Percy Walsh Movies
British stage actor Percy Walsh made his film debut in the 1934 version of Jew Suss. Walsh went on to play character bits in films both large and small throughout the war years. He enjoyed more substantial roles in such postwar productions as The Guinea Pig (1947), Stop Press Girl (1950, as the newspaper editor), and The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950). Percy Walsh remained active until 1951. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1950
David Phillips (Patrick Macnee) is running down the darkened streets of London's Limehouse district, pursued by two men with guns. He finds a public phone and puts a call through to Dick Barton (Don Stannard), but before he can report, a shot rings out. Barton must piece together what Phillips found out that got him killed. Phillips had been assigned to protect Professor Mitchell (Percy Walsh) and his new development, a ray capable of exploding any unstable element aboard an aircraft in flight. Mitchell has been targeted for kidnapping by Serge Volkoff (Meinhart Maur), a foreign agent from Eastern Europe, as part of a larger, much more sinister plot to destroy England and cripple Western Europe. Complicating matters further is that Mitchell's daughter (Joyce Linden) has also been kidnapped, and Barton must contend with Volkoff's crafty female companion Anna (Tamara Desni). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1950
A battle of the sexes begins to rage in an isolated private school in this charming British comedy. Just outside of London during World War II, Axis bombing forces the evacuation of a private all-girls school, St. Swithins. Thanks to a bureaucratic mix-up, the girls of St. Swithins and their Headmistress Muriel Whitchurch (Margaret Rutherford) are to be billeted at the nearby Nutborne Boys School. While the students learn to make do with the crowded conditions, Nutborne headmaster Wetherby Pond (Alistair Sim) is less than pleased with the situation, especially after he and Whitchurch begin butting heads over which of them is truly in charge. The Happiest Days Of Your Life was based on a popular stage comedy by playwright John Dighton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alastair Sim, Margaret Rutherford, (more)
- 1950
In this adventure, an archaeologist is working at a Tunisian dig and having a passionate affair with a local girl when he finds himself entangled with a murderous band of arms smugglers. The story is based on one of Victor Canning's novels. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Howard, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1949
The British Train of Events explores the consequences of a railroad accident from four different viewpoints. Jack Warner plays the engine driver, whose daughter's boy friend is responsible for the crash. Peter Finch plays a homicidal actor whose "perfect murder" of his wife is thwarted by the wreck. Lonely orphan girl Joan Dowling is killed while trying to help her fellow passenger, duplicitous German POW Laurence Payne, escape. The fourth story is the humorous tale of a woman scorned (Valerie Hobson), who survives the crash with a renewed determination to get even with her composer-conductor lover (John Clements). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Warner, Valerie Hobson, (more)
- 1949
Stop Press Girl is admittedly a one-joke film, though that joke is a good one. Sally Ann Howes plays a winsome British lass who has the power to stop all machinery around her for a period of 15 minutes. It must needs be that Sally falls in love with a newspaperman, thereby justifying the film's title. The plot rears its ugly head when our heroine is reluctantly involved in an attempt to sabotage a rival newspaper. Stop Press Girl is one of those British comedies that used to pop up all over the place on American TV, only to virtually disappear in the mid-1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Ann Howes, Gordon Jackson, (more)
- 1949
In this drama a power-mad psycho woman vents her frustration by being cruel and abusive to her family. Because she disapproves of her daughter's marriage to a doctor, the wicked mother destroys the marriage. She tires of her husband and poisons him so she can get a new one. The only one she leaves alone is her darling son, a renowned medical researcher. When he wises up to her evil ways, he calls the cops. In the end the woman is convicted and sent to an asylum for the criminally insane. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonia Dresdel, Walter Fitzgerald, (more)
- 1949
A popular British stage play by William Douglas Home was the basis for this out-of-the-ordinary prison picture. Richard Greene heads the cast as Turnfell, a murderer facing a death sentence. Turnfell is but one of several inmates whose joys and sorrows are detailed in anecdotal fashion: others include a cockney forger (William Hartnell), an embezzling bank clerk (Ronald Howard) and a bigamist (Lesley Dwyer). Also on hand is the Governor (or warden), played with a refreshing lack of genre cliches by Sir Cedric Hardwicke and an Irish terrorist, well-played by a very young Richard Burton. Now Barabbas was a Robber was eventually given a general release under the streamlined title Now Barabbas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Greene, Cedric Hardwicke, (more)
- 1948
Not a film about scientific research, The Guinea Pig (US title: The Outsider) is the story of an incipient "affirmative action" program. An impoverished young British boy wins a scholarship. As part of a sociological experiment, he becomes the first product of his "class" to be accepted in a snooty upper-crust public school. Most of the film concentrates on the effect this experiment has on the school staff. Written by actor Bernard Miles, who also plays a supporting role, The Guinea Pig stirred up controversy at the time of its release because of the presence of an alleged profanity in its dialogue. If you must know, it's the same "filthy word" Audrey Hepburn shouts at the Ascot races in My Fair Lady (64). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, (more)
John Mills stars as Commander Scott, the leader of the ill-fated and famed 1911 expedition to be the first to discover the South Pole. The British were up against the Norwegians in the Arctic quest for fame and honor which was won by Norway. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Diana Churchill, (more)
- 1947
This romantic comedy is set in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. It tells the story of a professional duelist who is hired by politicians to insult and challenge an important senator. He does this by pretending to have a tiff over a young woman whose father runs the local newspaper. Having no idea that it his daughter who is the bone-of-contention in the duel, he dubs the woman "Madame X. " In the end, the duelist and the girl fall in love, but now he must duel with her father, whom he accidentally insulted. To save his honor, and his life, the hero allows the father to nick him during the contest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Eythe, Stanley Holloway, (more)
- 1947
Originally released in England as The Courtneys of Curzon Street, The Courtney Affair entertainingly covers the first 45 years of the 20th century. Anna Neagle plays an Irish maid who upsets the class-distinction equilibrium by marrying aristocrat Michael Wilding. Shunned by "proper" society, Neagle leaves her husband and returns to Ireland, where she bears her child. During World War I, Wilding is reunited with Neagle, who has become a popular cabaret entertainer. Casting tradition to the winds, Wilding begs his wife's forgiveness and they start life all over again. An enormous moneymaker in Great Britain, The Courtney Affair was one more example of the international box-office clout of star Anna Neagle and her producer/director husband Herbert Wilcox (Note: the US version is eight minutes shorter than the British original--and the cuts are none too tidy). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1947
When a young man from an economically depressed area of England (played by Michael Redgrave) decides that his calling is to help the beleaguered workers in his area, he takes as his symbol a sword passed down to him by an ancestor who picked it up at the Battle of Peterloo in 1819, where it had been used against workers. Beginning as an idealistic defender of the oppressed workers, he rises to power in the Parliament, where he discovers that power corrupts and he becomes the very type of politician he had originally set out to displace. Sometimes slow-moving, this is an interesting look into the reasons why the Labor and the Conservative factions are at loggerheads with each other in Great Britain. Very loosely based on labor leader Ramsay MacDonald's climb to power, the story was adapted by Howard Spring and is a combination of both fact and fiction. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Redgrave, Rosamund John, (more)
- 1945
In this WWII drama, James Mason plays naval commander Richard Heritage, who is distracted from his duties by a beautiful young woman who is secretly in cahoots with Nazi spies. By accident, Heritage lets her discover the sailing dates of American warships. The mistake costs the U.S. Navy a war ship and costs Heritage his post. After his court-martial, he sets off to find the girl who tripped him up and discovers that she has been killed. With the help of Laura Verity (Joyce Howard), he uncovers the Nazi spy ring, which is being operated under the guise of a British theatrical agency in the seaside town of Blackpool. The head of the outfit is master spy Christopher Child (Tom Walls), a fearsome villain. Heritage hopes to redeem himself and win the heart of Laura by defeating Child and his schemes. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Joyce Howard, (more)
- 1945
I Live in Grosvenor Square is better known by its American release title, A Yank in London. Anna Neagle, whose husband Herbert Wilcox produced and directed the film, stars as Lady Patricia Fairfax, who enters into a brief wartime romance with American air force sergeant John Patterson (Dean Jagger). The plot proper is based on a true WW II incident, wherein an Air Corps crew deliberately sacrificed their lives to save an English village of no strategic importance. The multinational supporting cast includes Rex Harrison, Robert Morley, Jane Darwell, and real-life American PFC Elliot Arluck. At the time of its release, I Live in Grosvenor Square was praised for the authenticity of its settings and characterizations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Dean Jagger, (more)
- 1943
Tartu--or more formally, The Adventures of Tartu--stars Robert Donat as a Rumanian-born British spy, dispatched to Czechoslovakia during World War II. Posing as an ineffectual milquetoast, Donat is hired as a chemist in a Nazi-controlled poison gas factory. Working in concert with the Underground, our hero spends his off-hours dismantling the Nazi operation. Then he has to figure a way to get out of Czechoslovakia as adroitly as he got in. Adventures of Tartu was filmed at MGM's British studios (it was Metro's first British production in two years), with an American director but with a full cadre of English acting talent: Donat, Valerie Hobson, Glynis Johns, etc. The Teutonic villain is played by Walter Rilla, whose son Wolf Rilla later became a prominent British director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Donat, Valerie Hobson, (more)
- 1943
In this comedy drama, a young girl's family disintegrates after the child becomes a movie star. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Ann Howes, Wilfred Lawson, (more)
- 1942
In this WW II actioner, two British Intelligence agents and a French agent follow their leader into Nazi-occupied France to see how strong the invaders really are; unfortunately, the only way to get that information is to break into the German headquarters. They do so by pretending to be champagne vendors. As soon as the Nazis figure out their scheme, they begin chasing the Allied agents who are assisted by the French Resistance to make sure the information is given to the British who use it to destroy the German supplies and munitions. During their flight, one of the agents his killed; later his sister vows to do everything she can to stop those evil Nazis. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Williams, Carla Lehmann, (more)
- 1942
Two sisters stick by each other through thick and thin in this drama. The elder sister has a rather sexually checkered past. The tale begins as she heads for the French Riviera in search of more adventure and meets a charming man who knows nothing about her notorious past. They end up getting married. It is then he sees his bride's name figured prominently in a tabloid. The younger sister intervenes to save the union and tells him that she was the naughty sister. Unfortunately, her admission causes her own romantic life to crumble so the older sister finally 'fesses up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Williams, Carla Lehmann, (more)
- 1942
Having underestimated Hitler in the 1930s, British propaganda specialists spent the early war years insisting they were prepared for any international contingency. Big Blockade was a morale-boosting film produced in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Welfare. In documentary fashion, the film underlines the importance of the economic blockade which Britain directed against Germany. An all-star cast (Michael Redgrave, Leslie Banks, John Mills, Robert Morley etc.) appears in brief sketches dramatizing the effect of the blockade and the reactions of the British public. While it received good reviews at the time, The Big Blockade quickly fell out of favor once it served its wartime purpose. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Banks, Morland Graham, (more)
- 1941
In this socially conscious drama, an eccentric, wealthy young man impersonates a hobo in order to save a flophouse that is slated for destruction. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1941
One of the few "Inspector Hornleigh" films to gain a wide US distribution, Mail Train stars Gordon Harker as Hornleigh and Alastair Sim as his dumb-like-a-fox assistant Sergeant Bingham. Borrowing a bit from the 1939 British box-office hit Night Train, the plot pits Hornleigh and Bingham against a clever gang of Nazi espionage agents. Most of the action takes place aboard a speeding train, with our heroes never quite certain who can be trusted and who can't. Phyllis Calvert contributes to the intrigue as one Mrs. Wilkinson, who is, as the phrase goes, not all she seems to be. With Walter Forde in the director's chair, it shouldn't be surprising that Mail Train contains as many laughs as thrills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon Harker, Alastair Sim, (more)
- 1941
Originally released in 1941 as Breach of Promise, this British romantic drama stars Clive Brook as playwright Peter Conroy and Judy Campbell as actress Pamela Lawrence. Something of a rake, Conroy is accustomed to proposing to pretty young women and then abandoning them. But Pamela doesn't see things this way, and takes Conroy to court. Rather than submit to the humiliation of a trial, Conroy grudgingly agrees to marry the girl, and, much to his surprise (but not the audience's), he falls in love with her. Incidentally, leading lady Judy Campbell is the mother of actress Jane Birkin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Brook, Judy Campbell, (more)
- 1941
Barbara Mullen stars as Jeannie, a spirited Scots girl who comes into an inheritance. She heads for her family castle after encountering numerous adventures on a Continental holiday. Jeannie also finds romance in the form of handsome washing machine salesman Stewart Granger, who wins out over the romantic overtures of gigolo Albert Lieven. Based on a play by Aimee Stewart, Jeannie overcame its attenuated budget with a plethora of good cheer, enabling the film to garner good reviews on both sides of the Atlantic (in America, the film was retitled Girl in Distress). The story was musicalized for its 1957 remake, Let's Be Happy, in which the heroine (Vera-Ellen) was changed into an American girl who comes to Scotland, rather than using the Highlands as a starting point. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Mullen, Wilfred Lawson, (more)
- 1941
The "Scarlet Pimpernel" legend is updated to WW2 in the breathless actioner Pimpernel Smith. Leslie Howard (who also directed) plays bespectacled and seemingly mild-mannered Professor Smith, who under cover of darkness transforms into a tireless defender of democracy. With the help of several loyal companions, Smith makes several forays into Nazi-occupied territories to rescue the oppressed victims of the Third Reich, using a phony archeological expedition to throw the villains off the track. The picture really roars into life during the cat-and-mouse exchanges between the Professor and his Gestapo antagonist Von Graum, phlegmatically enacted by the corpulent Francis L. Sullivan. In some markets, Pimpernel Smith was retitled Mister V. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Francis L. Sullivan, (more)
- 1940
Cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfeather's woebegone WW1 British soldier Old Bill was revived for WW2 in Old Bill and Son. When his son Young Bill (John Mills) signs up for military duty against the Nazis, Old Bill (Morland Graham) tries to re-enlist as well. Turned down for the obvious reasons, Old Bill has trouble convincing anyone that he's of any use in the present conflict. The plot is, surprisingly, never resolved, suggesting that the producers couldn't come up with a logical ending and just gave up after 96 minutes. On the plus side, the film features the comic talents of Renee Houston, Nicholas Phipps and Gus McNaughton, who like stars John Mills and Morland Graham are heaps better than their material. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Morland Graham, John Mills, (more)
