Caroline Blakiston Movies

2006  
 
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Award-winning screenwriter Andrew Davies adapts author Allan Hollinghurst's Booker Prize-winning novel for the screen with this three-part saga of love, sex, class, and money set against the backdrop of the Thatcher era. As the conservative government rises to power in the turbulent 1980s and four years of tragedy and transformation are set into motion, a young gay male living in Britain experiences everything from the ecstasy of falling in love to the agony of the emerging AIDS epidemic. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Dan StevensTim McInnerny, (more)
1989  
 
Originally titled Judith Krantz' Till We Meet Again, this two-part soaper covers forty-three years in the lives of three women. In 1913, French chanteuse Lucy Gutteridge embarks upon a successful showbiz career. She marries a champaigne heir and bears two daughters, played by Courtney Cox and Mia Sara. The story follows the trials and tribulations of mother and daughters through three wars and an infinite number of romances. A dash of adventure is provided by Courtney's activities as a stunt pilot, while there's glamour aplenty as Mia becomes a world-renowned movie star. The best scenes take place during World War 2, with the horrors of the battlefield running second place to the ladies' boudoir escapades. Barry Bostwick, who seems to have been in every Judith Krantz movie ever made (at least, that's what TV Guide told us back in 1989), costars as Courtney's erstwhile lover. Partly filmed in England, Till We Meet Again was first telecast November 19 and 21, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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1987  
R  
Scripted by Frederick Forsyth from his own novel, The Fourth Protocol is a fact-based spy thriller. The titular protocol is a secret agreement between America, Britain and Russia to cease smuggling nuclear weapons into their respective countries. This figures into the schemes of several rogue spies, who hope to destroy NATO by embarking on just such a smuggling endeavor. Russian agent Valeri Petrofsky (Pierce Brosnan) is ordered to stage a nuclear accident in England, then arrange the evidence to point to the Americans. British intelligence agent John Preston (Michael Caine) begins wondering why such nuclear-weapon components like lithium are showing up in the unlikeliest places. Ignored by his superiors, who figure that Preston is merely an old-line anti-Commie paranoic, Preston gathers the clues that will enable him to find out who's behind the potential breaking of The Fourth Protocol. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Michael CainePierce Brosnan, (more)
1986  
 
Part of the British mystery series based on the books by Agatha Christie, Miss Marple: At Bertram's Hotel was first aired in 1986. Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickman) takes a holiday at London's prestigious Bertram's Hotel. She senses criminal activity when Lady Bess Sedgwick (Caroline Blakiston) arrives on the scene. When a murder occurs, Miss Marple puts her holiday on hold to pursue another investigation. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Joan Hickson
1983  
PG  
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In the final episode of the Star Wars saga, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) emerges intact from the carbonite casing in which he'd been sealed in The Empire Strikes Back. The bad news is that Solo, together with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), is prisoner to the grotesque Jabba the Hutt. But with the help of the charismatic Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), our heroes and our heroine manage to escape. The next task is to rid the galaxy of Darth Vader (body by David Prowse, voice by James Earl Jones) and the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid), now in command of a new, under-construction Death Star. On the forest moon Endor, the good guys enlist the help of a feisty bunch of bear-like creatures called the Ewoks in their battle against the Empire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Mark HamillHarrison Ford, (more)
1979  
R  
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John Schlesinger directs the war romance Yanks, based on the story by Colin Welland. Set in England at the end of WWII, the story concerns three American GIs and their affairs with British women of varying social status. The central romance concerns Sgt. Matt Dyson (Richard Gere) and Jean Moreton (Lisa Eichhorn making her film debut), who is the daughter of shopkeepers (Rachel Roberts and Tony Melody). He falls in love with her but she is still infatuated with her boyfriend Ken (Derek Thompson). Higher up on the class scale, the officer John (William Devane) has a brief extramarital affair with socialite Helen (Vanessa Redgrave). The third pairing involves Sgt. Danny Ruffelo (Chick Vennera) in a fling with Mollie (Wendy Morgan). Eventually, the Americans and the Britains find themselves surrounded by racism at a New Year's Eve dance. Annie Ross from the vocal jazz group Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross appears briefly as a Red Cross nurse. Yanks won two BAFTA awards in 1980: to Shirley Russell for Best Costume Design and to Rachel Roberts for Best Supporting Actress. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Richard GereLisa Eichhorn, (more)
1971  
 
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This British film examines the choices individuals must make when confronted with a romantic relationship which is rewarding but does not offer them everything they want. In this sympathetic and psychologically precise drama, Alexandra Greville (Glenda Jackson), "Alex" to her friends, has a younger man as her sometime lover, the young sculptor Bob Elkin (Murray Head). Elkin is completely open about the fact that he is also the lover of her acquaintance, Dr. Daniel Hirsch (Peter Finch). These relationships continue in some kind of equilibrium until Alex and Bob agree to house-sit the children of a couple known to the three of them. In their roles, neither Head nor Finch "swished," or otherwise catered to homosexual stereotypes, and theirs was considered to be a groundbreaking, sympathetic portrayal of this kind of relationship, not condescending in any way. One highlight of the film is a scene in which Dr. Hirsch attends the Bar Mitzvah of his nephew. This critically well-received movie was unexpectedly successful at the box office. The film's director and screenwriter, as well as Jackson and Finch, were nominated for Academy Awards. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Glenda JacksonPeter Finch, (more)
1969  
PG  
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This zany British comedy finds a homeless hobo (Ringo Starr) being adopted by the world's richest man, Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers). Setting sail on the luxury liner The Magic Christian, Sir Grand tests the limit of human avarice. With money to motivate the greedy, Laurence Harvey combines his Hamlet soliloquy with a striptease. A vile cesspool of excrement is seeded with cash and the money-hungry dive right in. Wilfred Hyde White is the drunken captain, Yul Brynner is uncredited in his performance as a chanteuse transvestite, and John Cleese is the director of Sotheby's auction house. Roman Polanski, Richard Attenborough and Raquel Welch also appear in this offbeat comedy. Paul McCartney wrote and produced "Come and Get It," the first international hit from the power-pop group Badfinger. John "Speedy" Keene wrote "Something In The Air" and performed the track with his group Thunderclap Newman. Sellers, Cleese, Graham Chapman and Terry Southern co-authored the screenplay taken from Southern's novel. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Peter SellersRingo Starr, (more)
1969  
PG  
A Scotland Yard inspector is called on to investigate a series of unsolved robberies in The Trygon Factor. Inspector Cooper-Smith (Stewart Granger) ends up at the country manor of a respectable English family. Livia Emberday (Cathleen Nesbitt) is the mistress of the house who has turned to crime to help bolster the finances of the once-monied family. With help from a group of bogus nuns, stolen goods end up in the warehouse of Hamlyn (Robert Morley), supposedly a respectable businessman. This 1966 feature also stars Susan Hampshire as Trudy, the daughter of the manor who is unaware of the criminal enterprise under her very nose. There are plenty of twists in the storyline of this often complex mystery feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Stewart GrangerSusan Hampshire, (more)
1967  
 
A top-secret government project to broadcast electricity on radio waves is suddenly cancelled. Even so, several people are found burned to death, apparently the results of the aborted project. It's all the handiwork of a disgruntled -- and artificially superpowered -- scientist, whom Steed and Emma hope to neutralize before he can "shock" again. Written by Tony Williamson, "The Positive Negative Man" was originally telecast in England on November 4, 1967, and in America on January 17, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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1966  
 
An amoral American makes his way through genteel British society in this drama. Marco (Michael Thomas Parks) is a self-centered would-be artist from the United States who is living in England while supposedly studying his craft. Marco is close friends with Timothy (John Leyton), a native studying medicine, but when Marco meets Timothy's girlfriend Sarah (Jennifer Hilary), he makes plans to steal her away from him. Marco seduces Sarah at a party thrown by Timothy's mother Carol (Jennifer Jones); when Carol happens upon the couple in flagrante delicto, she decides that Marco is beneath contempt and shares this opinion with her son; Sarah moves in with Marco shortly afterward. Timothy forgives Marco after he comes to his aid in a fight, and Carol begins to think that she may have been wrong about the young man. But Marco decides that he's tired of Sarah, and he plans to break up with her; when Timothy gets wind of this, he rushes out to give her the bad news in advance. Marco, however, plans to meet Sarah at Timothy's house; when instead he encounters Carol, he decides to add her to his list of conquests. The Idol was scripted by Millard Lampell, a dramatist and musician who was once a member of the folk singing group The Almanac Singers with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Jennifer JonesMichael Parks, (more)
1965  
 
One of the most famous of all Avengers episodes, this is a loopy send-up of vintage movie serials. It all begins with the mysterious blackout of an early warning radar system. Steed and Emma's investigation leads them to a hospital run by elderly railway men. Upon learning the truth behind this seemingly innocent facade, Emma is overpowered and tied to the railroad tracks while a huge steam train rapidly approaches. Written by Malcolm Hulke, "The Gravediggers" originally aired in England on October 9, 1965; it was subsequently broadcast in America on August 4, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Starring:
Diana Rigg
1961  
 
Accused of murdering one of his patients, Keel turns to Steed for help. The latter suspects that the real culprit is the dead woman's business partner. Unfortunately, the killer is on the verge of striking again, using his favorite modus operandi: a radio "accidentally" tossed in a bathtub. Written by Peter Ling and Shelaigh Ward, "Dance with Death" was videotaped on April 13, 1961, and telecast two days later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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