Claudia Robinson Movies

Director John Duigan brings Jean Rhys' difficult 1966 best-selling novel to the screen. It's a story meant to be a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, surmising what drove the first Mrs. Rochester mad in that novel. In Jamaica in the 1840s, slavery has been recently outlawed. Plantation owner Annette Cosway (Rachel Ward) has become so poor that she marries a rich, boorish Englishman whom she does not love. Her husband, Paul Mason (Michael York), is a sexist, racist tyrant who mistreats his servants and his wife. Paul flees to England after the servants and their countrymen revolt and burn down the mansion, killing Annette's young son. Annette goes insane and is consigned to the care of a servant. Her daughter Antoinette (Karina Lombard) is placed in a convent until she is old enough to inherit the property, but the inheritance depends on her marrying a proper husband. By previous arrangement, she marries Edward Rochester (Nathaniel Parker). At first they are lustily in love, but Rochester proves to be as elitist who is as disrespectful as Mason. Rochester has title to all of Antoinette's property, but he despises Jamaica and wants to return to England. He also fears the black magic of Christophene (Claudia Robinson), who mixes up a voodoo potion which ends up driving the couple farther apart. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Shelly Long stars in this comedy as a spoiled Beverly Hills wife who decides--wanting to prove her husband's accusation of her selfishness wrong--to become the leader of her daughter's wilderness group. Though taking them on outings at the mall rather than in the woods, she later must prove her worth as a legitimate troop leader. After some zany incidents, all parties learn lessons of teamwork and selflessness. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Archbishop Mosley (Hal Holbrook) assigns Father Michael (Ben Cross) to a church in New Orleans in this supernatural horror film. The parish church was the site of the throat-slashing murders of two priests two years earlier. While Father Michael tends to the mostly impoverished flock of parishioners and their needs, he launches his own investigation into the mysterious unsolved deaths. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

In a thought-provoking treatment of the deep-rooted turmoil of war veterans, debut director (David Nutter) has fashioned a fast-paced story about Vietnam vet Tim Murphy (Don Johnson) and his struggle to regain both self-respect and emotional equilibrium. Tim suffers from nightmares, and there is nothing his loyal wife Paula (Lisa Blount) can do to prevent them, nor can she do much to help him get a job. She is hampered even further by Tim's bad temper -- he flies off the handle at friends and family alike. One day, Tim meets a fellow Vietnam vet in the unemployment line, and the two quickly become good friends. When tragedy later strikes, Tim faces an important decision about his future on his own. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A harmonious fisherman who lives his life peacefully drifting with the tides finds himself drawn into a political plot after rescuing two Americans from the wreckage of a crashed airplane. Countryman is a man of knowledge, a man who lives by the land and leads a noble life. When the solitary fisherman sees an airplane crash into a nearby swamp, he heroically comes to the rescue of the two surviving passengers. For his efforts, Countryman is not commended, but branded an enemy agent along with the two Americans from the airplane. The man responsible for transforming the selfless hero into a desperate fugitive is the power-hungry General Sinclair, a man so consumed by his quest for glory that he is willing to destroy anyone who gets in his way. Now, in order just to survive, the peace-loving Rastafarian must flee into the Jamaican wilderness and share his knowledge of the land with his new American friends. And though Countryman is a gentle soul at heart, he proves capable of unleashing a furious display of acrobatic hand-to-hand combat when forced to fight for what is right. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi