Alexandra Bastedo Movies

After struggling unsuccessfully to fit into a variety of unflattering outfits, Edina (Jennifer Saunders) tries to cook up yet another quick weight-loss plan, much to the annoyance of Saffy (Julia Sawalha), who points out that her mother eats, drinks, and smokes incessantly and takes no exercise, therefore guaranteeing a continued weight problem. The issue takes on a degree of urgency when Bubble (Jane Horrocks) reveals that Penny Casper-Morse (Alexandra Bastedo) -- a rail-thin old nemesis of Eddy's from the old days -- will arrive in a few days to talk about a possible business deal. Patsy (Joanna Lumley) advises emergency liposuction (with a bit of collagen injection for good measure), but a nightmare in which her body is vacuumed away to a wisp convinces Eddy that exercise is the real answer. However, after a workout session with Patsy's new beau, the fit and fabulous Georgy (Anthony Asbury), Eddy is ready to go under the knife -- especially when she learns that Penny will be arriving early. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on November 19, 1992, Absolutely Fabulous: Fat marked series one, episode two of this popular Brit-com. June Whitfield makes her first non-flashback appearance as Mother/Gran, while Christopher Malcolm provides his first of many guest spots as Justin -- Edina's gay ex-husband and Saffy's father. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

A pre-stardom John Candy first teamed with John Dane in the wacky Canadian comedy-melodrama It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. Playing the same characters--a pair of incompetent cops--Candy and Dane reunited for Find the Lady. Alas, even Candy's considerable comic gifts couldn't save this muddled story about an heiress' kidnapping. At times the level of humor is so low that it's positively subterranean. Following John Candy's Second City TV success, Find the Lady was picked up by several videotape distributors and released under a dizzying variety of titles, including Call the Cops and Kopek and Broom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alien Oro is an expansion of an episode from the Canadian sci-fi TV series The Starlost. Walter Koenig of Star Trek fame guest-stars as Oro, an extraterrestrial who comes upon "space outcast" Ydana (Alexandra Bastedo). Unable to survive outside her own environment, Ydana is doomed to a horrible demise. Originally sent by his home planet to investigate the Ark (the 28th century space vessel that served as the setting for Starlost), Oro now devotes his energies to returning Ydana to her own world. Starlost regulars Keir Dullea, Robin Ward and Gay Rowan also appear, as usual. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vicente Aranda directed this erotic horror film, continuing themes which he had explored in the previous year's Exquisite Cadaver. Alexandra Bastedo stars as a lesbian vampire who woos frigid newlywed Maribel Martin away from her husband Simon Andreu on their honeymoon. Aranda fills the film with haunting imagery, gorgeously photographed by veteran cinematographer Fernando Arribas, and the story's sometimes illogical twists are compensated for with heavy, skillfully-crafted atmosphere. The American video print of this stylish vampire film is missing almost 20 minutes, so viewers are advised to seek out an uncut version. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

The British/American co-production My Lover, My Son stars Romy Schneider as Frances, the unhappy wife of businessman Robert (Donald Houston). When her lover is accidentally drowned, Frances turns to her teenaged son James (Dennis Waterman) for comfort. Her husband doesn't like this set-up and bundles James off to college, but upon his return the boy enters into an affair with his own mother. Robert discovers the incestuous couple in an embrace and reacts violently, whereupon Frances kills him in self defense. Knocked unconscious during the struggle, James thinks he is the killer and takes the rap. The boy is released on the grounds of self defense and returns to his mother -- only to renounce her when he discovers that he's the illegitimate son of his mother's dead lover. MGM was the American distributor for My Lover, My Son, and that low vibration you feel is Louis B. Mayer spinning in his grave. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The moral dilemma of a young Catholic woman is intensified when her religion forbids the use of birth control. When her own mother dies during childbirth on her wedding day, the woman becomes fraught with a fury of anger, guilt and sexual dysfunction. The woman is forced to care for the seven children her mother left behind as the groom must leave on business, and the tirades of a narrow-minded priest further complicate the relationship between the newlyweds. This film is meant to pose serious questions of universal concern to those who follow the path of religious dogma insisted upon by the church. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this British comedy, two fellows go on vacation to the Riviera and end up entangled with a ring of jewel thieves and in love with a seductive moll. The crooks trick the twosome into helping them, and a riotous chase involving a helicopter and a pair of water skis ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An international bevy of beautiful teenage girls represent their countries as the daughters of diplomats. The teenage temptresses use their feminine wiles to steal some top-secret files vital to the survival of freedom-loving nations everywhere. Produced and directed by William Castle, the drawbridge of the film's plot falls between suspense and comedy and ends up mired in a moat of demeaning international caricatures. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide