Lynsey Baxter Movies

Veteran British filmmaker Philip Saville directs the religious epic The Gospel of John, a production of the Canadian company Visual Bible International. This three-hour drama attempts to accurately follow the Gospel According to John, written sometime during the first century. The gospel contains four segments: an introduction to the nature of Jesus Christ; testimony by disciples and the presence of miracles; the Last Supper and crucifixion; and the appearance of the risen Christ. Henry Ian Cusick plays Jesus and Christopher Plummer provides voice-over narration. The Gospel of John was shown in a special presentation at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

The naked body of a murdered little girl is found in a forest surrounding a small Eastern European town. It's the third case in a row, and local police detective Victor Marek (Richard E. Grant) is on the killer's trail, but his superior, Novak (James Laurenson), needs to solve the crime quickly in order to boost his political career. So he arrests some suspicious hippie who later hangs himself in a prison cell. Though Marek is ordered to close the case, he continues to work on it on his own. He rents an old gas station and a house in the area where the murders took place. Working from a drawing done by one of the murdered girls he tries to find the clues for the identity of the killer. Marek becomes so obsessed with his quest that when he meets Milena (Lynsey Baxter), a single young woman with a little daughter (Perdita Weeks), he does not hesitate to use the child as the bait for the criminal. Though the film plot bears a strong resemblance to Sean Penn's movie The Pledge, it is actually a remake of the 1958 German film It Happened in Broad Daylight, scripted by Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt, who later reworked his original screenplay into the novel The Pledge. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

In this psychological drama, every significant moment leading to John Healy's slide into alcoholism and his unlikely redemption is shown. As the son of an Irish father growing up in England, he is mercilessly ridiculed by his schoolmates. It's little wonder that he takes to boxing as a means to self-esteem. However, his boxing days are soon over, and when his fragile self-esteem deteriorates, he hangs out with homeless alcoholics and gets imprisoned with them. While in prison, he grows intrigued by the game of chess, and soon he's beating everybody in sight. After he gets out, he begins to be a power in the chess world, but his lower-class origins keep him from enjoying the social success that should come with that. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This British TV movie was first telecast as Golden Eye: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming. While it should not be confused with either the 1996 James Bond epic Goldeneye or the 1989 made-for-cable The Secret Life of Ian Fleming, there are certain story elements common to all three properties. Novelist Ian Fleming (Charles Dance) wanders between fantasy and reality during his formative experiences with gambling, womanizing and espionage. Every so often, Fleming's creation James Bond materializes to pick up where his creator leaves off. Secret Agent 007 is played by Reg Gadney, who also wrote the screenplay. Golden Eye is based on the novel by John Pearson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Girl on a Swing, a haunting, mystery thriller with a supernatural twist, is the story of a desperate woman, who will do anything to be with the man she loves. Karin Foster (Meg Tilly), a lonely German secretary, falls in love with and marries Alan (Rupert Frazier) and moves with him to England. There her strange behavior and fears strain the marriage and lead Alan to mistrust his wife and begin to delve into her past. Based on the novel by Richard Adams, the film is not entirely successful due to the leisurely direction of Gordon Hessler and the lack of pace needed to create genuine suspense. But despite this flaw, the sensitive performance of Meg Tilly makes the film well worth watching and is a haunting psychological exploration of obsession, passion and guilt. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

Like the Virginia Woolf novel which it interprets, this 1983 BBC production has three parts: "The Window," "Time Passes," and "The Lighthouse." The first focuses on one day in the life of the Ramsay family -- the father and mother, their eight children, and four guests -- while they vacation on the Cornwall peninsula in remote southwestern England. In conversations in the summer house, at the beach, during strolls, and at cricket and wrestling matches, the characters reveal their beliefs, their prejudices, and their longings in an era when old traditions are dying and new traditions are quickening. James, six -- a brat to his father but a dear to his mother -- repeatedly asserts his wish to visit a lighthouse on an island within easy rowing distance. His father Michael Gough refuses to go (and, thus, no one goes) because the weather isn't right. In a moment of dramatic irony, the self-centered father scolds the boy for always thinking only of himself. Self-effacing Mrs. Ramsay (Rosemary Harris) comforts the child. She also sees to the needs of other family members and guests, who have lighthouses of their own -- metaphorical ones -- to preoccupy them. Her daughter, Prue, for example, anticipates her coming marriage while visitor Lily Briscoe looks forward to her career as a painter. In defiance of social convention, Briscoe chooses to remain unmarried. The film depicts the second part of the novel, "Time Passes," with transitional scenes showing changes of season over ten years. During this period, Mrs. Ramsey dies, and Mr. Ramsey laments her death in a weeping spell, saying she never really understood that he loved her. In the final part, "The Lighthouse," James finally gets his wish when he, his father, and other members of the family row out to the towering beacon. On the shore, meanwhile, Lily Briscoe finishes a painting of Mrs. Ramsey. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi

Nine years after Jay Presson Allen's theatrical version of the Muriel Spark novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was adapted as a film with Maggie Smith in the title role, the property served as the basis for a seven-part British miniseries. Geraldine McEwan starred as Miss Jean Brodie, a highly unorthodox teacher in a 1930s Edinburgh private girl's school. Surrounded by adoring students, Miss Brodie did her best to instill the values of her pet political movement, Fascism, in the hearts of her "gels." Though the heroine was successful in countermanding the orders of her stern and fervently anti-fascist headmistress, she was finally defeated by the sly machinations of one of her students, who mounted a campaign to woo Miss Jean's beau away from her. In the end, Miss Jean's political fervor caused nothing but heartache and tragedy for everyone in her orbit. The TV version of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was shown via the ITV's Scottish Television service in 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi