John Longden Movies

In this sci-fi murder mystery, a scientist uses himself as a subject in an experiment with cryogenic suspended animation and ends up accused of murdering his ex-wife. Fortunately, his girl friend is around to prove that he was on ice when the murder occurred. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An innocent young woman is falsely accused of robbery and sent to a hellish reform school in this socially conscious prison drama. There the woman is tormented by a ruthless matron who treats her charges like POWs. Meanwhile, the inmate struggles to escape so she can prove herself innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, an amiable widow must use her savings to raise her son. One day she happens upon some stolen money which she takes and squirrels away for her boy's education. Unfortunately, the thieves return to find it. Fortunately, a friend is there to defend her from them, and later she turns the money into the police. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Originally titled Quatermass II, Enemy from Space was the sequel to The Quatermass Xperiment (US title: The Creeping Unknown). Based on the British TV serial by Nigel Kneale (who reportedly disliked the finished product), the film stars Brian Donlevy, repeating the role of Professor Quatermass. This time, the good professor must contend with a "meteor shower" which turns out to be a secret alien invasion. The extraterrestrials arrive on earth in rocklike vehicles, then take over the minds and nervous systems of earthlings, the better to go about their business undetected. Subliminally a cruel satire of British bureaucracy and obfuscation, Enemy from Space also works on a pure-horror level, building slowly and methodically to a powerhouse finale. For many years a "lost" film due to legal tangles, Enemy from Space has recently become available again on video and cable TV. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Attenborough stars as a former crew member of a British gunboat, which was distinguished by a heroic wartime record. Attenborough and several fellow ex-crewmen buy the vessel in peacetime. They clean, paint and renovate the ship, then proceed to launch a smuggling operation. The film gradually veers towards fantasy as the ship itself assumes a "conscience" and starts to rebel against the crew's criminal activity. The Ship That Died of Shame tempers its moralizing with some first-rate comedy vignettes during the renovation sequences. The film was shorn of nearly 15 minutes and retitled PT Raiders for its first American run, but both original title and full running time were restored for television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hollywood's Danziger brothers dashed off the British The Count of Twelve in approximately two weeks. With only 51 minutes' worth of running time, the storytelling has to be quick and to the point, and it is. The film is divided into two separate but tenuously connected plotlines. In the first, a man tries to avoid being murdered at the stroke of midnight, only to expire from a heart attack. In the second, a doctor's intended adulterous affair comes to an ironic-and tragic-sudden conclusion. One suspects that Count of Twelve was the pilot for a never-produced TV anthology series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dangerous Cargo is yet another hour-long British crime potboiler. Jack Watling stars as a security guard who is strongarmed into assisting a robbery gang. The highlight of the film is an intricate gold heist, making one wish that someone more inspired than John Harlow had directed this sequence. Susan Stephen is the disposable heroine, while Karel Stepanek wins the film's acting honors as the criminal mastermind. Dangerous Cargo enjoyed a robust second life on American TV in the early 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Magic Box was the English film industry's contribution to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Its all-star cast generously forsook their usual salaries for the privilege of paying tribute to that unsung pioneer of cinema, William Friese-Greene, here played by Robert Donat. Adapted by Eric Ambler from the controversial biography by Ray Allister, Magic Box contends that Friese-Greene was the true father of motion pictures, and not such upstarts as W. K. L. Dickson and Thomas Edison. Told in flashback, the film details Friese-Greene's tireless experiments with the "moving image," leading inexorably to a series of failures and disappoints, as others hog the credit for the protagonist's discoveries. The huge cast includes such British film luminaries as Joyce Grenfell, Miles Malleson, Michael Redgrave, Eric Portman, Emlyn Williams, Richard Attenborough, Peter Ustinov, Cecil Parker, Kay Walsh, and, best of all, Laurence Olivier as the confused bobby who witnesses Friese-Greene's first motion picture demonstration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective Sherlock Holmes had been an occasional visitor to BBC television since the inauguration of the service in the mid-'30s, the character did not settle down into a weekly TV series until October 20, 1951. Alan Wheatley, later to gain international fame as the Sheriff of Nottingham on the TV version of The Adventures of Robin Hood, was cast as Holmes, with Raymond Francis as Dr. Watson, Bill Owen as Inspector Lestrade, and Iris Vandelur as housekeeper Mrs. Hudson. The stories drawn from the original Doyle canon were adapted for the small screen by one-time movie critic C.A. Lejeune. Seen in six 40-minute doses, Sherlock Holmes ended its run on December 1, 1951. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, bank robbers are exiled to an island off the English coast. They are caught in raging seas and would have died had not the two lighthouse keepers come to their aid. The crooks then try to persuade the keepers into letting them escape. It almost works. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A bored cabaret chanteuse decides to descend into the world of crime for some much needed excitement in this outing. Along the way she and her partner learn about a conspiracy to steal valuable art and sell it outside the country. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In one of his rare visits to his home turf, British actor David Niven essayed the title role in Bonnie Prince Charlie. The film's principal challenge was to transform 18th-century Scottish Prince Charles into a sympathetic character, which, patriotism aside, he most decidedly was not in real life. The court-intrigue scenes are the weakest aspect of the film; the strongest moments take place on the battlefield, where Charles "the pretender" and his followers face down the battalions of King George II (Martin Miller). Even in defeat, Charles is the victor, successfully eluding his British pursuers and escaping to France. Filmed in Technicolor at a cost of $4 million, Bonnie Prince Charlie fell with a thud when it premiered at a kidney-busting 140 minutes. Subsequent reissues were cut by as many as 40 minutes, and some were economically reprocessed in black-and-white. Thanks to constant exposure on American television, this notorious flop finally posted a profit in the late 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 1948 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was produced in England by Alexander Korda, and released in the US by 20th Century-Fox. Vivien Leigh plays the title role, a 19th-century Russian gentlewoman married to Czarist official Ralph Richardson. Though her marriage is not intolerable, Anna is swept off her feet by dashing young military officer Vronsky, played by Kieron Moore. The ensuing scandal ruins Anna's status in society. Anna Karenina had previously been filmed twice in Hollywood, with both versions starring Greta Garbo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide