Ann Stephens Movies

In this costume drama, Lord Brandt is a compulsive gambler on an unlucky streak. As a result he has racked up enormous debts. To pay them, he begins blackmailing a wealthy heiress with the threat that he, an expert duelist, will challenge and kill her lover in a showdown. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this espionage drama, Soviet spies use a Cornish salmon poacher to ferry them across the English Channel. When the man realizes who they are, he maroons them. He becomes a hero. Then he finds himself up on poaching charges. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Johnny Fraser is a middle-class Briton jealous of the conspicuous consumption of his next door neighbors (Peter Reynolds, Lana Morris). To show them up, Fraser buys his wife (Eileen Moore) a valuable mink jacket. He goes deeply into debt, then goes deeper still as he borrows to pay for the loan that he's already taken out. Overwhelmed by his creditors, Fraser ends up selling the mink coat to pay for the loan that paid for the loan that paid for the mink coat... A "good beginning", indeed! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fourth directorial effort of actor Robert Montgomery, Eye Witness was lensed on location in England. Montgomery plays an American attorney whose British pal (Michael Ripper) has been accused of murder. Ripper insists that he spent the evening of the crime with a woman, who has seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth. Montgomery dedicates himself to locating the missing witness before sentence can be pronounced. A compact courtroom drama highlighted by unexpected moments of humor, Eye Witness was released in some areas as Your Witness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Mason stars in The Upturned Glass as a prosperous British brain surgeon. Mason saves Rosamund John's daughter from blindness, whereupon the married John falls in love with the doctor. The illicit lovers conduct a passionate affair while John's husband is out of the country. When John dies mysteriously, Mason suspects that the culprit is his own jealous sister-in-law Pamela Kellino (Mason's real-life wife at the time). Acting on his suspicions, Mason murders Kellino, stuffs her body in the trunk of his car, and drives to parts unknown to dispose of the corpse. Before he is able to do this, Mason is called to the home of a dying child. Despite the risk of being exposed as a murderer, Mason leaves his car unattended to rush to the side of the stricken child. The film doesn't end very happily for Mason, but he is mildly comforted by the fact that he has remained loyal to the Hippocratic oath. Upturned Glass is a virtual compendium of late-1940s British melodramatic devices: tortured hero, well-planned crime, moonlight-drenched photography, lengthy flashbacks, quasi-classical music score, and the rest of the repertoire. The film was coproduced by James Mason, and cowritten by Mason's wife and costar Pamela Kellino. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this period drama from England, Fanny Hopwood (Phyllis Calvert), upon graduating from finishing school, returns to her family's home in London. However, bad luck awaits her at nearly every turn. After her father is killed in a fist fight by the aristocratic but dastardly Lord Manderstoke (James Mason), whose social standing saves him from prosecution, Fanny learns that he was not in fact her real father, and that she is actually the bastard daughter of a member of Parliament. Shortly after this revelation, Fanny's mother dies, and Fanny receives yet another shock when she learns that her parents supported themselves by running a brothel. Now an orphan, Fanny is sent to live with her biological father, an uncomfortable situation made even more difficult thanks to the resentment of his wife and the couple's friendship with Lord Manderstoke, who has romantic designs on young Fanny. Fanny is able to take comfort in a budding romance with Harry Somerford (Stewart Granger), her father's secretary, and a warm friendship with Chunks (Wilfred Lawson), the family butler. However, Fanny's happiness with Harry may be short-lived, as her stepmother threatens to reveal the tragedy and scandal of her past. Based on the novel by Michael Sadleir, Fanny by Gaslight was released in the U. S. under the title Man of Evil. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Few morale-boosting wartime films have retained their power and entertainment value as emphatically as Noël Coward's In Which We Serve. To witness Coward's sober, no-nonsense direction (in collaboration with his co-director/editor, David Lean) and to watch his straightforward portrayal of navy captain Kinross, one would never suspect that he'd built his theatrical reputation upon sophisticated drawing-room comedies and brittle, witty song lyrics. The real star of In Which We Serve is the British destroyer Torrin. Torpedoed in battle, the Torrin miraculously survives, and is brought back to English shores to be repaired. The paint is barely dry and the nuts and bolts barely in place before the Torrin is pressed into duty during the Dunkirk evacuation. The noble vessel is finally sunk after being dive-bombed in Crete, but many of the crew members survive. As they cling to the wreckage awaiting rescue, Coward and his men flash back to their homes and loved ones, and, in so doing, recall anew just why they're fighting and for whom they're fighting. Next to Coward, the single most important of the film's characters is Shorty Blake, played by John Mills. (Trivia note: Mills' infant daughter Juliet Mills appears as Shorty's baby.) Even so, the emphasis in the film is on teamwork; here as elsewhere, there can be no stars in wartime. For many years, the only prints available to television were from the bowdlerized American version, which crudely cut out all "hells" and "damns." Fortunately, this eviscerated American release has since been shelved in favor of the full, glorious 115-minute version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide