David Robb Movies
- 2004
- Add The Life and Death of Peter Sellers to QueueAdd The Life and Death of Peter Sellers to top of Queue
The often-troubled life of one of the greatest comic actors in the history of the British cinema provides the basis for this biopic. Peter Sellers (Geoffrey Rush) was raised by a domineering mother (Miriam Margolyes) and meek father (Peter Vaughan), and at an early age discovered he liked to hide behind the emotional curtain of playing a character. In time, Sellers put this skill to use as an actor, and discovered he had a great gift for comedy. In the late '50s, Sellers rose to fame on the wildly popular radio series The Goon Show alongside Spike Milligan (Edward Tudor Pole) and Harry Secombe (Steve Pemberton), but as his success on radio gave way to stardom on the big screen, Sellers' ego began to get the better of him. While working on a film with Sophia Loren (Sonia Aquino), Sellers fell in love with the great Italian beauty, and eventually left his wife Anne (Emily Watson) to pursue her; when it became clear that Loren wanted nothing to do with him, Sellers fell into an affair with her stand-in instead. Professionally, Sellers career hits a new high when he agrees to take a role in a picture being directed by American filmmaker Blake Edwards (John Lithgow) called The Pink Panther, and personally he finds a new love with the beautiful Britt Ekland (Charlize Theron). But Sellers' mood swings eventually put paid to their marriage, and while he finds commercial success as a funnyman onscreen, he achieves little in the way of happiness or respect. Produced for the American premium cable service HBO, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers was screened in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Rush, Charlize Theron, (more)
- 2000
- Add Midsomer Murders: Beyond the Grave to QueueAdd Midsomer Murders: Beyond the Grave to top of Queue
The 13th feature-length episode of the British detective series Midsomer Murders, "Beyond the Grave" is set in motion by a mysterious act of vandalism at the Aspen Tallow museum. When a 17th century painting is slashed to pieces, the superstitious locals believe that the damage was the handiwork of one Jonathan Lowrie -- and never mind that he has been dead for centuries. Ultimately, a number of mysterious deaths occur, which some attribute to Lowrie but which DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) believes are being committed by someone who is still very much alive. As he pursues his investigation, Tom is also pressed into service as a "technical advisor" for his daughter's actor-boyfriend (Ed Waters), who has been cast as a cop in a popular TV soap opera. "Beyond the Grave" was first telecast in the U.K. on February 5, 2000, and in the U.S. on April 8 of that same year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Nettles, Daniel Casey, (more)
- 1998
An adaptation of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel, featuring 1991 Academy Award winner Jack Palance as the salty pirate Long John Silver. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, Kevin Zegers, (more)
Following the death of her mother, a young Californian teen is sent to the Scottish highlands to live with her father. It is a wild, lonely place and her one friend is a hermit who has devoted his life to protecting and healing wild and domestic animals. The girl's life changes when one day she spies a ghostly white stallion on a foggy day. She tells her father, but he thinks it a figment of her imagination and that she is spending too much time with the strange loner. The hermit, however, believes the stallion is real. When poachers show up to capture the elusive horse, the girl and the hermit team up to protect him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ariana Richards, Andrew Keir, (more)
Director Gavin Miller adapts Scottish author Iain Banks' novel about a troubled young man striving to unearth the secrets of his family past while simultaneously sleuthing to find out what fate really befell his long-missing uncle. Prentice McHoan (Joseph McFadden) is an emotionally confused and self-destructive boy from a family that seems particularly prone to premature death. He resents his father (Bill Paterson), is deeply jealous of his handsome and witty brother, and harbors a secret crush on his pretty cousin. Six years ago, Prentice's uncle Rory went missing without a trace. While some believe Rory is simply wandering, others -- such as Prentice's mother -- suspect that he has in fact died. Though Prentice at first views his father's atheistic apathy toward the situation as a hindrance, he gradually discovers that there may be some merit to the older and wiser man's mindset. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph McFadden, Bill Paterson, (more)
Though the direction of Hellbound is sometimes erroneously credited to editor Michael J. Duthie, the actual director was Aaron Norris, brother of the film's star, Chuck Norris. The story begins with the ritualistic murder of a Chicago rabbi. Detectives Shatter (Norris) and Jackson (Calvin Levels) are assigned to the case, and are compelled to follow the trail of evidence all the way to Israel (where the film was lensed in its entirety...even the Chicago sequences). Once in the Holy Land, Shatter and Jackson discover that the murderer is a centuries-old supernatural entity, a malevolent creature determined to "cleanse" the world. The premise is workable and Norris is in fine form, but the dialogue in Hellbound is too Ed Wood Jr.-esque. (Wait until you hear that conversation about a missing heart!) Filmed in 1992, Hellbound went directly to video in 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Norris, Calvin Levels, (more)
In 1939 Hamburg, Germany, a group of teenagers express their rebellion against Adolph Hitler's Nazi regime through their affection for American swing music, British fashion, and Harlem slang. American and British big-band jazz records are among those banned by the Fuhrer, but the young men secretly get together with their friends to listen and dance to the music. As their escapades become increasingly bold, they each get into trouble with the authorities. Robert Sean Leonard stars as Peter, who ends up being forced -- by a prank -- into having to join the Hitler Youth with his friend Thomas (Christian Bale). They are both engineering students at the university, where Thomas' father was taken away for defending his Jewish colleagues. With Arvid (Frank Whaley), they pretend to be Nazi supporters by day while rebelling with the swing music by night. Kenneth Branagh, in an uncredited appearance, is a glib Nazi Gestapo chief who makes matters more difficult. Each of the boys must choose among family, safety, friendship, and freedom as politics impinges on their youthful exuberance, and the Nazis set them against one another. The movie was shot in Prague, directed by Thomas Carter from a script by Jonathan Marc Feldman, and released by Disney. Barbara Hershey appears as Peter's mother. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, (more)
Lindsay Wagner stars as Paula O'Neill in this made-for-TV miniseries based on the best-selling novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford. Paula's grandmother, Emma Harte, took a failing department store and turned it into the powerful Harte Industries retail empire, and now that Paula has inherited the family business, she is determined to expand their international success by launching a new store in Hong Kong. However, Paula's cousins Jonathan (Christopher Cazenove) and Sarah (Claire Oberman) are determined to wrest control of the company away from Paula, and begin running interference in her plans for global expansion. Paula soon learns that Harte Industries is on financially shaky ground, and her personal life begins to crumble under the strain of keeping Hart Enterprises afloat. As Jonathan uses the firm's financial woes to his advantage, Paula finds that Jack Figg (Anthony Hopkins), the company's head of security, may be her last line of defense against her devious relatives. Originally broadcast in August 1992, To Be the Best was a follow-up to 1983's A Woman of Substance, another miniseries based on a Barbara Taylor Bradford novel, which covered Paula's life before she took over the family business; Diane Baker played Paula in the earlier series. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lindsay Wagner, David Robb, (more)
- 1992
Made for television, the two-part To Be the Best is the sequel to Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance and Hold The Dream. Lindsay Wagner plays the CEO of a merchandising empire, whose life and livelihood is threatened by a hostile takeover. Meanwhile, Lindsay pursues a hot romance with her chief of security, Anthony Hopkins. Originally telecast August 2, 1992 Part One of To Be the Best establishes the various characters and plotlines. In part two, which first aired August 4, 1992, Christopher Cazenove dominates the proceedings as a greedy corporate raider-who happens to be Lindsay's cousin. The critic for TV Guide compared the sudsy goings-on in To be the Best to "soap left in the sink too long." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Although the story of 19th century Irish statesman and patriot Charles Steward Parnell resulted in a disastrous movie vehicle for Clark Gable in 1937, the results were more satisfying when the same story was adapted as a four-episode British TV miniseries in 1990. Trevor Eve headed the cast as Parnell, prime advocate for Irish home rule at a time when such a position was tantamount to treason. For all his good works, Parnell was doomed to infamy as the result of his clandestine romance with Katharine O'Shea (Francesca Annis), the wife of a British Member of Parliament. Parnell and the Englishwoman was written for television by celebrated Irish playwright Hugh Leonard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Eve, Francesca Annis, (more)
- 1988
In this drama, an American art student is trapped amidst the political turmoil of war-torn Europe while visiting Paris and staying at the fabulous Ritz hotel. Rather than cope constructively with it all, the fellow opts to ignore it and continue living the high-life for as long as possible. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
The made-for-TV Freedom Fighter is set in the divided Berlin of 1961. Tony Danza plays an idealistic American GI whose sweetheart is among those stranded in East Berlin by the erection of the Wall; he vows to help as many Easterners as possible escape to the freedom of the West. Other cast members include Sid Caesar as a philosophical holocaust survivor and David McCallum as a martinet Communist military officer. The film was lensed in West Berlin, one year before the Wall was bulldozed into oblivion. The script for Freedom Fighter was loosely based on The Berlin Wall, a book by Pierre Galante. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This historical drama, based on a novel by John Masters that was in turn inspired by actual events, follows William Savage (Pierce Brosnan), a British agent of the East India Company, as he is sent with his new wife to India in the early 19th century. While Savage holds the unusually progressive view that the people of India are human and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, he is still a very proper subject of the British empire and behaves accordingly. One night, when he sees a group of seemingly crazed men rob and kill a defenseless woman, he demands to know what has happened. He learns that the killers were members of a bizarre cult called the Thugees; Savage is determined to do something about them, and he works his way into the group by disguising himself as one of their number; however, the more Savage tries to win the trust of the Thugees, the more he must act as one of them, which leads him into a murderous secret life of his own. The Deceivers was produced by Ismail Merchant, his first film with a director other than James Ivory. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierce Brosnan, Saeed Jaffrey, (more)
- 1987
In this made-for-cable TV movie, a young, windowed American travels to Scotland to explore the home of her ancestors. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Set in the years before World War I, this film is about Robert, a young man growing up in a wealthy family in Toronto who is burdened by a distant, cool mother and a father dedicated to duty, both highly conservative people. When Robert loses his beloved invalid sister in a car accident he is further tormented by the family's decision to kill her pet rabbits - and quarrels with them so intensely that he enlists in the army and goes off to war. Once "over there," he discovers brothels and romance, and in a climactic scene, decides to free a barn full of horses from certain death - in spite of contrary orders from his superiors. The juxtaposition of Robert's internal conflict and the external horrors of combat may have been intended to illustrate the nature of "war," although that is difficult to surmise since the evidence in the film is not that strong. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brent Carver, Martha Henry, (more)
The classic adventure novel by Sir Walter Scott, which covers the same ground as the various Robin Hood legends, becomes this impressive television production, boasting a well-heeled British cast, a robust pace, and solid production values. Wilfred of Ivanhoe (Anthony Andrews) is a young Saxon knight of 12th century England. Returning home from fighting in the Crusades alongside King Richard the Lionheart (Julian Glover), Ivanhoe finds that the nation is now under the dictatorial thumb of the king's brother, Prince John (Ronald Pickup) and the prince's thuggish Norman cohorts. He is also dismayed to learn that his longtime love, Lady Rowena (Lysette Anthony), has been betrothed to another man. Determined to restore throne and country to Richard, the courageous Ivanhoe has soon run afoul of those in power, though a few rebellious types like Robin Hood (David Robb) are on his side. Ivanhoe also finds love again, with the lovely Jewish girl Rebecca (Olivia Hussey), though she and her wise father Isaac of York (James Mason) face Norman persecution for their religious faith. Ivanhoe also finds a deadly rival in the cynically twisted knight Brian de Bois-Guilbert (Sam Neill). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Anthony Andrews, (more)
- 1982
Most of you know what this is about. For the benefit of the two of you who've never read a tabloid, Prince Charles of England married Lady Diana Spencer in a pomp-and-circumstance wedding telecast all over the world in 1981. David Robb plays Bonnie Prince Charlie, while Caroline Bliss portrays Lady Di. This TV movie came out almost simultaneously with The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana, a far superior (and equally unsuspenseful) production starring Christopher Baines and Catherine Oxenberg. Caroline Bliss faded into obscurity, but Catherine Oxenberg was back for the 1992 TV-movie "sequel" (dictated by Destiny, as it were), titled Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on an autobiographical novel by Elspeth Huxley, this 1981 film tells the story of the Grant family -- little Elspeth (Holly Aird) and her parents, Robin (David Robb) and Tilly (Hayley Mills) -- after they arrive in Kenya to start a coffee plantation. The episodic production begins when a lion greets the horse-drawn carriage transporting Tilly and Elspeth to the site of the plantation. Tilly stares the lion down with the help of a poised shotgun, demonstrating her resolve to make a go of it in the rugged new land. After the Grants construct a home with the help of Kikuyu natives, they hold a housewarming attended by neighbors Hereward (Nicholas Jones) and Lettice Palmer (Sharon Maughan), fellow Brits who have also settled in Kenya. Meanwhile, 11-year-old Elspeth revels in the land, the wildlife, and her new Kenyan friends. While her parents are away, Elspeth stays with Mrs. Nimmo (Carol MacReady), a Scotswoman who corrects the little girl's manners and makes her dress formally for dinner. During the day, Elspeth travels back and forth to her home on a pony to feed her pet deer and pet chameleons. On one trip, she meets and makes friends with Englishman Ian Crawfurd (Ben Cross), a newcomer. After her parents return and host the Palmers and Crawfurd at a get-together, Crawfurd and Lettice Palmer, who is bored with her husband, Hereward, and Africa, fall in love and begin an affair. A leopard carries off a dog Lettice cherishes, and everyone joins in a hunt for the animal, including wily Boer huntsman Mr. Roos (William Morgan Sheppard). On the hunt, Lettice and Ian Crawfurd, whose affair has become obvious to all, provoke Hereward. Ian and Hereward brawl. A native whom Hereward insults with a racist remark stabs Hereward, but he survives. When the first World War begins, Robin and Ian both do service. Will they come back? That is the question that gnaws at Elspeth and her mom -- and Lettice -- while life goes on at Thika. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hayley Mills, David Robb, (more)
- 1978
Although there have been several British TV adaptations of Emily Bronte's gothic romance Wuthering Heights, this five-part 1978 version is the one regarded as being the most faithful to the original novel. In covering the star-crossed romance between the headstrong Cathy (Kay Adshead) and wild gypsy boy Heathcliff (Ken Hutchinson), this adaptation did not (as have so many others) end with Cathy's death, but instead carried over the story into the next generation, wherein the vengeful Heathcliff continued to wage his private war of retribution against the people whom he felt had wronged him. Irish playwright Hugh Leonard handled the adaptation, deftly juggling the many characters and subplots without the slightest sense of strain. Wuthering Heights was originally beamed out to the British Isles from September 24 to October 22, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kay Adshead, Ken Hutchison, (more)
Joan Kemp-Welch's version of Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet follows the original storyline faithfully. The star crossed lovers meet at a masquerade ball, fall in love, and learn that their feuding families will never allow them to live their lives together. Eventually, through a series of misunderstandings and lies, the pair plays out their tragic fate. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Neame, Ann Hasson, (more)
Based on a play by Barry England, the British Conduct Unbecoming revolves around a sexual violation--which may or may not have occurred. In British India, highborn Mrs. Scarlett (Susannah York) accuses 2nd Lt. Millington, a Bengal Lancer officer (James Faulkner) of raping her. Lieutenant Arthur Drake (Michael York) is assigned to defend Lt. Millington in a trial held behind closed doors to avoid scandal. Colonel Strang (Trevor Howard.) is a martinet judge who presses for a conviction, only to have his determination shaken by the introduction of new evidence. Conduct Unbecoming has the look and feel of a decades-old stage production, but the dialogue and performances provide a strictly contemporary slant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael York, Richard Attenborough, (more)
