Christine Silver Movies
- 1955
In this comedy, a jewel thief hides his loot on an abandoned scow. Later he is captured and thrown in jail after assaulting someone. Two models end up buying the boat. The barge is almost sunk in an accident. Later two tart old ladies end up with the goods. They then help the younger women get the reward money. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1952
Released in Britain as Whispering Smith Hits London, this economically produced whodunit stars Richard Carlson as famed pulp-novel amateur sleuth Whispering Smith. While vacationing in London, Smith becomes intrigued by a suicide case. He suspects that there's more to this than meets the eye, and of course he's right: the so-called suicide was really a murder -- and also the tip of the iceberg in a massive cover-up conspiracy. Greta Gynt co-stars as the Woman in the Case, who may not be All She Seems. For reasons unknown, the British prints of Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard credit the screenplay to John Gilling, while the American prints bestow sole screenwriting credit upon Steve (I Wake Up Screaming) Fisher. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Carlson, Greta Gynt, (more)
- 1951
In this crime drama, an escaped convict is recaptured and charged with killing two people in a lonely waystation during a snowstorm. Fortunately, a novelist is around to prove him innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1949
Stop Press Girl is admittedly a one-joke film, though that joke is a good one. Sally Ann Howes plays a winsome British lass who has the power to stop all machinery around her for a period of 15 minutes. It must needs be that Sally falls in love with a newspaperman, thereby justifying the film's title. The plot rears its ugly head when our heroine is reluctantly involved in an attempt to sabotage a rival newspaper. Stop Press Girl is one of those British comedies that used to pop up all over the place on American TV, only to virtually disappear in the mid-1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sally Ann Howes, Gordon Jackson, (more)
- 1949
In this spooky thriller set in Victorian England, during the time Jack-the-Ripper was running amok, an invalid widow and her daughter run a boarding house. One day a man claiming to be a physician appears and lets a room. Soon he has the women terrorized and imprisoned in their home because they believe him to be the Ripper. Later a reporter looks into and discovers the man is really an escaped lunatic. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1944
The special appeal of Scots comedian Will Fyffe might be lost to American viewers unable to fathom Fyffe's bog-thick accent. Nonetheless, his "regional" British films of the 1930s and 1940s were extremely popular, and Heaven is Round the Corner is no exception. Fyffe plays a farmhand who, with several of his mates and a handful of opera singers and music-hall performers, show up in newly liberated Paris. When the group "invades" the British Embassy, an impromptu musical programme commences. The title song of Heaven is Round the Corner is rendered by Vera Lynn, the sweetheart of the British army during World War II, whose signature tune "We'll Meet Again" has entered into folklore (not to mention the apocalyptic closing scenes of Dr. Strangelove). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leni Lynn, Will Fyffe, (more)
- 1942
Despite its fervently flag-waving title, the British Salute John Citizen is a simple, low-pressure study of the wartime "home front." Edward Rigby plays Mr. Bunting, an out-of-work clerk who is rehired during the manpower shortage of World War II. Bunting's son Ernest (Jimmy Hanley) is determined to stay out of the line of fire, but changes his mind after witnessing the horrors of the London Blitz. In its own quiet, unassuming war, Salute John Citizen paints a truer portrait of a proud populace besieged by war than the more celebrated Mrs. Miniver. The film was based on a brace of novels by Robert Greenwood. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Rigby, Mabel Constanduros, (more)
- 1939
In this crime drama, a boys' school matron is brutally murdered after she wins the French lottery. The story tells how it was done. She is killed by a French loan shark who tricks her into coming to his place. He then kills her and has another woman put on her clothing and collect the lottery winnings. The law pursues the killer, who commits two more murders before he kills himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emlyn Williams, Sara Seegar, (more)
- 1917
Fred Groves stars in this 1917 British drama as Socialist labor activist John Webster. His consciousness aroused when he meets unmarried, pregnant laundress Nell Slade (Christine Silver), Webster bids farewell to his society sweetheart and leaps into the British political pool. His tireless activities eventually lead him to the Parliament, where he becomes the first-ever Labour Party member elected to that august group. By his side at this triumph is Nell Slade, who has long since become his bride. An unabashed tract, Labour Leader was entertaining enough to please even those filmgoers who didn't subscribe to the protagonist's political views. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1917
Gorgeous Broadway star Marvis Marberry (Dorothy Dalton) yearns to be taken seriously as an actress. Marvis sets her sights on a new play, based on a novel by Everett Hale (Charles Gunn). But Hale wants nothing to do with Marvis; besides, he's convinced that she could never convincingly portray a wisecracking, gum-chewing café girl. To prove him wrong, Marvis assumes the identity of "Chicken Casey", just the sort of girl depicted in Hale's novel. It's an old story, with a thoroughly predictable ending, but Dorothy Dalton was irresistable in both her on-screen guises. Chicken Casey was based on Doorsteps, a play by Christine Silver. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
