John Nettleton Movies

Monty Python's Michael Palin plays an Oxford don with acute female trouble in American Friends. While on holiday in the Swiss Alps, Palin crosses the path of American tourist Connie Booth and her adopted daughter Trini Alvarado. Both women express an inordinate desire for the bookish Palin, leading to profound changes in the lives of all concerned. Michael Palin insists that the plot of American Friends was drawn from an actual incident in the life of his own great-grandfather. The film unfolds like a good novel; slow on the uptake, but fascinating once it gets going. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the second episode of the three-part story "The Ghost Light," the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) have arrived in Ace's home town of Perivale, in hopes of finding out the cause of the girl's horrible nightmares. Arriving in the village in the year 1883, the Doctor is plunged in the middle of a raging Evolution vs. Creationism controversy, and also discovers that all is not well at the Gabriel Chase house. Meanwhile, Ace meets several new friends -- if indeed, they are friends. Written by Marc Platt, "Ghost Light, Episode 2" originally aired on October 11, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This spy outing hones in on secret agent Magnus Pym (Peter Egan). Having impersonated so many different people during his career as a British spy, Pym eventually lost track of who he really was -- a confusion compounded by the fact that he knew nothing of his actual past. Ultimately feeling that he could trust no one -- not even his so-called friends -- Pym turned his back on the British and began trading secrets with the Enemy. Filmed on location in England, Europe, and the U.S., the seven-episode A Perfect Spy originally aired in the U.K. in 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Monty Python's Michael Palin was the guiding force behind East of Ipswich. Set in mid-1950s Britain, the plot concerns a group of teenagers on holiday with their uptight parents. Heeding the call of the galloping hormones, our young heroes and heroines become involved in all sorts of brief amours. The cast includes Edward Rawle-Hicks, John Wagland, Oona Kirsch. Made for British television in 1986, East of Ipswich debuted in America over the A&E cable network in 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on an autobiographical novel by Elspeth Huxley, this 1981 film tells the story of the Grant family -- little Elspeth (Holly Aird) and her parents, Robin (David Robb) and Tilly (Hayley Mills) -- after they arrive in Kenya to start a coffee plantation. The episodic production begins when a lion greets the horse-drawn carriage transporting Tilly and Elspeth to the site of the plantation. Tilly stares the lion down with the help of a poised shotgun, demonstrating her resolve to make a go of it in the rugged new land. After the Grants construct a home with the help of Kikuyu natives, they hold a housewarming attended by neighbors Hereward (Nicholas Jones) and Lettice Palmer (Sharon Maughan), fellow Brits who have also settled in Kenya. Meanwhile, 11-year-old Elspeth revels in the land, the wildlife, and her new Kenyan friends. While her parents are away, Elspeth stays with Mrs. Nimmo (Carol MacReady), a Scotswoman who corrects the little girl's manners and makes her dress formally for dinner. During the day, Elspeth travels back and forth to her home on a pony to feed her pet deer and pet chameleons. On one trip, she meets and makes friends with Englishman Ian Crawfurd (Ben Cross), a newcomer. After her parents return and host the Palmers and Crawfurd at a get-together, Crawfurd and Lettice Palmer, who is bored with her husband, Hereward, and Africa, fall in love and begin an affair. A leopard carries off a dog Lettice cherishes, and everyone joins in a hunt for the animal, including wily Boer huntsman Mr. Roos (William Morgan Sheppard). On the hunt, Lettice and Ian Crawfurd, whose affair has become obvious to all, provoke Hereward. Ian and Hereward brawl. A native whom Hereward insults with a racist remark stabs Hereward, but he survives. When the first World War begins, Robin and Ian both do service. Will they come back? That is the question that gnaws at Elspeth and her mom -- and Lettice -- while life goes on at Thika. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

In this touching adventure, a remake of the popular 1940 film, two Georgia boys ignore their racial differences to team up and befriend a feral bird dog, whom they train to participate in a fence-jumping contest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Two British nurses -- Jane (Pamela Franklin) and Cathy (Michele Dotrice) -- take a vacation in the French countryside. Jane actually wants to tour the countryside, while Cathy wants to spend the time enticing men. After an argument while in a small French village, Jane leaves. When she returns, Cathy is gone. And if that weren't worry enough, it appears that the handsome young man Cathy flirted with on their journey is apparently a sex-crazed serial killer. In a panic, Jane tries to get some help from the villagers, but the townspeople are curiously uncooperative. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Steed and Tara are called in when several forestry experts are murdered. It turns out that the dead men had all stumbled onto a diabolical plan to destroy the earth's foliage with a strain of synthetic dry rot. As the villains try to hold up England for a billion pounds, the Avengers do battle with the bad guys' minions. Guest star Eric Barker steals the show as the eccentric Mr. Pym. Written by Dave Freeman, "The Rotters" was first seen in England on January 8, 1969 -- some three weeks after its American TV debut on December 16, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Robert Bolt and Constance Willis from Bolt's hit stage play, A Man for All Seasons stars Paul Scofield, triumphantly repeating his stage role as Sir Thomas More. The crux of the film is the staunchly Catholic More's refusal to acknowledge King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw)'s break from the church to divorce his first wife and marry Anne Boleyn (an unbilled Vanessa Redgrave). Sir Thomas willingly goes to the chopping block rather than sacrifice his ideals. Director Fred Zinnemann retains the play's verbosity without sacrificing the film's strong sense of visuals. The impeccably chosen cast includes Wendy Hiller as Sir Thomas' likably contentious wife Alice, John Hurt as the deceitful Richard Rich (More's put-downs of this despicable character provide some of the film's biggest laughs), Orson Welles as a dour Cardinal Woolsey, Leo McKern as the ambitious Thomas Cromwell, and Susannah York as More's daughter Margaret. The "Common Man," an important bridging-the-scenes character in the original play, is removed from the film version, which does just fine without him. A Man for All Seasons won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, as well as seven British Film Academy awards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide