Philip Voss Movies

A dancer whose life and art were integrally connected to his body finds himself going through profound changes when he discovers that he has AIDS. Tonio (Jason Flemyng) recently inherited a plum role in the ballet Indian Summer from his friend Ramon (Anthony Higgins), who recently passed on from AIDS-related illnesses. Tonio, however, refuses all treatments that might interfere with his dancing abilities, determined that if he's going out, he's going out on his feet, doing what he loves most. Tonio meets Jack (Anthony Sher) at Ramon's funeral, and they later cross paths again at a gay dance club. Jack was once Ramon's lover and is about as different from Tonio as two people could be; while Tonio has the trim, athletic build of a dancer, Jack is a stocky guy who looks like he spends most of his day sitting down -- which he does, actually, as a counselor for HIV-positive patients. Jack becomes infatuated with Tonio and tries to win him over, although a healthier Tonio would never have given a second look to someone who lacks his obsession with the body. Indian Summer was written by Martin Sherman, best known for his play Bent; the film has also been shown under the title Alive and Kicking. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

David Hare adapted his play about the tensions simmering within a British family, which erupt with the death of their patriarch. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

John Cleese's knack for mining hilarity from the growing frustration of a dignified gentleman is fully exploited in the British comedy Clockwise. Cleese portrays Brian Stimpson, a perfectionist English headmaster who has been selected to make an important presentation before a group of his peers. When Stimpson sets out upon his journey, however, he finds himself facing a seemingly never-ending series of delays and inconveniences, which range from missing a train to becoming a fugitive from the police. The film goes no deeper than its farcical surface, but is nevertheless consistently entertaining, thanks to former Monty Python member Cleese's precisely tuned transitions from composure to complete collapse. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This (13th) time around, "007" receives the usual call to come and visit "Mother" when another agent drops off a fake Faberge jeweled egg at the British embassy in East Berlin and is later killed at a traveling circus. Suspicions mount when the assistant manager of the circus Kamal (Louis Jourdan), outbids Bond for the real Faberge piece at Sotheby's. Bond follows Kamal to India where the superspy thwarts many an ingenious attack and encounters the antiheroine of the title (Maud Adams), an international smuggler who runs the circus as a cover for her illegal operations. It does not take long to figure out that Orlov (Steven Berkoff), a decidedly rank Russian general is planning to raise enough money with the fake Faberges to detonate a nuclear bomb in Europe and then defeat NATO forces once and for all in conventional warfare. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The sixth entry in Hammer Films' Frankenstein series, this film finds Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) in charge of a lunatic asylum. When young doctor Simon Helder (Shane Bryant) is institutionalized for attempting to create synthetic life, Frankenstein is delighted: now he'll have an assistant for his own diabolical experiments. This time out, the monster is played by David Prowse, who later went on to international fame as Darth Vader in Star Wars (though of course Vader's voice was provided by James Earl Jones). A new wrinkle to the old story is the Monster's cannibalistic tendencies, allowing for a number of gruesome, gore-encrusted horror highlights. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Doctor Who's sixth season was launched on August 10, 1968, with episode one of the five-part "The Dominators." The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his friends land on the planet Dulkis, an orb populated entirely by pacifists. The tranquility of Dulkis is sorely threatened by the invasion of the warmongering Dominators and their minions, the Quarks. But for what sinister purpose have the Dominators arrived? This adventure was written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the fifth episode of the seven-part story arc "Marco Polo," the lives of the Doctor (William Hartnell), Marco Polo (Mark Eden), and their combined companions are imperiled not only by bandits, but also by a traitor in their midst, the warlord Tegana (Derren Nesbitt). Still, the entourage manages to enjoy a (pitifully brief) bit of rest and relaxation at the way-station managed by the philosophical Wang-Lo (Gabor Baraker). Under cover of darkness, the Doctor and his friends manage to elude Polo and prepare to board the TARDIS for a journey homeward -- but Susan (Carole Ann Ford) is seized by a shadowy assailant. Written by John Lucarotti, "Rider From Shang-Tu" first aired on March 21, 1964; alas, none of the episodes in the "Marco Polo" arc are known to have survived. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide