Elsie Randolph Movies
- 1932
Musical comedy star Gene Gerard breezes his inimitable way through the 1932 British programmer Brother Alfred. Thrown over by fiancee Molly Lamont, Gerard pursues the girl to Monte Carlo, hoping to win her back. In desperation, Gerard poses as his nonexistent twin brother Alfred, and in this guise wins Molly's heart all over again. We'll wager that she's on to him all the time. Brother Alfred was taken (as far as possible) from a play by P.G. Wodehouse and Herbert Westbrook. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1951
Cheer the Brave is a minor British domestic comedy, good for a few laughs during its scant 62 minutes. Elsie Randolph plays the domineering wife of downtrodden Geoffrey Keen. As if wifey isn't enough of a terror, Keen has to contend with mother-in-law Marie Ault. Keen finally gets the gumption to skeedaddle when Randolph's first husband Jack McNaughton make a return appearance. Cheer the Brave was the first directorial effort of former editor Kenneth Hume, who also wrote and produced it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock entered the 1970s with his commercial reputation virtually in tatters, a far cry from his stature at the start of the 1960s. Then, he'd been in the middle of the massively successful trio of movies, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds, and was a ubiquitous presence on television thanks to his anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents -- but the series ended, and he'd suffered three expensive box-office failures in a row, Marnie, Torn Curtain, and Topaz, in the second half of the 1960s. He redeemed himself with Frenzy, however, which marked his return not only to England for the first time in 20 years but also to the subject matter with which he'd started his career in thrillers back in 1926 -- murder, and a hunt for a serial killer in London. As the latest female victim of the "Necktie Murderer" is found in the Thames, raped and strangled, we meet Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), a bitter, belligerent ex-Royal Air Force officer who can't seem to find his way in life. He drinks too much and holds grudges too easily, and has an explosive temper, which is very near the surface as he's just lost his job. We also meet his girlfriend, a barmaid (Anna Massey); his ex-wife, a professional matchmaker (Barbara Leigh-Hunt); and his best friend, Covent Garden fruit seller Bob Rusk (Barry Foster). Their connection to the necktie murders will be clear to us in the first 30 minutes of the movie and, not coincidentally, completely misinterpreted by the police, as Chief Inspector Oxford (Alec McCowan) and his men tighten a circle around the wrong man, who rapidly runs out of options and allies.
The chase and suspense are classic Hitchcock, favorably recalling a dozen of his earlier movies, from The Lodger and The 39 Steps through Saboteur and Spellbound to Dial M for Murder and North by Northwest, with some new twists and the added energy afforded by the extensive use of actual London locations. There's also a good deal more sex and nudity here than Hitchcock was ever allowed to use in his earlier movies, owing to the relaxation of "decency" standards that had taken place in the years leading up to this production. The suspense derives from multiple interlocking and overlapping layers of uncertainty -- when will each of the two men, suspect and murderer, slip? (And which will slip first?) When and how will the police realize their mistake, and will it be in time to save the innocent man? Amid the straightforward storytelling and thriller elements, Hitchcock manages to slip in a few bravura cinematic moments, the best of them a pullback shot down a flight of stairs into a busy street as the killer invites his next victim into his home, as well as a scene aboard a truck, with a murderer desperately wrestling with a corpse hidden in a sack of potatoes. Frenzy was adapted from Arthur La Bern's novel Goodbye Picadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by mystery aficionado Anthony Shaffer, but for all of that and its decidedly modern trappings of sex and violence, it bears the indelible stylistic stamp of Alfred Hitchcock. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
The chase and suspense are classic Hitchcock, favorably recalling a dozen of his earlier movies, from The Lodger and The 39 Steps through Saboteur and Spellbound to Dial M for Murder and North by Northwest, with some new twists and the added energy afforded by the extensive use of actual London locations. There's also a good deal more sex and nudity here than Hitchcock was ever allowed to use in his earlier movies, owing to the relaxation of "decency" standards that had taken place in the years leading up to this production. The suspense derives from multiple interlocking and overlapping layers of uncertainty -- when will each of the two men, suspect and murderer, slip? (And which will slip first?) When and how will the police realize their mistake, and will it be in time to save the innocent man? Amid the straightforward storytelling and thriller elements, Hitchcock manages to slip in a few bravura cinematic moments, the best of them a pullback shot down a flight of stairs into a busy street as the killer invites his next victim into his home, as well as a scene aboard a truck, with a murderer desperately wrestling with a corpse hidden in a sack of potatoes. Frenzy was adapted from Arthur La Bern's novel Goodbye Picadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by mystery aficionado Anthony Shaffer, but for all of that and its decidedly modern trappings of sex and violence, it bears the indelible stylistic stamp of Alfred Hitchcock. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Finch, Barry Foster, (more)
- 1932
In this British thriller, a hapless fellow learns that he has chosen to stay in a problematic hotel when he learns that the stockbroker in the adjacent room has died and a woman is being blamed for the death. It is son revealed that the hotel manager, and another are attempting to keep the killing quiet until they can arrange the clues just so. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1933
In this British comedy, a groom must somehow find his bride's missing garter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sydney Howard, Winifred Shotter, (more)
- 1931
This atypical Alfred Hitchcock effort is a cautionary fable which lends credence to the old saw "Love flies out the door when money flies in the window." Joan Barry and Henry Kendall play a young married couple who suddenly come into an inheritance. Bored with their working-class existence, hero and heroine embark upon a world cruise, and it isn't long before Barry gets romantically involved with a landed-gentry gentleman. Meanwhile, Kendall is swept off his feet by a phony princess, who tricks him out of all his money. Broke and miserable, Barry and Kendall head home on a shabby cargo boat, only to find themselves in the middle of a shipwreck. The couple is rescued by a Chinese junk, where the solemn crew members dine on their pet cat. By the time Barry and Kendall have returned to their humble suburban lodgings, they've both learned the sagacity of remaining in their own back yard. Partly a sophisticated sex comedy, partly a grim seafaring melodrama, Rich and Strange had the negative effect of confusing the public in general and Hitchcock's fans in particular, and as a result the film, which remains one of Hitch's best early talkies, died at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Kendall, Joan Barry, (more)
- 1937
In this detective comedy, set in London, an intrepid detective and his wife must discover the criminals behind a series of jewel heists. The two follow the robbers' trail to a barber shop that is the front for a jewel fencing operation. To check it out, the detective literally sticks his neck out and goes in for a shave. It is very nearly his last, but he is saved before it is too late. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Buchanan, Elsie Randolph, (more)
- 1933
Dapper song-and-dance man Jack Buchanan was both star and director of That's a Good Girl. Hoping to replenish his bank account, Jack Barrows (Buchanan) tries to marry his female cousin off to a wealthy American. This plan is sidetracked when Barrows, wandering backstage at the Milan opera house, is mistaken for a chorus singer and forced onstage, starting an altogether new plot tangent. None of this nonsense dissuades lady detective Joy Dean (Elsie Randolph) from tracking down Barrows on behalf of his creditors. That's a Good Girl is the film version of a popular stage musical which also teamed Jack Buchanan with Elsie Randolph. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Buchanan, Elsie Randolph, (more)
- 1936
Adapted from a popular West End stage musical, This'll Make You Whistle has been refashioned as a suitable vehicle for Jack Buchanan. Surprisingly, all of the music has been excised from the film version, denying Buchanan the opportunity to display his considerable singing and dancing skills. No matter: the star is in fine fettle, cast as a playboy who's trying to ditch the blue-nosed guardian of his fiancee (Bobbie Rivers). Somehow this requires our hero to pose as a notorious forger, a masquerade he pulls off all too well. This'll Make You Whistle takes place on the French Riviera, which looks suspiciously like a British seaside resort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Buchanan, Elsie Randolph, (more)
- 1933
This British musical comedy is based on a German play and tells the story of Nicholas Baumann, an ambitious representative of a US company who plies his trade in his native Vienna. When he learns that his American employer, Mr. Brown, is coming to Vienna, Baumann hopes that he will become a partner in the successful company. Just before he comes, Baumann and his wife have a big fight and she leaves him. He then recruits his secretary, Anne Weber, to pose as his wife. Naturally, that is a big mistake and mayhem ensues. In the end, the secretary ends up in the arms of the American while Baumann becomes the new partner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Buchanan, Hartley Power, (more)
