Bryan Pringle Movies

The second British TV miniseries based on the semi-autobiographical stories of H.E. Bates, My Uncle Silas 2 was, like its predecessor, built around the exploits of a cantankerous, imbibing, and slightly libidinous farm laborer of the early 1900s. The series was told from the viewpoint of young Edward (Joe Prospero), who had recently come to live with his roguish Uncle Silas (Albert Finney) in England's North Country. In the tradition of the original Uncle Silas, this series was inspired by five separate Bates short stories. In "Shandy Lil," Silas tried to pair off the titular Lil (Sandy McDade) with the shy Pikey (Tony Maudsley); in "The Race," Silas challenged archrival Goffy Windsor (Tim Preece) to a five-mile foot race; in "A Funny Thing," Silas' efforts to match wits with his worldly cousin Cosmo (Oliver Ford Davies) found him posing for an exceedingly amorous female sculptor; in "Finger Wet, Finger Dry," our hero was enmeshed in a compromising situation with the wife (Lesley Dunlop) of the local police constable (Gary Wheelan); and in "A Happy Man," it's Silas vs. old campaigner Walter (Bryan Pringle) at the annual flower show. Originally telecast by Yorkshire Television in 2001, My Uncle Silas 2 premiered as a component of the American PBS anthology Masterpiece Theatre on January 12, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Once upon a time, pursuing wolves frighten horses drawing a carriage, and it tumbles down a hill. Dying, the pregnant woman inside orders her grieving husband Frederick (Sam Neill) to cut the baby from her womb, so that at least it might live. Years later, the infant is now headstrong young Lilli (Taryn Davis), who is resentful of her father's upcoming marriage to Claudia (Sigourney Weaver). Claudia is devoted to the memory of her own mother and installs a magic mirror that belonged to her in a wardrobe in her private room. More time passes; Lilli is now an adult, but her relationship with the now-pregnant Claudia has never improved, though Claudia has never done her any ill. Claudia loses her baby, and on the same night, gazes into her mother's mirror, which shows her an image of herself young and beautiful. She determines to rid herself of Lilli. Lilli is walking near the forest when Claudia's mute brother Gustav (Miroslav Taborski) draws a knife and chases the frightened young woman into the forest. She evades him, so he kills a pig and takes the heart to a delighted Claudia, who believes it to be Lilli's heart. She has Gustav put the heart in a stew cooking in the kitchen, and that night as she dines with Frederick, Lilli eats the stew with great pleasure. Later, Frederick and some men search for Lilli in the rainy forest.

Lilli takes refuge from wolves in a ruined castle, where she's confronted by seven vagabonds who've banned together to seek a lost gold mind. Will (Gil Bellows), scarred during the Crusades, is around Lilli's own age and resents her presence, but the older Lars (Brian Glover) is friendlier to her. The mirror tells Claudia that Lilli is still alive, so in the forest where Claudia keeps a shrine to her dead baby, she casts a spell designed to kill her stepdaughter. Lilli, helping the men in their mine, is almost smothered in a cave-in; she's rescued, but one of the men dies. The mirror again tells Claudia that Lilli still lives. Whirling in a black gown, Claudia conjures a wind that strikes the forest; giant trees topple all around Lilli and the men, killing Lars, but Lilli still lives. So the mirror now transforms Claudia into a bald old hag, and she goes into the forest herself. She offers an apple to Lilli, who takes one bite and falls into a trance that no one can tell from death. She's placed in a stained-glass coffin and lowered into the ground, but the agonized Will, who's fallen in love with her, lifts her from the coffin and a piece of apple falls from her mouth. She returns to life, and they all head for the castle. She arrives in time to interrupt Claudia in the act of slashing Frederick's throat, then confronts Lilli in a room full of mirrors. (There's a hint that Claudia had a part in the death of Lilli's mother.) Lilli stabs not Claudia but her mirror image. It bursts apart, shredding and burning Claudia to death.

This bold movie out-grims the Brothers Grimm, telling their oft-told tale as a horror movie/adventure -- and it works. In fact, the weakness of the movie is precisely that the story is so familiar, but the changes wrought by the writers and director keep it fresh for most of its length. It's handsomely designed, using real locations and costumes that are never too grand for the setting. Weaver is clearly having a great time as the not-so-wicked stepmother who eventually becomes a vengeful witch. Especially for a fairy tale, the characters are complex and not necessarily always likable; even Lilli (who is never called "Snow White") has a hard edge, and her "Prince Charming" is a bitter, scarred commoner. It's a shame this attractive, imaginative film didn't have any theatrical release in the United States; originality, especially in a field as well-ploughed as fairy tales, should be encouraged. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

In this comic British caper film, an LA computer whiz finds herself recruited by an eccentric British lawyer who wants her to use her skills to defraud a powerful London bank that has been using its money to exploit a Third World country for tourism. She accepts his offer and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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

Emile Ardolino directed this treacly sequel to Three Men and a Baby. The middle-aged trio of doting fathers -- Peter the architect (Tom Selleck), Michael the cartoonist (Steve Guttenberg) and Jack the actor (Ted Danson) -- have returned, sublimating their swinging bachelor instincts in order to raise 5-year-old Mary (Robin Weisman). The child of Jack and Sylvia (Nancy Travis), Mary was abandoned by Sylvia in the foyer of the boys' apartment house in the first film. In five years, Mary has grown from a diaper-filling infant to a cute kid who insists that the guys sing rap songs to her before she goes to bed. Sylvia now also lives with the bachelors as she pursues a promising Broadway career. Peter, Michael, and Jack dote on the moppet and parenthood has rarely seemed more idyllic. But Sylvia once again disrupts their placid existence. Accepting the marriage proposal of British director and surly cad Edward (Christopher Cazenove), she announces that she and Mary are going to move to England, leaving the boys high and dry. When it turns out that Edward is secretly planning to ship Mary away to a boarding school after the marriage, the three guys race frantically to disrupt Sylvia's wedding. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A British production created by Monty Python alumni, this film concerns an inept chocolate-factory executive (Tyler Butterworth) who accidentally knocks three workers into a vat. The product is an incredible hit with consumers, though one of the workers' widows (Vanessa Redgrave) is considering blackmail. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Gene Wilder directed and wrote (along with Terence Marsh) this mild farce which is a pale reminder of Wilder's glory days in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Wilder plays ham radio actor Larry Abbot, who takes his fiancee Vickie Pearle (Gilda Radner) out to meet his relations on a gloomy country estate before they are married. The creepy clan is lorded over by the bizarre Aunt Kate (Dom DeLuise), who keeps babbling about a local rampaging werewolf. As Larry and Vickie try to spend a quiet weekend in the mansion, they are assaulted with all manners of spooky goings-on -- the kind of routines that were already growing whiskers when Abbott and Costello first dusted them off over fifty years ago. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

After a brief introduction by J.M. Barrie (Alec McCowen) and shots of the young Daisy Ashford (Carina Radford) working on a book, this children's fantasy film about the aristocracy in England at the end of the 19th century begins its surreal journey. Comedian Tracey Ullman plays Ethel Monticue, a woman who must decide between two suitors: the suave and worldly Bernard Clark (John Harding) or the clod Alfred (Kenny Ireland), sent off to London to learn how to become a gentleman. Unreal sequences, such as entering the chambers of the aristocratic elite through caverns, or a train that is really a horse stable, take the narrative of the film away from logic and into the fantasy of a child's imagination. Ullman and Ireland are excellent as the comic Ethel and Alfred, and in general this make-believe tale is one that could be appreciated by parents as well as children. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The musical Mr. Quilp was based on one of Dickens' grimmest works, The Old Curiosity Shop, which has as its highlight the death of its heroine. The principal character is a villain, a hunchbacked usurer who wishes to take over the business of an antique dealer. Anthony Newley plays the horrid Mr. Quilp, and is also responsible for the music. Mr. Quilp was produced by Readers Digest Magazine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This biography of Oliver Cromwell recalls the political and religious struggles of 17th century England. Cromwell (Richard Harris) is the Anglican religious fanatic who fights corruption and Catholicism with equal zeal, while King Charles (Alec Guinness) is the vacillating monarch who believes his crown gives him a direct pipeline to the wisdom of God. Also starring Robert Morley and Timothy Dalton, Cromwell won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design and was nominated for Best Original Score. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Marcello Mastroianni marks his English language film debut in this featherweight caper film directed by first-time director Christopher Morahan. Mastroianni plays the owner of a London boutique who also happens to be the fourth in line to succeed the Russian throne. Mastroianni, feeling that the collection of Russian imperial jewels actually belongs to him, determines to steal them and return them to their rightful owner -- himself. To carry out his plan, he puts together a cadre of pulchritudinous female crooks and arranges for his gal gang to model the imperial jewels at a fashion show. But, as usual, complications set in to mess up his plans. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Among the first of the late 60s anti-war films that reflected growing concern over the Vietnam War, How I Won the War takes a cold, dark look at the Good War, World War II. In adapting Patrick Ryan's 1963 novel, screenwriter Charles Wood and director Richard Lester offered a narrative fractured by characters making side comments to the camera, stylized cinematography, inserts of newsreel war footage, and plenty of absurdist humor and slapstick. Ernest Goodbody (Michael Crawford) is a bumbling British officer who manages to get most of his small company of musketeers killed while on a mission in North Africa to set up a cricket pitch behind enemy lines for officers of the advancing British army. The rest of the company dies in an ensuing campaign in Europe near the war's end, but all of the men continue to march along, appearing as monochromatic ghosts. (Original prints of the film intercut real battle footage tinted to match the color of the soon-to-be ghost soldier. Some prints of the film, including one shown on Turner Classic Movies, present the newsreel shots in black and white, undercutting the stylized touch.) The story is framed as a flashback, with Goodbody relating his version of events to a German officer (Karl Michael Vogler), while the real version of events, demonstrating Goodbody's ineptitude, plays out on screen. Among the supporting players are John Lennon, who had worked with Lester on A Hard Day's Night and Help; Roy Kinnear, a Lester regular, as a fat soldier who is certain his wife is cheating on him; Jack MacGowran as the troop's designated fool, and Michael Hordern as a general almost as oblivious to his suffering men as Goodbody. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide