Daniel Massey Movies
London-born Daniel Massey is the son of Canadian actor Raymond Massey and British actress Adrienne Allen. Daniel was nine years old when he made his first film appearance in 1942's In Which We Serve, playing the son of his real-life godfather, Noel Coward. Twenty-six years later, Massey was Oscar- nominated for his portrayal of the selfsame Coward in the Gertrude Lawrence biopic Star (1968). Essentially a stage actor, the Eton-educated Massey has appeared in films on an average of once every two years, nearly always playing bored, brittle cynics. One of his later films was In the Name of the Father (1993), in which he played the prosecutor (and persecutor) of Daniel Day-Lewis. Massey has been married twice, to actresses Adrienne Corri and Penelope Wilton. Daniel Massey's younger sister, Anna Massey, has also pursued a successful stage and screen career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1960
A humorous, sometimes absurd and sometimes just light-hearted comedy, this story sets up the premise of a couple's search for a housemaid, with a series of impossible women providing the hilarity. When Richard and Kate (Michael Craig and Anne Heywood) return from their honeymoon, they discover that Kate's father has given them a maid as a wedding gift. The trouble is that the maid has a good portion of the U.S. Navy in the house when they arrive, in a more-or-less wild orgy. Exit maid. The couple then hire Rosemary (Joan Hickson) who tipples to excess, making her service at a dinner party an insurmountable challenge. Exit Rosemary. Enter Blodwen (Joan Sims) a homesick woman from Wales who cannot live outside her native environment. Exit Blodwen. And so it goes, even through a gorgeous French maid (Mylene Demongeot) who causes more than a mild uproar among the couple's friends. It seems the help is either too bad or too good. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Craig, Anne Heywood, (more)
Laurence Olivier recreates his stage role of Archie Rice in this in-your-face film adaptation of John Osborne's play. The son of a legendary music hall comedian (Roger Livesey), Archie is strictly a third-rater, headlining a tacky music hall revue in a seedy seaside resort town. Archie can't admit that he's a failure, and his grim insouciance destroys everyone around him. Archie finagles his dying father into financing one last revue; he cheats shamelessly on his alcoholic wife (Brenda De Banzie); and he all but forces one of his sons (Albert Finney) to run off to join the army, only to die in the Suez. Through all his personal crises, Archie jigs and jabbers before his ever-diminishing audience, but by the end of the film he isn't even entertaining himself. Joan Plowright, who married Olivier shortly after completing The Entertainer, plays the film's one sympathetic character: Archie's daughter, whose love for her father blinds her to his flaws. The Entertainer was remade for television in 1976, with Jack Lemmon as Archie Rice and original songs by Marvin Hamlisch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Olivier, Brenda de Banzie, (more)
- 1959
Set in an anti-aircraft station along the British coast, this light comedy features Donald Sinden as Lt. Gordon Brown and Barbara Murray as his wife, Private Betty Brown. When a group of female recruits are posted to the base, the handsome lieutenant attracts their attention, especially the attention of blonde charmer Private Marge White (Carole Lesley). Then Lt. Brown's wife Betty gets posted to the base as well, and that causes no end of trouble. Regulations require that they cannot be working out of the same place, and so they hide their relationship. Meanwhile, the enamored Marge does not have a clue and neither does Major Pym (Naunton Wayne). The good Major then gives the flummoxed lieutenant leave to go visit his wife, and matters deteriorate even more. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sinden, Barbara Murray, (more)
- 1958
The celebrated stage farce 3DThe Middle Watch3D was the basis of the maritime comedy 3DGirls at Sea3D. While briefly in port, the British battleship 3DScotia3D, hosts a wild party, brimming over with wine, women and more women. Three of the female revellers-Mary (Ann Kimball), Jill (Mary Steele) and Antoinette (Nadine Tallier) are inadvertently left on board when the 3DScotia3D sets sail. It's up to the ship's by-the-book captain (Guy Rolfe) to keep the ladies safe-and out of sight-as the 3DScotia3D engages in maneuvers off the coast of Italy. Michael Hordern has some dryly amusing moments as the hapless Admiral, who suspects that something's amiss-but never suspects that it's 3Dthree3D misses. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Rolfe, Ronald Shiner, (more)
- 1955
Opening with elaborate preparations for the Queen of England's birthday, The Queen's Guards introduces the audience via voiceover to John Fellowes, a young captain overseeing the participation of the Grenadier Guards in the celebratory parade. A series of flashbacks follow, which fill the viewer in on John's difficult past: a crippled father who is a former Guardsman himself and maintains an obsessive interest with the Guards; a dead brother (also a Guardsman) to whom John is constantly (and unfavorably) compared by his father; and difficulties encountered during his military training when he learns his brother died a coward and caused the death or injury of many of his colleagues (including the father of a girl in whom John has a romantic interest.) Eventually, John is placed in charge of a military operation that has many parallels to the ill-fated one led by his brother, putting him in the position to either repeat his brother's mistakes or atone for them and thereby restore the family's honor. The film mixes shot of actors portraying Guards with footage of actual Guardsmen and soldiers on parade and in action, and also includes some location shots of Battersea Bridge and the Prospect of Whitby. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Massey, Raymond Massey, (more)
Few morale-boosting wartime films have retained their power and entertainment value as emphatically as Noël Coward's In Which We Serve. To witness Coward's sober, no-nonsense direction (in collaboration with his co-director/editor, David Lean) and to watch his straightforward portrayal of navy captain Kinross, one would never suspect that he'd built his theatrical reputation upon sophisticated drawing-room comedies and brittle, witty song lyrics. The real star of In Which We Serve is the British destroyer Torrin. Torpedoed in battle, the Torrin miraculously survives, and is brought back to English shores to be repaired. The paint is barely dry and the nuts and bolts barely in place before the Torrin is pressed into duty during the Dunkirk evacuation. The noble vessel is finally sunk after being dive-bombed in Crete, but many of the crew members survive. As they cling to the wreckage awaiting rescue, Coward and his men flash back to their homes and loved ones, and, in so doing, recall anew just why they're fighting and for whom they're fighting. Next to Coward, the single most important of the film's characters is Shorty Blake, played by John Mills. (Trivia note: Mills' infant daughter Juliet Mills appears as Shorty's baby.) Even so, the emphasis in the film is on teamwork; here as elsewhere, there can be no stars in wartime. For many years, the only prints available to television were from the bowdlerized American version, which crudely cut out all "hells" and "damns." Fortunately, this eviscerated American release has since been shelved in favor of the full, glorious 115-minute version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noël Coward, John Mills, (more)
