Nicolas Rowe Movies
Lead actor, onscreen from the '80s. ~ All Movie Guide
A pair of British lads, one gay and one socialist, chafe at the restrictions of boarding school life in this period piece, which was adapted from Julian Mitchell's novel and play of the same name and loosely based on the Burgess-Maclean spy scandal of the 1950s. In the 1930s, upper-class scions Tommy Judd (Colin Firth) and Guy Bennett (Rupert Everett) are both nearing the end of their careers at an unnamed public school that bears a striking resemblance to Eton. Tommy, a Marxist intellectual, refuses to participate actively in the school's rigid social hierarchy. But Guy, when not mooning after pretty boys, angles for a position next term as one of the "gods," or master prefects, of his house. When a faculty member stumbles onto the homosexual fumblings of a pair of students, one boy commits suicide and a scandal erupts. The administration and senior students do their best to ensure nothing of this sort ever sullies their reputation again. Considering that homosexual experimentation is rampant and that Guy has slept with most of the prefects in his house, the strict new rules leave a bad taste in his mouth. They also put a damper on his Wildean lifestyle, especially after he falls hopelessly in love with James Harcourt (Cary Elwes), a dreamy boy from one of the other houses. Things come to a head when autocratic prefect Fowler (Tristan Oliver) intercepts a letter from Guy to James and sentences Guy to a savage beating. By film's end, Guy's complicity in the power games of the British class system has been challenged, and his friend Tommy's communist dogma has made a lasting impression; a framing device portrays Guy as an elderly former spy living in exile in Soviet Moscow. Another Country was shot at Cambridge, Oxford, and Althorp Hall (Princess Diana's childhood home) after the producers were denied permission to shoot at Eton. Everett and Firth both appeared in the original London theater production alongside Kenneth Branagh and Daniel Day-Lewis; on-stage, it was actually Firth who played Guy. For a more factual account of the Burgess-Maclean affair, see the TV movie An Englishman Abroad. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, (more)
The true story of a major breakthrough in intelligence technology created during World War II provides the backdrop for this blend of mystery, romance, and espionage, based on the novel by Robert Harris. Tom Jericho (Dougray Scott) is a gifted mathematician who is working with the British government on the development and maintenance of the Enigma machine, an electronic device that allows Allied intelligence agents to decode scrambled messages sent by Germany military officers. But the emotionally fragile Jericho is buckling under both the pressure of his work and the collapse of his relationship with Claire Romilly (Saffron Burrows), a co-worker with whom he's fallen deeply in love. After suffering a minor breakdown, Jericho is sent on a leave of absence, but when he returns to work, a crisis awaits: it seems the Germans have instituted a new code that the Enigma is not yet able to crack, and Jericho is needed to help unravel Axis communiqués before an important convoy of troops and materiel sets sail. It is also suspected that a German undercover agent has infiltrated the Enigma project, and Wigram (Jeremy Northam) is determined to ferret them out. In the midst of all this, Jericho receives troubling news that Claire has gone missing -- and that a file of German messages waiting to be decoded was found at her home. As Jericho works against the clock to crack the new German code, he forms an initially uneasy alliance with Hester Wallace (Kate Winslet), Claire's roommate and a fellow member of the Enigma project, as they try to discover Claire's whereabouts. Enigma was co-produced by Mick Jagger, who has a keen interest in the history of the real-life Enigma project, and even owns one of the original Enigma decoding machines. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, (more)
One of Charles Dickens' best-loved (and most complex) stories receives its fourth feature film adaptation in this lively historical comedy-drama. Nicholas Nickleby (Charlie Hunnam) is a 19-year-old who becomes the head of the family when his father dies unexpectedly. Keeping watch over his mother (Stella Gonet) and his sister Kate (Romola Garai) becomes an even greater challenge when Nicholas discovers that his father lost the family fortune due to ill-advised investments. Without a shilling to his name, Nicholas turns to his wealthy but unforgiving Uncle Ralph (Christopher Plummer) for help; Uncle Ralph offers to find work for all three, and Nicholas becomes a teacher at a school for unfortunate boys run by Wackford Squeers (Jim Broadbent) and his wife (Juliet Stevenson). Squeers and his wife are cruel and frequently violent toward their charges, and when Wackford, without cause, beats a weak and timid student, Smike (Jamie Bell), Nicholas decides he can take no more and runs away, with Smike in tow. The two young men fall in with a traveling theater troupe run by the genially eccentric Vincent Crummles (Nathan Lane) and his equally flamboyant spouse (Barry Humphries, aka Dame Edna Everage). In time Nicholas returns to London to check in on his sister and mother. To his horror, he learns that Uncle Ralph has promised Kate's hand to Sir Mulberry Hawk (Edward Fox), a wealthy older man with a less-than-wholesome interest in young women. Both Kate and Nicholas are upset at the prospect of this union, and Nicholas attempts to tear his family away from Uncle Ralph's control, beginning with a job working for the warm-hearted Charles Cheeryble (Timothy Spall) and his brother (Gerard Horan). Nicholas also falls in love with the fair Madeline (Anne Hathaway), but when Uncle Ralph learns of Nicholas' plot to foil Kate's impending marriage, he strikes back by kidnapping Smike and attempting to force Madeline to wed Sir Hawk. Actor, writer, and filmmaker Douglas McGrath adapted Nicholas Nickleby into a screenplay, as well as directing the picture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent, (more)
The strange 15th Century disappearance of two European royals - 12-year-old Edward V and his 10-year-old brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, lingers as one of the most enigmatic and bizarre incidents of the Middle Ages. In 1483, the two little boys stood in line as heirs to the British throne, but their father's early death preceded official accusations of regal bigamy and the judicial decision that the children were in fact illegitimate sons. As a result, the little boys were promptly removed from sight and placed in the Tower of London - a royal residence that doubled as a prison - never to be seen again. For centuries, historians have speculated about the actual fade of these children. Justin Hardy's historical drama Princes in the Tower recreates these events, providing one possible explanation for their fates. The film then moves ahead in time to 1491, when a teenager turned up, seemingly from out of nowhere, claiming that he was in fact Richard and that he wished to reclaim his birthright and rule the country. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Umbers
- 2001
- Add The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells to QueueAdd The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells to top of Queue
In this tribute to the man considered by many to be the father of the science fiction genre, a reporter interviewing author H.G. Wells makes a startling revelation that could forever change mankind's relationship with the universe. Upon arriving at Wells' London home on a fog enshrouded evening in 1946, newspaper reporter Ellen McGillivray is regaled with tales of time travel dating back to Wells' days at London's Imperial College of Science. It seems that Wells and colleague Jane Robbins stumbled across a previously undiscovered rift in time during a series of midnight experiments, and though the pair swore to keep the discovery a secret, the experience forever bonded the adventurous scientists. When Ellen accepts Wells' outlandish tales at face value, his shock at her lack of disbelief is countered by the revelation that she is an underground government agent posing as a reporter in hopes of discovering the secrets of a crystal orb rumored to hold the secrets of the entire universe. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Made for television, Return of Hickey is the sequel to 1987's The Prodigious Mr. William Hicks. Both films were based on Owen Johnson's turn-of-the-century "Lawrenceville Stories." Zach Galligan returns as William "Hickey" Hicks, prep-school prankster supreme. Back at Lawrenceville after a period of suspension, Hickey intends to resume his agenda of elaborate practical jokes. This time, however, he is challenged by a imaginative new student (Nicholas Rowe), who has vowed to out-Hickey Hickey. Return of Hickey was originally telecast February 3, 1988, on PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Also released under the title Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear, this film follows the adventures of young John Watson (Alan Cox) when he is shipped off to boarding school and meets up with the brilliantly bizarre Sherlock Holmes (Nicolas Rowe). The two boys strike up a friendship and promptly become involved in the investigation of a number of mysterious murders. When their curiosity gets them into trouble with a dangerous religious cult, Watson and Holmes must struggle to avoid capture while attempting to notify the authorities. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Rowe, Alan Cox, (more)
