Angela Walsh Movies
This British drama was originally created for British television but was later released in the U.S. It is based on a true story and chronicles the struggles of Deric and Diana Longden, a happily married couple who try to cope with Diana's inexplicable degenerative disease which causes occasional paralysis of her extremities and periodic blackouts. The doctors have no clue as to what ails her. Their love sustains them, but finally Diana comes to grips with the fact that the illness may prove fatal. She decides that before she goes, they should find Deric a replacement. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, (more)
- 1993
The Man Who Cried was one of many miniseries adaptations of the works of Catherine Cookson which aired on British television in the 1990s. Set during the Depression years, the series starred Ciaran Hinds as unhappily married Abel Mason. Attempting to escape his insufferable wife Lena (Angela Walsh), Abel flees to Yorkshire, where he enters into an illegal matrimonial union with a wealthy widow. The web of deceit becomes even more tangled when Abel falls in love with his new "wife's" sister Florrie (Kate Buffrey). Produced by Tyne Tees Television, the three-part, three-hour The Man Who Cried was originally telecast in 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ciarán Hinds, Amanda Root, (more)
- 1991
The title may be Blonde Fist, but that doesn't mean that the leading characters have yellow hair growing from their knuckles. This British actioner deals with the specialized world of female boxers. People essential to the action bear such monikers as "Crazy Sue" (Susan Atkins) and "Big Alice" (Jane Poter). Veteran Hollywood leading lady Carrol Baker shows up as a don't-mess-with-me promoter. There are some attempts at social satire, contrasting the female pugilists with "proper" British ladies, but Blonde Fist is essentially an excuse to show scantily clad women duke it out and sweat a lot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margi Clarke, Carroll Baker, (more)
- 1990
In this Finnish comedy, which features all-English dialogue and nary a Scandanavian in it, Henri Boulanger (Jean-Pierre Leaud), is a colorless English civil servant, who was given a speedy retirement when his agency was "privatized," complete with a gold watch. His life is so barren that removing even the empty activities of his job makes it not worth living, so he attempts suicide by sticking his head in a gas oven - just as a gas service strike gets underway. Frustrated, he takes his savings from the bank and heads off to hire a contract killer to take his life from him. Then he really begins to enjoy life - so much so, that now he wants to avoid his imminent demise. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Léaud, Margi Clarke, (more)
- 1988
- PG13
Set in 1940s England, Distant Voices/Still Lives is a compassionate look at a radically dysfunctional family. The son and his mother must endure the casual and overt cruelties of the bull-necked father. The ongoing abuse takes its toll in the form of failed marriages and misguided attempts at seeking security outside the family unit. As was the case with his earlier short subject trilogy (The Children, Madonna and Child, Death and Transfiguration), director Terence Davies based much of the material on his own life, combining rheumy-eyed cynicism with soft-edged nostalgia (the musical track, drawn from popular wartime songs, is particularly evocative). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freda Dowie, Pete Postlethwaite, (more)
