Leo McKern Movies

Based on the true story of a priest who risked his life in order to help people no one else would touch (a wager he would eventually lose), Father Damien stars David Wenham as the titular Belgian saint. In 1872, Damien, a young Catholic priest serving as a missionary near Hawaii, volunteers to spend three months working in a colony for victims of leprosy on the island of Molokai. When he arrives, he discovers the lepers have been herded to a barely inhabitable part of the island where they're treated like animals. Damien is shocked, and makes it his crusade to improve the lives of the lepers, planting trees to help buffer the island's strong winds and building huts to house the sicker members of the tribe. Damien also concerns himself with their spiritual needs, restoring a sense of dignity and self-respect among the diseased and urging them away from drinking, sex, and other sinful behavior. At first, Damien's pleas to the mainland for medicine, supplies, and medical help fall on deaf ears, but soon the press picks up on Damien's story -- which only angers the Hawaiian government, who would prefer the plight of the lepers be forgotten. Damien is destined to spend the last years of his life on Molokai when he contacts the disease himself, working to ease the pain of his fellow victims to his last breath. Father Damien boasts a star-studded supporting cast, including Sam Neill, Peter O'Toole, Leo McKern, Kris Kristofferson, and Derek Jacobi. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Virtue battles treachery in this made-for-TV peroid drama. Prince Wenceslas (Jonathan Brandis) is the seventeen-year-old heir to the Czech crown, who has been pledged to marry the lovely Johanna (Charlotte Chatton), whose father, Duke Phillip (Leo McKern), is a man of no small power and wealth. However, Wenceslas's humorless stepmother, The Queen (Stefanie Powers), is determined to see her son Boleslav (Oliver Milburn) usurp Wenceslas as the nation's future leader. While the Prince's grandmother, Queen Ludmilla (Joan Fontaine) rallies the support of the church and the people behind Wenceslas, The Queen and her partner Lord Tunna (Perry King) will use any means necessary to achieve their dishonest ends. Good King Wenceslas first aired on the Family Channel cable television network on November 26, 1994. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The seventh and final season of the seriocomic British legal series Rumpole of the Bailey offers the usual quota of six hour-long episodes, originally seen in the U.K. from October 29 through December 3, 1992, all starring Leo McKern as the immensely sloppy and irrefutably brilliant barrister Horace Rumpole. In the season opener "Rumpole and the Children of the Devil", Rumpole's favorite disreputable clients, the Timsons, are now accused of practicing Satanism. Next, it's conflict-of-interest time when a policeman is charged with falsifying a confession in "Rumpole and the Miscarriage of Justice" In "Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle", our hero grows a bit too fond of the beautiful violinist whose husband is his latest client "Rumpole and the Reform of Joby Jonson" finds Rumpole having trouble sustaining objectivity about his client, an accused thief, when his own home is burgled. "Rumpole and the Family Pride" is an Agatha Christie-like exercise, with Rumpole and his overbearing wife Hilda (Marion Mathie) visiting a cousin at his country estate, only to plunge headlong into an unsolved murder. The series ends with "Rumpole on Trial", wherein the pompous Samuel Ballard (Peter Blythe) is called upon to defend his colleague Rumpole in a delicate disciplinary hearing. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After an absence of two years, Rumpole of the Bailey returned to the British airwaves with a sixth season of six new episodes, initially telecast from from October 28 through December 2 1991. The delightfully dishevelled barrister Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern) starts things rolling by defending a chef accused of violating health ordinances in "Rumpole a la Carte", which features a subplot wherein Rumpole's formidable wife Hilda (Marion Mathie) uncharacteristically dallies with her handsome cousion. In "Rumpole and the Summer of Discontent", the client is a trade unionist, and at issue is the right to strike--both in the courtroom and in the Rumpole household. In the next episode, "Rumpole and the Right to Silence", an accused murderer stubbornly refuses to supply Rumpole with evidence that may clear his name. "Rumpole at Sea" finds Rumpole and Hilda reluctant sharing an ocean voyage with the blustery barrister's old nemesis Judge Graves (Robin Bailey), getting mixed up in a missings-person case along the way. In "Rumpole and the Quacks", it is Rumpole's own doctor who is the client, with his colleague Phyllida (Patricia Hodge) as the prosecutor--said Phyllida having a personal score to settle with our hero. The season ends with "Rumpole for the Prosecution", as Rumpole is placed in the unenviable position of prosecuting his old friend Claude (Julian Curry) on a charge of intellectual thievery. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In "The Red-Headed League," an episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (an excellent adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle produced in the Britain for Granada), Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) reprises his excellent portrayal of the famed detective aided by his companion Dr. Watson (David Burke). In this episode, Holmes investigates the suspicious actions of a club where all the members have red hair. This well-done episode, which is impeccably faithful to the original story, will please both fans of Holmes and mystery fans everywhere. Thirteen of the Holmes short stories were adapted in this series, which was followed by The Return of Sherlock Holmes and The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, as well as several TV movie adaptations. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

Director Carl Schultz and screenwriter David Williamson's character study of an aging Australian man's second marriage boasts a robust performance by Leo McKern. McKern plays Frank, a man in his seventies, who used to be something of a firecracker, but who now, his best days behind him, prefers to putter-around, play chess, and get under the skin of his new wife Frances (Julia Blake). Frances, forsaking her old family ties (which her family resents her for), marries Frank and agrees to move with him to Queensland. Frank and Frances pack their things and head north, settling into an easy life of fishing and relaxation. They immediately make friends with a lonely neighbor, Freddie (Graham Kennedy) -- and also the local doctor, Saul (Henri Szeps), who informs Frank that he has a bad heart and hasn't much longer to live. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The Chain is linked by a series of moves. As one couple moves out of their current residence to live in posher quarters, another moves in, and so it goes all the way up to the lavish mansioned owned by self-made millionaire Leo McKern. The cycle starts all over again when McKern, wishing to be closer to his roots, returns to the working-class neighborhood whence he came. Each move is wryly commented upon by the team of professional movers headed by Warren Mitchell. The enormously gifted British cast includes Billie Whitelaw, Nigel Hawthorne, Maurice Denham, Denis Lawson, Phyllis Logan, and David Troughton. This multistoried seriocomedy is at its best a fond throwback to the Ealing films of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In medieval France, knight Rutger Hauer and lady fair Michelle Pfeiffer both run afoul of evil-bishop John Wood. Through the auspices of bishop's confessor Leo McKern, Hauer and Pfeiffer are placed under a curse. During the night, Hauer takes the form of a wolf, while Pfeiffer assumes the form of a hawk by day. The two lovers can only meet one another as humans at dawn and dusk. The only mortal in a position to rescue Hauer and Pfeiffer from their fate is nebbishy pickpocket Matthew Broderick, who acts as liaison between the lovers. With the help of the guilt-ridden McKern--and a convenient solar eclipse--Broderick endeavors to set things aright. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sam Neill stars as British super spy Sidney Reilly, the United Kingdom's top espionage agent during the Russian Revolution who found himself serving many sides in the line of duty, in this collection of the complete run of the acclaimed British television series Reilly: Ace Of Spies. This set includes the 90-minute pilot episode for the series, An Affair With A Married Woman, as well as all eleven episodes of the show's regular run: Prelude To War, The Visiting Fireman, Anna, Dreadnoughts and Crosses, Dreadnoughts and Double-crosses, Gambit, Endgame, After Moscow, The Trust, The Last Journey, and Shutdown.

~ Mark Deming, Rovi

John Fowles' original novel The French Lieutenant's Woman was distinguished by a literary technique that involved telling a story of Victorian sexual and social oppression within the bounds of a 1970s viewpoint. How does one convey this time-frame dichotomy on film? The decision made by director Karel Reisz and Harold Pinter was to frame Fowles' basic plot within a "modern" context of their own making. While we watch as Sarah (Meryl Streep), a 19th-century Englishwoman ruined by an affair with a French lieutenant, enters into another disastrous relationship with principled young Charles (Jeremy Irons), we are constantly made aware that what we're seeing is only a film. This is done by surrounding the story with a modern narrative, focusing on a movie production company which is on location--filming The French Lieutenant's Woman. Meryl Streep doubles in the role of Sara and the American actress who plays her, while Jeremy Irons essays the dual role of Charles and the handsome Briton playing Charles. Likewise, everyone else in the cast is seen as "themselves" and as their French Lieutenant's Woman characters. Not surprisingly, the "real" Streep and Irons enter into an affair which closely parallels their characters' relationship. The commercial TV version of French Lieutenant's Woman eliminates 30 minutes' worth of "extraneous" scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This 1980 version of the oft-filmed Henry Devere Stackpoole novel The Blue Lagoon was the first to be stamped with an "R" rating. The basic story remains unchanged. Two very small children, a boy and a girl, are shipwrecked on a lush tropical island. They are cared for by fellow castaway Leo McKern. When he dies, the kids, played with a minimum of clothing by Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins, have no one but each other. When they grow into teen-hood, they also fall madly in love. Heavily reshaped and reedited before its release, The Blue Lagoon's principal attribute is the lush photography by Nestor Almendros. In 1990, a sequel was made, Return to the Blue Lagoon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a true story, this made-for-TV spy movie chronicles the 1960 capture of a Nazi in South America. When Israeli agents find out that Nazi Adolph Eichmann survived the war and is living in Argentina, they hatch a plan to kidnap him and bring him to trial for his crimes. Martin Balsam portrays Isser Harel, who wrote the book that served as the basis for this film. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

Season Two of the British legal comedy-drama series Rumpole of the Bailey serves up six new episodes, initially telecast by ITV1 from May 29 through July 3, 1979. First on the docket is "Rumpole and the Man of God", in which gloriously irreverent barrister Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern) defends a vicar who though accused of shoplifting refuses to offer any defense for his alleged crime; at the same time, Rumpole's old friend George Frobisher (Moray Watson) pays a heavy price for loving neither wisely nor too well. The second episode, "Rumpole and the Case of Identity" finds the title character in court during the Christmas season, defending a man whose alibi on a murder charge depends upon a most untrustworthy witness. A trip to the North Country results in Rumpole exercising his declamatory skills to save an actress from a murder sentence in "Rumpole and the Showfolk". Then in "Rumpole and the Fascist Beast" the lifelong-liberal barrister works on behalf of a notorious racist politician charged with inciting a deadly riot. "Rumpole and the Course of True Love" concerns not only a schoolteacher charged with seducing an unwilling pupil, but also an embarrassing incident in the past life of Rumpole's lovely colleague Phyllida (Patricia Hodge. And in "Rumpole and the Age for Retirement", Rumpole's son Nick urges his father to hang up his wig and move to Maryland (of all places!) after wrapping up his defense of an accused art thief. As a coda of sorts to Season Two, a special two-hour episode, "Rumpole's Return", in which our hero emerges from retirement to tackle a particularly lurid murder case involving a sinister cult, was telecast on December 30, 1980, and has since been added to the standard Rumpole of the Bailey rerun package. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi