Edith Sharpe Movies
Director Leo McCarey returned to the religious themes of his classics Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) for this action drama, his final film. William Holden stars as Father O'Banion, a Catholic priest assigned to relieve the retiring Father Bovard (Clifton Webb) at a mission in China. Along the way, O'Banion has unwittingly picked up a follower with a crush on him, Siu Lan (France Nuyen). The girl becomes the mission's cook, but before Bovard can depart, Mao's 1949 communist takeover begins. Red soldiers led by Chung Ren (Robert Lee) seize the mission as their local command center. Chung Ren rapes Siu Lan, impregnating her, while O'Banion is forced to watch. Unable to cross China's closed borders, both priests remain at the mission, ministering to the locals despite harassment by Chung Ren. Delighted by his son's birth, Chung Ren begins undergoing a change of heart. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Clifton Webb, (more)
- 1962
A ruthless crook abducts the wife and child of a bank manager and then masquerades as an insurance company detective while scheming to rob the institution in this crime drama. Unfortunately, some of the manager's employees learn about the plot and the terrified manager must beg them to remain silent. Fortunately, the cops have been on the case all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This penultimate film by director Michael Curtiz, perhaps best known for his 1942 Casablanca, is a verbose, routine religious drama on the life of St. Francis of Assisi. After quickly passing over St. Francis' early life as the son of a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi, the story notes his talents in and out of battle. St. Francis hears the call to the cloth (in his hagiography, the call was repeated several times before he finally responded completely), and gives up all his worldly goods to dedicate himself to God. The main focus of attention is then on his relationship to Clare (Dolores Hart) a young aristocratic woman who was so taken with St. Francis that she left her family and became a nun. St. Francis by this time (1212 A.D.) had a well-established reputation for his vows of poverty, and aside from the dubious aspersions cast on his interest in Clare, the drama goes on to note miracles and other aspects of his life, up to and including his death on October 3, 1226. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bradford Dillman, Dolores Hart, (more)
- 1960
Flush on the heels of their success with the comedy I'm All Right Jack, the twin Boulting brothers (Roy, director and John producer) released this standard comedic fare with a dash of spice. Set in the traditional British boys' school, the farce deals with the reactions of the young lads and their profs when Mlle. Madeleine Lafarge (Agnes Laurent), a gorgeous new French language teacher, shows up to start work. Along with the incidents that evolve out of countless crushes on the charming, sexy woman is a school full of great characters -- from the cook to the posturing school master, and the young lover to the insufferable colonel who heads up the board of governors, all adding interest and zest to the goings-on. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cecil Parker, Ian Bannen, (more)
- 1958
This soft-pedalled British comedy was adapted from Quiet Wedding, a play by Esther McCracken that had previous been filmed in 1940. On the eve of their nuptials, David (Ian Carmichael) and Janet (Janette Scott) have a serious falling out. It isn't really the couple's fault, however; as usual, their relatives have messed things up with their well-intentioned meddling. Patching up their differences, David and Janet decide that the best strategy is to hide out until the wedding, and to that end they embark upon a long motor trip. Unfortunately, a zealous traffic cop nearly prevents the couple's appearance at the altar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Carmichael, Janette Scott, (more)
Alan Burgess' novel The Small Woman was the source for the British/American co-production Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Set in the China of the 1930s, the film stars Ingrid Bergman as real-life missionary Gladys Aylward. Against the advice of practically everyone, Gladys heads into the war-ravaged interior to spread the Christian gospel. She finds a powerful ally in the form of an elderly Mandarin (Robert Donat) who, despite his early efforts to rid himself of the troublesome Gladys, eventually converts to Christianity. Gladys' burgeoning romance with Chinese army officer Lin Nan (Curt Jurgens) is interrupted when she is obliged to guide a group of Chinese children to safety over some of the most treacherous of Northern China's mountain regions. Inn of the Sixth Happiness retains its entertainment value some four decades after its production, even allowing for the preponderance of Occidental actors in Oriental roles. The film also served to breathe new life into the old children's nonsense song "This Old Man" (aka "Knick, Knack, Paddywhack"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ingrid Bergman, Curd Jürgens, (more)
- 1957
The British Brothers in Law is a characteristically enjoyable Boulting-brother farce, again extracting humor out of the commonplace. Ian Carmichael stars as a novice attorney, full of notions but coming-on a bit too strong for his fellow lawyers. Thanks to the intervention of irascible judge Miles Malleson, Carmichael is forced to jump in and starts swimming with a particularly prickly case. The experience teaches Carmichael how to bend and shape law to his advantage--and also how to curry favor with the public. Brothers in Law was based on a novel by Henry Cecil. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Ian Carmichael, (more)
- 1952
Impoverished British bank clerk John Ross (Jack Watling) is hopelessly in love with drop-dead gorgeous Irene James (Pat Kirkwood). Ross will do anything to win Irene's affections -- including embezzlement. She ends up marrying him, but she can't give up her true love, slimy counterfeiter Jimmy Smart (Sydney Tafler). By the time Ross realizes that his former fiancee Vera Lamb (Joy Shelton) was the right girl all along, it's a shade too late. The magnificent Thora Bird steals the show in Once a Sinner as the fickle Irene's slatternly mother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Kirkwood, Jack Watling, (more)
- 1951
Teeny-tiny Hammer pictures built its reputation on second-feature melodramas before graduating to gore-encrusted horror epics. Cloudburst is a low-key thriller starring American actor Robert Preston, whose casting assured a certain degree of business in the States. Preston plays a code expert, resettled in England after the war and working at the British Foreign Office. One morning, Preston's wife is struck down and killed by a car driven by escaping criminals. Preston bypasses the efforts of Scotland Yard and pursues the criminals himself, using his codebreaking skills to track down the "big boys" in charge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Preston, Elizabeth Sellars, (more)
- 1950
Jennifer (Janette Scott) is the 12-year-old daughter of divorcing couple William (Leo Genn) and Paula (Beatrice Campbell). Though both parents profess their love for Jennifer, both mentally abuse the poor girl during the custody tug-of-war. Unable to withstand the pressure, Jennifer runs away from home. She ultimately finds happiness with another family, where game-playing is not part of the agenda. Based on No Difference to Me, a novel by Phyllis Hambleton, No Place for Jennifer concentrates more on the sentimental aspects of the story than its does on the psychological effect a divorce has on an innocent child. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Genn, Rosamund John, (more)
- 1949
Landfall takes place during the early portions of WWII. RAF pilot Rick (Michael Denison) is transferred to another squadron after sinking a British sub during a bombing raid. Disgraced, Rick has no one to turn to, save for sympathetic barmaid Mona (Patricia Plunkett). With her help, the pilot is able to find out the truth behind his "fatal error" and clear his name. Landfall was based on a novel by Nevil Shute, of On the Beach fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Plunkett, Edith Sharpe, (more)
- 1949
The British That Dangerous Age is based on Autumn, a play by Margaret Kennedy and Ilya Surgutchoff. Myrna Loy heads the cast as Lady Brooke, the wife of famed barrister Sir Brian Brooke (Roger Livesay). Neglected by her husband, Lady Brooke inaugurates an affair with a younger man. Meanwhile, Monica (Peggy Cummins), Brooke's daughter by a previous marriage, enters into her own romantic entanglement. When Sir Brian falls ill, his wife comes to her senses, and the result is lasting happiness for all, especially Monica. The story is set on the isle of Capri, allowing for several restful and pleasing landscape shots. That Dangerous Age was originally released as If This Be Sin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Livesey, Myrna Loy, (more)
- 1948
Not a film about scientific research, The Guinea Pig (US title: The Outsider) is the story of an incipient "affirmative action" program. An impoverished young British boy wins a scholarship. As part of a sociological experiment, he becomes the first product of his "class" to be accepted in a snooty upper-crust public school. Most of the film concentrates on the effect this experiment has on the school staff. Written by actor Bernard Miles, who also plays a supporting role, The Guinea Pig stirred up controversy at the time of its release because of the presence of an alleged profanity in its dialogue. If you must know, it's the same "filthy word" Audrey Hepburn shouts at the Ascot races in My Fair Lady (64). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, (more)
- 1947
Years ago a woman discovers that she married a bigamist and gives her baby boy to a couple for adoption. Now she has remarried and wants the baby back. This heart-wrenching drama chronicles her attempts to do so. Unfortunately, the boy loves his adoptive mother, not her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Roc, Rosamund John, (more)
- 1937
A Somerset Maugham novel was the source of the British The Tenth Man. John Lodge plays George Winter, a self-made businessman who lets nothing get in the way of his climb to the top. Whenever he meets a competitor who can't be bought, Winter destroys the man through methods both legal and underhanded. When one of his victims threatens to expose his tactics, Winter kills him -- just seconds before learning that his desperate gesture was thoroughly unnecessary. Not an entirely successful Maugham adaptation, The Tenth Man is worthwhile if only to see the usually heroic John Lodge in a thoroughly despicable role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Lodge, Antoinette Cellier, (more)
- 1937
This is the first entry in what became a long-running British comedy series. It is the story of a wealthy match maker who leaves his vast fortune to his family when he dies. But to get the money, they must follow one condition: they must take in the first person they see selling matches. Soon the family find themselves housing a rambunctious, opinionated Irish washerwoman, Old Mother Riley and her daughter. Mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
This tragedy is a remake of D.W. Griffith's classic silent film. The story is based on "The Chink and the Child," a story by Thomas Burke that tells of the mystical romance between a Chinese fellow and a cockney lass who meet in London's slums. The young woman is seeking to escape her boozy and abusive daddy when she encounters the young Chinese man. He takes her in and they become friends. He is kind and likes to array her in Chinese costumes. Tragically, her father learns of her hiding place and comes to kill her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolly Haas, Arthur Margetson, (more)
- 1935
This musical features the BBC bandleader trying to deal with his musicians in the recording studio. Meanwhile, outside the studio, his music helps save a band in the jungle from cannibals, helps a group of mountain climbers get out of a foggy area, and starts and ends relationships. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Education of Elizabeth was adapted for the silent screen from a play by Roy Horniman. The film version was designed as a vehicle for Billie Burke, still in her ingenue stage (though she's obviously on the darker side of 30). Burke, the real-life wife of Flo Ziegfeld, plays Ziegfeld Follies dancer Elizabeth Banks who falls for a wealthy young man. His parents are shocked--and so is Elizabeth when she decides she'd rather have her beau's nerdish brother. She turns the mouse into a lion so that he'll be a worthy husband. The material was very fey and fluffy, like Billie Burke herself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
