Tim Turner Movies
Kent-born actor Tim Turner made his career in British movies and television from his late twenties. After playing uncredited roles in productions such as Mario Zampi's 1952 comedy Top Secret (aka Mr. Potts Goes to Moscow) starring George Cole, and John Huston's Moulin Rouge (1952), he moved on to slightly bigger parts in movies such as The Red Beret (1953), The Dam Busters (1954), A Town Like Alice (1956), and A Night to Remember (1958). In 1958, he got his one major big-screen role, playing Kenneth McColl in The Haunted Strangler (1958). The starring role put him alongside screen legend Boris Karloff and in the company of such top British film names as Jean Kent and Anthony Dawson. That same year, Turner was cast in the role for which he would achieve -- after a lapse of many years -- the greatest recognition of his career, but it was very peculiar brand of recognition and "fame."Writer/producer Ralph Smart had done a pilot episode for a proposed television series called The Invisible Man, and while the results weren't good enough to air, the idea had proved sound. In revamping the series, Turner was cast to voice the role of Dr. Peter Brady, the never-seen hero of the series. Turner's trans-Atlantic accent made him ideal for this new variety of action-adventure series, to be shot on film and sold overseas. Smart and other producers were always looking for actors (and usually finding them in Australia) whose accents could pass muster with audiences on either side of the Atlantic. The irony is that, as part of the means of generating mystique and publicity for the The Invisible Man, Turner was never credited -- the star was simply listed as The Invisible Man, and his identity remained a secret until 1965, when it was revealed in a U.K. magazine article published just as the series was about to end its latest rerun cycle in England. Turner continued to work in movies into the early '60s, and, among other credits, he was the actor who "re-voiced" American actor Todd Armstrong (again, without credit) in the Ray Harryhausen-created fantasy adventure epic Jason and the Argonauts (1963). He has since achieved an unusual variety of cult fame, especially in England, because of The Invisible Man. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1960
The title of this British farce, one assumes, does not refer to the producers' assessement of its box office success. Richard Murdoch, Sandra Dorne and Jon Pertwee star as, respectively, an American secret agent, a pretty British customs official, and a vain TV star. This less-than-dynamic trio sets about to foil a gang of smugglers. They do, but not before a lot of furniture is smashed and a lot of clothes torn asunder. Yes, it's funny, but for a whole 77 minutes? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
A man recently released from prison is anxious to get on with his life and wants to go straight. Unfortunately, the right woman can be either a help or a hindrance, and in this case he is forced back into his old ways by a woman too cold and insensitive to care whether he stays out of crime or not. She essentially wants nothing to do with him, straight or otherwise. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1959
A girl named Madeleine (Leigh Madison) steals Peter Brady's passport so that her boyfriend Nick can pose as "The Invisible Man" and smuggle narcotics into the country. Teaming up with plucky policewoman Sgt. Winter (Jeanette Starke), Brady himself dons a disguise to go undercover at a Soho den of inquity, the better to trap Nick and his cohorts. Amusingly, the role of Nick is played by Tim Turner, who had been providing the voice of Peter Brady, sans screen credit, ever since the first episode of The Invisible Man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
One of the covert operations at the beginning of World War II is enacted in this fast-paced docudrama about a government-approved diamond heist. A Major from the British army (Tony Britton) joins up with a Dutch diamond expert (Alexander Knox) and another adventurous Dutchman (Peter Finch) to steal a fortune in diamonds from a bank vault in Amsterdam before the Nazis completely close off the city. The trio are launched under the covering fire of a British battleship in the harbor and then chauffeured into Amsterdam by Anna (Eva Bartok), one of many people they encounter who could be either friend or foe. There is no time to waste in emptying the bank vault because it is estimated that the city will be overrun by the Nazi army in just fourteen hours. Meanwhile, the war is intensifying all around them, and the Nazi soldiers already on patrol are a continual threat. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Finch, Eva Bartok, (more)
- 1958
Dr. Peter Brady (Tim Turner), a physicist working for a British government laboratory on a problem concerning light refraction, receives an overdose of radiation during an experiment that renders him invisible. At first, his superiors, unable to know what to make of this tragedy/miracle, try to keep him under wraps -- but Brady won't be held a prisoner, nor does he intend to remain invisible a second longer than it takes him to find a solution to his problem, and he escapes their custody, returning to the home of his astonished widowed sister (Lisa Daniely) and her daughter (Deborah Watling). After some verbal and physical jousting with his superiors, it's agreed that Brady's condition and situation will remain a top secret, but that he will be free to come and go as he pleases, while trying to find a cure for his condition. This accommodation works for a time, and Brady does voluntarily go to work on behalf of the government on various espionage and rescue missions, although enough people -- both in and out of the government -- gradually come to learn about his condition, so that he isn't much more of a "secret" than James Bond's real work is a "secret" to anyone but the surrounding ordinary public. His condition does become public knowledge by accident midway through the run of the 26-episode series, and he ends up as an unwilling celebrity, with the police and ordinary people coming to him for help after that. Actor Tim Turner, who played Brady (whose face is never seen) in the opening moments of the first episode and voiced the part for the run of the series, was never credited on the show, nor was his identity revealed until it had been in reruns in England for a half-decade -- as a sort of "in" joke, he actually played a villain on-camera in one episode. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Turner, Lisa Daniely, (more)
This meticulous re-creation of the sinking of the Titanic was adapted by Eric Ambler from the best-selling book by Walter Lord, and it preceded the blockbuster Titanic by almost 40 years. The film covers the life and death of the huge vessel from its launching celebration to that fateful night of April 14, 1912, when the "unsinkable" ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Of the 2224 passengers on board, 1513 were drowned as a result of the bad planning of lifeboats and escape routes. Kenneth More heads a huge and stellar cast, with 200 speaking parts, as second officer Herbert Lightoller, from whose point-of-view the story unfolds. Also in the cast are Laurence Naismith as the ill-fated Captain Smith; Michael Goodliffe as conscience-stricken ship's designer Thomas Andrews; Tucker McGuire as feisty American millionaire Molly Brown, whose courage and tenacity saved many lives; and Anthony Bushell as the captain of the Carpathia, who launched a noble but vain rescue mission once he was apprised of the disaster. Also appearing are two future TV favorites: The Avengers' Honor Blackman as a woman who believes that she has nothing to live for, and The Man From UNCLE's David McCallum as a wireless operator. The climactic sinking of the vessel is re-created with painstaking accuracy; filmed in "real time," it is a mere 37 minutes shorter than the actual tragedy. Two years before the film's release, an American TV adaptation of A Night to Remember set a precedent as the most elaborate and technically complex "live" broadcast of its time. Some viewers will find this movie a more accurate and gripping representation of this sea disaster than the romance-heavy Titanic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, (more)
- 1958
There's a bit of Oedipus Rex in The Haunted Strangler, though it's not readily apparent at first. Boris Karloff plays 19th-century novelist James Rankin, who becomes obsessed with the long-closed case of the Haymarket Strangler. Twenty years earlier, a man named Styles (Michael Atkinson) was executed for the Strangler's crimes, but was he guilty? It turns out that the actual culprit was the surgeon who performed Styles' autopsy. Coming into possession of the surgeon's scalpel, Rankin is overwhelmed by mixed feelings of bloodlust and guilt. It is at this point that Rankin realizes that he is truly his own, and London's, worst enemy. Originally released in England as Grip of the Strangler, The Haunted Strangler was distributed by MGM in 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Anthony Dawson, (more)
- 1956
A harrowing WWII drama that was a huge critical and commercial success in England, this British production was based on a novel by Nevil Shute. During the war, a group of prisoners, mostly women and children, are led by Japanese soldiers on a brutal march through Malaysia. Some die by the roadside and others are sadistically tortured. One of the women, Jean Paget (Virginia McKenna), is befriended by an Australian man who is also a prisoner of war, Joe Harman (Peter Finch). Joe tells Jean about his hometown of Alice Springs, an oasis in the Australian outback. When he steals a chicken to feed Jean and the others, Joe is caught and treated ruthlessly. The Japanese force Jean and the others to march on while Joe is put on a crucifix and left to die. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia McKenna, Peter Finch, (more)
- 1955
Less than a month after the release of 20th Century-Fox's The Racers, Lippert Productions picked up the American distribution rights for the British A Race for Life. Richard Conte stars as Peter Wells, a onetime champion race-car driver whose career was interrupted by the war. Linking up with an Italian racing team, Wells hope to stage a comeback, while his wife Pat (Mari Aldon) wishes that he'd give up his dangerous profession. Pat finally walks out on her husband, but has a change of heart when he enters the prestigious Grand Prix. Much of A Race for Life is comprised of thrilling genuine race-car footage, culled from various English and European newsreels and documentaries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Conte, Mari Aldon, (more)
- 1955
In this police drama, a cop finds his recently killed partner replaced by an Alsatian police dog. While he adjusts, the one who killed his partner plans to crack a safe. After he breaks in, he is accosted by the cop and his dog. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
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
- Starring:
- Richard Todd, Michael Redgrave, (more)
- 1954
American FBI agent Dermot Walsh has his hands full when his car is incapacitated in a remote British village. No sooner does Walsh hit the pavement than he's pursued by enemy spies. It seems that our hero is in possession of some valuable secret information, and the only way he'll give it up is over his dead body-which might easily be arranged. Walsh in unexpectedly rescued by the bumbling antics of a local constable. Designed for the lower half of double bills, Night of the Full Moon became a TV staple less than a year after its theatrical release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1953
After causing the needless death of another officer during a near-miss air disaster, a distraught army officer resigns from the military. Still, the American wants to serve in the war effort and so, calling himself a Canadian, enlists in the British military to train as a paratrooper. Revealing nothing about his past, he proves himself obedient and exceptionally skilled. This rouses the suspicion of his commanding officer who starts investigating the trooper. Later, the trooper more than proves himself during a dangerous mission to North Africa. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
Also known as Glory at Sea, a World War II British commander and his crew wage a fierce sea battle against the Germans in spite of their inferior vessel. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Howard, Richard Attenborough, (more)
- 1952
Jenny, a pretty, independent, factory worker takes a holiday in Blackpool with her friend Mary. She has a week-long affair with Alan, the mill-owner's son, and attempts to conceal it with the collusion of her roommate. This stratagem backfires when Mary is killed. When both sets of parents learn of the liaison and decide that the two must be married, Jenny gives them all a surprise. This third remake of the classic British screenplay Hindle Wakes, gives a more realistic and touching portrayal of life in working-class England than its 1931 predecessor, one of the earliest "talking pictures" from Britain (two silent versions preceded.) It is gritty and rather sad, but presents a frank and compassionate female perspective on the "traps" of sex and marriage. Lisa Daniely is affecting as the thoughtful heroine, and Sandra Dorne delightful as her racy, carefree, girlfriend. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- 1952
Top Secret gets under way when George (George Cole), a janitor in a research plant, accidentally comes into possession of the plans for a revolutionary atomic weapon. As George embarks on his annual vacation, the research security team embarks on a nationwide search for the hapless broom-pusher. Meanwhile, the Russians get wind of the incident and intercept George, plying him with liquor and empty promises so that he'll hand over the plans to them. All the while, George never knows what the fuss is about: he thinks that the British and Soviet authorities are interested in his new plans for a modern sanitary system! No one takes Top Secret seriously--certainly not Oscar Homolka, who delivers a bravura performance as a Russian secret agent who wistfully yearns for the glories of the Czarist days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Cole, Oscar Homolka, (more)
