Valerie Whittington Movies
- 1986
Set in the 1830s, this historical drama stars Robin Soans as George Loveless, a Methodist minister whose flock is a group of working families in Tolpuddle, a small town in the British Southwest. Most of the workers in the community are under the thumb of Frampton (Robert Stephens), a ruthless land owner, and his overseer Clerk (Murray Melvin); Frampton and Clerk demand long hours from their workers and pay meager wages. Convinced that the workers deserve a better shake, Loveless, encouraged by organizer Mr. Pitt (Michael Hordern), forms the Society of Friends, an early labor union, and organizes the men to negotiate with Frampton for better pay. When their salaries are instead cut, Loveless and his men go on strike, which could cripple Frampton financially. However, Frampton is well-connected, and soon both the government and private militias are sent in to break the strike and punish the rebellious laborers. The supporting cast includes James Fox, Freddie Jones, and Vanessa Redgrave. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robin Soans, William Gaminara, (more)
- 1984
Based on the novel by Agatha Christie and set in the late 1950s, this unevenly told film starts when Dr. Arthur Calgary (Donald Sutherland) comes back to England after two years on an Antarctic expedition and discovers that the man he is searching for has been executed for murder. At the beginning of his expedition he had given a ride one night to a hitchhiker and accidentally ended up with his address book. To his horror, the hitchhiker's mother was killed on that night, and he had been the alibi that would have saved him from execution. Spurred on by his sense of shock and guilt, Calgary makes contact with the family and is put off by their disinterest in finding the real killer. It seems that the mother had many enemies among her close family members: her husband was having an affair, there was a blackmail scheme in the works, and many felt that she had already excluded them from any inheritance. Although the acting is uneven and the plot may seem predictable or contrived to non-Christie readers, the story retains interest, and Dave Brubeck's jazz score adds a special dimension to the proceedings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Christopher Plummer, (more)
- 1983
- R
- Add Monty Python's The Meaning of Life to QueueAdd Monty Python's The Meaning of Life to top of Queue
The Meaning of Life is without a doubt the most tasteless of the Monty Python feature films; it also happens to be one of the funniest. Life's questions are "answered" in a series of outrageous vignettes, beginning with a pre-credits sequence at a staid London insurance company which transforms before our eyes into a pirate ship. One of our favorite bits involve the National Health doctors who try to claim a healthy liver from a still-living donor, pointing out that there's nothing in his contract preventing this. And of course, there's the scene with the world's most voracious glutton, who brings the art of vomiting to new heights before his spectacular demise. Be warned: though hilarious, this may be the grossest bit of comedy filmmaking ever conceived (there aren't enough words in the world to describe it in detail!). Loyal Pythonites Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin star in The Meaning of Life and share writing responsibilities, while Jones is in the director's chair this time out. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Graham Chapman, John Cleese, (more)
The returning soldier is amnesia victim Alan Bates, who remembers nothing of his life before suffering shell-shock--not even his long-term marriage to snooty Julie Christie. Spinsterish Ann-Margret, who has long harbored a fondness for Bates, hopes to take advantage of his memory loss. But both Christie and Ann-Margret are challenged by a third woman, Bates' childhood sweetheart Glenda Jackson. Poor Bates deals with all of this by not dealing with it. A fairly faithful rendition of the Rebecca West novel on which it is based, Return of the Soldier ambles along at its own languid pace to a inconclusive conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julie Christie, Alan Bates, (more)
Michael Palin wrote and stars in this comedy as The Reverend Charles Fortescue, an unassuming missionary called back to England after spending ten years in Africa teaching children in a native village. Upon arriving in London, he finds that his new assignment is to take charge of a slum mission for prostitutes. He obtains money for the running of the mission from a wealthy woman, Lady Ames (Maggie Smith), whom he meets on the boat sailing to England from Africa. Lady Ames guarantees Fortescue the money on the condition that he take it upon himself to add a little spice to her dormant sex life. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Palin, Maggie Smith, (more)
