Peter Murray Movies
This animated fantasy is based on a famed fairy tale by late-19th century writer George MacDonald. It is the tale of a brave princess who teams up with the son of a miner to go underground and stop the mischievous goblins from revolting. The film spent many years in production, which explains the vocal presence of Roy Kinnear (who died in September 1988). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joss Ackland, Claire Bloom, (more)
While visiting his former partner in an Arizona border town, LA cop Jack Lucarelli witnesses a murder. The killer is white slaver Gerald McRaney-who turns out to be one of local sheriff Wilford Brimley's most trusted deputies. Nobody believes Lucarelli's eyewitness account, not even his ex-partner Jameson Parker, another of Brimley's deputies. Eventually, it dawns on Parker that his department is seething with corruption. He and Lucarelli work secretly to put an end to McRaney's activities, leading inexorably to the film's climactic bloodbath. The otherwise eminently forgettable American Justice is interesting for its reteaming of onetime Simon and Simon costars Jameson Parker and Gerald McRaney, this time on opposite sides of the law. Parker coproduced the film with costar Lucarelli, while one of the film's supporting actors, Dennis A. Pratt, wrote the script . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lucarelli, Gerald McRaney, (more)
Gerald Arthur Otley (Tom Courtenay) is a British secret agent called in to investigate the murder of a suspected influence pedlar and document smuggler. He trails double agents and double martinis at a posh cocktail party before discovering the villains have the cooperation of top government officials in Parliament. Otley is pegged to masquerade as a possible defector to oust the criminal mastermind who plans to sell some stolen documents vital to national security to any enemy agent with the most money. Murder, blackmail and auto chases dominate the action as the femme fatale Imogen (Romy Schneider) first has Otley beaten up by her thugs before combining forces to go after the real villains in this confusing and sometimes funny spy yarn. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Courtenay, Romy Schneider, (more)
Two teenagers leave their small village behind and travel to London to make a life for themselves in the big city. Joe (Robin Askwith) convinces his girlfriend Carol (Janet Lynn) he has a job waiting in the motor trade and other connections. They spend the night together in a hotel and are swindled out of their money. Joe has no trouble convincing Carol to become a prostitute, and she continues the practice after landing a job as a successful model. Carol and Joe get work in pornographic films before they consider moving back to the quiet village once again. The seamy side of West End London is graphically illustrated. Jess Conrad, Stubby Kaye, Harry Baird and Pearl Hackney also appear in this exploitation film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Lynn, Robin Askwith, (more)
In this musical, the Gilbert and Sullivan classic is updated and set in post-war Japan. This time, the trouble begins when a soldier, the son of a Yankee judge, falls in love with a Japanese girl. This enrages her Yakuza (Japanese mafia) fiance who kidnaps him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
No, this isn't Noel Coward's Design for Living, it's the British "beat generation" comedy Design for Loving. Hoping to capture the youth market, fashion mogul-ess June Thorburn hires beatnik Pete Murray as her chief consultant. Murray is actually a nobleman in disguise, so you can imagine the comic complications. This is one of those "trendy" films of the 1960s that wound up an anachronism almost from the moment it hit the theatres. Design for Loving was released in the US by Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this crime drama, an FBI agent and a vengeful sister pursue diamond thieves who pulled their latest caper by placing a time-bomb aboard a plane piloted by the woman's brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The youthful residents of a small British town stand united in their struggle to be allowed to listen to rock & roll and jazz in this comical musical. The trouble really begins when the village mayor tries to ban the jukebox in the local coffee house. Determined to prove that modern music has nothing to do with the Devil, two youths team up and try to organize a rock and jazz festival. They are successful and as a result many popular performers appear. These include Chubby Checker, Del Shannon, Chris Barber's Jazz Band, and Gary "U.S." Bonds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Shapiro, Craig Douglas, (more)
In this comedy, an aged cashier decides to rob the insurance company where she works. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this crime drama, an unemployed thespian gets a job as an escort-protector and winds up framed for murder after one of his wealthy clients is killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Six-Five Special is an expansion on the popular BBC TV variety series of the same name. Not unlike America Bandstand, the BBC's Six-Five Special spotlighted England's top rock-and-roll and R&B acts, as well as a few talented newcomers on the verge of stardom. The predictable plotline involves a group of teenaged hopefuls who compete for the honor of a few minutes' glory on the "telly." This slender scenario is, of course, an excuse to trot 16 well-known singing acts across the screen. Among the performers featured on 6.5 Special are Lonnie Donegan, Petula Clark, Jim Dale, Johnny Dankworth, Cleo Lane, Mike & Bernie Winters and the King Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lonnie Donegan, Jim Dale, (more)
Henry Koster directs the 1951 aviation drama No Highway in the Sky, based on the novel by Nevil Shute. James Stewart stars as Theodore Honey, a widower and single parent to 11-year-old Elspeth (Janette Scott). He's also an absent-minded engineer who has formed a scientific theory about metal fatigue in a specific model of aircraft. He tries to convince British Airways that their airplanes will come apart after a certain amount of miles, but no one believes him. Then administrator Dennis Scott (Jack Hawkins) sends him on a flying mission to investigate a crash site in Newfoundland. Along the way, he meets stewardess Marjorie Corder (Glynnis Johns) and movie star Monica Teasdale (Marlene Dietrich). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, (more)
In this drama, a young Englishman wants to become a surgeon, but after medical school, his father dies, leaving him the responsibility of supporting his mother and paying for his brother's education. He becomes a partner in a small practice and watches the woman he wanted to marry go off with his brother. The brother is killed in WWI, after which his illegitimate son is born. The doctor marries the woman, but she dies in childbirth, leaving him to raise his brother's child. Eventually, he finds a new wife. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hilda Bayley, Beatrice Campbell, (more)
Portrait from Life is an over-orchestrated "guilty pleasure" from the glory days of British romance pictures. A German professor sees a portrait in an art gallery which looks exactly like his daughter, who is assumed to have died in the war. The girl (Mai Zetterling) has been living as an amnesiac in Europe, under the protection of a former Nazi bigwig. British army major Guy Rolfe tries to cut through red tape and an tangled-up espionage plot to rescue the girl. Portrait from Life was issued in the US under the imaginative title The Girl in the Painting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mai Zetterling, Guy Rolfe, (more)
The misery caused by a long-term feud between two Irish families provides the framework in this drama based on a book by Daphne du Maurier. The saga begins in 1840 as the father of the Donovan clan rebels against the Brodrick family, the owners of the copper mine located on what was formerly Donovan land. In the ensuing conflict, the mine is destroyed and the eldest Brodrick son is killed. His younger brother then becomes the clan leader. He cares not a fig for mining; instead he would rather spend his time wooing a beautiful local girl whom he marries. They have four children and when the brother dies, his eldest son succeeds him. The new patriarch and his mother are terribly greedy and eager to take control of the mine. His mother is distraught when her son suddenly rejects her. The unwanted woman goes to London where she soon gets involved with gambling and drugs to ease her broken heart. One day, her son travels to the city and runs into her. To ease his aching conscience he asks her to return home. Just as she gets there, the eldest son is killed by another Donovan during a labor dispute. She then has one Donovan arrested. An aging servant manages to talk the bereaved mother into dropping the charges so that the feud may finally end. She does. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eileen Crowe, Michael Denison, (more)
In this British melodrama, an indigent writer suffers from amnesia, forgets that he is in love with an aristocratic lady, and instead falls in love with a seductive gypsy. The rich girl's father is enraged by her lover's betrayal. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Crawford, Arthur Goullet, (more)
In this sci-fi comedy, a nutty inventor and his loyal butler use his time machine to travel to Elizabethan times. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide














