Robert Beatty Movies

Originally released in England in 1938 as Murder in Soho, this moody melodrama was advertised in America as "The rapid-fire story of an underworld mobster with a social bee in his bonnet and a rod on his hip"(Whew!) The mobster in question is Steve Marco, played with appropriate sneering menace by Jack LaRue. Booted out of Chicago by the feds, Marco sets up a respectable nightclub in London as a front for his many criminal activities. When a murder is committed in the club and the body deposited in the street, Scotland Yard inspector Hammond (Martin Walker) suspects that Marco is responsible. With Hammond's unofficial blessing, nightclub hostess Ruby Lane (Sandra Storme), the dead man's widow, and inquiring reporter Roy Barnes (played by Bernard Lee, later to gain worldwide fame as "M" in the James Bond series) go undercover to get the goods on the social-climbing mobster. Though Murder in the Night could have gotten by on its own merits, the bravura performance of Jack LaRue truly "makes" the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dangerous Moonlight was the original British title for the wartime drama Suicide Squadron. Anton Walbrook plays a famed Polish composer who refuses to leave his homeland when the Nazis march in. His friends literally have to hoodwink him into leaving so that he will avoid extermination. Still anxious to avenge his countrymen, Walbrook joins a Polish air squadron headquartered in England. The film's romantic angle is personified by Sally Gray, an American newswoman whom Walbrook marries after a whirlwind courtship. The film itself is no better or worse than most others of its kind, but has remained etched in the collective memory of wartime filmgoers thanks to its omnipresent utilization of The Warsaw Concerto on the soundtrack. Financed by RKO Radio pictures, Dangerous Moonlight was distributed by Republic Pictures during the war years, though rights reverted to RKO in 1947. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not a remake of the 1934 Katharine Hepburn film of the same name, Spitfire was originally released in Great Britain as The First of the Few. Director Leslie Howard stars in this dramatization of the life and work of R.J. Mitchell, inventor of the Spitfire fighter plane. The film suggests, accurately as it turns out, that Mitchell was aware of Hitler's plans to conquer Europe by the air long before anyone else caught on (we see him watching a suspicious-looking group of "amateur" German gliding enthusiasts in the mid-1930s). David Niven, then a major in the British Army, was given leave to appear in this morale-boosting film as Mitchell's best friend, a dauntless test pilot. Ironically, Spitfire was released after the death of its star-director Leslie Howard, whose plane was shot down by the Germans somewhere between London and Lisbon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Suspected Person was one of several Associated British Pathe productions released in the U.S. by PRC pictures. Clifford Evans stars as Jim Raynor, one of a trio of American bank robbers. When Raynor flees to England with the loot, he leaves his two accomplices at the mercy of the Law. Winning unexpected acquittals, the two crooks chase after Raynor -- while Scotland Yard, hoping to recover the money, chases after all three. A very young Patricia Roc essays one of her first major roles as Raynor's sister, while future "Dr. Who" William Hartnell plays a minor role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The inspiration for this British seriocomedy was Victor Skutezky's stage play She Met Him One Sunday. "She" is Moya Malone (Barbara White), an Irish maid living in Liverpool. "He" is Tom Stevens (Robert Beatty), a Canadian sailor. That "one Sunday" is a busy one, encompassing a few romantic strolls down the dock, Moya's renouncing of her servant status, and a run-in with crooks. Playwright Skutezky also served as producer of It Happened One Sunday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carol Reed's taut character study (disguised as a suspense melodrama) was adapted from the novel by F.L. Green and stars James Mason in his star-making role as I.R.A. operative Johnny McQueen. Breaking out of jail, Johnny takes it on the lam, but idealism forces him out of hiding in order to raise money for the I.R.A. cause he believes in so strongly. He decides to rob a bank, but the hold-up goes bad and Johnny is seriously wounded by the police. Staggering through the streets of Belfast, Johnny meets a succession of people who either want to help him or turn him over to the authorities. Johnny finally stumbles into a pub, where he is taken in by a homosexual artist (Robert Newton) who wants Johnny to pose for him in order to capture the desperation in his eyes. Johnny breaks free from the artist and tries to make his way to the waterfront in a final effort to escape ... but the police are slowly closing in. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Nazi war criminal Bruckner (Mervyn Johns) manages to escape capture at the end of WW II. Bruckner sets up shop in England, where he continues his diabolical germ-warfare experiments. Murdering an Australian physician, the regenerate Nazi assumes the dead man's identity to escape detection. His downfall comes when he falls in love with pretty lab assistant Tracy Shaw (Nova Pilbeam), and he refuses to murder her when ordered to do so by his superiors. The ending is right of the "hoist on his own petard" school of dramatics. Devil's Plot was released in the U.S. in mid-1953, and within a few months was making the TV Late-Show rounds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in World War II times, this drama involves a highly trained bunch of British soldiers who must parachute into Nazi-held Belgium on a rescue and destroy mission. Documentary film footage is included in the early parts of the film as the trainees get prepared for the task ahead. Robert Beatty plays the priest, Father Phillip, and Simone Signoret appears as an insurgent who falls in love with another of the trained resistors. ~ All Movie Guide

Based on a play by Pepine de Felipe, Her Favorite Husband is a British comedy set in Italy. Housewife Jean Kent is bemused by her husband Robert Beatty, who is not quite himself these days. In truth, he is not himself at all: Jean's husband has been replaced by a lookalike gangster who is plotting a big bank robbery. Once she tumbles to the truth, Kent is alternately repulsed and fascinated by her "new" spouse. Not exactly Shakespeare, Her Favorite Husband is a genial romp distinguished by a sizeable supporting cast of familiar British players. The film was released in the U.S. as The Taming of Dorothy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Magic Box was the English film industry's contribution to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Its all-star cast generously forsook their usual salaries for the privilege of paying tribute to that unsung pioneer of cinema, William Friese-Greene, here played by Robert Donat. Adapted by Eric Ambler from the controversial biography by Ray Allister, Magic Box contends that Friese-Greene was the true father of motion pictures, and not such upstarts as W. K. L. Dickson and Thomas Edison. Told in flashback, the film details Friese-Greene's tireless experiments with the "moving image," leading inexorably to a series of failures and disappoints, as others hog the credit for the protagonist's discoveries. The huge cast includes such British film luminaries as Joyce Grenfell, Miles Malleson, Michael Redgrave, Eric Portman, Emlyn Williams, Richard Attenborough, Peter Ustinov, Cecil Parker, Kay Walsh, and, best of all, Laurence Olivier as the confused bobby who witnesses Friese-Greene's first motion picture demonstration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gregory Peck stars as the title character in this swashbuckling saga of the high seas based on C.S. Forester's novel. In 1807, Hornblower is given a special assignment by the British Navy: he is to deliver a supply of weapons to El Supremo (Alec Mango), a Latin American rebel leading an uprising against Spain. However, by the time Hornblower arrives, it is discovered that the political winds have shifted, Spain and England are once again allies, and El Supremo is now the enemy of the British forces. Hornblower and his men are also forced to take on a passenger, Lady Barbara Wellesley (Virginia Mayo), a sister of the Duke of Wellington who is trying to escape an outbreak of yellow fever. When she shows symptoms of the disease, Hornblower tries to nurse her back to health while attempting to organize an attack on the armada he just helped to arm. Upon his return to England, Hornblower parts company with Wellesley (while they were attracted to each other, Hornblower remained loyal to his wife) and is given a new mission to take on Napoleon's naval forces. Captain Horatio Hornblower was originally scheduled to star Errol Flynn, but the role was recast when it was decided he'd grown too old to play the role convincingly (the fact Flynn was in the midst of one of his periodic battles with the brass at Warner Brothers certainly didn't help matters). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Wings of Danger was originally released in England as Dead on Course. This early Hammer Studios effort stars Zachary Scott as an airline pilot named Van. When Van's pal Nick Talbot (Robert Beatty) is strong-armed into aiding a gang of smugglers, it's time to take decisive action. Adventure-film veteran John Gilling adapted the screenplay from a novel by Elleston Trevor. Distributed in Great Britain by Exclusive Films, Ltd., Wings of Danger was released in the U.S. by Lippert Pictures. According to some sources, the U.S. version was trimmed by a couple of minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Elia Kazan directed this drama inspired by a true story. Karel Cernik (Fredric March) is the leader of a troupe of Czechoslovakian circus performers who have been plying their trade in Eastern Europe for years. When Czechoslovakia falls under Communist rule, the proud and independent Cernik finds that he is no longer free to operate his circus as he sees fit. Many of his performers are conscripted into military service, and his equipment and possessions are declared government property, though the state fails to maintain it properly, or even to give him access to the material to fix it himself. Finally, when Cernik's remaining performers are ordered to insert pro-Communist messages into their acts, he decides that he can take no more and begins making plans to escape to Bavaria during an upcoming tour. Cernik's plans hit a snag, however, when he learns that one of his performers is a spy for the Czech communists, working in collusion with government factotum Fesker (Adolphe Menjou). While politics are making a mess of his professional life, his daughter Tereza (Terry Moore) is complicating matters at home because of her romance with the handsome but unreliable lion tamer Joe Vosdek (Cameron Mitchell), much to the chagrin of both Karel and his wife Zama (Gloria Grahame). The Birnbach Circus troupe, along with a variety of other European carnival performers, appear as themselves in this film, lending the performances a keen authenticity. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide