Zena Marshall Movies
British lead actress, onscreen from the '40s. ~ All Movie Guide- 1967
When he inadvertently contacts an alien race, astronomer Dr. Joe Burke, accompanied by his building and those within it, is transported to another galaxy. Upon arrival, the humans see a futuristic scenario of Earth's fate, as this barbaric world was once a civilized society. Terrornauts is based on a Will F. Jenkins novel, The Wailing Asteroid which Jenkins published under his pseudonym of Murray Leinster. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simon Oates, Zena Marshall, (more)
- 1965
- G
- Add Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines to QueueAdd Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines to top of Queue
Ken Annakin's large-canvas comedy Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines is set in 1910. In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley) offers 10,000 pounds to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. A huge number of hopefuls enter the contest, including the scheming Sir Percy Ware-Armitage (Terry-Thomas), who, with the help of his henchman Courtney (Eric Sykes), attempts to sabotage the other entries. There is also a love triangle featuring Orvil Newton (Stuart Whitman) and Richard Mays (James Fox) competing for the heart of Patricia Rawnsley (Sarah Miles). ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, (more)
- 1964
In this crime drama a Yankee visiting England ends up arrested for murder. Not wanting to go to prison, he tries to convince his partner into rigging the jury. Unfortunately for him, the partner double-crosses him and justice is served. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
The villains in the British The Switch are members of a wristwatch-smuggling gang. Poor Zena Marshall knows too much, so the gangs abducts her. Stalwart customs official Anthony Steel struggles manfully to rescue the girl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Terence Young directed this first of a long line of screen adventures with Ian Fleming's unflappable British Secret Service Agent 007 in a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek style that set the tone for the rest of the popular series. Sean Connery sets the standard by which all future takers must measure themselves as the insouciant and devil-may-care James Bond. The story concerns Bond being sent to Jamaica to investigate the murders of a British agent and his secretary. During his investigation, he comes into contact with the evil and unscrupulous Chinese scientist Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) who, living on an island called Crab Key, is hard at work in a nuclear laboratory. Dr. No's scheme is to divert rockets being fired from Cape Canaveral off their charted course and to blackmail the United States to get their rocket launches restored to normal. Helping Bond is Ursula Andress (mostly undressed in a bikini throughout most of the film), as well as bad gals like Zena Marshall, who almost leads Bond to his death in her bedroom, and Eunice Gayson, a Bond pickup in a London gambling house who proves herself a greater adversary than even James Bond can handle. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, (more)
- 1961
A business partner, desperate to milk some kind of profit from his failing cosmetics business, turns to arson with deadly results when he inadvertently immolates his partner while trying to destroy the factory. Still he succeeds in getting the insurance money. He then gets greedy and decides to do the same thing to his late partner's lovely daughter. Fortunately, an intrepid insurance investigator is on the case. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
This religious epic chronicles the rise to power of a humble but courageous shepherd boy who usurps a ruler and becomes king of Israel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Chandler, David Knight, (more)
- 1958
Zena Marshall guest stars as Tania, a beautiful scientist from behind the Iron Curtain. Hoping to defect to the West, Tania turns to "Invisible Man" Peter Brady for help, in exchange for assisting him in his efforts to become visible again. Alas, Tania's countrymen kidnap her and attempt to smuggle her back to the East in a coffin--forcing Brady once again to use his unique "gift" to foil the villains of the week. The episode's most memorable special effect is reserved for the end, wherein the unseen Brady commandeers a motorcycle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Let's Be Happy is an updated remake of Jeannie (1941), one of the most likable British comedies of the 1940s. The premise is basically the same: A working girl inherits a fortune, goes on a fling, is rescued from a caddish seducer by a down-to-Earth salesman. In Jeannie, the girl uses her legacy to get out of Scotland and tour the continent; in Let's Be Happy, the girl (Vera Ellen) is an American who travels to Scotland to assume ownership of her family's castle. Since stars Vera Ellen and Tony Martin (as the salesman) were musical comedy performers, Let's Be Happy obliging becomes a musical comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vera-Ellen, Tony Martin, (more)
- 1957
"Wild Bill" Elliot once again plays diligent police lieutenant Boyle in Footsteps in the Night. This time, Doyle investigates the murder of a friend, who was killed shortly after a high-stakes card game. The principal suspect is Henry Johnson (Douglas Dick), who was heavily in debt to the dead man. But Doyle finally deduces not only the identity of the actual killer (it's a real surprise!) but the misguided motivations that led to the crime. Much of the film was lensed just outside the studios of Allied Artists, fomerly Monogram and currently the home of Los Angeles' PBS outlet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Haggerty, Eleanore Tanin, (more)
- 1956
Ex-Hollywoodite A. Edward Sutherland co-directed the British programmer Bermuda Affair with Robert J. Shaw. Gary Merrill and Ron Randell play a pair of army chums who run a postwar air transport service. Reversing the cliché, it is Merrill, the homelier of the two men, who turns out to be a rat with women. Merrill messes around with Randell's wife Zena Marshall, but makes up for all past misdeeds when he gives up his own life to save his friend from certain doom. Filmed on location, Bermuda Affair was released worldwide by Hollywood's Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
This farce is the third movie version of Fred Duprez's play. A newlywed with a dominating mother-in-law attempts to surprise his wife with a baby grand piano, but when she overhears him talking about it, she mistakes it for an illegitimate child, particularly when his old flame shows up. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- 1955
The British omnibus thriller, Three Cases of Murder includes two supernatural tales and a straight whodunit. The first segment, "The Picture," was directed by Wendy Toye, based on a short story by Roderick Wilkinson. A museum tour guide, Jarvis (Hugh Pryse), is plagued by artworks going missing, and by the mysterious repeated breaking of the protective glass over a gloomy landscape painting. Jarvis is fascinated by the dark, foreboding house in the painting. One day while he's admiring it, he bumps into a stranger (Alan Badel, who appears in all three segments). Jarvis ends up following the stranger into the world of the painting with terrifying consequences. Eddie Byrne (General Willard in Star Wars) plays the demented taxidermist, Snyder. In the second segment, "You Killed Elizabeth," written by Sidney Carroll (who co-wrote The Hustler), and directed by David Eady, lifelong friends fall in love with the same woman. George (Emrys Jones) has always stood in Edgar's (John Gregson) shadow. The two have a falling out when they realize they both love Elizabeth (Elizabeth Sellars), and when she later turns up dead, it affects the friendship in a surprising way. Badel plays the friendly bartender, Harry. The final story, "Lord Mountdrago," was based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham. Directed by George More O'Ferrall, the segment stars Orson Welles as Lord Mountdrago, the officious secretary of state for foreign affairs. Mountdrago uses his oratory powers to destroy the career of a charismatic political opponent, Owen (Badel again). Mountdrago then finds himself tormented by the vengeful Owen, who seems to have found a way to enter his dreams. Andre Morrell (Bridge on the River Kwai) plays Mountdrago's baffled psychiatrist. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Badel, Hugh Pryse, (more)
- 1954
In this crime drama an insurance investigator takes a case from a pretty but troubled woman to save her from blackmail and ends up framed for murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1954
After being caught, a bank clerk embezzler flees the scene and is assisted by Marshall who has problems of her own as she is being blackmailed by a former lover. When the bank clerk saves her, he gets killed. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1953
The dangers faced by the men who built the first Mombassa-to-Uganda railroad are chronicled in this adventure. The story centers on the supervisor who must cope with a variety of travails including ferocious lions, an a missionary doctor who insists on going. Eventually, he and his hard-working crew overcome all obstacles and the project is finished. Along the way, he and the doctor fall in love, and in the end, marry. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1953
A dead man offers an escape for prison fugitive, Jones, who discovers the look-alike body and exchanges identities only to find out later that the dead man was a spy. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1952
A group of provincial actors are fond of their boss, less fond of his jealous wife. To keep wifey out of their hair, and incidentally to teach her a lesson, the troupe assumes a variety of bizarre disguises. She is allowed to assume the worst; the actors then have ever so much fun proving her wrong. Hugh Wakefield, who portrays the impresario with the inconvenient spouse, co-wrote the screenplay of The Caretaker's Daughter, which was based on a play by Guy Paxton and Edward V. Hole. The film was originally released in Britain as Love's a Luxury. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1952
Young Anthony Pendrell plays the precocious son of Scotland Yard inspector Norman Shelley. Pendrell's efforts to emulate his father usually results in nothing but irritation for his elders. But when a boarding house becomes the headquarters for a criminal gang, it is Pendrell who cracks the case. Blind Man's Buff top-bills Zena Marshall and Sydney Taffler, but Anthony Pendrell steals the show. Watch for ubiquitous British character-actor John le Mesurier as one of the crooks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this farce, an enigmatic writer begins using the pen-name Lom, a popular writer believed dead. The dead writer "returns" to peruse his newest book, which he didn't write. He soon meets the woman who is using his name and after several engaging misdirections, the two fall in love and marry. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1951
A foundering British submarine provides the basis for this gripping drama. The trouble begins when the sub strikes a mine. The sub cannot surface, and only twelve on board survived the blast. Now rescuers must save them, but more trouble ensues when the trapped men below are informed that due to the complexity of the operation, only eight can be saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1951
The Soho Conspiracy isn't a movie, it's a crazy quilt. The thin plot strand concerns a group of down and out residents of London's Soho district. Pooling their talents, these worthies put on a Big Show to save a church from falling apart. If the musical numbers seemed familiar to British filmgoers in 1951, it was no surprise. All the musical highlights in Soho Conspiracy were lifted bodily from earlier films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1950
The Lost People is a pedantic British drama set in a large, abandoned German theatre just after the War. A disparate group of homeless refugees huddle together within the structure. As they get to know each other, old wounds are opened, social and religious clashes break out, recriminations melt into reconciliations, and the theatre threatens to become a metaphor for the World At Large. In fact, it's not a threat but a foregone conclusion. The Lost People is based on Cockpit, a play by Bridget Boland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Morning Departure isn't about a commuter train but instead the story of an imperiled submarine. On a routine postwar mission, the sub strikes a forgotten mine and sinks to the bottom. The twelve-man crew comes face to face with the probability of permanent entombment and eventual suffocation; the tension is sharpened when it is learned that eight of the men will be able to escape, but four will have to stay behind. The film concentrates on the wildly varying reactions of the officers and crew, from stiff-lipped stoicism to raving lunacy. Based on a play by Kenneth Wooland, Morning Departure was released in America as Operation Disaster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Helen Cherry, (more)
