Len Birman Movies
Actor Len Birman has kept busy in films, TV, radio and theatre in his native Canada. He has appeared in such movies as Lies My Father Told Me (1975) and The Great Brain (1977), and was seen as a police chief in the Hollywood box-office hit Silver Streak (1972). On TV, Birman had a regular stint as Dan Palmer, another police chief, on the syndicated Ontario-filmed TV series Dr. Simon Locke (1971). Len Birman also played Dr. Simon Mills on the TV movie Captain America (1979), and its cleverly titled sequel Captain America II (1979). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1990
In the made-for-television film Web of Deceit, a West coast lawyer (Linda Purl) returns to her hometown of Atlanta to defend an unfairly accused teenager (Paul de Souza) of rape and murder. As she investigates the case, she re-ignites an old love affair with the prosecuting attorney, who just may be a suspect in the killing himself. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Purl, James Read, (more)
- 1990
Without Her Consent is a better than average "issue of the week" TV movie. This week's issue is rape--specifically, acquaintance rape. Melissa Gilbert plays a young woman who is sexually assaulted by a man (Scott Valentine) whom she has known for quite some time. She files charges, but he claims in court that she invited the attack. Barry Tubb costars as Gilbert's boy friend, who seeks other avenues of redress when the courts fail him. Based on a true story, Without Her Consent debuted on January 14, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this made-for-television drama, a former-CIA agent is called back into to service to stop a megalomaniacal scientist's killer robot from assassinating the President and other major political figures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Art Carney is virtually the only American cast member in the Canadian TV movie The Undergrads. Carney plays an elderly rest-home resident, while Chris Makepeace co-stars as his teen-aged grandson. Makepeace sneaks Carney out of the home, and together grandpa and grandson attend college. If it sounds like a Disney movie, that's because it is. The Undergrads premiered May 5, 1985, on the Disney Channel cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
This second made-for-TV movie features the Marvel Comic-book hero who must keep the villains from succeeding in accelerating the ages of government officials. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Television film featuring the Marvel Comics hero doing battle with a mad industrialist who wields a neutron bomb. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- 1978
A piece of made-for-television hack work that suddenly became sort of topical 23 years later, with the attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, Evening in Byzantium was a two-part made-for-TV feature based very loosely on Irwin Shaw's best-seller. The book involved intrigue and romance at the Cannes Film Festival, but the television producers evidently thought that this did not justify a two-night prime time movie event, so they added a story about Middle Eastern terrorists using the Cannes Film Festival as part of a larger plot to attack the West. Glenn Ford plays Jesse Craig, a down-on-his-luck producer with a film project in mind involving terrorists, who goes to Cannes to raise money and finds himself dealing with his ex-wife (Shirley Jones) and romancing Erin Gray. But before too long, he uncovers a plot by real terrorists to replace commercial airliners in flight (blowing them out of the sky and taking over their authorized flight paths) with specially converted airliners and bomb targets in the United States. Also on hand is Vince Edwards, playing an actor with a radical political agenda, who is alarmed that Ford's proposed film parallels his own terrorist plans; Michael Cole as Ford's associate; Eddie Albert and Gloria De Haven as a couple with ties to the movie business; Harry Guardino as a skeptical American security officer; and Marcel Hillaire as the French police inspector trying to unravel the terrorists plans. It's all very silly, though played very sincerely by most of the cast, and none of the plot described is less plausible than the notion that Glenn Ford and Erin Gray could ignore the 36-year difference in their ages. Evening in Byzantium was originally shown in August of 1978 as part of the syndicated Operation Prime Time programming series, intended to compete with the three networks. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1978
In this family film, based on John D. Fitzgerald's award-winning children's novel, set in Utah during the early 1900s, a young boy has great fun conning his family, friends, and neighbors, until he finds himself in hot water. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
One of four miniseries comprising NBC's Best Sellers anthology, The Rhinemann Exchange was adapted from the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name. Stephen Collins stars as American intelligence officer David Spaulding, who under cover of his musician father's concert tours embarks upon a number of fact-finding missions in Europe just before WW2. Once hostilities break out, Spaulding relocates to Aergentina, there to exchange industrial diamonds for a secret gyroscope needed for the American war effort. Naturally, the Nazis are equally interested in those diamonds, putting Spaulding in any number of perilous predicaments. Lauren Hutton costars as Leslie Hawkewood, one of those ravishing "mystery women" so common to espionage fiction. Originally running 5 hours and telecast in three segments on March 10, 17, and 24, 1977, The Rhinemann Exchange was later rebroadcast as a four-hour, two-part "TV movie." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Collins, Lauren Hutton, (more)
- 1977
Andrew Robinson, best remembered by Clint Eastwood fans as the maniacal serial killer in the original Dirty Harry, essays another odiously villainous role in this episode. The son of a gangster, Ron Maguire (Robinson) not only steals $250,000 from the Mob, but also murders a fellow hood and a cop in the process. With both the mobsters and the SFPD hot on his trail, the conscienceless Maguire tries to get off the hook by offering his services as a material witness against his own father! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
While taking a train trip from L.A. to Chicago, mild-mannered George Caldwell (Gene Wilder) makes the acquaintance of Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh). As they indulge in a brief bit of spooning, Hilly tells George that her boss is on the verge of exposing a group of vicious art forgers. Later that evening, George sees the body of Hilly's boss being thrown off of the train. Detective Sweet (Ned Beatty) agrees to investigate, but he too is bumped off. The instigator of these outrages is master forger Roger Devereau (Patrick McGoohan), who, with his crony Mr. Whiney (Ray Walston) is planning a particularly diabolical crime. Worse still, they take Hilly prisoner so she can't tip off the cops. When George is also targeted for elimination, he manages in slapstick fashion to elude the killers. Falling off the train, he ends up being arrested on some trumped-up charge or other by a local sheriff. He makes his escape in the company of petty thief Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor) -- and that's only the beginning. A box-office smash, Silver Streak paved the way for the equally successful 1980 Wilder-Pryor vehicle Stir Crazy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, (more)
- 1976
An undercover Canadian agent must get into a Toronto drug ring, but when he's successful, his morals are tested by the opportunity to cut out with $2 million in cash. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1975
- PG
Growing up in 1920s Montreal is no picnic for Orthodox Jewish boy Jeffrey Lynas. His grandfather, wizened old junk dealer Yossi Yadin, is the only person who plays attention to the lonely Lynas. He is also the only adult who treats Lynas like a friend and equal instead of a nuisance. This sensitive, perceptive drama obviously meant more than a mere residual check to scriptwriter Ted Allen, who also appears in the film. Jeffrey Lynas' parents are played by Len Birman and Marilyn Lighthouse, two of Canada's cartoon voiceover artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yossi Yadin, Len Birman, (more)
- 1973
Coproduced by Canada's Rankin-Bass and Japan's Mushi Studios, this 30-minute cartoon special is essentially a remake of the classic 1940 film The Thief of Baghdad (which would itself provide inspiration for the 1991 animated feature Aladdin. It's the story of Pindar, a dauntless teenager in love with Fatha, the daughter of the Thief of Baghdad, Omar (no, he's not a tentmaker here). In order to win Fatha's hand, Pindar must outwit the evil Caliph and steal his slippers--and, oh yes, he's got to work his way around a fearsome genie who is guarding the largest treasure in the world. First telecast as one of the eighteen episodes of the syndicated Festival of Family Classics anthology, The Arabian Knights began making the TV syndication rounds in early 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Banas, Len Birman, (more)
- 1972
- Add Festival of Family Classics: Around the World in 80 Days to QueueAdd Festival of Family Classics: Around the World in 80 Days to top of Queue
This two-part cartoon adaptation of Jules Verne's fanciful adventure novel Around the World in 80 Days was a coproduction of Canada's Rankin-Bass and Japan's Mushi Productions. The familiar story of how Phileas Fogg and his manservant Passepartout undertake to circle the globe in 80 days is retold with remarkable fidelity, even though the scenes in which the two protagonists are seen flying in a balloon cannot be found in the Verne original, but were invented for the 1956 movie version of the same property. Not to be confused with the concurrently produced TV cartoon series of the same name, Around the World in 80 Days was first syndicated in November of 1972, as part of the 18-episode Festival of Family Classics anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Banas, Len Birman, (more)
