Leo McKern Movies
Jowly, curmudgeonly Australian actor Leo McKern was seen in over 200 stage productions during his five-decade career. After several comic-villain film assignments, McKern briefly became an icon of the Swingin' '60s with his portrayal of the blustering cult leader in the Beatles' Help (1965). He has since been seen as Cromwell in A Man For All Seasons (1966), as Professor Moriarty in Gene Wilder's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1986), and as a pigheaded ex-communist civil engineer in Travelling North (1986), a role which won him several industry awards. In the late 1970s, Leo McKern scored an enormous hit as the title character in the British TV series Rumpole of the Bailey, which ran off and on from 1977 through 1992. Rumpole has been both bogy and blessing to McKern, as he revealed to Vanity Fair magazine in 1995: "I consider that my best performance ever was as Peer Gynt. But if I get an obit in the London Times, they will say, '...of course, known to millions as Rumpole.'" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1961
Mr. Topaze was based on a play by Marcel Pagnol, previously filmed twice before with John Barrymore and Fernandel. Peter Sellers stars as a French college professor, known far and wide for his integrity. He refuses to improve a grade on the paper of one student, whose influential father sees to it that Sellers is fired. Cast adrift in the business world, Sellers is hired by a crooked liquor executive (Herbert Lom) to act as "front" for the benefit of the authorities. When Sellers catches on how much money there is in the business, his honesty evaporates and he becomes as underhanded as the next fellow. The love of Joan Sims enables Sellers to change his ways before his dishonesty can become disastrous. Mr. Topaze was rereleased in 1963 as I Like Money; once again, however, no one wanted to see a "straight" Peter Sellers in a role that called out for the broad comedy he did so well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Nadia Gray, (more)
Despite its come-on title, The Day the Earth Caught Fire is an intelligent, disturbing piece of speculative fiction. Through the eyes of British reporter Peter Stenning (Edward Judd), we learn that both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. have simultaneously set off nuclear explosions to test their efficiency. The twin blasts have caused the Earth to go off its axis. The result is a disastrous upheaval in the balance of nature; floods and fires being the principal plagues. With the end of the world staring everyone in the face, chaos reigns. The only hope lies in another massive nuclear explosion, which will hopefully rebalance the Earth. The film ends ambiguously, with viewers allowed to decide for themselves whether or not the world has been saved. In the original prints of The Day the Earth Caught Fire, the opening and closing reels were tinted yellow, representing the scorching heat beating down on the frightened populace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Munro, Leo McKern, (more)
- 1960
Produced by Mike Todd Jr., Scent of Mystery was a misguided attempt to introduce a new gimmick to motion pictures. The plot involved the apparent murder of a mystery woman (Beverly Bentley, at one time the wife of writer Norman Mailer) and the disappearance of several valuables. Denholm Elliott, Peter Lorre and Paul Lukas were among the good and bad guys chasing all over Spain and England. Whatever cinematic value Scent of Mystery had was dissolved by the film's gimmick, dubbed "Smell-O-Vision." The idea was to rig up a device in each theatre, from which would emanate a scent that corresponded with whatever image was on screen: the smell of roses for a garden, the odor of fish for an ocean scene, and so forth. Mike Todd Jr. should have guessed what the critical response would be, but released the film all the same. Scent of Mystery, though beautifully photographed, was perhaps the only genuine stinker ever produced by the motion picture industry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denholm Elliott, Liam Redmond, (more)
- 1960
This is a crime-comedy-musical romance by director Ken Hughes that has an identity problem. Bert (Anthony Newley) is an electrician who gives the wrong people a "song and dance" about his supposed expertise as a cat burglar and now he has to pay the piper. The gang of young thieves brings him into their plans for a big heist and there is no obvious way Bert can get out of it. Just when things get serious, Bert or someone else then literally breaks into a song and dance routine -- hard to smoothly integrate with the comic sequences and serious moments that have gone before. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Newley, Anne Aubrey, (more)
- 1959
The scene is Burma during World War II. A small British brigade led by Stanley Baker comes upon a Burmese village controlled by the Japanese. The brigade wipes out the enemy, whereupon Baker discovers that the late Japanese commandant has a coded map secreted on his person. When a Burmese prisoner who can decode the map refuses to talk, Baker orders that two peaceful villagers be executed. Baker's actions seem cruel and extreme until it becomes apparent that the enemy is twice as ruthless as he. Based on a TV play by Peter R. Newman, Yesterday's Enemy is a brutal but insightful look at the blurred line between good and evil in wartime conditions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Baker, Guy Rolfe, (more)
The economy of the teeny-tiny European duchy of Grand Fenwick is threatened when an American manufacturer comes up with an imitation of Fenwick's sole export, its fabled wine. Crafty prime minister Count Mountjoy (Peter Sellers) comes up with a plan: Grand Fenwick will declare war on the United States. Grand Duchess Gloriana (Peter Sellers again) is hesitant: how can meek little Grand Fenwick win such a conflict? Mountjoy explains that the plan is to lose the war, then rely upon American foreign aid to replenish Grand Fenwick's treasury. Bumbling military officer Tully Bascombe (Peter Sellers yet again) leads his country's ragtag army into battle. They cross the Atlantic in an ancient wooden vessel, then set foot on Manhattan Island, fully prepared to down weapons and surrender. But New York City is deserted, due to an air raid drill. While wandering around, Sellers comes upon atomic scientist David Kossoff and the scientist's pretty daughter Jean Seberg. Kossoff has been working on the deadly "Q Bomb," a football-sized weapon with the destructive capacity of a hundred hydrogen bombs. Suddenly seized with patriotic fervor, Tully captures Kossoff, his daughter and the bomb and brings them all back to Grand Fenwick. Tully has "won" the war-precisely what he'd been told not to do. The upshot of this "victory" is that every world power converges upon Grand Fenwick to claim the Q Bomb for themselves. The satire is heavy-handed at times, but The Mouse That Roared contains several unforgettably hilarious moments, including one startling "false ending." One of the best gags involves the Columbia Pictures logo--a bit frequently cut from TV showings, worse luck. Based on one of the many "Grand Fenwick" novels by Leonard Wibberly, The Mouse That Roared was a success, yielding a Peter Sellers-less sequel, 1963's Mouse on the Moon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg, (more)
- 1959
Beyond This Place is a tame murder mystery based on a novel by A. J. Cronin. Van Johnson is cast as an American citizen whose British father has supposedly been dead for years. On a visit to London, Johnson discovers that his father is very much alive, serving a life sentence for murder. Johnson inaugurates his own investigation, retraces the trail of circumstantial evidence, and unearths the real culprit. Director Jack Cardiff was not happy with his work on Beyond This Place, possibly because he was obliged for box office purposes to use an American star in an essentially British story. The film was released in the US as Web of Evidence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Johnson, Vera Miles, (more)
- 1958
A little white lie sets off a harrowing series of increasingly catastrophic events in this thriller. The trouble begins when a bank clerk tells a fib to avoid paying his bus fare. The lie quickly becomes the basis for extortion and finally murder. The story is based on a radio play written by British actor Leo McKern. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Screenwriter T.E.B. Clarke, the writer of such fifties British comedies as The Lavender Hill Mob and Passport to Pimlico, dips his pen into a more stately inkwell in this stilted adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel A Tale of Two Cities. Dirk Bogarde takes the lead role of worn-down, drunken lawyer Sydney Carton, who finally wakes up from his stupor during the French Revolution to make the ultimate sacrifice for Lucie Manette (Dorothy Tutin), the love of his life. Also on hand are the evil tyrant Marquis St. Evermonde (Christopher Lee), the treacherous informer Barsad (Donald Pleasence), and the fanatical Madame Defarge (Rosalie Crutchley), who denounces Lucie and her husband Charles Darnay (Athene Seyler) to the tribunal. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, (more)
Time Without Pity carried the name "Joseph Losey" on the credits -- the first time in three years that the blacklisted director was permitted to use his own name on a film. This British-made suspense film was based on a play by Emlyn Williams. Michael Redgrave stars an anguished father whose son (Alec McCowan) is accused of murder. With time running out, Redgrave struggles to prove his son innocent of the charge. The paranoia prevalent in Time Without Pity can be attributed to Losey's own experience at the hands of the HUAC, though this element never gets out of artistic control. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Redgrave, Ann Todd, (more)
- 1956
X the Unknown is a well-crafted imitation of the Quatermass British sci-fi pictures of the 1950s. A group of soldiers on maneuvers in Scotland stumble across a gravel pit which emanates an unusual amount of radiation. Several deaths occur before the radioactive material is mysteriously stolen. Researcher Dr. Adam Royston (Dean Jagger) speculates that the thief is some sort of inhuman monstrosity dwelling at the Earth's core. He points out that past radioactive disturbances have been occurring at 50-year intervals, each followed by sudden deaths and the disappearance of the material. Royston suggests that the unknown monster has been resuscitated by humankind's recent atomic experiments. Sure enough, the monster manifests itself as a huge slab of glowing radioactive mud (laugh now if you must -- you won't laugh when you see it). X the Unknown works well within its limited budget; unfortunately, many TV prints have been truncated, robbing some of the best horrific moments of their full impact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Jagger, Edward Chapman, (more)
- 1956
Jill Day plays Mary in this frolicksome British comedy. While on vacation in Switzerland, Mary finds herself the object of several tourists' affection. Two of the men, Nigel Patrick and David Tomlinson, are British. The third, Leo McKern, is a wealthy, boorish Greek. Throughout the film, the actors remain vastly superior to their material. All for Mary was adapted from a play by Harold Beck and Kay Bannerman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nigel Patrick, Kathleen Harrison, (more)
- 1955
- NR
The exploits of Robin Hood, as gleaned and combined from the classic British television series, are presented in this adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
T.S. Eliot's readers-theatre verse piece Murder in the Cathedral was never truly designed to be a fully staged play, but try telling that to the many amateur groups who've produced it in the past five decades. This 1952 film adaptation valiantly attempts to open up the piece to full cinematic effect, but the budget and resources are too skimpy, and the semi-professional actors too uneasy before the cameras. The play recounts the love-hate relationship between 12th century British monarch Henry II and Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas a Becket. In a careless moment, Henry moans to his minions that he'd like to be rid of Becket; they take him at his word. Murder in the Cathedral is no better or worse than a junior-college pageant; the story is given fuller, superior treatment in the 1964 costumer Becket. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fr. John Groser, Alexander Gauge, (more)
