Herbert Lomas Movies

Project M7 is the American title for the British The Net. Based on a novel by John Pudney, the film is set in an aviation research station. At the moment, the researchers are working on a revolutionary new aircraft, and competition to be first with the results is fierce. There's little love lost amongst the scientists, but no one expect the personal animosities to result in murder. The killing in question was committed by an enemy spy...but which one of the scientists is the guilty party? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

That deathless Edgar Wallace thriller The Ringer was taken out of cold storage once more in 1951. Donald Wolfit, whose legendary thespic excesses were later fictionalized in the stage play The Dresser, is perfectly cast as a vengeance-seeking master of disguise. He announces publicly that he intends to kill the crooked lawyer (Herbert Lom) responsible for his sister's death. What is more, The Ringer has even appointed the exact time of the lawyer's demise. Scotland Yard surrounds the lawyer with a battalion of constables...but no one knows what the Ringer looks like, nor what disguise he plans to adopt. 1951's The Ringer was the third talkie version of Wallace's classic tale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not a film about scientific research, The Guinea Pig (US title: The Outsider) is the story of an incipient "affirmative action" program. An impoverished young British boy wins a scholarship. As part of a sociological experiment, he becomes the first product of his "class" to be accepted in a snooty upper-crust public school. Most of the film concentrates on the effect this experiment has on the school staff. Written by actor Bernard Miles, who also plays a supporting role, The Guinea Pig stirred up controversy at the time of its release because of the presence of an alleged profanity in its dialogue. If you must know, it's the same "filthy word" Audrey Hepburn shouts at the Ascot races in My Fair Lady (64). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in Yorkshire in the 19th century, this period drama centers upon a family of mill owners. The story shifts from the well-to-do surroundings of the Crowther family to the less desirable conditions in the mill. While there are the usual crises, disasters, and labor clashes, the film manages to include a few humorous moments, mostly providing by top-billed comic actor Tom Walls. The production couldn't really hope for a profitable American run, but it did well in the provincial British cinemas. Master of Bankdam was based on the novel The Crowthers of Bankdam by Thomas Armstrong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While awaiting access to England's Technicolor cameras for their upcoming super-production Stairway to Heaven, the producer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger dashed off a delightful "personal" project, I Know Where I'm Going. Young middle-class Englishwoman Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) is determined to have the finer things in life, and to that end she plans to marry Sir Robert Bellinger (Norman Shelley), a wealthy, middle-aged industrialist whom she does not love. En route to the Island of Mull, where her future husband resides, Joan is stranded in a colorful Scottish seacoast town. Inclement weather keeps her grounded for a week, during which time she falls in love with young, insouciant naval officer Torquil McNeil (Roger Livesey). Ignoring the dictates of her heart (not to mention common sense), Joan stubbornly insists upon heading out to sea towards her marriage of convenience, but the exigencies of Mother Nature finally convince her that her future resides on the Mainland. A winner all the way, I Know Where I'm Going is full of large and small delights, including a wonderful sense of regional detail and endearing, three-dimensional characterizations (even the mercenary heroine is a likeable character). The film is easily one of the best of the Powell-Pressburger films of the 1940s, and arguably the team's all-time best romantic drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy of mistaken identity, an amiable fellow decides to help out his singing South American look-a-like who must fulfill a few obligations for his opera company. Mayhem ensues when the bogus singer finds himself pursued by paid assassins. Fortunately, the whole mess is straightened out in the end and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, a group of stranded passengers are terrified by the weird tales of a stationmaster who tells them of the "ghost train" that rumbles down the darkened tracks. It turns out that the phantasmical locomotive is very real and is used by a gang of arms smugglers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Matchless British comedy star Will Hay, he of the supercilious sniff and ill-fitting pince-nez, stars in Ask a Policeman, a follow-up to Hay's successful 1938 comedy-thriller Oh, Mr. Porter. Once again, the incompetent Hay is transferred to a place where he'll do the least amount of harm. This time he's an inept police sergeant, shipped away to a sleepy rural village where no crime has occurred for years. Bored out of his gourd, Hay, together with his perennial stooges Graham Moffatt (fat and cheeky) and Moore Marriott (toothless and senile), plots to "create" a crime wave by leaving a keg of brandy unprotected. They plan to arrest the first person who appropriates the keg and charge him with smuggling. Not surprisingly, the gleesome threesome runs afoul of genuine smugglers. As with most of the best Will Hay comedies of the 1930s, Ask a Policeman is top-heavy with behind-the-scenes talent: among the screenwriters were director Val Guest and frequent Hitchcock collaborator Sidney Gilliat. Best bit: Moore Marriot's rambling recitation of an ancient ghost legend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, a humble country girl lives her life in the ramshackle mansion of her aged uncle. Feeling sorry for her "poor" relation and selflessly keeping him company until he dies, she is later shocked to learn that he has left her an enormous fortune. One might think such a windfall a dream come true, but not for the girl. Things immediagely go wrong when her fiance, the town doctor, wanting to focus on his career, refuses to abandon his patients and go galavanting across Europe. Angrily, she goes anyway and finds herself surrounded by gigolos more interested in her assets than in her perosonality. This causes her to reasses her new values and return to the man who loves her for herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The war between England and Spain in the late 16th century serves as backdrop for the fictional machinations of Fire Over England. Laurence Olivier plays a British naval officer who offers his services to Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson) after his father is executed by the Spaniards. The queen dispatches Olivier to the court of Spain, there to determine which of her courtiers are actually spies for King Philip (Raymond Massey). Working under cover, Olivier learns that the Spaniards intend to send an armada to decimate the British navy. Barely escaping with his life, Olivier relays this information to his queen and also dispatches the traitors in her midst. Cast as one of Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting, Vivien Leigh appears in the role that brought her to the attention of Gone With the Wind producer David O. Selznick. Directed by Hollywood's William K. Howard, Fire Over England was based on a novel by A.E.W. Mason of Four Feathers fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

Three talented screenwriters collaborated in adapting Evadne Price and Joan Roy Byford's play The Haunted Light to the screen as Phantom Light. This British chiller-diller-thriller begins with the mysterious murder of a lighthouse keeper. After his death, the region is plagued by shipwrecks, each heralded by a "phantom light" beaming from the lighthouse. Female detective Binnie Hale teams with new keeper Gordon Harker and navy officer Ian Hunter to solve the mystery. Directed with a sure and steady hand by Michael Powell, The Phantom Light is infinitely superior to the quota-quickie melodramas then flooding the British film market. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Black Mask is a gentleman crook who robs from the rich to give to the deserving. A crusading newspaperman is sympathetic to the Black Mask's motives; nonetheless, he begins a print campaign to bring the criminal to justice. When the journalist is murdered, the Black Mask tops the suspect list. Naturally, he's innocent, and just as naturally he seeks out the real killer. We can't tell you here who plays the Black Mask; guessing is part of the film's enjoyment. The Black Mask is based on a novel by Bruce Graeme. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide