Patsy Smart Movies

In this sequel to the original miniseries, Lili (Phoebe Cates), having discovered the true identity of her mother, now begins looking for her father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dweebish architect Miles Harding (Lenny Von Dohlen) is hopelessly in love with neighboring musician Madeline (Virginia Madsen). He soon learns that Madeline already has an ardent suitor: Harding's own computer (voiced by Harold and Maude star Bud Cort)! When the electronic device, nicknamed Edgar, begins composing love songs dedicated to Madeline, Harding passes the tunes off as his own. At this point, the envious Edgar really goes to town, taking over all the electrical appliances in Harding's house--and dangerously meddling in its owner's life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Roman Polanski's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Nastassja Kinski plays Tess, a poor British peasant girl sent to live with her distant and wealthy relatives, the D'Urbervilles. Though Tess' father had hoped that the girl would be permitted a portion of the D'Urberville riches, he is in for a major disappointment: Tess' new housemates are not D'Urbervilles at all, but a social-climbing family that has bought the name. Tess won three Oscars, including a "Best Cinematography" statuette for the late Geoffrey Unsworth and his successor Ghislain Cloquet. The film also served to catapult Nastassja Kinski to stardom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Marquand directed this second-rate retread of Haunted House Horror, with The Devil added to spice up the proceedings. Katharine Ross and Sam Elliot play Margaret Walsh and Pete Danner, a couple of American architects who are inexplicably summoned to the English countryside for an architectural assignment. They meet a mysterious and reclusive millionaire, Jason Mountolive (John Standing), get one look at him, and head back to town. But when they are forced off the road by a chauffeur-driven limousine, they find themselves back at Mountolive's house of horrors. Trapped in the mansion for the weekend, they get to see Mountolive's guests dispatched in a variety of gruesome ways, before the inevitable demonic possession routine kicks in. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This is not the same kind of film as the 1962 production, Tom Jones. In fact, it is a "nudie musical", as evidenced by the presence of singing star Georgia Brown in the dual role of Jenny Jones and Mrs. Waters. The project originated as a Las Vegas stage presentation, with Nicky Henson in the lead. The plot of the Henry Fielding novel about the "boy born to be hanged" is followed in spirit rather than to the letter, with busty Joan Collins thrown in like a lagniappe as a lady highwayman. Wandering through the proceedings are such English stalwarts as Trevor Howard and Terry-Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Udo Kier and Fiona Richmond star in this psychological thriller concerning a successful novelist who becomes obsessed with the pretty occupant of an isolated farmhouse. As his intrigue regarding the mysterious woman intensify, the writer is gradually overpowered by frightening hallucinations and compulsive feelings of lust and violence. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The third season of the British drama series Upstairs, Downstairs sweeps past the Edwardian era to cover the pre-war years between 1912 and 1914. Because actress Rachel Gurney had already announced her intention to leave the series, the producers decided to provide the character of Lady Marjorie Bellamy with a truly unforgettable exit, and to that end took advantage of the 1912 setting in the Emmy-nominated season opener "Miss Forrest". The title refers to the newest member of the Bellamy household, Richard Bellamy's ultra-efficient secretary Hazel Forrest (Meg Wynn Owen), whom Richard (David Langton) hires just before his wife Marjorie is to visit their daughter Elizabeth (played during the first two seasons by the now-departed Nicola Pagett) in America. And how will Majorie cross the Atlantic. Via the new, unsinkable ocean liner, the "Titanic". . . After the death of Marjorie, Hazel becomes unofficial head of the Bellamy household, eventually marrying Richard's troubled son James (Simon Williams). Also joining the household this season are Richard's pretty ward Georgina Worsley (Leslie-Anne Down) and new maid Daisy (Jacqueline Tong), who will fall in love with footman Edward (Christopher Beeny). In other developments, warm-hearted head maid Rose (Jean Marsh), taking pity on impoverished ex-servant Alfred (George Innes)--who left the Bellamy household in disgrace in Season One--allows him to briefly stay in the cellar, a generous gesture that endangers the lives of everyone at 165 Eaton; later, Rose considers the prospect of marriage to Australian sheep farmer Gregory Wilmott (Keith Barron); head butler Hudson (Gordon Jackson) is torn between loyalty to the Bellamys and his own ambition when he is offered a job at the country estate of Richard Bellamy's old friend Bunny Newbury (John Quayle); and Richard himself is innocently swept up in a financial scandal that nearly destroys his political career. The season ends with the Emmy-winning episode "The Sudden Storm" as cook Mrs. Bridges (Angela Baddeley), of all people, is squired by an eligible old bachelor--while outside the relative comfort of the Bellamy home, war clouds are gathering in Europe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this thriller a race-car driver develops mysterious psychic powers that allow him to warn people of impending danger. No one believes him until he meets an understanding parapsychologist who helps race off to warn those he saw in his terrifying vision. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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

Prince Leo (Marcello Mastroianni) is the exiled ruler from an unnamed country living on the edge of a London ghetto with his harridan mistress Margaret (Billie Whitelaw). While viewing birds through his telescope, he witnesses the struggles of his black neighbors to survive their harsh urban environment. When Salambo (Glenna Forster Jones) is forced into prostitution by Jasper (Keefe West), the prince decides to take action. He rescues the woman after she is raped and makes her his ward and protectorate. When the royal guards invade the neighborhood, Leo and a makeshift troop of residents repel the advance with fireworks and homemade explosives. The film is based on the George Tabori play "The Prince" and deals with class struggles of the poor against the haughty royals. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Having been kidnapped and drugged after resigning his position, a British intelligence agent (Patrick McGoohan) awakens in the Village (a mysterious, Orwellian community). Now known as Number Six, he is expected to provide information to the enigmatic Number Two (Guy Doleman) if he ever hopes to escape the Village and return home. Things take an even more perplexing turn when Cobb (Paul Eddington), an old friend of Number Six, suddenly shows up...and just as suddenly kills himself. In one of her last appearances, (Virginia Maskell) guest-stars as "the Woman." "The Arrival" was co-written by series producer David Tomblin and George Markstein. This inaugural episode of The Prisoner first aired in England on October 1, 1967, and in America on June 1, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this marital comedy, a married mother and daughter team up to teach their husbands to pay more attention to them. Their scheme to change the men's personality is quite elaborate and comic mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide