Edna Petrie Movies
- 1964
The last of Margaret Rutherford's "Miss Marple" films, Murder Ahoy is the only one of the series not based on an Agatha Christie original. The setting this time is a boat that has been purchased by a trusteeship to serve as a home for wayward kids. One of the trustees, Cecil Ffolly-Hardwicke (Henry Longhurst), dies while attending a meeting held aboard the boat. The police write the death off as "natural causes," but another trustee, our Miss Marple (Rutherford), suspects otherwise. Doing a little sleuthing on her own, she discovers that outwardly respectable Lionel Jeffries is using the boat as a "training school" for aspiring criminals, a la Fagin. This would seem to explain why Hardwicke was murdered, but Jeffries is much too obvious a suspect--as Miss Marple discovers nearly too late. Margaret Rutherford's husband Stringer Davis is back again as Miss Marple's platonic middle-aged friend Mr. Stringer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Rutherford, Lionel Jeffries, (more)
- 1960
Richard Attenborough stars in this British drama as Tom Curtis, an ordinary man with a job in a factory. A new employee, Travers (Alfred Burke), begins complaining about conditions at the plant and stirs up disharmony among his fellow workers. Tom thinks that there's something fishy about Travers and his methods, and when Travers decides to call a wildcat strike, Tom refuses to participate and makes a point of standing his ground. However, Travers and his ideas have attracted a groundswell of support in the factory, and Tom soon finds himself on the outs with his fellow employees as Travers drifts off to make trouble at another factory. Tom, however, still has to deal with the angry reprisals of the men, and his wife Anna (Pier Angeli) doesn't understand why he continues to hold so unpopular an opinion at the expense of his safety and well-being. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Anna Maria Pier Angeli, (more)
- 1960
In this British comedy, an amiable demolitions expert finds himself entangled with a band of criminals masquerading as doctors. In this guise, the thieves attempt to build a tunnel between the hospital and the bank next door. The expert successfully blows open the vault, and the criminals escape with their loot, leaving the hapless safecracker to take the rap. Five years pass before he is released from prison. The man has learned his lesson and tries to reform by taking a job in a small resort. More trouble ensues when he sees the most prominent citizen in town cheating his neighbors by selling bogus shares in the future of the town. To stop him the ex-safecracker enlists the aid of his old gang who begin masquerading as American soldiers offering to build a missile base in the town. Naturally the avaricious businessman desires a piece of the pie and so buys back all of the land he had sold. Using his special talent, the hero blows up the villain's land. Fortunately, the real American army gets involved by offering to rebuild the destroyed town on the land, causing the townsfolk to cheer the former con-man on as the police haul him back to prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Wisdom, Alfred Marks, (more)
