Donald Sinden Movies

Elaine Stritch is back as the flamboyant, temperamental Dorothy McNab, an American author living in England, and so is Donald Sinden as Dorothy's delightfully snooty and outspoken British butler Robert, in the third season of the London Weekend Television sitcom Two's Company. Eight new episodes are served up this season, beginning with "The Invitation," wherein Dorothy and Robert frantically prepare for an audience with Queen Elizabeth, with only three hours before the big event. In "The Freezer," the viewer is at ringside for another culinary battle royal between Dorothy and Robert. "The Pet" finds Robert at his wit's end when Dorothy purchases a particularly annoying small dog. In "The Take-Over Bid," a scheming chauffeur threatens to take over Robert's position. "The Virus" proves anew that obstreperous people become even more obstreperous when illness flies through the window. "The Critic" pits Dorothy against a member of the reading public who isn't enamored of her literally output. And "The Picnic" is a comedy of errors segueing into a symphony of disaster. The season closes with "The Politicians" a savage skewering of the Parliament which will obviously prove more amusing to British fans than Americans. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Not to be confused with the earlier Granada Television variety series of the same name, the British sitcom Two's Company was unveiled by London Weekend Television on September 6, 1975. American actress Elaine Stritch starred as Dorothy McNab, an acerbic Yankee writer who lived and worked on a country estate in Chelsea. Dorothy's prickly personality was offset by the cool unflappability of her "veddy" British butler, Robert Hiller, played by Donald Sinden. Although Robert could give back as good as he got when subjected to Dorothy's insults, a palpable mutual affection existed between the two protagonists. Created by Bill MacIlwraith, the 29-episode Two's Company ran until March 4, 1979. In America, the series was rebroadcast over the A&E cable network, and also spawned a 1981 remake, The Two of Us, starring Mimi Kennedy and Peter Cook. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The hilarious war of words between American writer Dorothy McNab (Elaine Stritch) and her very proper British butler, Robert Hiller (Donald Sinden), with Dorothy's Chelsea estate as the mismatched couple's battlefield, gets under way in this first season ofLondon Weekend Television's sitcom Two's Company. In the first of the series' six episodes, "The Bait," newly hired butler Robert turns his nose up at the prospect of working for an American woman, but takes the job on condition that he be allowed to speak his mind. Dorothy agrees, figuring that she can outtalk anyone...but sometimes she's wrong. In "The Housekeeping," Robert plots an exquisite revenge when Dorothy refuses to raise his salary. "Dorothy's Electrician" proves anew that some people are born to run a household, and some aren't. And the plot and comedy of the episodes "The Patient," "The Romance," and "Robert's Mother" are imminently inherent in their titles. A full year after the last-named episode was telecast in the fall of 1975, Two's Company unexpectedly returned to the air for the holiday special, "A Loving Christmas," in which Robert and Dorothy plot against each other for sole custody of the Chelsea house during the Yuletide festivities. (This episode is sometimes listed as a second-season entry.) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The British TV sitcom Father Dear Father originally ran from 1968 through 1973. Veteran farceur Patrick Cargill starred as a divorced father with two nubile daughters. Complications ensued when the girls moved into the flat just below Cargill's. You may recognize this property as the basis for the 1980s Ted Knight series Too Close For Comfort. This feature-film version of Father Dear Father merely rehashes plot devices from the series; neither of the property's original writers, Brian Cooke and John Mortimer (of Rumpole of the Bailey fame) seem to have been involved in the movie adaptation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this feather-weight version of Evelyn Waugh's novel Decline and Fall, Paul Pennyfeather (Robin Phillips) is an Oxford divinity student who finds himself expelled after a gang of drunken freshmen remove his pants and he is accused of exposing himself to a girl. Looking for work, he retains the services of an unsavory employment agency that secures a position for him at a sleazy Welsh boarding school for boys, presided over by the colorful Dr. Fagan (Donald Wolfit). On staff at the school are an assortment of distasteful screwballs; Mr. Prendergast (Robert Harris) is a withdrawn former clergyman; Captain Grimes (Leo McKern) is a one-legged two-timer with his eye on Fagan's daughter Flossie (Patience Collier); and Soloman Philbrick (Colin Blakely) is an undercover criminal posing as Fagan's butler. All hell breaks loose during the school's annual Sports Day, but Paul manages to meet a wealthy patron of the school, Margot Beste-Chetwynde (Geneviève Page), who hires him to tutor her son. At her estate, Margot seduces Paul, and Paul proposes marriage. But before the wedding, Margot asks Paul, as a favor, to travel to Tangiers on a business trip. He agrees but is soon arrested for trafficking in prostitution. Sent to jail, he runs into Philbrick and Captain Grimes, and now Margot has to scheme to get Paul out of jail. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In this confusing drama, the IRA, intrigue, psychiatric analysis, and a young man framed for murder are thrown together in a series of events that were perhaps originally intended to highlight the psychological aspects of the case under study. One night, eighteen-year-old Harry Jukes (British rock 'n roller Adam Faith in his first dramatic role) is driving down a deserted country road when he gets a flat tire. A policeman stops to help him out when a truck drives by, and the next thing Harry knows, the policeman is lying dead on the road and Harry is literally holding a smoking gun in his hand. From there to his arrest and trial is a brief hop, skip, and then a jump into prison to await his execution. His lawyer thinks he did it, but his psychiatrist (Anne Baxter) disagrees -- and sets out to prove she is right. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Donald Sinden and Peggy Cummins co-star as Pelham and Gay Butterworth in this routine comedy about a married couple whose hopes of acquiring an instantaneous fortune are suddenly dashed. When Gay finds out she is going to get a huge inheritance, the young couple go on a spending spree. Just a tad late, she also learns that the inheritance will be doled out one week by one paltry week -- unless her husband dies or they divorce. After all else fails, the couple decide to divorce and then remarry later, quietly -- but even this plan suddenly hits an unexpected hitch. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Set in an anti-aircraft station along the British coast, this light comedy features Donald Sinden as Lt. Gordon Brown and Barbara Murray as his wife, Private Betty Brown. When a group of female recruits are posted to the base, the handsome lieutenant attracts their attention, especially the attention of blonde charmer Private Marge White (Carole Lesley). Then Lt. Brown's wife Betty gets posted to the base as well, and that causes no end of trouble. Regulations require that they cannot be working out of the same place, and so they hide their relationship. Meanwhile, the enamored Marge does not have a clue and neither does Major Pym (Naunton Wayne). The good Major then gives the flummoxed lieutenant leave to go visit his wife, and matters deteriorate even more. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The small but resourceful Scots island of Todday, introduced in the 1949 Ealing comedy Whisky Galore!, made a return visit to movie screens in 1958's Rockets Galore--released in the U.S. as Mad Little Island. In the first film, the good people of Todday faced up to the appalling dilemma of a whisky shortage. Now we're in the space age, and Todday has been targeted as the location for a rocket-launching site. Banding together as before, the islanders do their best to sabotage the project under the unsuspecting noses of the blinkered British military. Mad Little Island was better received in America than it was in England, where it was perceived as an uninspired rewarming of yesterday's haggis. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Anthony Steel stars in this fanciful wartime drama. Stationed in Libya, British soldier Steel is wounded, then nursed back to health by a band of Nomads. He manages to marry the tribal chieftan's daughter (Anna Maria Sandri) before getting down to the serious business of fending off the Nazis. Ten years afterwards, Steel's brother returns to the tribe, there to take his late father's place. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi