Ted Beyer Movies
In a novel and intriguing approach to storytelling, director David Hare has created an engaging mystery and human drama that ostensibly focuses on an innocent dinner party but is really about something else. Jean Travers (Vanessa Redgrave) is an old-maid schoolmarm who has lived in Wetherby, a small town in northeastern Yorkshire, all of her life. She is still haunted by memories of a passionate love affair with a young man who was later murdered while on military duty in Malaysia nearly 35 years ago in the '50s. One evening, Jean invites a group of friends over for dinner; the group is comprised of two couples, one of which spends the time sniping at each other. A young man, John Morgan (Tim McInnerny) is also in the dinner party. Jean thinks he was brought along by one of the couples; the couples, in turn, believe he was invited by Jean -- in short, he is a total stranger that everyone assumes is a friend of someone there. As the evening progresses, political topics of the moment are brought up and chewed over; Margaret Thatcher, Richard Nixon, and other notables of the era are discussed, and various comments are made on the laziness of today's youth. The dinner party ends, and the next day John Morgan comes back to visit Jean. While she is in the midst of preparing tea for them both, he takes out a gun and kills himself. The shock waves from his senseless act later reverberate among the dinner-party guests, as the police investigator tries to piece together the man's background and the dinner party itself. Questions are raised about his motives, and viewers see the dinner party again, moment by moment, in an entirely new light. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Redgrave, Ian Holm, (more)
Graham Green (a juvenile player, not the writer nor the Native American actor of almost the same name) is the star of the British-made Looks and Smiles. A born square peg in a round hole, Green wants desperately to fit into the world. His efforts fail, and the world has another angry young man on his hands. His venom is contagious; the viewer will also be incensed that those around Green can't see the value in him. Looks and Smiles is absolutely not to be judged by its happy-happy-joy-joy title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Graham Green
- 1980
In this pseudo-documentary, the lives of a small family are chronicled as they leave the gritty city behind when the millworker father takes a job as the gamekeeper on Lord Dronfield's estate. Because the Lord seldom visits his country estate, the family is left to themselves. The serious-minded gamekeeper tries his best to serve his master. Despite the resentment of the locals, he finds himself supporting the ancient feudal system. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phil Askham, Rita May, (more)
