Richard Peel Movies

Mae West (1892-1980) was perhaps the original comic sex goddess of American cinema. Originally a vaudeville performer, she became a national sensation following her 1926 Broadway show Sex, which she wrote, produced, directed and starred in. She continued to outrage the sensibilities of her time on Broadway before coming to Hollywood and doing the same there throughout the 1930s. She perfected her double entendre humor onscreen and gradually fell out of favor with an increasingly prudish film-going public, though her career underwent several brief revivals. Even as an extremely old woman, she affected the manners and dress of a reigning sex queen. The 1978 release of Sextette, based on her own original scenario, marked her final screen appearance. It was not well received by critics nor the public, and was an undignified note on which to end her sensational career. In this farcical and star-studded film, West plays the fading movie star Marlo Manners, whose attempts to consummate her marriage to Sir Michael Barrington (Timothy Dalton), her sixth husband, are humorously interrupted by the preceding five. Marlo is also dictating the unexpurgated story of her life, and when one of the tapes goes missing, it threatens to cause an international incident, as well as ruining a number of reputations (including her own). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Bedknobs and Broomsticks was produced several years after Walt Disney's death and released in the fall of 1971. As it turned out, Bedknobs was frequently compared to Mary Poppins -- probably thanks to several striking similarities between the two productions, notably the presence in the cast of David Tomlinson, the use of Cockney children as central characters, and the inclusion of sequences that combine animation and live-action. Set in wartime England, Bedknobs stars Angela Lansbury as Eglantine Price, a would-be witch who hopes to use her newly acquired conjuring powers to forestall a Nazi invasion. Saddled with three surly kids who've been evacuated from London, Lansbury wins over her charges by performing various and sundry feats of magic. And, yes, she manages to foil a few Germans along the way. The film's most famous episode is an elaborate undersea fantasy, which combines animation with live-action on a gargantuan scale, dwarfing all previous Disney sequences along these lines. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Still bristling at the thought of being a "nanny", Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot) is further aggravated by the joshing he is receiving from his fellow valets. Clearly, the time has come for Mr. French to assert his dignity--and manhood. And somehow, French's determination translates to thoughts of matrimony, a prospect that thrills and delights the many female nannies in his circle of friends! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mr. Nigel French (John Williams) receives a visit from his nephew David (Martin Horsey), and is appalled to discover that the boy has adopted the speech patterns and attitudes of a "typical" American teenager. Even worse, David intends to buck family tradition, forsaking a career as a gentleman's gentleman to become a dentist. But the worst is reserved for last, when David scandalizes Mr. French by dating a girl "above his station"--namely, Cissy (Kathy Garver). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At the suggestion of Bill's current lady friend Ellen Latimer (Mary Murphy), who works for a major ad agency, Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot) is chosen as commercial spokesman for a new breakfast treat, Dunholt Marmalade. The usually unflappable Mr. French basks in the fame and adulation, and eagerly looks forward to embarking on a national promotion tour--until he finally tastes the marmalade! Richard Peel makes his first series appearance as French's friend and fellow butler Withers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For a school assignment, Cissy (Kathy Garver) decides to write a paper about Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot). Dogging the man's trail one Thursday afternoon, Cissy discovers a shocking secret about Mr. French: each week at the same time, he has a mysterious rendezvous with an English matron named Mrs. Allenby (Kathryn Givney). Upon learning the wistfully poignant reasons for French's covert behavior, Cissy lets slip that she knows all about his Thursday meetings--with near-disastrous results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1950, Maj. Jefferson Pike (James Garner), an Army intelligence agent who served with distinction in World War II, awakens in a hospital with severe amnesia. He isn't sure where he is, how he got there, or even who the woman at his side is, even though the doctor tells him that her name is Anna (Eva Marie Saint) and that she is his wife. The doctor instructs Pike to recall, in as much detail as possible, what he was doing before the accident that caused his traumatic memory loss. But the doctor isn't a doctor, Anna isn't Pike's wife, it isn't 1950, and he isn't in an American hospital. World War II is still very much in progress, and Pike is being duped in an elaborate scheme prepared by Maj. Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor), a German intelligence agent. Gerber is trying to trick a drugged and suggestible Pike into telling him everything he knows, as the injured soldier lies in a Bavarian military hospital after being taken prisoner. Will Pike be able to see through the cracks in Gerber's facade before he spills the beans that could mean death and defeat for American soldiers? 36 Hours was later remade for TV under the title Breaking Point. TV fans will want to keep an eye peeled for bit parts by James Doohan from Star Trek and John Banner from Hogan's Heroes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Adrian Messenger (John Merivale) asks his friend, British colonel Anthony Gethryn (George C. Scott), to check on the whereabouts of the eleven men named on a written list. Not long afterward, the plane on which Messenger is travelling is deliberately blown up. The mystery killer slipped the bomb on the plane while disguised as a priest, and we soon learn that the killer adopts a different guise for each of his subsequent murders. As Gethryn tracks down the men on Messenger's list, he discovers that all had been POWs in the same Burmese stockade during World War II, and he deduces that the murderer, who is methodically decimating those on the list, had been a traitor and informer. Gethryn traces the killer to the British estate of The Marquis of Gleneyre (Clive Brook), where his visit coincides with the return of "prodigal" American relative George Brougham (Kirk Douglas). Gethryn is convinced that Brougham is the killer, and that he plans to murder the only heir who stands in the way of the family fortune, but he has no tangible proof. Filmed primarily in Ireland, The List of Adrian Messenger received good theatrical bookings by virtue of its gimmick: several of the bit characters are played by famous stars in heavy makeup, and each of these stars -- Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, and Tony Curtis -- "unmasks" in the epilogue. In truth, only Douglas and Mitchum did any real acting under their mounds of collodion and crepe hair; the others showed up only to shoot their unmasking scenes (at a salary of $75,000 each!) and were "doubled" in the film itself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kit (Doris Day), an American married to wealthy London businessman Tony Preston (Rex Harrison) becomes the terrified victim of a mysterious stalker, who she hears but can never see. She is threatened by the eerie, high-pitched voice as she walks in the thick London fog. She then begins receiving repeated threatening telephone calls. The now totally panicked Kit is nearly killed when someone pushes her in front of a bus. Unfortunately for Kit, no one but she hears the voice or the telephone calls and neither Tony, Kit's visiting aunt Bea (Myra Loy), or Scotland Yard take any of these incidents seriously. The only one who seems to believe Kit is Brian Younger (John Gavin), a construction foreman, but Kit is not convinced that she can trust him. The tension builds to a thrilling climax as Kit flees for her life on a scaffolding outside her apartment building. Midnight Lace is an exciting thriller, with many surprising plot twists and a nice sinister performance by Rex Harrison. Roddy McDowall is also fun as the son of Kit's housekeeper, who keeps hitting up his mom for money. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Producer Howard W. Koch's impoverished Bel-Air company lensed this quasi-horror film somewhere in California's Death Valley. Affecting a none-too-convincing British accent Mark Dana stars as Captain Storm, heading a colonial escort to a lonely archeological dig in Egypt in 1902. Along the way, the party, which includes the American wife (Diane Brewster) of the chief archeologist (George N. Neise), encounters a mysterious girl, Simira (Ziva Shapir aka Ziva Rodann, "Miss Israel of 1957), who warns them not to mess with the dead. They do anyway, of course, drawing the ire of the Gods. One by one, the scientists are decimated by Simira's brother Numar (Alvaro Guillot), who is the reincarnation of the tomb keeper and grows older by the minute. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Desert Rats was a quickly assembled follow-up to 20th Century-Fox's successful war film The Desert Fox. Richard Burton plays an officer in the British Eighth Army, battling Rommel's forces in defense of Tobruk. Put in charge of an Australian unit, Burton rides his men ruthlessly, with laudatory results. He is briefly captured by the Nazis and questioned by General Rommel himself, but Burton escapes to lead his surviving troops to safety. James Mason, who portrayed Rommel in The Desert Fox, makes a guest appearance in the same role in The Desert Rats. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide