Angela Scoular Movies

The British "Adventures Of..." series can be described as a dirtier "Carry On" (if such a thing is possible). Christopher Neil plays the title character in 1987's Adventures of a Private Eye. Neil's life is plunged into peril when he agrees to deal with a blackmailer. To achieve his purposes, our hero is obliged to make love to every beautiful girl he meets; it's meant to be satirical, but the laughs often take second place to the heavy breathing. If nothing else, Adventures of a Private Eye treats us to a performance by the delectable 1960s leading lady Suzy Kendall. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on Harold Robbins' bestseller, The Adventurers stars Yugoslav heartthrob Bekim Fehmiu as Porfirio Rubirosa clone Dax Xenos. Having suffered mightily as a child in a fictional South American country due to the political activities of his parents, Xenos grows up to become a sleazy, sexually manipulative playboy. He romances middle-aged widow Olivia de Havilland, then dumps her after he's run through her fortune. He then takes up with heiress Candice Bergen, who bears his child. When the kid is killed and Xenos turns his back on her, Bergen finds solace in lesbianism. All the while, Xenos is fomenting revolutions aimed at toppling the Trujillo-like despot (Alan Badel) responsible for the death of his father. The Adventurers received a lot of magazine coverage due to a poolside nude scene and the "guess who this is supposed to be?" nature of the cast of characters. But it failed to establish Bekim Fehmiu as an international star. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

It wasn't as well received at the box office as the pictures that preceded it or followed it, but Peter Hunt's On Her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the finest of the James Bond movies. James Bond, portrayed here by George Lazenby (in his only performance in the role) has spent nearly two years trying to track down Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas), the head of SPECTRE. He has been taken off the case by his chief (Bernard Lee), an action the pushes him to the point of considering resigning from Her Majesty's Secret Service, just as he opens a possible new avenue of attack on his quarry. Whilst in the field, Bond has chanced to cross paths with the Contessa Teresa Di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg), a beautiful but desperately unhappy woman, whom he rescues from one apparent suicide attempt and an embarrassing moment at a casino gaming table -- the Contessa, who prefers to be called Tracy ("Teresa was a saint"), is the daughter of Marc Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), an industrial and construction magnate and also a crime boss, who is impressed with Bond personally as well as professionally, and would like to see him marry his daughter. Bond is, at first, unwilling to involve himself with a woman -- any woman -- on that level, but Draco's underworld contacts give Bond a vital clue to Blofeld's whereabouts that get him back on the case and hot on the man's trail. Journeying incognito to Blofeld's mountaintop retreat in the Swiss Alps, Bond finds the criminal mastermind posing as a would-be nobleman and also as a philanthropist, running a clinic devoted to the treatment and eradication of allergies. It's all a front for a surprisingly sinister (and scientifically valid) plot for international blackmail that would make any previous Bond villain quake in fear. And in the process of staying alive long enough to have a chance of stopping Blofeld, Bond discovers the Tracy is truly like no woman he's ever known before -- one special enough that he finds himself willing to give up his life as a free-living, free-loving bachelor. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Jamie McGregor (Barry Evans) is in his last year of high school and hoping to lose his status as a virgin, in this romantic comedy romp. He holds hands with his date at a church dance, but things go no farther. He tries to make time with a gangly girl who has a face that could stop a clock. The more poor Jamie tries, the more he is convinced he will die a virgin. His luck seems to change when he spends a weekend with the prettiest girl in school, but there is more arguing than amore. The best thing about the film is the soundtrack provided by The Spencer Davis Group, Steve Winwood, Dave Mason and Traffic (which included Windwood and Mason). All the aforementioned groups had found or would soon achieve worldwide fame for their contributions in music. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Of the many British TV adaptations of Emily Bronte's gothic romance Wuthering Heights, only a handful were able to cover the entire novel by virtue of the miniseries format. The first of these was telecast in four 50-minute segments from October 28 to November 18, 1967. Angela Scoular and Ian McShane were respectively starred as the foolishly headstrong aristocrat Cathy and her rough-hewn gypsy sweetheart Heathcliff. The next full-scale TV version of Wuthering Heights would not appear until 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Charles Chaplin wrote, directed, and scored this old-fashioned romantic comedy, which proved to be his last film. Wealthy American diplomat Ogden Mears (Marlon Brando) is sailing from Hong Kong to Hawaii, where he hopes to meet and reconcile with his estranged wife Martha (Tippi Hedren). However, while the ship takes on passengers in Hong Kong, a stowaway slips into Mears' suite. Natascha (Sophia Loren) is a White Russian countess who was forced to flee the country following the revolution and ended up in Hong Kong, where she earns a meager living as a dime-a-dance girl in a sleazy ballroom. When Mears discovers that Natascha is an uninvited guest in his quarters, she begs him to help her emigrate to the United States; when he refuses, Natascha tries a new tack, threatening to tell Martha that they've been sharing a stateroom if he doesn't cooperate. Mears grudgingly allows Natascha to stay with him and keep her secret until he can figure out a clever way to get rid of her. Margaret Rutherford has a showy supporting role as an eccentric passenger, and Chaplin gives himself a silent cameo as a bumbling porter (no fewer than four of his children also appear). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi