries, particularly the U.S. When Blimp finally did premiere in the States in 1945, it screened in a drastically cut version. The sweeping story covers several decades. It begins at the tail end of the Boer War, when handsome young British officer Clive Candy, recently back from the battlefront, is infuriated by his discovery that Deutschland papers have played up the British atrocities in South Africa, propagandistically. He grows so irate, in fact, that he travels to Germany to address the problem. Once there, he meets an attractive British educator, Edith Hunter (Deborah Kerr) who spends her days teaching English as a second language to German students. They grow close, but Candy so aggravates the local indigenes that he winds up in a duel with a German officer, Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook). The men wound each other and are sent to the same hospital, where they become friends. Candy - who doesn't yet realize he's fallen in love with Edith -- senses that Theo and Edith are attracted to one another, and encourages the couple's marital union. Candy subsequently returns to England, then falls for and marries Barbara (again played by Kerr), a nurse who bears a strong resemblance to Edith. She later dies, but Candy meets a third woman during WWII, Johnny (Kerr a third time), assigned to drive him from one locale to another during his campaigns. Meanwhile, Theo - disgusted by Nazi atrocities -- absconds to England, where he reencounters his old friend, now a prattering old shuffler rapidly approaching the end of his career and raving continuously about Nazi conduct (or lack thereof) in battle. Powell and Pressberger adapted Colonel Blimp from a comic strip; it became one of the hallmarks of their careers. ~ Sidney Jenkins, Rovi

The success of the British Q Planes spawned a brief cycle in airborne espionage pictures--at least until all British aircraft was impounded for actual combat use. The title Spies of the Air tells all: The central character is a test pilot who turns out to be in the employ of The Enemy. Since the film is adapted from Jeffrey Dell's stage play Official Secrets, much of the action takes place on the ground. The flight sequences blend stock footage and newly-shot aerial scenes with acceptable expertise. Spies of the Air was filmed in 1939, but not released until 1940--by which time its topicality had increased tenfold. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Drum is an opulent Technicolor "British India" epic, based on a story by A.E.W. Mason (of Four Feathers fame). Teenaged actor Sabu stars as a young East Indian prince educated in England. By rights, his loyalties should lie with his countrymen, but in typical "Sun Never Sets" fashion most of the other Indian characters are as evil and untrustworthy as Prince Guhl (Raymond Massey). Guhl plans a revolt against the British, intending to wipe out the Royal troops as the English officers enjoy the hospitality of Guhl's spacious palace. It's up to Sabu to warn the troops of Guhl's treachery by means of tapping out a message on the drum of the title. In the US, The Drum was released as Drums, on the theory (according to film historian Alan Barbour) that Americans must have more of everything. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lightning steadfastly refused to strike twice for the director/actor team of Alexander Korda and Charles Laughton. Though the pair had scored an international success with the 1933 quasi-biopic The Private Life of Henry VIII, they couldn't make the magic happen again with 1936's Rembrandt. Laughton's performance is solid throughout, and Korda's recreation of Rembrandt's Holland is meticulous, but the film suffers from a lack of overall dramatic tension. Except for his artistic achievements and the deaths of his two wives, nothing really "happens" to Rembrandt--at least nothing as colorful as the escapades of Henry VIII. The best element of the film is the successful effort by cinematographer Georges Perinal to recreate the famous "Rembrandt lighting" effect in each scene. Laughton is given fine support by Elsa Lanchester (his real-life wife), and by legendary stage star Gertrude Lawrence in a rare film role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi