Roland Bartrop Movies
- 1966
An evil scientist attempts to use his newly designed satellite to sterlize everyone on earth. Fortunately two savvy secret agents are set on the case to stop him. Basically this is a low grade, low budget Italian mish-mash of comedy and spy films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Connors, Dorothy Provine, (more)
- 1965
A woman seeks justice for herself, her family, and her people in this emotional drama. Judith (Sophia Loren) is a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp; she was once married to Gustav Schiller (Hans Verner), a German, but with the onset of WWII, he threw his support behind the ruling Nazi party, and when his marriage to Judith went sour, he turned her in as a Jew, along with their son. While Judith made it out of the camp alive, she has no idea what happened to her son. In 1947, Palestine, still under British rule, is being torn apart by fighting between Jewish and Arab forces, and Gustav, now wanted as a war criminal, has re-appeared there, leading a squadron of Arab terrorists. Aaron Stein (Peter Finch), is the head of an underground Jewish battalion called Haganah, and he needs help in ferreting out Gustav and learning what he's planning. He enlists the aid of Judith, who is just as eager as Stein to see Gustav put out of commission, as she seeks revenge for what he did to her and their child. Judith also features Jack Hawkins as Major Lawton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Peter Finch, (more)
- 1963
In this Italian WW II comedy, an Italian colonel leads the invasion of Montegreco, a small town on the Greek-Albanian border. British troops also try to take over the village. The townsfolk are unconcerned as the two sides have "invaded" them more than threescore times already. The townies care nothing about the war and freely associate with soldiers from both sides. When the story begins, the Italians are currently holding the town. The trouble begins when the British colonel heads back to the pub to retrieve a forgotten pipe and ends up taken prisoner. His soldiers retaliate and take two Italians. They then trade hostages for two cases of whiskey. The two sides continue their little tug-of-war until the Nazis attack and order Montegreco destroyed. The Italian colonel attempts to arrest the German officer in charge, but he is captured by the SS who order his execution. Fortunately, the British officer again saves him and the two decide to join forces and stop the real invaders. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Totò, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1962
Steve Reeves once again dons sandals and hoists a sword to come to the dashing rescue of the oppressed masses in this routine Roman tale of the good old days when men were unbelievably muscular, invulnerable fighting machines. Randus (Steve Reeves) is a centurion assigned to Rome's army in Egypt in the first century B.C. who finds out, one fine day, that he is actually the son of the legendary Spartacus. Inspired by this new identity, he decides to continue with his centurion's duties as a cover and dedicate himself to freeing the slaves that labor for the unjust and brutal Cesare Grassus (Claudio Gora). When not overcoming the forces that keep people enslaved, Randus has time for Clodia (Gianna Maria Canale) and some relief from all that fighting. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Reeves, Jacques Sernas, (more)
- 1961
This war drama, set in WW II, chronicles the endeavors of a Canadian pilot who attempts to help French villagers fight the Germans on their own. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Ball, Lisa Daniely, (more)
- 1960
Although there may be a few minor gaps here and there in the storyline, Faces in the Dark is a suspenseful drama by director David Eady. Richard Hammond (John Gregson) owns a factory, and on the very day his wife Christine (Mai Zetterling ) is coming to his office to tell him she wants a divorce, he is accidentally blinded during an experiment. His wife relents in her decision, but Richard is still as abrasive as ever, and now the bumpy spots in his personality are made worse by self-pity and a suspicion that he is losing his sanity. Meanwhile, Richard begins to suspect that the cool and aloof Christine and Richard's partner conspire against him, but as a blind man he has fewer resources to pinpoint why he is suspicious. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gregson, Mai Zetterling, (more)
- 1959
In this British comedy, two look-a-likes, an airman and a secret agent, find double trouble when they are assigned a top-secret task by their government. The airman is to impersonate the agent to confuse the Nazis while the real agent sneaks into France to investigate the new buzz bombs. Unfortunately, their orders get switched and the airman ends up in France. When he is accidentally shot back to Europe inside one of the defused bombs, the airman becomes a national hero. Meanwhile the real agent tries and tries to prove his true identity. No one listens. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Eschewing the Shakespearean original title (it's a quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream), the British Ill Met by Moonlight was released stateside as Night Ambush. This superb Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger concoction is set during World War II on the island of Crete. Dirk Bogarde and David Oxley play Major Paddy Leigh Fermer and Captain Billy Stanley Moss, two British officers whose job it is to kidnap Nazi general Karl Kreipe (Marius Goring) and spirit him off to Cairo. The motive of this mission is to weaken German morale on Crete and to provide hope to the enslaved locals. With the help of a group of resistance fighters, Fermer and Moss manage to trap the general; now they must transport their captive back to their own lines, avoiding German patrols every inch of the way. Originally 104 minutes, Ill Met by Moonlight was cut to 93 minutes by its American distributor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, Marius Goring, (more)
