Dennis Price Movies

Young Robert Fontaine, Jr. (Billy Gray) lives with his hard-working father (George Murphy) and mother (Nancy Davis), who is soon to give birth to a second child, on their northern California citrus farm. He's lonely on the farm and has been saving to buy a dog. One day, a mysterious stranger (Kurt Kasznar), who gives his name as Matlock, moves into the empty house adjacent to the farm -- he's not only highly strung but downright hostile to any friendly overtures that Robert Sr. or anyone else makes. Meanwhile, young Robert finds a stray dog that he adopts, and his whole life seems to blossom with his new companion -- but one day he finds the dog dead. He becomes fixated on the notion that Matlock poisoned the dog, and insists that his father do something -- but when Matlock angrily denies knowing about it, the boy's frustrations start to build. He tries to report to the poisoning to the police; when they won't help, he tries to get Mr. Wardlaw (Lewis Stone), the owner of the newspaper that he delivers, to run a news story about it, and when Wardlaw tries to reason with the boy, his rage finally boils over and he goes out-of-control. The boy decides to try and gather evidence against Matlock and follows a trail that takes him across the state hitchhiking, to the home of the former owner of the house Matlock is living in, and there he confronts a rumor that the other man was murdered. Stories and whispers begin to spread through the town about Matlock that make him seem even more sinister. The populace are getting stirred up, and Robert Jr., in his rage, commits an act of vandalism that threatens the entire community. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The first of British director John Guillermin's two 1952 offerings was Song of Paris. Dennis Price stars as stomach-pill sales representative Matthew Ibbetson, who goes to Paris to close a business deal. While taking in the sights, Ibbetson inaugurates a casual affair with French chanteuse Clementine (Anne Vernon). Upon returning to London, Ibbetson finds to his dismay that Clementine has followed him. How can he keep his Parisian rendezvous secret from his veddy proper mother (Hermione Badderly). In his British-film debut, dour character comedian Mischa Auer chews the scenery as a seedy nobleman who covets the affections of the hapless Clementine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite its lighthearted title, Lady Godiva Rides Again is a fairly potent indictment of the darker side of beauty contests. Waitress Marjorie (Pauline Stroud) enters one competition after another, hoping for fame and fortune. She manages to make the finals of a "Lady Godiva" contest, never suspecting that the outcome has been rigged. By accident, Marjorie wins First Prize, a huge sum of money and a movie contract. Alas, she hasn't the talent to parlay her win into a lasting career, and soon Marjorie is scrounging around for any "girlie show" job she can find. Only when reduced to performing nude in a French cabaret review is Marjorie rescued by her Australian boyfriend Larry Burns (John McCallum), who makes her promise to stop all this nonsense and settle down to domesticity. The well-chosen cast includes Dennis Price as a lascivious movie star and Stanley Holloway and Gladys Henson as the girl's nonplused parents. Featured in smaller roles are such future leading ladies as Kay Kendall, Diana Dors, Dagmar (later Dana) Wynter and, in an uncredited bit, Joan Collins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Adventurers is set in South Africa at the end of the Boer war. Commando Pieter Brandt (Jack Hawkins) comes across the dead body of a diamond courier. Brandt buries both the courier and his valuable cache of diamonds then heads back to his regiment. After the cessation of hostilities, Brandt raises money for an expedition back into the mountainous regions where the diamonds are hidden. There's no love lost among Brandt and his three treasure-hunting companions; particularly prickly is the relationship between Brandt and Clive Hunter (Dennis Price), whose wife is Brandt's former fiancé. Sort of an African variation of Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Adventurers is buoyed by an unusually vicious performance by Jack Hawkins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Lost People is a pedantic British drama set in a large, abandoned German theatre just after the War. A disparate group of homeless refugees huddle together within the structure. As they get to know each other, old wounds are opened, social and religious clashes break out, recriminations melt into reconciliations, and the theatre threatens to become a metaphor for the World At Large. In fact, it's not a threat but a foregone conclusion. The Lost People is based on Cockpit, a play by Bridget Boland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A frequent visitor to the Late Late Show, the Anglo-American Snowbound is set in the frozen Alps. Robert Newton and Dennis Price head an expedition in search of a fortune of gold, stashed away by the Nazis in the last days of the war. Snowed into an old cabin, the men quickly get on one another's nerves. Just when tension reaches the boiling point, one of the party saves the day. He happens to be a movie screenwriter, who uses his cinematic knowhow to reach a solution to their dilemma. Snowbound is based on The Lonely Skier, a novel by Hammond Innes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Shortly after the end of World War II, a pair of British soldiers hold an increasingly hostile group if refugees in a German theater in preperation for returning them to their homelands. Confused by the seemingly constant struggle that still surrounds them despite the official declaration that the war has ended, the soldiers and their captives are briefly unified when word of a coming plague begins to spread. As time passes and the group remains, the British soldier's handle on the situation losens as their captives' momentarily placated hostility once again boils to the surface. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

George Gordon, aka Lord Byron, the clubfooted 19th-century poet with the uncontrollable libido, is played by Dennis Price in this lavish British chocolate-box epic. From the vantage point of his deathbed, Byron recalls his life and many loves, imagining that he's pleading his case before a celestial court. Joan Greenwood looks like she's just stepped out of a portrait frame as Lady Caroline Lamb (whose own sordid story would also be filmed in due time). Her performance is far more persuasive than that of Dennis Price, who seems less libertine than precocious as Byron. Roundly ridiculed by British film critics in 1949, The Bad Lord Byron has stood the test of time -- not really a classic, but an acceptable rainy-day wallow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Good Time Girl, directed by David MacDonald and based on a story by Arthur La Bern (It Always Rains On Sunday) starts off unpromisingly, as juvenile justice official Flora Robson tries to keep a would-be female felon on the straight-and-narrow, telling the cautionary tale of Gwen Rawlings (Jean Kent). A victim of an unhappy home and her own stupidity, Rawlings leaves home and, with help from her sleazy new neighbor Jimmy Rosso (Peter Glenville, the future director), gets a job as a hat-check girl at a club run by Max Vine (erbert Lom). But Jimmy's jealousy soon gets him fired, and leaves him aiming for revenge on Max and Gwen. Despite the best efforts of Michael Farrell (Dennis Price), the one truly decent man she's ever met, Jimmy achieves his goal and Gwen is sent to a reformatory. It is there that she's truly corrupted by being locked up with more seasoned juvenile (and not so juvenile) felons, who know how to game the system -- whem she escapes, she's a professional criminal, and, taking on a new alias, falls in with a pair of loose-living gents. She manages to commit a vehicular homicide, and then falls in with a pair of American military deserters (Bonar Colleano, Hugh McDermott) who aren't above committing pre-meditated murder. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The dazzlingly handsome Stewart Granger is at least physically well cast as the charismatic 18th century violinist Paganini. The fact that the illusion explodes whenever he opens his mouth mattered not at all to Granger's legions of British female fans. Luckily for the screenwriters, Paganini was as celebrated for his many love affairs as for his musical accomplishments, so it wasn't necessary to cook up a romantic plotline from whole cloth. The actual Paganini solos are performed by Yehudi Menuhin, and in this respect (and this respect only) the film is worthwhile. Magic Bow was another guilty pleasure from Gainsborough Productions, England's principal purveyor of bodice-ripping romances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in Yorkshire in the 19th century, this period drama centers upon a family of mill owners. The story shifts from the well-to-do surroundings of the Crowther family to the less desirable conditions in the mill. While there are the usual crises, disasters, and labor clashes, the film manages to include a few humorous moments, mostly providing by top-billed comic actor Tom Walls. The production couldn't really hope for a profitable American run, but it did well in the provincial British cinemas. Master of Bankdam was based on the novel The Crowthers of Bankdam by Thomas Armstrong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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