Laurence Payne Movies

Patrick Troughton returns to his old role of the Second Doctor in the three-part adventure "The Two Doctors." Sent to investigate a space station, the Doctor and his companion, Jamie (Patrick Hines, also making a return appearance), are attacked by the Sontarans. It is up to the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) to rescue his distinguished predecessor from this and other perils. In keeping with the nostalgic milieu of this adventure, the early sequences with Patrick Troughton were filmed in black-and-white. Written by Robert Holmes, "The Two Doctors" was originally telecast in England on February 16 and 23, and March 2, 1985, then released in a six-part version in the United States. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the conclusion of the three-part adventure "The Two Doctors," the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) rushes to Spain, there to (hopefully) rescue his predecessor, Doctor #2 (Patrick Troughton). Complicating matters is a false ally named Chessen o' the Franzine Grig (Jacqueline Pearce) and a band of surly Sontarans. The ending, in which the Sixth Doctor must not only save his "prior self" but also their respective travelling companions Peri (Nicola Bryant) and Jamie (Frazer Hines), hinges on a carefully laid trap. Part three of "The Two Doctors" originally aired on March 2, 1985. The entire adventure was later released in a six-part version in the United States. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this made-for-television horror movie, a Rolls-Royce develops a murderous mind of its own. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In the conclusion of the four-part story "The Gunfighters," the Doctor (William Hartnell) and his companions Steven (Peter Purves) and Dodo (Jackie Lane) may very well meet their doom as the Earps and the Clantons shoot it out at the OK Corral in Tombstone, AZ. Complicating matters is Doc Holliday (Anthony Jacobs), who hasn't yet decided which side he will take in the climactic showdown. Written by Donald Cotton, "Johnny Ringo" was originally telecast on May 21, 1966. For the record, "The Gunfighters" was the last Doctor Who adventure to contain separately titled episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When a beautiful model is found shot in her apartment, a famous television star is felt to be the murderer in a failed extortion plot. Although the investigation turns up a surprise ending, by the time most viewers get there they could not care less who did it. Singularly uninspired murder drama. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

This routine wartime drama is set at sea and involves a British convoy trying to elude a group of German U-Boats. After one of the U-Boats is singled out and captured, the British admiral in charge of the current operation hits upon an ingenious but almost suicidal way of defeating the Nazi boats. He orders Lt. Commander Tarlton (Edward Judd) and a group of men to get in the captured U-Boat and then join the other U-Boats as though they had simply wandered off course for awhile. If done quickly and efficiently, Tarlton should be able to radio back the position of the enemy for a fast British offensive. Not an easy task in itself, and made much worse considering that the RAF and other British ships are going to consider the decoy U-Boat to be the enemy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This 1962 Biblical epic was adapted by Christopher Fry from the novel by Pär Lagerkvist. Anthony Quinn stars as Barabbas, the thief who was pardoned in place of Jesus. For the rest of his life, the guilt-ridden criminal tries to justify his existence and to determine his place in the scheme of things. Along the way he encounters the self-righteous pomposity of Pontius Pilate (Arthur Kennedy), the stoning of Sara (Katy Jurado), the gladiatorial sadism of Torvald (Jack Palance), and the burning of Rome. The film's unbilled Christ is played by Roy Magnano, the brother of Quinn's second-billed costar Silvia Mangano. Watch for the genuine solar eclipse during the Crucifixion sequence, an effect that director Richard Fleischer spent several days preparing for. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this taut thriller, a philandering husband and his pregnant lover plot the death of his wife, her sister. Fortunately things don't happen has planned. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Horror tale inspired by the classic Edgar Allan Poe story, in which a writer fantasizes murdering his friend over a beautiful woman, and then hearing the dead man's heart continuing to beat. (Alternate title: The Hidden Room Of 1,000 Horrors) ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

The Trollenberg Terror, authored by Peter Key and directed by Quentin Lawrence, started life on British television as a six-part installment of ITV's Saturday Serial in late 1956 and early 1957. The big-screen version, was adapted by Jimmy Sangster, who compressed most of the best horrific and mystery elements of the original into an under-90-minute vehicle, which Lawrence directed. At a remote Alpine village, mountaineers suddenly start dying, their bodies horribly multilated -- at first, these incidents seem like they could just be accidents. But the arrival of a pair of sisters (Janet Munro, Jennifer Jayne), one of whom feels an almost telepathic connection with someone or something on the mountain, attracts the interest of American Alan Brooks (Forrest Tucker), a trouble-shooter for the United Nations. He and Prof. Crevett (Warren Mitchell), who has been monitoring the radiation levels in the area from a research station set up by the government, determine that there is a pattern to these deaths that Brooks has seen before, in a prior incident in the Andes Mountains. They determine that the Earth has been invaded, at high altitude, by a race of gigantic, tentacled aliens who live in thin atmosphere and at extremely low temperatures. Camouflaging themselves in a dense radioactive cloud, they've been content up until now to hide their existence while experimenting with the inhabitants of their new world -- they've taken over some human subjects telepathically, and also re-animated dead bodies. And they've killed those -- such as the hapless mountaineers who have stumbled upon their new lair, or those few humans whose stronger-than-usual mental powers have allow them to sense the aliens' presence -- who threaten to discover them. But now Crevett sees that the aliens are adapting and moving down the mountain, the cloud bringing their necessary cold temperatures with them, and threatening to engulf the village as prelude to an attack on it and all that lies beyond. The Trollenberg Terror was retitled The Crawling Eye when it was released in the United States, in an obvious attempt to draw the same audience that had made the previous year's British film adaptation of a tv serial -- The Quatermass Xperiment, renamed The Creeping Unknown -- into a huge hit in the US. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Eschewing the Shakespearean original title (it's a quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream), the British Ill Met by Moonlight was released stateside as Night Ambush. This superb Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger concoction is set during World War II on the island of Crete. Dirk Bogarde and David Oxley play Major Paddy Leigh Fermer and Captain Billy Stanley Moss, two British officers whose job it is to kidnap Nazi general Karl Kreipe (Marius Goring) and spirit him off to Cairo. The motive of this mission is to weaken German morale on Crete and to provide hope to the enslaved locals. With the help of a group of resistance fighters, Fermer and Moss manage to trap the general; now they must transport their captive back to their own lines, avoiding German patrols every inch of the way. Originally 104 minutes, Ill Met by Moonlight was cut to 93 minutes by its American distributor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Opening with elaborate preparations for the Queen of England's birthday, The Queen's Guards introduces the audience via voiceover to John Fellowes, a young captain overseeing the participation of the Grenadier Guards in the celebratory parade. A series of flashbacks follow, which fill the viewer in on John's difficult past: a crippled father who is a former Guardsman himself and maintains an obsessive interest with the Guards; a dead brother (also a Guardsman) to whom John is constantly (and unfavorably) compared by his father; and difficulties encountered during his military training when he learns his brother died a coward and caused the death or injury of many of his colleagues (including the father of a girl in whom John has a romantic interest.) Eventually, John is placed in charge of a military operation that has many parallels to the ill-fated one led by his brother, putting him in the position to either repeat his brother's mistakes or atone for them and thereby restore the family's honor. The film mixes shot of actors portraying Guards with footage of actual Guardsmen and soldiers on parade and in action, and also includes some location shots of Battersea Bridge and the Prospect of Whitby. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi