Cyril Raymond Movies

Accused is a British melodrama starring American actor (and confirmed Anglophile) Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Somewhat incongruously cast as an Apache dancer, Fairbanks and his dance partner/wife Dolores Del Rio headline a Paris musical. Fairbanks becomes the unwilling target for the attentions of performer Florence Desmond (the famed British impressionist, here playing a hateful adventuress). Desmond is later murdered with the dagger used by Fairbanks and his wife in their act, and Dolores is accused of the crime. A florid court trial unmasks the real killer. Zoe Akins, a prominent playwright of the 1920s whose once-celebrated works seem somewhat childish today, was one of the scenarists of Accused. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on Noël Coward's play "Still Life," Brief Encounter is a romantic, bittersweet drama about two married people who meet by chance in a London railway station and carry on an intense love affair. Sentimental yet down-to-earth and set in pre-World War II England, the film follows British housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), who is on her way home, but catches a cinder in her eye. By chance, she meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), who removes it for her. The two talk for a few minutes and strike immediate sparks, but they end up catching different trains. However, both return to the station once a week to meet and, as the film progresses, they grow closer, sharing stories, hopes, and fears about their lives, marriages, and children. One day, when Alec's train is late, both become frantic that they will miss each other. When they finally find each other, they realize that they are in love. But what should be a joyous realization is fraught with tragedy, since both care greatly for their families. Howard and Johnson give flawless performances as two practical, married people who find themselves in a situation in which they know they can never be happy. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

British Writer/director Anthony Kimmins was willing to expand his range from drawing room comedy to the "low" humors of the provincial music halls. Kimmins' Come on George is an unadorned vehicle for toothy, ukelele-strumming North Country comedian George Formby. Formby plays a somewhat overage stableboy who is the only person able to calm a jittery race horse. In the foregone conclusion, Formby rides the horse to victory. Come on George was a product of George Formby's peak movie years; after the war he suffered a professional eclipse and was back making the cheap programmers (vide George in Civvy Street) whence he had started his cinematic career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Criminal at Large in this quota quickie murders his victims in the dark of night. There seems to be a pattern to the killer's activities, but darned if Chief Inspector Tanner (Norman McKinnel) can figure it out. It looks as though dilettante sleuth Lord Lebanon (Emlyn Williams) will have to come to Scotland Yard's rescue, as the killer stalks his prey in a musty old castle. Criminal at Large was based on Edgar Wallace's stage play The Frightened Lady (which was also the film's alternate title). Wallace also worked on the screenplay -- one of his final assignments before his untimely death in 1933. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dreaming Lips was lovingly assembled by filmmaker Paul Czinner as an "ideal" vehicle for his popular actress wife Elizabeth Bergner. The star plays Gabrielle, the glamorous, spoiled wife of world-famous orchestra leader Peter (Romney Brent). Left alone by her constantly touring husband, she inaugurates a romance with brilliant but reclusive violinist Miguel de Vaye (Raymond Massey). Booked for an American tour, De Vaye insists that Gabrielle accompany him -- and that she tell her husband about their affair. But when Peter falls seriously ill, Gabrielle dutifully remains by his side, never telling him of her indiscretion. Torn between two lovers, Gabrielle eventually decides to kill herself -- leaving a nonplused Peter to wonder just why his wife was so distraught. Overlength is the only significant flaw of this luxuriously produced three-hanky picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a mining engineer is preparing to leave his recent South American job and return to England when he receives a depressing letter from his wife telling him that she has found a new lover with whom she wants to run away with. While her husband makes the long voyage home, the wife changes her mind. She decides to break it off with her lover, but en route to his hotel has a car wreck and is taken to the hotel by someone else. Suddenly the jealous husband arrives. Knowing only that she has been having an affair, the husband kills the lover. During the trial, his wife testifies on his behalf and admits her wrong doing. He is given a shorter sentence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When jewel thieves plot to take some stolen gems from a young man's house they need an inside man and blackmail the boy's uncle Pettingell to pretend to be his nephew's butler. ~ All Movie Guide

In this funny romance, a nobleman finds himself infatuated with a show girl and be impersonating a stage hand so he can be near her. He also wants to impress the girl's overprotective mother who does not know that her daughter is a dancer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this domestic comedy, a married couple gets a divorce and goes their separate ways. Several years pass and they run into each other. It doesn't take long before their love rekindles and they decide to marry again. It's about that time they discover that their divorce was never finalized. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A retired spy agrees to help his former boss by helping another agent get some tapes containing defense information to Paris. When his boss is killed, he must stay ahead of the rival agents, eventually learning that the female agent he is helping is one of them. He is able to defeat her and get the tapes to the proper recipients. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Alexander Knox is the One Just Man in this British crime melodrama. Knox plays a judge who takes the law in his own hands when obviously guilty miscreants get off scot-free. When Knox's tale is told, we are introduced to Peter Reynolds as a duplicitous playboy who attempts to defraud an insurance company. One Just Man looks suspiciously like two half-hour TV pilot films strung together. This 55-minute package was prepared by the brothers Danzinger, purveyors of many a pulse-pounding British programmer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Walter Forde, a past master at blending mystery, melodrama and comedy (vide The Ghost Train and Bulldog Jack), is at his best with Saloon Bar. Most of the action takes place during one busy evening in an English pub, with a rich variety of believable comic characters weaving in and out of the scene. A murder is committed, and everyone falls under suspicion. Hero and heroine Gordon Harker and Elizabeth Allen solve the mystery with becoming modesty (compare this to the wisecracking protagonists in similar American films). Saloon Bar was based on a long-running stage play by Frank Harvey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Scripted by Eric Ambler from a novel by Geoffrey Household, the British Rough Shoot top-bills Hollywood stars Joel McCrea and Evelyn Keyes. McCrea plays Taine, an American colonel stationed in England. When he spots what appears to be a prowler, Taine tries to scare the fellow away with a round of buckshot. The prowler immediately falls to the ground -- dead. Assuming that he's responsible, Taine hides the body, an act that sparks a chain reaction of sinister events, resulting in the colonel's involvement in an Iron-Curtain spy ring and an exciting finale at Madame Tussaud's wax museum. Evelyn Keyes' role as Colonel Taine's wife is overshadowed by the scene-stealing performances of supporting actors Herbert Lom and Marius Goring. Rough Shoot was originally released in Great Britain as Shoot First. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide