Bernice Stegers Movies
Georgia (Nia Vardalos) came to Greece to follow a man. A few years later, she's been cast aside -- alone and adrift in a foreign land. Eventually, her passion for history leads her to a job as a tour guide. But Georgia is bored, and has lost her "kefi" (Greek for mojo) to boot. When taciturn sasquatch Poupi (Alexis Georgoulis) replaces the regular driver at the last minute, the frazzled tour guide thinks that her luck has just hit rock bottom. Thankfully, Georgia's latest batch of tourists is a more lively bunch than she's anticipated, and in between bouts with rival tour guide Nico (Alistair McGowan), she manages to form a genuine connection with wisecracking widower Irv (Richard Dreyfuss), a solo vacationer who maintains a jovial facade despite the fact that he misses his late wife dearly. With a little help from Irv, Georgia comes to realize that true love may be closer than she thinks -- if she could just recapture her kefi and open her eyes. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, (more)
Originally produced in the U.K. for BBC1, where it first aired on October 9, 2002, the three-part miniseries Tipping the Velvet was adapted from Sarah Waters' best-selling debut novel of the same name. Set in the 1890s, the series focuses on the romance between Nan Astley (played by Rachel Stirling, daughter of actress Diana Rigg), a cook in the seaside restaurant owned by her father, and Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes), a musical hall entertainer specializing in male impersonation. Given the strict (and somewhat hypocritical) moral restrictions of the Victorian era, the lesbian relationship between Nancy and Kitty must be kept a closely guarded secret, except in the hedonistic underground circles in which the actress and her libertine friends travel. Tipping the Velvet was brought to the US by way of the BBC America digital-cable service beginning May 23, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rachael Stirling, Keeley Hawes, (more)
This wartime drama concerns a Catholic priest who finds his beliefs tested by his desire to defeat fascism and his love for a woman. Don Paolo (Anthony LaPaglia) is a priest in a small Italian village during World War II. While he espouses pacifism and non-violence, his words fall on increasingly less receptive ears as the anti-fascist Partisans, led by Capt. Zito (Dan Hedaya), become a greater force in the community. When an American solider parachutes into the village to encourage the Partisans to keep up their fight until Allied troops can liberate Italy, Zito's men step up their activities, leading fascist troops to capture, torture, and execute Zito's right hand man, Aldo (Jorge Sanz). After Aldo's death, one of Don Paolo's associates, Don Sebastiano (David Neal), decides that he can no longer stand idly by and watch his people be butchered; he joins the underground forces and helps ambush a group of Nazi soldiers, which leads to his death. After Don Sebastiano's passing, Don Paolo finally agrees to help Zito's forces by delivering a schedule of bridge bombings to American operatives in a neighboring town, though his nerve begins to fail him en route. Amidst the village's political turmoil, Don Paolo has become acquainted with Adriana (Embeth Davidtz), a beautiful woman working with the Partisans; he has developed a romantic attraction to her which she obviously shares, and as he struggles to keep his emotions in check and stay true to his vows, he is forced to call upon her for help in order to complete his mission for Zito. Based on a short story by Anthony DiFranco, The Garden of Redemption was intended to be the first in a series of films based on stories about World War II, produced for cable television. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Embeth Davidtz, (more)
This acclaimed British comedy centers on the intermittent romance between a charming (if slightly bumbling) Englishman and a beautiful American woman, who seem to always run into each other at weddings. Indeed, it is at the first of the title's four weddings that Charles (Hugh Grant) and Carrie (Andie McDowell) meet, enjoying a brief but fleeting connection. The spark is rekindled several months later, when they unexpectedly meet at another wedding. Unfortunately, however, Carrie has become engaged to another, a fact that complicates matters for them both. The story may seem simple, but the film is elevated by screenwriter Richard Curtis' ear for witty dialogue and a colorful supporting cast. Director Mike Newell's sympathetic attention to character keeps the proceedings believable, and prevents the film's more serious moments from seeming mawkish. These elements, along with Grant's star-making performance as Charles, helped the film achieve unexpected international success, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, (more)
In 1946, Darman (Terence Stamp) followed orders from his Communist Party superiors, and went to Spain to kill someone the party had designated as a traitor, and he hasn't been comfortable with himself ever since. Now, it is 1962, and he receives word that he is wanted to perform a similar service. Obediently, he leaves his cozy, book-lined cottage in Britain and heads to Poland, where he gets his orders in some detail. Then he heads for Madrid, evading the Falangist regime's police forces and contacting the city's underground communists. He continues going through the motions of locating his victim, even though he is still very ambivalent about his assignment. At the end, he gets off the hook because another communist does the job. The complex situation grows more complex, leading to a final shootout. This political thriller is based on a novel by Antonio M. Molina and was quite well received in Spain. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Stamp, Patsy Kensit, (more)
The Girl is 14-year-old Swedish schoolgirl Pat Carlsson (Clare Powney). Though very young, she is also very wise in the ways of the world, thus she has no qualms about offering her sexual services, for a price, to middle-aged attorney John Berg (Franco Nero). Like Humbert Humbert, Berg cannot prevent himself from succumbing to Pat's charms. What starts as an illicit affair, ends in a tangled web of tragedy and duplicity involving blackmail, kidnapping and murder. The Girl switches moods so often that it seems like three different films cobbled together. Though hardly a model of restraint, the film is surprisingly prudish when it comes to nudity: still, this is not a film for the easily offended. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franco Nero, Bernice Stegers, (more)
Set during the last days of the old west, this zany adventure follows the exploits of a pair of cow-poke bankrobbers her are captured and then given the choice between going to jail or going overseas to fight WW I. They choose the latter and end up in France where they eventually join a squadron of British pilots. The fliers have been assigned to gun down a well-protected, gigantic German zeppelin that has been causing many headaches for the Allies. Unfortunately, the attempts take a heavy toll on the planes and slightly addled British plane mechanic Fritz is having increasing difficulties piecing the planes back together. Tables turn for the better when the two unwilling soldiers learn to fly the planes themselves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott McGinnis, Jeff Osterhage, (more)
For those with a taste for the repugnant comes this gory blood-and-guts fest that tells the horrific story of a British fellow who gets kidnapped by aliens and three years later is returned carrying infectious spores that have transformed him into a kind of crab thingy that causes all kinds of perverse sexual and violent mayhem. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Sayer, Bernice Stegers, (more)
The seven-hour TV miniseries Ellis Island was adapted from a novel by Fred Mustard Stewart. Per its title, the film is a mosaic of subplots involving several European immigrants who passed through New York's Ellis Island before taking up residence in the Big Apple. Most of the characters are based on real people, notably the Irving Berlin-like musician played by Peter Riegert. Co-stars Faye Dunaway, Richard Burton (in his last film role) and Ann Jillian were honored with Emmy nominations. Ironically, this essentially American saga was largely filmed in London. Originally telecast November 11, 13, and 14, 1984, Ellis Island was re-edited and re-telecast in the summer of 1986, just in time for the Statue of Liberty Centennial. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A lighter hand may have helped the Doll's Eye to bring home its message of women as second-class citizens, three women in particular: a switchboard operator, a single mother selling herself in prostitution to make ends meet, and another mother working as a journalist -- all neighbors. The three women cohabit the same building but there are definite socio-economic walls between them. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandy Ratcliff, Bernice Stegers, (more)
Coming Out of the Ice stars John Savage as the real-life Victor Herman, an American athlete born to Ukrainian immigrants. In 1931, when Herman was sixteen, he and his family moved to the Soviet Union when his father was transferred there for his job with Ford Motor Company. Four years later, Victor won the world parachute jump competition, but refused to accept an award bestowed by Josef Stalin or to renounce his American citizenship. Presumably as a result, Herman was sentenced to hard labor and then exile in Siberia; he would not be cleared of "counterrevolutionary" charges until 1955. He eventually returned to the United States nearly 45 years after he was first imprisoned. Filmed in Finland, Coming Out the Ice was first telecast on May 23, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
No relation to the 1949 Somerset Maugham "omnibus" film of the same name, 1981's Quartet is based on the roman a clef by Jean Rhys. Though the names are changed, it is clearly the story of Rhys' romance with Ford Maddox Ford in 1920s Paris. The titular quartet consists of novelist Isabelle Adjani, her Polish husband Anthony Higgins, wealthy philanderer Alan Bates and Bates' artist wife Maggie Smith. Though she's been indulgent of Higgins's past indiscretions, Smith isn't keen on her husband carrying on an affair with Adjani under their own roof. Meanwhile, Higgins sits in prison, jailed for his various petty thefts. Once Higgins is released, he learns about the Bates-Adjani-Smith contretemps. When the dust settles, it is Adjani who suffers the most. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Maggie Smith, (more)
In this dream-sequence film, renowned Italian director Federico Fellini expounds at length on the nature, complexities, attitudes, and hang-ups of women and how this all relates to men "hunting" sexual conquests. Snaporaz (Marcello Mastroianni) is traveling in a compartment on a train when he lapses into sleep and dreams the ensuing story. He follows a woman off the train and through a field and then loses her. Soon, as a representative of the male sex in general he finds himself in a hotel, among myriad women attending a feminist conference. Surreal episodes take him through a villa with his alter-ego Dr. Katzone (Ettore Manni, who died during filming) and references to his sexual exploits. Reunited with his former wife for a moment, he starts another sequence which reviews his past. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Prucnal, (more)
The feature directorial debut of Lamberto Bava (son of Italian horror legend Mario Bava), tells the twisted tale of a New Orleans wife whose fragile sanity is about to be shattered. Jane (Bernice Stegers) is swept up in a torrid affair when she leaves her two children home alone as she dashes out to rendezvous with her lover Fred on the other side of town. When Jane's bitterly jealous daughter Lucy (Veronica Zinny) uncovers evidence of her mother's infidelity, she decides to punish the misdeed by drowning her brother in a bathtub. Upon receiving news of the incident, Jane races home and gets into an automobile accident that proves the end of her lover, and leads to an extended stint in a local asylum for the devastated mother. Released a year later, Jane rents an apartment owned by blind landlord Robert. But why is Jane's freezer always locked up so tight, and just what emotional sway does the malevolent Lucy hold over her psychologically vulnerable mother? As the mystery deepens, it soon becomes apparent that Jane has lost all touch with reality, and that even in death she's not willing to let go of her lover. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
In this quirky drama, a young man gets involved with an eccentric, elderly man attempting to build a one-man flying machine in his garage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Howard, Mick Ford, (more)
Why is it that some of the most outlandish movie plotlines are grounded in reality? The Great Riviera Bank Robbery is based on an actual occurrence in 1976. A fascist terrorist group, known as "The Chain", joins forces with a gang of professional criminals to pull off a heist. The target: a bank vault in a French resort town, bulging with tourist money. The booty: fifteen million dollars. In the tradition of Rififi, we follow the thieves' progress step by step, inch by inch, from conception to execution to aftermath. Throughout The Great Riviera Bank Robbery, you'll be declaring in dropped-jaw amazement that "this can't be true!"....but true it is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ian Hendry, who as Dr. David Keel had been one of the original stars of the original Avengers, is here cast as Gunner, an amnesiac secret agent. Having been missing for seventeen years, Gunner suddenly shows up, and just as suddenly recovers his memory, providing a strange coded message. This new information may or may not be able to lead Steed (Patrick MacNee), Purdey (Joanna Lumley) and Gambit (Gareth Hunt) to the whereabouts of a notorious double agent known only as the White Rat. As usual, however, the villain gets the upper hand along the way, forcing the New Avengers to gamble with their lives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
Dick Clement directed this late-in-the-game spy thriller, starring Kirk Douglas. Douglas plays Andrej, a drone that smuggles books out of communist countries. Unfortunately for Andrej, he is mistaken for a spy and gets into a series of convoluted situations. Fabienne (Marlene Jobert), who lives with Sir Trevor Dawson (Trevor Howard), a randy British minister, is the slinky sex-bomb who finagles Andrej into the heart-thumping predicaments. Also on hand is Tom Courtenay as Baxter Clarke, an inept counter-espionage agent, who manages to make Andrej's already bad situation worse. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Marlène Jobert, (more)




















