Lana Morris Movies
British actress Lana Morris was more intelligent-looking and mature than the general run of postwar film starlets. For a time, it seemed she was being groomed for an important career with such films as Spring in Park Lane (1948), Trottie True (1949), and The Woman in Question (1950). But the meatier roles always seemed to go to the more established British actresses like Margaret Lockwood and Phyllis Calvert, while Lana languished in negligible second leads during most of the '50s. As the good roles faded in the '60s, Lana Morris revitalized her career as a ubiquitous conversationalist on TV panel shows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1970
When two teenage girls fantasize about their sexual yearnings, one is stalked by a psychopathic murderer. Wynne (Jenny Agutter) is adopted by a family and soon has a massive crush on her stepbrother George (Bryan Marshall). Her friend Corrine (Clare Sutcliffe) is Wynne's virginal friend who alludes to being sexually experienced. The two go into the woods where Corrine is raped and killed by an unknown assailant who has terrorized the countryside with his brutal carnage. When George is accused of the crime, Wynne must prove he is innocent in this thrilling slasher feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jenny Agutter, Bryan Marshall, (more)
- 1960
In this melodrama, a mentally retarded young man inadvertently causes an auto accident and brings the injured woman driver back to the isolated farm he shares with his sister. The poor fellow is sure that the woman is his deceased mother. His sister and a helpful telephone lineman do their best to help him with the truth, but it backfires and the young man becomes equally obsessed with the idea that the lineman is his cruel, abusive father--who is also dead. The boy is so convinced that he becomes determined to kill him. Bloodshed ensues until the sister accidentally shoots her out-of-control brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Escaping from an insane asylum, Ellen Summers (Lana Morris) calls upon "Invisible Man" Peter Brady, claiming that she being held against her will by sinister forces. She further explains that her fiance George Wilson has been falsely convicted of murder and condemned to death. With only a few hours before the execution, Peter must deploy his invisibility to round up the miscreants who have misused Ellen and rescue Wilson from the hangman's noose--assuming, of course, that the girl is telling the truth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
In this airborne disaster movie, a has-been brilliant scientist plants a bomb on a transatlantic jet to exact revenge upon a passenger whom he blames for his daughter's death -- she died during a plane crash. When the booby-trap is discovered and the passengers learn the motive for the scientists' actions, one of the passengers attempts to kill the man the scientist blames. A fight erupts and a window is shattered. The helpful passenger is sucked right out of the plane. Only when the scientist spies a child resembling his own lost daughter does he regain his humanity and disarm the bomb. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Stanley Baker, (more)
- 1958
Before Eddie Constantine became a French pop icon as the slapdash "Lemmy Caution," he played Johnny, a straightforward London taxi driver. When his new taxi is smashed and he needs a big loan, he agrees to a five-minute marriage to Malou, a naive French girl, so she can become a British citizen. As planned, the two part after the nuptials, not realizing that this has all been rigged as a recruiting scheme by Nick (Herbert Lom), the boss of a Soho prostitution ring. Malou learns of Nick's plans for her future and tries to escape but is drugged and locked up. With help from the head "girl," Vicki (Diana Dors), Johnny learns of Malou's peril, and hatches a plan to free her. This dark action thriller has a few clever twists, and Dors is gorgeous, but her fans may be disappointed at the smallness of her role. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Constantine, Diana Dors, (more)
- 1958
In direct contrast to his later lush-budgeted international epics, director J. Lee Thompson turns his lenses towards the London slums in the sincere but saccharine No Trees in the Street. Based on the play by Ted Willis, the film is set in the years just before World War II, when England hadn't completely dug itself out of the worldwide depression. Melvyn Hayes is featured as an aimless teenager, who tries to escape his squalid surroundings by entering a life of crime. He falls in with local hoodlum Herbert Lom, who holds the rest of the slum citizens in the grip of fear--including Hayes' own family. No Trees in the Street chronicles Hayes' sordid progress from nickel-and-dime thefts to murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Syms, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1958
In this thriller, a married woman's unfortunately placed handkerchief leads police to accuse her of murder. Fortunately, her husband stands beside her and goes looking for the killer himself. He succeeds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1956
In this comedy, the lives of two families get turned topsy-turvy when their respective young sons win a large football pool. The two share the winning ticket and the trouble begins when their parents get greedy and begin trying to devise way to get the hefty pot all to themselves. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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
- Starring:
- Norman Wisdom, Lana Morris, (more)
- 1954
In this drama, an ex-safecracker is released from prison and after working as a cabby and then resisting the temptations of a gang, decides to work undercover for the cops to expose the gang leader. Unfortunately, the gang gets wise and attempts to kill him in a giant freezer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Peter Reynolds stars as the son of a respectable British family, who despite his position and privilege chooses to pursue a life of crime. Starting with petty thievery, the misguided young man intends to cap his career with a major casino heist. A policeman (Patric Barr), in love with the young man's sister (Rona Anderson), figures out the boys' intentions and sets about to prevent the robbery. When the chips are down, the malfeasant shows what a rat he truly is, thereby losing whatever family loyalty his sister might have felt towards him. The villain's ultimate demise is befitting his loathsome personality. Produced in England, Black 13 was released stateside by 20th Century-Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Reynolds, Rona Anderson, (more)
- 1953
In this detective drama, an investigator from an insurance company is hired to look into the mysterious murder of a wealthy client's mistress. Meanwhile, the deceased's wife hires a gumshoe too. The trouble begins when the insurance detective begins suspecting the wife and her detective of being behind the killings. Eventually the insurance dick corners the private eye, who attempts to kill him. Instead the wife kills her own detective and ends up leading the insurance detective to the mystery's solution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1953
Johnny Fraser is a middle-class Briton jealous of the conspicuous consumption of his next door neighbors (Peter Reynolds, Lana Morris). To show them up, Fraser buys his wife (Eileen Moore) a valuable mink jacket. He goes deeply into debt, then goes deeper still as he borrows to pay for the loan that he's already taken out. Overwhelmed by his creditors, Fraser ends up selling the mink coat to pay for the loan that paid for the loan that paid for the mink coat... A "good beginning", indeed! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1953
After causing the needless death of another officer during a near-miss air disaster, a distraught army officer resigns from the military. Still, the American wants to serve in the war effort and so, calling himself a Canadian, enlists in the British military to train as a paratrooper. Revealing nothing about his past, he proves himself obedient and exceptionally skilled. This rouses the suspicion of his commanding officer who starts investigating the trooper. Later, the trooper more than proves himself during a dangerous mission to North Africa. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Ebullient British music-hall comedian Norman Wisdom made his movie debut in Trouble in Store. The scene is a large department store, where the bumbling Norman (Wisdom) has somehow landed a clerical job. The rest of the film is a series of slapstick catastrophes, some hilarious, others less so. Along the way, Norman saves the store from falling into the clutches of gangsters -- and wins the heroine besides. Wisdom's perennial straight-man Jerry Desmonde has a meaty role, as do British film-faves Margaret Rutherford and Moira Lister. Evidently this film meant a great deal to Norman Wisdom, for in 1992 he titled his autobiography Trouble in Store. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Wisdom, Margaret Rutherford, (more)
- 1951
A foundering British submarine provides the basis for this gripping drama. The trouble begins when the sub strikes a mine. The sub cannot surface, and only twelve on board survived the blast. Now rescuers must save them, but more trouble ensues when the trapped men below are informed that due to the complexity of the operation, only eight can be saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1951
The Reluctant Widow in this muted British comedy is young 19th-century governess Elinor, played by Jean Kent. Inadvertently inheriting a vast estate, Elinor is bedeviled by both British turncoats and French espionage agents, who hide out in the mansion while preparing to steal Lord Wellington's battle plans for Waterloo. One of the British traitors is played by Julian Dallas, who as "Scott Forbes" would later star on TV's Jim Bowie. For reasons unknown, the film was heavily re-edited and restructured before its general release, making certain portions of the storyline incomprehensible. Through it all, however, Jean Kent maintains her dignity and charm as she quietly outwits the many villains. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1951
Former Hollywood musical director (and erstwhile government spy) Boris Morros was one of the producers of the British Tale of Five Cities. Bonar Colleano stars as British soldier Bob Mitchell, who has picked up American habits and speech patterns while employed in the U.S. Suffering from amnesia, Mitchell is led to believe that he is an American GI, though of course no records exist to verify this. Mitchell's confusion prompts a Manhattan-based magazine to launch a search for Bob's true identity, a search leading inexorably to the girls he left behind during WW II. The "five cities" visited during this exploratory journey are Rome, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and London; Mitchell's Roman sweetheart is played by Gina Lollobridgida, while his Viennese amour is Eva Bartok. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonar Colleano, Lana Morris, (more)
- 1950
The alternate title to the British The Woman in Question is Five Angles on Murder. That pretty much sums up the tenor of this investigatory drama, wherein an enigmatic fortune teller (Jean Kent) is murdered. The police track down the five most likely suspects and start asking questions. Each suspect offers a different perspective on the murdered woman, and each provides a vital clue towards solving the killing. This "prismatic" technique was of course the foundation of Citizen Kane; while The Woman in Question is not in Kane's league, its gimmick holds the audience's attention whenever director Anthony Asquith allows the pace to lag. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Kent, Dirk Bogarde, (more)
- 1950
Linda (Elizabeth Sellars) is driven to the breaking point by her no-good husband. One day, he pushes her too far, and she kills him. With remarkable presence of mind, Linda is able to clean up all evidence of her crime and to effectively dispose of the body. But though she may be able to elude the law, Linda remains a prisoner of her own conscience. Setting this one apart from other British crime mellers of the era was the decision to film on location in a remote rural community. A passable timefiller when first released, Guilt is My Shadow ended up a staple of American TV in the 1950s and 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Sellars, Patrick Holt, (more)
Morning Departure isn't about a commuter train but instead the story of an imperiled submarine. On a routine postwar mission, the sub strikes a forgotten mine and sinks to the bottom. The twelve-man crew comes face to face with the probability of permanent entombment and eventual suffocation; the tension is sharpened when it is learned that eight of the men will be able to escape, but four will have to stay behind. The film concentrates on the wildly varying reactions of the officers and crew, from stiff-lipped stoicism to raving lunacy. Based on a play by Kenneth Wooland, Morning Departure was released in America as Operation Disaster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Helen Cherry, (more)
- 1950
Trio was the 1950 follow-up to the successful Somerset Maugham "omnibus" feature Quartet. Maugham himself introduces the three short playlets in this captivating collection. "The Verger" stars James Hayter as a church verger who loses his position when it is discovered that he can neither read nor write. With the help of sympathetic Kathleen Harrison, Hayter becomes a successful tobacconist, a turn of events leading inexorably to the story's beautifully ironic punchline. In "Mister Know-All," Nigel Patrick plays an obnoxious, garrulous passenger on a luxury cruise, who becomes a hero simply by knowing when to shut up. The final story, "Sanitorium," details the touching romance between tuberculosis victims Michael Rennie and Jean Simmons. Like Quartet, this was popular and successful enough to inspire a sequel, 1951's Encore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Hayter, Anne Crawford, (more)
- 1949
The Gay Lady is better known by its British title, Trottie True. Jean Kent stars as Trottie, a turn-of-the-century British music-hall performer who works her way up the ladder from chorus girl to headliner. As her fame increases, Trottie has no time for true love, preferring instead the attentions of men of nobility and wealth who can advance her career. But it's not enough, and at the end Trottie trots back to her husband. Based on the play by Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon, The Gay Lady is best seen in its original Technicolor British release version, which unlike some American prints leaves most of the musical numbers intact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Kent, James Donald, (more)
- 1949
By 1949, British stage and film star A.E. Matthews was more widely celebrated for his advanced age (eighty) than his considerable thespian achievements. In The Amazing Mr. Beecham (original British title: The Chiltern Hundreds), Matthews goes into his well-calculated "doddering aristocrat" routine as an elderly earl confounded by political upheaval. The old man's son (David Tomlinson) attempts to be elected to Parliament on the socialist ticket, but it is the family butler (Cecil Parker) who ends up being elected as a Tory. The original play, written by William Douglas Home, had also served as a vehicle for the venerable Matthews (who had made his stage debut in 1886!) After Amazing Mr. Beecham, A.E. Matthews remained active until his death in 1960 at age 91. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cecil Parker, A.E. Matthews, (more)
- 1949
One of many cinematic collaborations between actress Anna Neagle and her real-life husband, director Herbert Wilcox, this light, romantic "drawing room" comedy was Britain's biggest box office hit of 1948. Neagle stars as Judy Howard, the niece of wealthy art collector Joshua Howard (Tom Walls), for whom she also works as a personal secretary. Uncle Joshua's newest employee is a footman, Richard (Michael Wilding), whose aristocratic bearing seems out of place on a lowly domestic servant. As Judy begins falling for Richard and he for her, the plucky girl discovers the truth. Richard is indeed a member of the upper class, hiding out in working class disguise because he believes that he accepted a bogus payment for his family's valuable art collection and fears their wrath. Of course, no one is in a better position to help Richard with his transaction than Judy and her uncle. Voted England's most popular actress every year for nearly a decade after WWII, Neagle's career in America never materialized. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
