Elsie Wagstaffe Movies

Considered a bit too sacrilegious for general consumption in 1963, the Boulting brothers' Heavens Above was simply ahead of its time, and has since accrued a loyal and vocal following. Peter Sellers plays an idealistic British reverend with a bad habit of telling the truth at all times. He also follows his conscience whenever possible, resulting in several cleric decisions that shock his wealthy, landed-gentry parishioners. By inviting such "undesirables" as gypsies and West Africans to worship freely in his church, Sellers rouses the ire of the rest of his white-bread flock. He does, however, compel the selfish owner (Isabel Jeans) of a laxative firm to "see the light" and to sell off all her holdings on behalf of the poor and downtrodden. Unfortunately, by doing this the woman wrecks her business--which is the principal source of income for the community where Sellers works. Retreating from town with an angry mob on his heels, Sellers relocates on a tiny island in the Pacific. Since the island is the site of a missile base, and since the local astronauts have shown signs of agnosticism, where else is there for Sellers to go...but up? Heavens Above was inspired by a notion cooked up by iconoclastic British satirist Malcolm Muggeridge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"All I want is a good time. The rest is propaganda." That's the philosophy of archetypal British "angry young man" Arthur Seaton (Albert Finney). A middle-class working stiff in a dead-end job, Arthur's principal goal in life is to survive the work week, then spend the weekend raising as much hell and drinking as much beer and other liquor as possible. Since pleasure is all that Arthur lives for, he thinks nothing of starting up an affair with the wife (Rachel Roberts) of one of his co-workers (Bryan Pringle). His efforts to secure her an abortion when he gets her pregnant stem not out of concern for her but out of his own selfishness: why should he be tied down with a squalling brat? Despite his carousing and his ongoing desire to escape the dull routine of his weekday existence, Arthur is doomed to perpetuate that routine via his marriage to a complacent "nice" girl (Shirley Ann Field) from his own neighborhood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, the trouble begins when Arabs kidnap a young wife and hold her hostage for a pair of rare books. Mayhem ensues as her husband and another book smuggler team up to get her back without having to sacrifice the rare tomes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Golden Link gets off to a spectacularly violent start when a woman's body plummets into the hallway of an apartment building. It looks like a suicide, but police superintendent Blake (Andre Morrell) suspects murder. Blake is officially "off" the case before long; unofficially, he calmly putters around, asking questions, searching for clues. The chief murder suspects are the victim's husband (Patrick Holt) and daughter (Thea Gregory), both of whom had ample opportunity and motive. It turns out that Blake's instincts were correct, but his initial choice of perpetrators was way off. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Intending to run off with the wife (Christine Norden) of his publisher (Alexander Gauge), novelist John North (Richard Todd) thinks the better of it as he sits in the compartment of a speeding train. North's journey is interrupted (hence the title) by a train crash, in which his lover is killed. Sifting through the wreckage, railroad inspector Clayton (Tom Walls) discovers that the dead woman didn't perish in the crash: someone shot her in the back! That's all the information that can be revealed without giving away the ending. Top billed in Interrupted Journey as Richard Todd's patient, supportive wife is Valerie Hobson, whose patience and support would be sorely tested in real life when she stood by her husband John Profumo during the British Parliament sex scandals of the early 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a young Englishman wants to become a surgeon, but after medical school, his father dies, leaving him the responsibility of supporting his mother and paying for his brother's education. He becomes a partner in a small practice and watches the woman he wanted to marry go off with his brother. The brother is killed in WWI, after which his illegitimate son is born. The doctor marries the woman, but she dies in childbirth, leaving him to raise his brother's child. Eventually, he finds a new wife. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Leo Martin (William Hartnell) is a low-level member of a smash-and-grab gang run by shady dance-club owner Loman (Raymond Lovell), who is cajoled into a risky job on a major jewelry store. When the robbery goes wrong, and Martin is caught (and his wrists broken), the hood keeps silent and does his stretch in prison -- all along, he nurses a grudge against Loman and his driver Hatchett (Victor Weske) for running out on him. And that grudge grows to full-blown, murderous vengeance when Loman blows off the newly-released Martin as no use to the gang (as his hands aren't what they used to be). Now Martin plans to get even by squeezing Loman dry of everything he has, starting with his peace-of-mind -- he implicates the club owner in a murder, while planning a seemingly perfect alibi for himself, and also manages to latch on to the ring-leader that Loman is fronting for, "respectable" art dealer Gregory Lang (Herbert Lom). Lang has a knack for tying up loose ends -- including Loman -- and thinks he can handle a low-level spiv like Martin, but he doesn't reckon with the latter's rage, deviousness, or resourcefulness. Martin's planning gets him past all of the obstacles in his way, even -- so it seems -- the plodding efforts of Inspector Rogers (Robert Beatty), still investigating the killing that put Martin's plan into operation. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Like the better-known (and more popular) A Canterbury Tale, Welcome Mr. Washington is a sometimes amusing, sometimes poignant dramatization of what happened when American troops "invaded" England during WW II. Dismissed as "overpaid, oversexed and over here," the Yanks face some hostility while trying to adjust to British manners and mores. But when a farming community finds itself dangerously short-handed at harvest time, the American GIs pitch in and help their British brethren in true "hands across the sea" fashion. Real-life American army lieutenant Donald Stewart is cast as the nominal romantic lead, his lack of professional polish all the more obvious in his scenes with the talented Barbara Mullen. The film is stolen by Peggy Cummins as a precocious teenager, some three years before Cummins was brought to Hollywood to star in Forever Amber (which, as it turned out, she didn't). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Balloon Goes Up is a British amalgam of music hall vulgarities and radio one-liners. Ethel Revnell and Gracie West play a couple of cackling cockneys who get mixed up with sergeants Donald Peers and Ronald Shiner. The soldiers are special service entertainers, pretending to be officers. It's all for a good cause: Peers and Shiner hope to capture a nest of Nazis at barrage-balloon launching site. The Balloon Goes Up bears a marked resemblance to the Crazy Gang vehicle Gasbags. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in the 18th century, this melodramatic British costume drama offers the rags-to-riches tale of an honest, ethical man. A young Roddy McDowall plays a bit part in the story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide