Martin Miller Movies

In one of his rare visits to his home turf, British actor David Niven essayed the title role in Bonnie Prince Charlie. The film's principal challenge was to transform 18th-century Scottish Prince Charles into a sympathetic character, which, patriotism aside, he most decidedly was not in real life. The court-intrigue scenes are the weakest aspect of the film; the strongest moments take place on the battlefield, where Charles "the pretender" and his followers face down the battalions of King George II (Martin Miller). Even in defeat, Charles is the victor, successfully eluding his British pursuers and escaping to France. Filmed in Technicolor at a cost of $4 million, Bonnie Prince Charlie fell with a thud when it premiered at a kidney-busting 140 minutes. Subsequent reissues were cut by as many as 40 minutes, and some were economically reprocessed in black-and-white. Thanks to constant exposure on American television, this notorious flop finally posted a profit in the late 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this tragic melodrama, a lonely child must stay with her uncaring aunt and uncle after her mother is hospitalized. Her estranged father is a fugitive. For love and companionship, the eleven-year old girl becomes friends with the housemaid. When at long last, she meets her dad, she must vow to never reveal his location to the police. This causes great internal conflict as the girl doesn't know whether to tell the truth or be loyal to her father. He eventually makes the choice easier by going straight. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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

In the conclusion of the seven-part story arc "Marco Polo," the Doctor (William Hartnell) and Kublai Khan (Martin Miller) play a high-stakes game of backgammon. Whoever wins the game will be allowed to lay claim to the TARDIS -- and of course, the Doctor and his friends need the vessel to return to their own time. Meanwhile, the ruthless Tegana (Mark Eden) puts into motion his scheme to assassinate Kublai Khan and lay claim to all of Cathay. And where, in all this intrigue, is Venetian explorer Marco Polo (Mark Eden). Written by John Lucarotti, "Assassin at Peking" first aired on April 4, 1964; alas, none of the episodes in the "Marco Polo" arc are known to have survived. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

English without Tears is a gentle satire of the temporary relaxation of class barriers in wartime England. Michael Wilding portrays the faithful family butler to a fabulously wealthy household. Each member of the family greets the news of upcoming world conflict with a different reaction, the most altruistic of which is that of the daughter (Penelope Dudley Ward), who joins the home service. When the butler rises to the army rank of lieutenant, the daughter sees him in a whole new light and falls in love with her onetime employee. There's little in this frivolous film that hasn't been done elsewhere, except perhaps for the opening-scene romantic complications in Geneva, which set the stage for the film's finale. English without Tears was released in the US in 1948 as Her Man Gilbey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this witty music-business satire, Johnny Jackson (Laurence Harvey) is a talent agent down on his luck who thinks his tide may have turned when he spots a teenage rock & roll fan wailing away in a coffeehouse. Dubbing him "Bongo Herbert" (Cliff Richard, in a role the now knighted and born-again pop icon would probably prefer to forget), Johnny puts Herbert on the fast track to teenage stardom, using his record company and radio connections to make Herbert's first single a smash hit. Johnny then decides that a little image modification might make Herbert a bigger draw, so his follow-up is a treacly, inspirational tune, "The Shrine on the Second Floor," which hardly gibes with Herbert's newfound fondness for strippers and love-starved American actresses. But just when Johnny thinks he has a meal ticket for life, it's discovered that Herbert is really a minor, making his contract with Johnny null and void. Cliff Richard was at the height of his first wave of popularity as "The British Elvis" when Expresso Bongo was released, leading to a great deal of speculation about how closely it mirrored his own career (the answer probably is: not very much). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this newsroom drama, a workaholic editor refuses to take a vacation with his wife. Instead he remains in his office and deals with a series of fascinating stories. They include: four children tossed out of their home, a woman accused of euthanasia, an alcoholic journalist's search for an atomic scientist, and a tragic plane crash. Unfortunately, the editor's wife was supposed to be on that plane. Fortunately, something caused her not to board it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Howard Hawks directed this classic farce about how love attempts to triumph over military red tape after the close of World War II. Capt. Henri Rochard (Cary Grant) is a French officer who is assigned to put a stop to a black market operation in occupied Germany with the help of Lt. Catherine Gates (Ann Sheridan), an American WAC. While their initial meetings are hardly harmonious, in time Rochard and Gates find that opposites really do attract, and they fall in love. The two decide to get married, which seems simple enough, but the moment Gates receives orders to return to the United States and Rochard wants to join her, they soon discover just how complicated the U.S. Army can make things. While the Army has a strict protocol for dealing with "war brides," there is no similar routine for men who marry female Army personnel, so in order to follow his new wife into the States, Rochard has to disguise himself as a WAC. From this moment on, nearly everything that happens to Rochard is an affront to his dignity and/or his patience, from his inability to share a bunk with his new bride to his discovery that Army regulations prevent him from driving a motorcycle (Gates has to take the handlebars, while her husband is forced to ride in a sidecar). As more than one writer has pointed out, while Grant gives a deft comic performance, it's a bit of a stretch to imagine that he's French (but probably no more than to imagine that anyone would really believe that he's a woman). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A man is forced to prove who he really is -- and discovers that it isn't as easy as one might think -- in this drama. Sir Mark Loddon (Dirk Bogarde) is a titled member of the British aristocracy who lives a life of wealth, privilege, and notoriety, until one day Jeffrey Buckenham (Paul Massie), a pilot from Canada, makes a startling accusation. Buckenham and Loddon were both inmates in the same POW camp during WWII, and Buckenham is convinced that Loddon is not the man he claims to be; Frank Welney, an actor who was also a prisoner in the same camp, bore a striking resemblance to Loddon, and he is convinced that the actor has taken Loddon's place. The press picks up Buckenham's story, and the question of Loddon's identity becomes the talk of all England; Lady Maggie Loddon (Olivia de Havilland), Mark's wife, is deeply offended and insists that he sue for libel to restore his good name. Mark obtains the services of Sir Wilfred (Robert Morley), one of the nation's best-respected attorneys, but it soon becomes evident that proving Mark's identity in court may not be as simple as it might seem; Mark suffered severe head injuries during the war that cause him to stutter at times and also result in periodic spells of amnesia; the testimony of the many witnesses called by Sir Wilfred and his opponent, Hubert Foxley (Wilfrid Hyde-White), establish no clear consensus of who Loddon really is. Libel was based on the popular stage drama by Edward Wooll. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Norman Wisdom made his third film appearance in the slapstick musical Man of the Moment. This time, Norman is a clerk in the British ministry who is forced to sub for an ailing delegate at a Geneva Peace Conference. In his usual bumbling fashion, our hero becomes intimately involved in the affairs of a tiny Pacific-island monarchy. As a result, the island's queen refuses to participate in any sort of negotiations unless Norman sits in at the proceedings. The nervous British government immediately bestows a knighthood on the hapless delegate. . .and then the fun begins, as several scurvy types try to kill off Norman and topple the Queen from her throne. Featured in the cast of Man of the Moment is Norman Wisdom's music-hall straight man Jerry Desmonde in a prominent but thankless role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This thriller centers on the possession of a valuable new metal that is able to withstand nuclear radiation. It had been invented by a Belgian metallurgist, but he was murdered by an international ring of thieves who make some of the valuable alloy into a cigarette case that is placed on an unknowing jewel thief in hopes that he will inadvertently sneak it into East Germany. Unfortunately, he decides to sell the case back to the ring leader and is almost killed. Fortunately, he escapes and gets the case to the proper authorities. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

If nothing else, the British melodrama Night Boat to Dublin had topicality going for it. As Captain David Grant, Robert Newton heads the cast of this spy-hunt caper. The plot concerns the efforts to rescue a Swedish scientist from the clutches of Nazi ringleader Keitel (Herbert Lom) and his minions. The scientist is of course of the "atomic" variety, meaning that it's crucial to smuggle him to safety before the Germans can learn his secrets. The authentic Dublin dialects heard throughout the film add charm and authenticity to the proceedings, though they are a bit hard to understand at times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide