Leo McKern Movies

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, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

This is a video guide to the cult television show The Prisoner. Filmed in England, the series aired in 1968-1969, in 17 episodes, and is considered by many to be the best series ever to be shown on the medium of television. Patrick McGoohan was the show's creator and star. The story line follows a British security agent sent off to a community known as "the Village." The agent was given the impersonal title Number 6. Filled with intelligent dialogue and surreal imagery, the series drew an eclectic audience in England and America. This video offers some interpretations of the show, and answers to questions, such as, who was Number 1? And where is "the Village"? There is a behind-the-scenes look at production and interviews with the actors. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

The fifth season of the iconoclastic British legal series Rumpole of the Bailey delivers six fresh new episodes, originally telecast over ITV1 from November 23 through December 28, 1988. In the opening episode "Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation" it is a libel case that keeps the irascible barrister Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern) busy, to say nothing of a rather embarrassing rift between his married colleagues Phyllida (Patricia Hodge) and Claude (Julian Curry). In "Rumpole and the Barrow Boy", a supposedly reformed member of the redoubtable Timson criminal family calls upon Rumpole to defend him from charges of insider trading, In "Rumpole and the Age of Miracles", the client is our hero's own nephew, a clergyman. The Timsons again invade Rumpole's sanctitutude in "Rumpole and the Tap End", which also finds Rumpole's domineering wife Hilda (Marion Mathie) seriously considering a return to her own legal career. In "Rumpole and Portia", Rumpole must plead his case before Phyllida, the Old Bailey's newly appointed recorder. The season closes with "Rumpole and the Quality of Life", wherin a case of mercy killing dominates the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Helen Hayes makes her second TV appearance as Agatha Christie's female sleuth Miss Marple in Murder with Mirrors. Marple has been summoned to the lavish country estate of her old friend Carrie Louise Serrocold (Bette Davis). Carrie's stepson has been killed, and she fears that his won't be the last corpse to befoul the estate. She's right, and the game is afoot for Miss Marple once more, with a full contingent of prime suspects (including John Mills, Leo McKern and Dorothy Tutin). Murder with Mirrors was filmed on location on a genuine 13th century British estate. If Helen Hayes seems more spirited than Bette Davis (eight years Helen's junior), it's because Bette was seriously ill prior to and during shooting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

This detailed documentary traces the extermination of the Tasmanian aborigines through the greed and superior weapons of British colonialists. Anthropologist Dr. Rhys Jones provides newly discovered information about the people, shedding insight on their lives and culture. The aborigines were brutally exterminated by the British from 1803 to 1876 until only one full-blooded member, Truganini, was left. Actor Leo McKern narrates this informative documentary based on historical fact and meticulous research. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

The Nativity is just what it says it is. This low-key retelling of the Biblical story of the birth of Christ stars Madeline Stowe as Mary and John V. Shea as Joseph. The network publicists assured the viewers that there would be as much emphasis on the "human love story" as the Birth itself. Also in the cast are Leo McKern as Herod, Jane Wyatt as Anna, Paul Stewart as Zacharias, Audrey Totter as Elizabeth, George Voskovec as Joachim and Julie Garfield (daughter of John Garfield) as Zipporah. The made-for-TV The Nativity premiered on December 17, 1978; one day later, Madeline Stowe showed up in a small role in another TV movie, The Deerslayer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On March 24, 1944, in the Ardeatine Caves outside Rome, one of the most infamous atrocities of World War II occurred -- the mass execution of 330 Italians in retaliation for the deaths of 33 Germans. The book Death in Rome contends that Pope Pius XII knew of the German plan but did nothing to stop it. In this film adaptation, Richard Burton plays Col. Herbert Kappler, a Nazi officer torn between his devotion to Hitler's cause and his love for Italy when he is ordered by his superior officer, Gen. Kurt Maelzer (Leo McKern), to see that this execution is carried out. Opposing the Germans and reacting against the silence of the Pope is Vatican priest Don Antonelli (Marcello Mastroianni), who chooses to die with the Italians rather than continue to act as a middleman between the German army and the Romans. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Written and directed by series star Patrick McGoohan, "Once Upon a Time" was the first of two episodes of The Prisoner designed to "explain" (more or less) several of the questions posed by the previous episodes, and to bring the saga to a conclusion --- albeit not a logical one. Leo McKern costars as the Previous Number Two, who had supposedly been dispensed with in the earlier episode "Chimes of Big Ben." Returning to the village for one last desperate attempt to "break" Number Six, Number Two utilizes a sinister mind-probing process called Degree Absolute (which was also this episode's original title). Forced to relive all the events of his life, Number Six is plunged into a bizarre netherworld where reality is not even a concept. This time around, the stakes are extremely high, with the lives of both Number Two and Number Six hanging in the balance. When The Prisoner was originally planned as a two-season series, "Once Upon a Time" was supposed to have been the 13th and final episode of Season One. But upon rethinking the series in terms of a single 17-episode season, the script was refashioned as the next-to-last episode; as such, it first aired in England on January 28, 1968, and in America on September 14, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide