Peter Reynolds Movies
A British character actor, onscreen from the '40s, he usually played untrustworthy types. ~ All Movie Guide- 1977
The Canadian public-affairs series Fortunes was produced by the Agriculture and Resources Department of the CBC. Most of the series' half-hour episodes dealt with such topics as mining, fishing, and forestry. Toward the end of the run, there was a disproportionate number of programs about Canada's petroleum industry. Hosted by Carole Taylor, Fortunes was originally broadcast from 1977 to 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
This Australian educational documentary concerns venereal disease in the pre-AIDS era and reveals that it is a problem that should be taken seriously by everyone -- whether young or old, gay or straight. Factual segments are interspersed with humorous skits depicting how people of varying degrees of innocence can contract awful but treatable diseases. Aptly, the initial release of this film was at Australian pornographic theaters. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Laurence, Ros Spiers, (more)
- 1972
In this grim, surreal Australian horror movie, the union between two obsessive-compulsive people ends in gruesome tragedy. The control-freak husband collects weird things and protects them with an ingenious alarm system involving strategically-placed guillotines. Soon after marrying his wife, he refused to allow her to continue taking tap-dancing lessons. She loved her dancing and shows her resentment by ceaselessly tapping and hoofing her way around the house. To further spite her spouse, she rekindles an old flame. Trouble really begins when a pair of crooks begin making plans to purloin the husband's collection. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1967
The Avengers' fifth season came to a rousing finale with this episode. Steed and Emma are impersonated by a pair of enemy agents named Basil and Lola (Freddie Jones, and Patricia Haines). Things get hairier when the two imposters utilize a futuristic brain-transfer device to swap their minds with the genuine Steed and Emma. Written by Philip Levene, "Who's Who???" first aired in England on May 6, 1967, and in America on May 19 of that same year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Based on a novel by Laurence Meynell, this film tells of a young businessman from England who who gets involved in a scheme to inundate a small communist country in the Middle East with counterfeit money. Things do not go as planned when his wife begins digging into matters. This thriller runs a short 59 minutes. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Reynolds, Dermot Walsh, (more)
- 1963
In this crime drama, a con-artist's mark finds himself in deep trouble after he gets drunk, goes to the apartment of an attractive grifter and discovers that her partner has been slain (something that shocked her too!). The real trouble begins when the fellow accidentally touches the murder weapon belonging to the leader of a Soho gang, and then allows the woman to con him into taking care of the corpse. His actions catch the watchful eyes of the cops; he is soon arrested. Things look bleak for the hapless fellow until his fiancee and friends rally together, catch the con-woman, call the cops and get him acquitted. In the end, the con-woman is killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Joe Beckett (Alfred Lynch) forgoes working for a living in this seedy district of London. He hangs out in jazz clubs and chases women, which makes him lose what little money he has remaining. Ex-Army veteran Richard Dyce (Eric Portman) shows up at the club, and the two directionless louts begin to talk. Richard wants his Aunt killed for her money, and Joe agrees to do the deed. He travels to the Aunt's house on the South Coast, but Joe loses his nerve. He accidently pushes the woman to her death, leaving a miniature chess kit behind as evidence he was at the scene of the crime. Richard denies everything, and a stool pigeon sings like a bird to the cops, putting Joe in a gilded cage of his very own. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfred Lynch, Kathleen Breck, (more)
- 1961
Spare the Rod is a British juvenile-delinquent picture set in a tough East End school. Comedian Max Bygraves plays straight as a new teacher, faced with a classroom full of hostile, defiant punks. It would be simple enough to use force on the kids, as their parents have, but Bygraves wants to win their hearts and minds. He manages to establish communications with the students; the next step is to bypass the outmoded educational bureaucracy. Spare the Rod falls somewhere between the gutsiness of Blackboard Jungle (55) and the lyricism of To Sir With Love (68). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Bygraves, Donald Pleasence, (more)
- 1961
In this British thriller, a rich fellow kills a young woman's lover. She gets her revenge upon him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
While ministering to the wounds of a dying diamond thief, Dr. Keel sets a trap for his patient's partner. The plan backfires when the accomplice, convinced that Keel knows where the stolen diamonds are hidden, kidnaps the doctor's assitant Carol Wilson. Meanwhile, John Steed is conspicuous by his absence, until the final thrill-packed scenes. First telecast July 8, 1961, "Double Danger" was written by Gerald Verner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
When a Nazi party member tries to defect to England due to a change of heart in the party's plans, he is chased by the Gestapo in this World War II film. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1960
In this British crime thriller, a wheelchair bound crook leads a ring of jewel thieves. To do his latest heist, he hires an ace safecracker to do his stuff during an international exposition. He almost succeeds until the police appear, and kill one of the henchmen. The safecracker is then captured by a rival gang leader who informs him that the other leader killed his father many years ago in Chicago. The safecracker then goes to exact his revenge. He is cheated when the mother of another gang member shoots the leader first. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Pohlmann, Peter Reynolds, (more)
Jayne Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe's blond competition in the late '50s and early '60s, stars in this crime melodrama as Billy, the leader of a gang of thieves. She charms Jim (Anthony Quayle), a widower with a young daughter, into joining the group effort on a particular robbery. After the heist, Jim personally stashes away their stolen loot while she leads the police off in another direction. But the unfortunate new recruit ends up in the clinker for five years while the others go free. Once out of jail, Jim is brought up short -- Billy has allied herself with another man and her gang has money to spare -- though not enough money, they decide. Against Billy's wishes, the gang takes drastic measures to get at Jim's hidden cache of loot from the robbery that sent him to jail. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jayne Mansfield, Anthony Quayle, (more)
- 1960
The oft-filmed Maurice Renard novel Hands of Orlac was given another cinematic go-round in this Franco-British production. Famed concert pianist Stephen Orlac (Mel Ferrer) survives a plane crash, but his hands are permanently destroyed. Helpful surgeon Volcheff (Donald Wolfit) grafts a pair of new hands on the hapless Orlac. Unfortunately, they're the hands of an executed murderer--useless for a pianist, but quite handy (no pun intended) for less delicate work. Before long, Orlac is convinced that he himself has become a killer thanks to his new extremeties. Two-bit magician Nero (Christopher Lee) decides to exploit Orlac's fears for his own financial gain, with horrifying results. Originally filmed in 1959, Hands of Orlac was finally released in the US in 1964 . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Ferrer, Dany Carrel, (more)
- 1960
Donald Sinden and Peggy Cummins co-star as Pelham and Gay Butterworth in this routine comedy about a married couple whose hopes of acquiring an instantaneous fortune are suddenly dashed. When Gay finds out she is going to get a huge inheritance, the young couple go on a spending spree. Just a tad late, she also learns that the inheritance will be doled out one week by one paltry week -- unless her husband dies or they divorce. After all else fails, the couple decide to divorce and then remarry later, quietly -- but even this plan suddenly hits an unexpected hitch. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sinden, Peggy Cummins, (more)
- 1959
In this crime drama, a gentle old woman finds herself involved in a murder after she dials a wrong number and overhears a murderer telling how he killed a man during a robbery. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Filmed on location, Shake Hands With the Devil is set in Ireland during the "troubles" of 1921. James Cagney plays a brilliant medical professor who doubles as head of the Irish Republican Army. Cagney convinces one of his more pacifistic students, Don Murray, to join the underground struggle against British rule. Murray suffers a crisis of conscience when his sweetheart Dana Wynter is taken hostage by the IRA and is slated for execution by the zealous Cagney. Several members of Dublin's Abbey Players appear in supporting roles in Shake Hands With Devil. Watch for Richard Harris in the small part of Terence O'Brien. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Don Murray, (more)
- 1958
In this competent entertainment about a minor crook in trouble, Terry is the driver for a successful bank job. He is told by gang-boss Shelton to lie low but instead celebrates with Della, a greedy but alluring party girl, then gets picked up on suspicion. He is released when the key witness refuses to identify him because the gang is holding his fiancee hostage. Shelton tries to shut Terry up for good, but Terry escapes and seeks refuge with Della. She lets him stay, but only if he agrees to confront the gang leader one more time. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- 1957
One of several British melodramas picked up for American distribution by Columbia in the late 1950s, The Long Haul stars Victor Mature and Diana Dors, two of the prettiest and most amply endowned screen personalities of the era. Mature is cast as American ex-GI Harry Miller, who takes a job as a truck driver to support his British war bride Connie (Gene Anderson). It isn't long, however, before Harry is blackmailed into joining a smuggling operation run by the conniving Casey (Liam Redmond). His resolved momentarily weakened by his obsession with gang moll Lynn (Diana Dors), Harry finally decides to turn honest again--if the other crooks will let him live that long. Director Ken Hughes adapted the screenplay from a novel by Mervyn Mills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Diana Dors, (more)
- 1955
In this thriller, a murderous writer kills his blackmailer and his ex-lover and then tries to convince his fiancee to help him hide the bodies. She does until she learns that he is planning to frame innocent people for his crimes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
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
