Frank Sieman Movies
British actor Frank Sieman played character roles in over 400 television plays. He also performed on-stage and in feature films. His son, Raymond Sieman, became a documentarian and a cameraman for Thames Television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1974
- R
The British "Confessions" film series was reminiscent of the "Carry On" series, albeit far, far dirtier. Many fans consider the first entry, Confessions of a Window Cleaner, to be the best of the batch. Based on a supposedly autobiographical novel by Timothy Lea, the film stars Robin Askwith as an apprentice window washer with a voyeuristic streak. Nearly everyone with whom Askwith comes in contact is an oversexed, underdressed female. Potato-shaped
Dandy Nichols plays the protagonist's mother. An anachronism even before it was released, Confessions of a Window Cleaner was nonetheless successful enough to inspire several sequels, none of which were released to American theatres. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Dandy Nichols plays the protagonist's mother. An anachronism even before it was released, Confessions of a Window Cleaner was nonetheless successful enough to inspire several sequels, none of which were released to American theatres. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Smashing Time attempts to turn British actresses Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave into a female Laurel and Hardy. The film's second mistake is to prolong the joke for 96 minutes. Tushingham and Redgrave play a couple of dimwitted North Country girls who head to London, in hopes of breaking into the mad, mod world of fashion modeling. Instead they spend most of their screen time getting in each other's way and wreaking havoc on innocent pedestrians. The comic "highlight" of Smashing Time is supposed to be a mammoth pie fight; but outside of one cute throwaway gag involving a street minister, the sequence makes one wish, in the words of Laurel and Hardy buff Leonard Maltin, that Smashing Time "had been handled by someone other than [director] Desmond Davis." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave, (more)
- 1966
This silly twist on the silent classic Der Golem stars Roddy McDowall as Arthur Pimm, assistant museum curator and would-be Norman Bates who, among other things, preserves the body of his late mother in his home. When Pimm and museum director Grove (Ernest Clark) discover a grotesque statue left intact after a fire at one of the museum storehouses, they transport the stone behemoth to the museum for study. After finding Grove mysteriously crushed to death under the statue, Pimm's curiosity is piqued, leading him to investigate its origins. He discovers that the figure is actually the legendary Golem, an indestructible creature of 16th-century Yiddish myth capable of destroying the enemies of any man who becomes its master. Pimm is eventually able to control the monster with his deranged mind, leading it on a rampage of murder and destruction that devastates half of London. Aside from McDowall's typically eccentric performance, this stodgy film is a fairly tedious exercise, shambling along more slowly than the monster itself and punctuated only by occasional over-the-top moments, particularly at the laughable climax. Director Herbert J. Leder's earlier horror film The Frozen Dead is much more enjoyable. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roddy McDowall, Jill Haworth, (more)
- 1966
Tom Bell stars in this tight little British thriller as a mercurial cat burglar. So long as things are going his way, Bell is calm and collected. Let anything upset his equilibrium, and he's an accident waiting to happen. Bell's one chance at redemption is his romance with pretty social-worker Judi Dench. When she rejects him, Bell returns to his crime spree, telling Dench to get lost when she offers to give him a second chance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Bell, Judi Dench, (more)
- 1966
Though based on an Edgar Wallace novel, Traitor's Gate was not part of the long-running British series of second features based on the works of Wallace. Albert Lieven plays a London businessman who doubles as a high-tech crook. He organizes an elite gang of thieves to steal the crown jewels. Their escape at sea is complicated by the rivalry between Lieven and his brother Gary Raymond. Traitor's Gate provides an interesting contrast to The Jokers (67), a "mod" comedy in which another pair of brothers pilfer the crown jewels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
- Add The Knack ... And How to Get It to QueueAdd The Knack ... And How to Get It to top of Queue
Colin (Michael Crawford, who much later won a Tony Award for his role in Broadway's Phantom of the Opera) is an uptight schoolteacher whose housemate, Tolen (Ray Brooks) is a consummate womanizer. Colin imagines a long line of young women in tight white sweaters on his stairwell, waiting to get into Tolen's room. Jealous of Tolen's incredible success with the ladies, Colin asks Tolen for advice on how to get a girl. When Tolen's advice doesn't seem very practical, Colin decides that his first order of business is to get a bigger bed. Colin is also trying to find a third roommate to take a spare room. Tom (Donal Donnelly), who seems compelled to paint everything in sight, happens by the house, and inserts himself in the spare room without so much as saying "hello." Nancy (Rita Tushingham of A Taste of Honey) is new in town, and wanders the streets of London in a fruitless search for the YWCA. She runs into Colin and Tom at the dump, where they are procuring a gigantic bed. They offer her a ride, and proceed to race through London on the bed. Colin seems too shy to speak much to Nancy, despite Tom's encouragement. Eventually, the trio reach Colin's house, where Tolen works his gruff magic on Nancy, and havoc ensues. Capturing late 1960s London in black-and-white, Richard Lester's The Knack. . .and How to Get It was released between the director's two successes with the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night and Help. The script, by Charles Wood (An Awfully Big Adventure) is based on a play by Ann Jellicoe. Future stars Jacqueline Bisset, Charlotte Rampling, and Jane Birkin appear briefly amid all the attractive young women in the film. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rita Tushingham, Ray Brooks, (more)
- 1963
A rather innocent and naive tale of romance, The Main Attraction features clean-cut Pat Boone trying to drop his good-boy image and not wholly succeeding. He plays Eddie, who works in an Italian café until he is fired for mixing it up with some rowdies. Hitting the pavement, he runs into Gina (Mai Zetterling) who has a ventriloquist act in a circus. Before he knows it, Eddie is helping Gina out with her act and the two also get involved romantically. But then Eddie becomes attracted to Tessa (Nancy Kwan), an equestrienne with the circus, complicating his life considerably -- especially after Tessa leaves because of some difficulties. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Kwan, Pat Boone, (more)
While on a dig in Egypt, British archaeologist John Banning (Peter Cushing) desecrates the tomb of Princess Ananka, awakening her mummified lover (Christopher Lee). With revenge on his mind, the mummy follows Banning and the rest of his group back to England, but becomes quite taken with Banning's wife (Yvonne Furneaux), who resembles the princess quite closely. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, (more)
- 1958
In this crime drama, three criminals break into a man's store so they can get into the bank next door. The trouble really begins when the store owner suddenly shows up. The robbers take him hostage. A man walks past, sees trouble, and tries to assist. Unfortunately, he too is captured. Fortunately, the police show up and capture the three crooks. They also arrest the owner and the passerby because they think they too are involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Slim Callaghan, a fictional British private detective in the American "hard boiled" mode, was the central character in several popular Peter Cheyney novels, in a stage play by Gerald Verner, and in the 1948 movie programmer Uneasy Terms, which top-billed Michael Rennie. Meet Mr. Callaghan stars Derrick DeMarney, no stranger to detective films, in the title role. In this "pilot" for a proposed Callaghan movie series, Slim is required to solve the death of a much-hated rich man. Meet Mr. Callagahan made money (no surprise, since it cost practically nothing to make), but no sequels resulted. In the late 1950s, however, a French-made group of Slim Calaghan pictures went on the market, starring Eddie ("Lemmy Caution") Constantine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
