Harry Welchman Movies

The British omnibus thriller, Three Cases of Murder includes two supernatural tales and a straight whodunit. The first segment, "The Picture," was directed by Wendy Toye, based on a short story by Roderick Wilkinson. A museum tour guide, Jarvis (Hugh Pryse), is plagued by artworks going missing, and by the mysterious repeated breaking of the protective glass over a gloomy landscape painting. Jarvis is fascinated by the dark, foreboding house in the painting. One day while he's admiring it, he bumps into a stranger (Alan Badel, who appears in all three segments). Jarvis ends up following the stranger into the world of the painting with terrifying consequences. Eddie Byrne (General Willard in Star Wars) plays the demented taxidermist, Snyder. In the second segment, "You Killed Elizabeth," written by Sidney Carroll (who co-wrote The Hustler), and directed by David Eady, lifelong friends fall in love with the same woman. George (Emrys Jones) has always stood in Edgar's (John Gregson) shadow. The two have a falling out when they realize they both love Elizabeth (Elizabeth Sellars), and when she later turns up dead, it affects the friendship in a surprising way. Badel plays the friendly bartender, Harry. The final story, "Lord Mountdrago," was based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham. Directed by George More O'Ferrall, the segment stars Orson Welles as Lord Mountdrago, the officious secretary of state for foreign affairs. Mountdrago uses his oratory powers to destroy the career of a charismatic political opponent, Owen (Badel again). Mountdrago then finds himself tormented by the vengeful Owen, who seems to have found a way to enter his dreams. Andre Morrell (Bridge on the River Kwai) plays Mountdrago's baffled psychiatrist. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

The iniquities of circumstantial evidence are explored in the compact crime drama Eight O'Clock Walk. Because he was the last person to see her alive, and because his playful behavior could be misconstrued as harassment, London taxi driver Tom Manning (Richard Attenborough) is arrested for the murder of a little girl. Manning's American wife Jill (Cathy O'Donnell) has a great deal of difficulty finding a lawyer who will defend her husband in court. She finally settles upon Peter Tanner (Derek Farr), who at first is not entirely convinced that his client is innocent. Eventually he is convinced, and even manages to expose the real murderer, one of the witnesses for the prosecution. Based on a true story, Eight O'Clock Walk is one of the most oft-telecast of 1950s British films, and deservedly so. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a fisherman begins studying to be a doctor. Although he isn't finished with medical school, he begins treating his landlady's daughter who is believed to have a terminal illness. He seems to cure her, and the case draws a lot of attention, some of it negative because he was unlicensed when he treated her. He still does not have a degree when he marries the daughter and begins practicing osteopathy. He soon finds success and happiness until he begins having an affair. Later he jilts his mistress and she kills herself. During the autopsy he is appalled to learn that it was actually his misdiagnosis of her illness and the resulting medical treatment that caused her to die. The distraught osteopath then takes off and does not return until his wife, whose disease has come back, begs him to help her once again. He succeeds and their happiness resumes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Previously costarred in The Trojan Brothers, David Farrar and Patricia Burke were reteamed in the British musical The Lisbon Story. Though the film ostensibly concerns the wartime exploits of a Gallic chanteuse (Burke) and a British spy (Farrar), the film's main selling angle was international popular operatic tenor Richard Tauber. Peripherally involved in the storyline, Tauber steals the show with his spirited musical renditions. The fact that the villains in the film are Nazis must have gratified Tauber, who would have faced extinction at the hands of the Gestapo had he remained in his native Germany. Sadly, The Lisbon Story proved to be Tauber's final screen appearance; he died two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this British costume musical, Carol Raye plays Empress Maria, a young woman of noble blood who has fallen in love with Count Franz Von Hofer (Peter Graves), one of the men assigned to guard her. Maria's guardians attempt to dissuade her interest in Franz because of his reputation as a Casanova, and when Franz is discovered in a playful conversation with Cenci Prohaska (Patricia Medina), they are convinced that their assumptions are correct. When Maria learns of Franz's behavior, she disguises herself as Cenci for an upcoming costume ball with the hopes of catching Franz in a disloyal act. Waltz Time also features a guest appearance by the celebrated operatic vocalist Richard Tauber, who sings two numbers; it was one of Tauber's final screen appearances, as he passed on in early 1948. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's much-lauded epic Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, which satirizes British traditionalism, stirred up impassioned hostilities and indignations among the Brits when released in 1943. It so infuriated Winston Churchill, in fact, that he refused to allow its exportation to other countries, particularly the U.S. When Blimp finally did premiere in the States in 1945, it screened in a drastically cut version. The sweeping story covers several decades. It begins at the tail end of the Boer War, when handsome young British officer Clive Candy, recently back from the battlefront, is infuriated by his discovery that Deutschland papers have played up the British atrocities in South Africa, propagandistically. He grows so irate, in fact, that he travels to Germany to address the problem. Once there, he meets an attractive British educator, Edith Hunter (Deborah Kerr) who spends her days teaching English as a second language to German students. They grow close, but Candy so aggravates the local indigenes that he winds up in a duel with a German officer, Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook). The men wound each other and are sent to the same hospital, where they become friends. Candy - who doesn't yet realize he's fallen in love with Edith -- senses that Theo and Edith are attracted to one another, and encourages the couple's marital union. Candy subsequently returns to England, then falls for and marries Barbara (again played by Kerr), a nurse who bears a strong resemblance to Edith. She later dies, but Candy meets a third woman during WWII, Johnny (Kerr a third time), assigned to drive him from one locale to another during his campaigns. Meanwhile, Theo - disgusted by Nazi atrocities -- absconds to England, where he reencounters his old friend, now a prattering old shuffler rapidly approaching the end of his career and raving continuously about Nazi conduct (or lack thereof) in battle. Powell and Pressberger adapted Colonel Blimp from a comic strip; it became one of the hallmarks of their careers. ~ Sidney Jenkins, All Movie Guide

Filmed in England at Warner Bros.' Teddington Studios facilities, This Was Paris stars American actors (and current British residents) Ann Dvorak and Ben Lyon. She is cast as Ann Morgan, a female ambulance driver in the early days of WWII. He is cast as bibulous American newspaperman Butch, who likes to throw his weight around Paris because he knows he can get away with it. As the clouds of war gather all over Europe, Ann finds romance in the form of British Intelligence agent Bill Hamilton, while Butch sobers up and begins taking his responsibilities seriously. Oddly enough, This Was Paris didn't receive an American release until several years after its production. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This musical chronicles the escapades of two Spanish couples. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide