William Lucas Movies

During an important conference, a key delegate suddenly runs out of the building and into the street, where he is promptly killed by an automobile. It turns out that the dead man had had premonitions of just such a tragedy, and all the other delegates have had similar premonitions. It's up to Steed and Emma to find out just what's been going on. . .and to prevent what seems to be the grim inevitable. Written by Philip Levene, "Death's Door" was originally broadcast in England on October 7, 1967; its first American telecast took place on January 31, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's Hoppity Goes To Town with sex in this 1963 British version of the old chestnut concerning an innocent country lass who travels to the big city and becomes corrupted, in this film version of Patrick Hamilton's novel The Street Has a Thousand Skies. Janet Munro runs the gamut of emotions as Jennie, a young girl from Wales who, with her girlfriend, is seduced and abandoned by a couple of heartless creeps in London, where she is later befriended by a kindly bartender John Stride. But Jennie snubs the bartender and takes up with a an unfeeling playboy. However, Jennie has gone around the park one time too many and is now torn between going back home or committing suicide. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this British crime drama, bank robbers accidently detonate a bomb left over from WW II while tunneling into a bank vault. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this detective film, a Chinese detective breaks up a drug smuggling ring and tries to find the "Daffodil Killer." The drug smugglers had devised the ingenious method of smuggling heroin from Hong Kong in the stems of daffodils. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The TARDIS travels to the distant future, only to be apparently destroyed in a crash-landing. Surviving the ordeal, the Doctor (Peter Davison), Tegan (Janet Fielding), and Turlough (Mark Strickson) discover that they have landed on the planet Frontios -- which has been selected as the new home of a group of colonists from the nuclear-devastated planet Earth. Not unexpectedly, there are several dangers lurking behind each corner in the four-episode adventure "Frontios"; written by Christopher H. Bidmead, the first episode originally aired on January 26, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the third episode of the four-part story "Frontios," the titular planet has become the new home for the crew of the TARDIS, as well as a group of survivors from a nuclear holocaust on planet earth. But all is not tranquil for the new arrivals, thanks to the presence of a hyperintelligent insectoid race called the Tractators. Having burrowed beneath the planet's surface, the Tractators intend to convert Frontios into their own private space vessel -- which of course will spell the doom for everyone else in the vicinity, including the Doctor (Peter Davison). Originally telecast on February 2, 1984, "Frontios, Episode 3" was written by Christopher H. Bidmead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, the commanding officer of a British Royal Air Force flight training school must deal with an ornery, irresponsible cadet. The lad reminds the officer of himself when he was young. It also reminds him that his own youthful arrogance and foolishness caused the death of the new recruit's father. The young man only settles down when the C.O. saves him during maneuvers. The boy is injured during the flight which gives him serious pause for thought. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A real-life historical incident becomes the basis for this military thriller from director Kathryn Bigelow that's reminiscent of such submarine dramas as Das Boot (1981), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Crimson Tide (1995), and U-571 (2000). Harrison Ford stars as Captain Alexi Vostrikov, a Russian naval officer who's being given command of the Soviet Union's first nuclear submarine, K-19, at the height of the Cold War in 1961. The vessel's previous commander, Captain Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson) has been demoted to executive officer following a botched test and his outspoken assertions that the flagship is not yet ready for deployment, but he curbs his resentment and resolves to serve his new superior well. Polenin's concerns are well founded: parts are not yet installed, equipment is missing, and the ship's doctor is killed in an auto mishap. Political pressure forces Vostrikov to sail his crew into the North Atlantic anyway, for a missile fire test that serves as a warning to the U.S. that its enemy is now its technological equal. The test is a success, but a disastrous leak in the K-19's reactor cooling system soon threatens to create enough heat to detonate the craft's nuclear payload -- which would certainly be mistaken for the first salvo in a worldwide atomic exchange and spark the beginning of World War III. With no other option, Vostrikov orders his men to repair the damage in ten-minute shifts, irradiating them hopelessly. The conflict between the seemingly bureaucratic Communist Vostrikov and the more humane Polenin escalates, until a surprising twist reveals where both officers' loyalties truly lie. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Also titled The Price of Freedom, Operation Daybreak is a retelling of the terrible consequences attending the assassination of Nazi-occupation leader Richard Heydrich. When Heydrich puts all of Czechoslovakia under his thumb, a group of Czech expatriates parachute into their homeland to kill the man known as "The Hangman." They succeed, and in retaliation the Nazis wipe the tiny Czech village of Lidice off the map, killing its male residents and carting off its women and children to concentration camps. For the purposes of the plot, assassins Timothy Bottoms and Martin Shaw survive the massacre, albeit only briefly. The Heydrich/Lidice tragedy was previously dramatized in two wartime films, Hangmen Also Die (1943) and Hitler's Madman (1943). Operation Daybreak was adapted from Seven Men at Daybreak, a novel by Alan Burgess. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Postmark for Danger was filmed in England, where it was released as Portrait of Alison. Terry Moore stars as an American actress who becomes the unwitting dupe in a diamond-smuggling schemes. Ingredients essential to the action are a beautiful strangulation victim (Josephine Green), an unusual charm bracelet, a curiously labelled bottle of chianti, and a hastily sketched drawing on the back of a postcard. The screenplay, by cinematographer Guy Green (who also directed), was adapted from a popular British TV serial. Released stateside by RKO Radio, Postmark for Danger was produced by Tony Owen, the husband of actress Donna Reed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Motion Picture Production Code was still in effect (albeit weakly) when Sons and Lovers was filmed in 1960, so don't expect a thoroughly frank and faithful adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence novel. Set in an English mining town, the film focuses on Paul Morel (Dean Stockwell), the sensitive son of a roughhewn, alcoholic miner (Trevor Howard) and his gentle, repressed wife (Wendy Hiller). Intent on becoming an artist, Paul is not above depending upon the financial kindnesses of the young women of the town. Many of the girls carry a torch for him, but his strong bonds to his mother leave him emotionally sapped. Freddie Francis's evocative, grimy industrial-town cinematography won him an Academy Award. Despite censorial restrictions, this admirably captures the essence of the dour Lawrence original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, set in Devon, England, a writer, a fugitive and his sister, and a detective must solve a murder at a smuggler's farm. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An ex-con turned truck driver is able to find out that the kidnapper's vehicle had counterfeit plates giving the police their only lead in a child's kidnapping case. ~ All Movie Guide