Ewen Solon Movies

One of several British melodramas picked up for American distribution by Columbia in the late 1950s, The Long Haul stars Victor Mature and Diana Dors, two of the prettiest and most amply endowned screen personalities of the era. Mature is cast as American ex-GI Harry Miller, who takes a job as a truck driver to support his British war bride Connie (Gene Anderson). It isn't long, however, before Harry is blackmailed into joining a smuggling operation run by the conniving Casey (Liam Redmond). His resolved momentarily weakened by his obsession with gang moll Lynn (Diana Dors), Harry finally decides to turn honest again--if the other crooks will let him live that long. Director Ken Hughes adapted the screenplay from a novel by Mervyn Mills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The always reliable Griffith Jones is afforded the leading role in the British Account Rendered. Jones plays a victim of circumstance, accused of murdering his wife Ursula Howells. With the police breathing down his neck, Jones endeavors to prove his innocence. He is aided in this effort by the lovely Honor Blackman ("Pussy Galore" in Goldfinger and the first female star of the long-running TVer The Avengers). Account Rendered is based on a novel by Pamela Barrington. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The 51-minute length of Black Ice imposes a tense tautness that would not have been possible in a film of any longer duration. Paul Carpenter stars as a trawler captain making his way through treacherously icy waters. His vessel becomes trapped in the ice, far beyond human help. With no contact to the outside world, captain Carpenter must literally chop his way out of his life-threatening dilemma. Black Ice was a British program film designed for the lower berths of double-feature presentations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Anglo-American Behind the Headlines is not a remake of the 1937 RKO "B" of the same name, though both share a newspaper setting. Reporter Paul Carpenter heads the investigation of a murder case. The victim was black-mailing showgirl Hazel Court, and as usual there's a plenitude of suspects. Also as usual, the journalists prove to be quicker on the uptake than the cops on the case. Behind the Headlines was based on a novel by Robert Chapman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ribald music hall comedian Frankie Howerd stars in the British laughspinner Jumping for Joy. Set in the rarefied world of dog racing, the film stars Howerd as trackboy Willie, who is unceremoniously booted from his job. Teaming up with con artist Jack (Stanley Holloway), Willie decides to get even by raising his own greyhound racer. Unfortunately, the dog Willie and Jack purchase has one paw in the grave. As our heroes nurse the pooch back to health, they are forced to spend their spare time keeping a narcotics gang at bay. The delightful harmonica score in Jumping for Joy is provided by American expatriate Larry Adler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The British The Dam Busters is the story of the development and utilization of the "bouncing bombs" in World War II. Michael Redgrave stars as Dr. Barnes Wallis, who developed these unorthodox explosives. Wallis' invention is put to practical use during the British raid on the Ruhr Dams in Germany. Most of the film is devoted to the two years spent in creating the bombs and training the pilots; the final sequence is a special-effects masterpiece, even allowing for the obvious models standing in for the dams. Adapted by R.C. Sherriff from both Guy Gibson's book Enemy Coast Ahead and Paul Brickhill's The Dam Busters, this film was Britain's biggest box-office success of 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

78-year-old British leading actor Finlay Currie appears in this unexpected latter-day vehicle. He plays a retired factory worker, living with his son and daughter-in-law. They treat the old man like an intrusion, leading Currie to consider himself spent and useless. His family contemplates sending him to a home for the ageing, but a last-minute turn of events brings everyone to their senses and sensibilities. While the finale of End of the Road seems unrealistic, the rest of the film is an unsettling study of how society shrugs off and casts away its elderly citizens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This waterlogged adaptation of an obscure Grand Guignol stage play finds a hapless couple (Dermot Walsh and Hazel Court) convinced that their newly-acquired yacht is haunted by mysterious and deadly forces. After numerous fatalities, the couple eventually hires a paranormal investigator (John Robinson), who uncovers the yacht's bloody history and determines that the craft is occupied by the vengeful ghosts of the former owner's wife and her lover, who were murdered and subsequently entombed somewhere aboard. Writer-producer-director Vernon Sewell -- who filmed most of the scenes aboard his own private yacht -- executes a few interesting paranormal twists on the Old Dark House scenario, and he would revisit the seagoing thriller theme (on the same boat) somewhat less successfully with Terror Ship two years later. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Better known as The Story of Robin Hood, this colorful costume adventure was the second made-in-Britain production for Hollywood's Walt Disney. Avoiding the familiar episodes covered in previous "Robin Hood" films, this Disney effort still manages to adhere to the basic chronology. Richard Todd stars as the Earl of Huntington, who loses his title and his lands after besting the despotic Sheriff of Nottingham (Peter Finch) at an archery tournament. Reinventing himself as Robin Hood, our hero rounds up other victims of the oppression of the Sheriff and his dictatorial liege Prince John (Hubert Gregg), and thus the "Merry Men" are born. Robbing the rich to give to the poor, Robin manages to elude the villains and to prove his loyalty to John's brother Richard the Lionhearted (Patrick Barr) by raising the money for Richard's ransom. The Queen (Martita Hunt) is to deliver the ransom to Richard's Austrian captors, but Prince John schemes to steal the money and place the blame on Robin Hood. Maid Marian (Joan Rice) gets wind of this plan but is locked in John's dungeon before she can warn Robin and his men. How can virtue triumph with these odds? But triumph it does, as everyone in the audience knew it would. The success of The Story of Robin Hood inspired Disney to produce two additional British films, The Sword and the Rose and Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this action-adventure film, a Swedish professor searches for his treacherous wife and his assistant after they steal his research and head for the frozen wastes of Lapland. The scientist is accompanied by a police inspector. During their journey, they are attacked by wolves. Fortunately native Laplanders use their trained eagles to help rescue the two. Later the wicked lovers end up killed in an avalanche. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

In this low-budget crime drama, a woman, paralyzed after an auto accident, learns that her husband has been fooling around with her own sister. When the cheating sibling is found shot to death, the philandering husband is accused of the crime. But is he really the guilty party? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide