Angharad Rees Movies
Adapted from Charles Lambert's play, this British fantasy is a penetrating parable on homophobia and gossip about gays. Kromer, a village in rural England, dances with wolves surrounding the town. However, the "wolves" seen here are performed by barefoot actors clad in worn jeans and fur coats with furry tails. Their promiscuity, theft, wild bonfire parties, and other activities are deplored by the hypocritical back-stabbers who reside in Kromer. A new wolf on the prowl is Seth (Lee Williams), who pairs off with Gabriel (James Layton). In Kromer, a woman is being poisoned by her servants who plan to put the blame on the "sinful" wolves. Soon a vigilante hunt gets underway, projecting even more parallels with homosexuality. Former Culture Club vocalist Boy George narrates the story. Shown at the 1998 San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Williams, James Layton, (more)
Another of the many Sidney Sheldon novels given the TV-miniseries treatment in the 1970s and '80s, Master of the Game yielded a three-part, nine-hour extravaganza, with enough corporate and romantic intrigue to fill an entire television season. Covering nearly 100 years, the story (which remained astonishingly faithful to the book) begins in the late 19th century, when ruthless young Scottish entrepreneur Jamie McGregor (Ian Charleson) emigrates to South Africa, in hopes of accumulating enough wealth and power to get even with his longtime enemy, Dutch merchant Van der Merwe (Donald Pleasence). Thanks to an extremely prolific diamond mine, the money comes quickly -- as does vengeance, when McGregor deflowers Van der Merwe's convent-educated daughter, Margaret (Cherie Lunghi). The result of this indiscretion is a daughter named Kate (Dyan Cannon), who turns out to be the "Master" of the title. Upon attaining adulthood, Kate assumes control of her father's vast financial empire, ruling her inherited international conglomerate, and her husband, David Blackwell (David Birney), with an iron fist. The story continues into the next several generations, with Kate's lily-livered son, Tony (Harry Hamlin), giving birth to twin daughters, Eve and Alexandra (both played by Liane Langland). One is good, the other evil; the evil twin threatens threaten to destroy everything that Kate has so painstakingly built up. Eventually, they both become the victims of a sneering, malevolent gigolo (Fernando Allende) with a penchant for beating young women senseless. Told in flashback, the narrative comes to a head during Kate's 90th birthday celebration, an event tainted by the efforts of a mysterious killer to wipe the domineering matriarch and her family from the face of the earth. Largely filmed on location, Master of the Game was telecast by CBS from February 19 to 22, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dyan Cannon, Harry Hamlin, (more)
- 1980
Originally made for television, the film centers on an Egyptian archaeological expedition, and the discovery of the tomb of the famed Pharaoh. After it is opened, disturbing events mark the trip. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1979
The second presentation of the BBC/PBS 37-installment project The Shakespeare Plays was the Bard's As You Like It. The plot, borrowed from Thomas Lodge's romance tale "Rosalynde", takes place in the forest of Arden. Rosalind (Helen Mirren) is forced by various political intrigues to disguise herself as a man. She loves Orlando (Brian Stirner), but of course can't declare herself in her "male" state. Meanwhile, Phebe (Victoria Plucknett) pines away for Rosalind, who she assumes to be a very good-looking man. Other romantic entanglements involve Rosalind's friend Celia (Angharad Rees), the buffoonish Touchstone (James Bolan), the toothsome Audrey (Marilyn Le Conte) and Silvius the shepherd (Maynard Williams). Taped on location at Glamis Castle in Scotland, As You Like It mades its American TV debut on February 28, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, Richard Pasco, (more)
- 1974
Keith Michell plays a middle-aged accountant, bored with his routine existence. When his wife and child are killed in an accident, Michell quits his job of 20 years and heads for the resort hotel where he and his late wife had spent many happy moments. Here he has a brief, desperate affair with a younger woman. Despairing over his lack of true fulfillment, Michell commits suicide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angharad Rees, Bill Fraser, (more)
- 1972
In this thriller a race-car driver develops mysterious psychic powers that allow him to warn people of impending danger. No one believes him until he meets an understanding parapsychologist who helps race off to warn those he saw in his terrifying vision. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonard Nimoy, Susan Hampshire, (more)
- 1971
Hammer's trademark gothic style permeates this suspenseful thriller, considered one of the acclaimed British studio's superior efforts, thanks largely to the directorial skills of Peter Sasdy. This marked his last feature-length collaboration with the studio until 1980, when he returned to direct installments of the Hammer House of Horror television series. In the film's prologue, young Anna, the infant daughter of the notorious Jack the Ripper, witnesses her mother's brutal murder at her father's hands. Years later, the lovely teenage Anna (Angharad Rees) is plagued by traumatic memories of the incident and repressed impulses in which love and death are inextricably linked. These impulses finally turn homicidal when her emotions are stirred, spelling doom for anyone who arouses her. Anna's case is handled by the repressed psychoanalyst, Dr. Pritchard (Eric Porter), whose growing physical attraction to the girl could result in far worse than a mere breach of professional ethics. Sasdy weaves the psychological elements through the story with finesse, paralleling the sexual tension between the doctor and his patient with the mounting horror of the inevitable outcome. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Porter, Angharad Rees, (more)
- 1971
- R
Dick Clement directed this late-in-the-game spy thriller, starring Kirk Douglas. Douglas plays Andrej, a drone that smuggles books out of communist countries. Unfortunately for Andrej, he is mistaken for a spy and gets into a series of convoluted situations. Fabienne (Marlene Jobert), who lives with Sir Trevor Dawson (Trevor Howard), a randy British minister, is the slinky sex-bomb who finagles Andrej into the heart-thumping predicaments. Also on hand is Tom Courtenay as Baxter Clarke, an inept counter-espionage agent, who manages to make Andrej's already bad situation worse. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Marlène Jobert, (more)
This film is a faithful rendition of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas' last major poem, Under Milk Wood. It affectionately examines the day-to-day life of the inhabitants of a small Welsh fishing village. The poem is narrated by Richard Burton, himself a Welshman and a great aficionado of Thomas' work. The narrative framework comes through the character of Captain Cat (Peter O'Toole), a retired seaman who, though blind, knows the village and its inhabitants so well, it is as if he could see. The colorful characters of the village are delineated in short vignettes by a host of very distinguished British actors. Elizabeth Taylor, Burton's wife at the time, makes a brief appearance as Rosie Probert. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, (more)
- 1969
A demented plastic surgeon creates a duplicate of John Steed, who has ostensibly been killed. Meanwhile, the real Steed, held captive by enemy agents, manages to escape. Racing against time, Steed must prevent his lookalike -- not to mention an additional battalion of Steed clones -- from sabotaging an important peace conference. Written by Brian Clemens, They Keep Killing Steed originally aired in America on November 11, 1968, and in England on December 18 of that same year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Linda Thorson, (more)
