Gerald Sim Movies

TheTV movie Jack the Ripper endeavors to shed new light on one of the most notorious unsolved cases in history. The Ripper, of course, was the London serial killer who, in 1888, killed and disemboweled five prostitutes. Michael Caine stars not as the Ripper but as a Scotland-Yard inspector who is assigned to the case. The trail of evidence leads Caine to some astonishing suspects--including at least one member of the Royal Family. As the public clamors for an arrest in the case of the unsolved evisceration murders of five East End prostitutes, Abberline narrows down his list of suspects: the four most likely to have committed the murders, according to the inspector, are American-actor Richard Mansfield (Armand Assante), Queen Victoria's personal psychic (Ken Bones), a certain Dr. Acland (Richard Morant) and socialist-gadfly Lusk (Michael Gothard). The British government is also pressuring Abberline to produce the killer. Unfortunately, if Abberline were to publicly release all the clues at his disposal, the revelation would probably rock the Empire to its foundations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Austria, this British-made musical retells the story of Cinderella as it is found in books of fairy tales. The Prince, Edward, is played by Richard Chamberlain, Cinderella by Gemma Craven. In her role as the Prince's witty mother, Dame Edith Evans provides many of the movie's highlights. The musical score and songs written by Richard Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, who also provided the music to the movie Mary Poppins, were nominated for Academy Awards. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This historical drama is an account of the early life of Winston Churchill (Simon Ward), including his childhood years, his time as a war correspondent in Africa, and culminating with his first election to Parliament. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Malcom McDowell, who went on to play a chillingly heartless young man in A Clockwork Orange, here plays Bruce, a cheerful young athlete and aspiring writer whose injuries get the better of him on the evening of his colorless brother's wedding. He loses the use of his legs and is sent to a home for the handicapped. As a result of his disability, his attitude undergoes a profound change, and he becomes a surly, resentful and difficult young man. At the home, he meets a young woman (Nanette Newman) whose disability has lasted much longer than his, and they fall in love. They become engaged, but she dies before they can get married. While this sounds relentlessly melancholy, the heart of the movie is the way in which each of the two has enriched the life of the other, and the movie is a good deal more upbeat than it sounds. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Mischief is the name of a frisky circus pony in this British kiddie-matinee fodder. When Mischief inadvertently throws young Adrienne Byrne, the horse is slated to be destroyed. A happy ending ensues after Mischief helps Paul Fraser rescue Adrienne from a grisly fate. The story is fairly cut-and-dried, but children who love ponies won't complain. At 57 minutes, Mischief is just long enough to avoid wearing out its welcome. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Steed and Tara are called in when several forestry experts are murdered. It turns out that the dead men had all stumbled onto a diabolical plan to destroy the earth's foliage with a strain of synthetic dry rot. As the villains try to hold up England for a billion pounds, the Avengers do battle with the bad guys' minions. Guest star Eric Barker steals the show as the eccentric Mr. Pym. Written by Dave Freeman, "The Rotters" was first seen in England on January 8, 1969 -- some three weeks after its American TV debut on December 16, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Whisperers stars Dame Edith Evans as a lonely old woman whose imagination is getting the better of her sanity. She insists that she hears "whisperers" plotting and planning against her at all times; she also believes that these imaginary entities are spying on her. So suspicious is Ms. Evans of her nonexistent whisperers that she fails to notice the very real predators around her. She is robbed of her life's savings by a nasty "friend" (Avis Brunnage), and is exploited by her estranged con-artist husband (Eric Portman) and her no-good son (Ronald Fraser) Even when she catches on to the duplicity of others, Ms. Evans is so far gone with her "whisperers" that the authorities refuse to believe her. Seedy and sordid though it may be, The Whisperers won Edith Evans the Best Actress award from the New York Critics' Circle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Years before the story proper in The Wrong Box gets under way, a "tontine" is drawn up on behalf several young British boys. Each of the boys' parents had placed 1000 pounds in a pool, to be invested and expanded upon. The resultant fortune will go to the last surving member of the tontine. A series of montages depicts the various demises of the heirs (our favorite occurs when one of them is inadvertently beheaded while being knighted by Queen Victoria). Finally, only two of the tontine participants are left: aged brothers Ralph Richardson and John Mills. On his last legs, Mills is determined that Richardson will not outlive him, and to that end attempts to kill his brother; each attempt fails spectacularly, with the doddering Richardson none the wiser. Standing to benefit from the tontine are Mills' dimwitted med-student son Michael Caine and Richardson's greedy nephews Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. When Richardson is supposedly killed in a train wreck, Cook and Moore don't want the authorities to find out, so they appropriate what they think is their uncle's corpse and ship it home in a box. Thus it is that Caine finds the body of a perfect stranger on his doorstep. The farcical complications begin flying about thick and fast from this point onward. Among the participants in this wacky gigglefest are such formidable talents as Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Wilfred Lawson, Thorley Walters, Norman Rossington, Irene Handl and Cicely Courtenedge. Based on a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Wrong Box is a delightful harkback to the glory days of Britain's Ealing comedies. We were so wrapped up in the story that we didn't even notice all those TV antennae sprouting up on the rooftops of Victorian London. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anne Bancroft stars as a restless, twice-married British woman with six children, whose third husband is a fledgling screenwriter (Peter Finch). When success spins Finch's head around, he begins to dally with women other than his wife. Meanwhile, Bancroft is forced to stay home and play "domestic goddess", a role for which she is utterly unsuited. After suffering a nervous breakdown, Bancroft wanders the streets of London in a vain search for a sympathetic ear. She eventually comes to grips with the situation at hand--but as in most of playwright Harold Pinter's works, the characters of The Pumpkin Eater are just as unfulfilled in the last scene as they were in the first. Anne Bancroft won a Cannes Film Festival award for her performance in this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kim Stanley plays a crooked medium who has become slightly unhinged since the death of her son. Craving money and publicity, she concocts a scheme with her weak-willed husband (Richard Attenborough). The pair will kidnap a wealthy young girl, collect the ransom, then use her "powers" to help the parents locate the child. The scheme falls apart, but not in the way that anyone might expect. Adapted by director Bryan Forbes from a novel by Mark McShane, Seance on a Wet Afternoon is a compelling psychological melodrama made doubly powerful by Stanley's mesmerizing performance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a con-artist's mark finds himself in deep trouble after he gets drunk, goes to the apartment of an attractive grifter and discovers that her partner has been slain (something that shocked her too!). The real trouble begins when the fellow accidentally touches the murder weapon belonging to the leader of a Soho gang, and then allows the woman to con him into taking care of the corpse. His actions catch the watchful eyes of the cops; he is soon arrested. Things look bleak for the hapless fellow until his fiancee and friends rally together, catch the con-woman, call the cops and get him acquitted. In the end, the con-woman is killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Giving up her career after her stand-in is murdered, alcoholic film star Carla Berotti (Patricia English) takes the first ship to Canada. Here she is blackmailed into acting as a courier for her husband, a double agent. It so happens that Carla's personal physician is Dr. Martin King (Jon Rollason) -- who, of course, is a close associate of John Steed. Apprised of the situation, Steed books passage on the ship in hopes of rounding up the villains once and for all. Written by Lester Powell, "Mission to Montreal" first aired in England on October 27, 1962, and was first shown in America on January 31, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide