Wallace Bosco Movies
- 1968
Sturdy supporting player Edward Underdown is afforded a rare leading role in The Great Pony Raid. The scene is rural Dartmoor, where a gang of thieves have been regularly stealing the farmers' ponies. Because they operate under cover of night, the rustlers manage to elude the law. Ah, but they're not clever enough to avoid detection by a group of precocious children. Banding together, the kids appoint themselves protectors of the remaining ponies, and, in so doing, set the stage for the rustlers' downfall. Clearly designed for the Saturday-matinee trade, Great Pony Raid serves its purpose well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on Noël Coward's play "Still Life," Brief Encounter is a romantic, bittersweet drama about two married people who meet by chance in a London railway station and carry on an intense love affair. Sentimental yet down-to-earth and set in pre-World War II England, the film follows British housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), who is on her way home, but catches a cinder in her eye. By chance, she meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), who removes it for her. The two talk for a few minutes and strike immediate sparks, but they end up catching different trains. However, both return to the station once a week to meet and, as the film progresses, they grow closer, sharing stories, hopes, and fears about their lives, marriages, and children. One day, when Alec's train is late, both become frantic that they will miss each other. When they finally find each other, they realize that they are in love. But what should be a joyous realization is fraught with tragedy, since both care greatly for their families. Howard and Johnson give flawless performances as two practical, married people who find themselves in a situation in which they know they can never be happy. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, (more)
- 1944
The "2000 Women" of the film's title are the female inmates in a WW II German concentration camp in France. Though many of the women don't get along, they are united in their hatred for their Nazi captors. The story takes a truly melodramatic turn when three English airmen parachute into the camp, offering a ray of hope for those inmates planning an escape. Some of the humor is "black" indeed, involving a card-playing corpse and other questionable sources of laughter, but this was the sort of material that wartime audiences wanted. Heading the cast of 2000 Women are Phyllis Calvert, Flora Robson and Patricia Roc, fine British actresses all who overcome an abundance of script deficiencies. The film was the first production of Individual Pictures, formed by the producer-director-writer team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Calvert, Flora Robson, (more)
- 1944
In this sci-fi comedy, a nutty inventor and his loyal butler use his time machine to travel to Elizabethan times. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
His Hollywood career a thing of the past, director Herbert Brenon returned to his native England in 1934, where he continued making films until his retirement in 1940. Brenon's first project upon his arrival in London was the feature-length documentary Royal Cavalcade. Covering a 25-year period, the film is an encapsulation of the comings and goings of the British empire since the 1910 coronation of King George V. The highlights, drawn from the newsreel files of several English and European archives, include Captain Scott's arrival at the South Pole (and the tragic aftermath), the First World War, the Roaring 20s, and the Depression. Of special interest to show-biz buffs is the footage of the first Royal Command Performance at the Palace in 1911, featuring such matchless performers as Anna Pavlova and George Robey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1931
In this British drama, a Royal Excise officer falls in love with an innkeeper's daughter. He does not realize that she is the smuggler he has been assigned to find. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1931
In this mystery, an inventor is robbed and loses a valuable necklace and the highly-classified plans for a new aircraft. He thinks his neighbor is the culprit, but his daughter begins her own investigation and discovers that real crooks were behind the theft. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1930
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's stage comedy The School for Scandal made theatrical history in 1777 as the first play to use an onstage prop (a dressing screen) as an important plot device. While this proved exciting to 18th-century audiences, the effect wasn't quite the same when the Sheridan play was brought to the screen in 1930, though Sheridan's potent witticisms remained intact (one suspects that the 1916 silent version wasn't quite as effective). The story concerns the misadventures of young Lady Teazle (Madeleine Carroll), who must not only fend off the jealous accusations of her elderly husband (Basil Gill) but also the envious barbs of every gossip in London. Meanwhile, two handsome brothers -- one virtuous, the other a cad -- become inextricably involved in Lady T's travails, both demonstrating their true colors in the final act. The very famous "screen scene" goes on much too long in this version, though its resolution still pays off in big laughs. The best scenes occur amongst the various and sundry gossips, who bear such spell-it-out character names as "Lady Sneerwell" and "Sir Benjamin Backbite"! Sharp-eyed viewers will spot future stars Rex Harrison and Anna Neagle in bit parts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Carroll, Basil Gill, (more)
- 1927
Horace Annesley Vachell's novel Quinney's was adapted for the screen by John Longden, who also played the titular role. Though he tries to be a good husband and father, Joe Quinney (Longden) is more comfortable with material possessions than with people. He is especially fond of antiques -- and never mind if they're "fakes," so long as they look good. Quinney's wife Susan (Alma Taylor), tired of being surrounded by ersatz artifacts, urges her husband to seek out "the real thing." He does and soon becomes the foremost antique dealer in the city. His livelihood is threatened by the return of his crooked ex-partner Tomlin (Sam Bosco), who endeavors to use Quinney's shop as a clearing house for a line of phony antique china and furniture -- and that's just one of the various plot strands. Quinney's ends on a happy note, a major departure from the original novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Longden, Alma Taylor, (more)
- 1924
This engaging fantasy is taken from the cartoons created by Bruce Bairnsfather. Old Bill (Syd Walker) is a veteran soldier who dreams he is a part of great moments in British history. He fights alongside William the Conqueror and witnesses the Boston Tea Party. Old Bill also meets William Shakespeare (Austin Leigh), Queen Elizabeth (Gladys Ffolliott), and Ann Hathaway (Franzi Carlos) in this historical fantasy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1922
When Rob Roy MacGregor (David Hawthorne) seeks an audience with the Duke of Montrose (Sir Simeon Stuart), the jealous Duke steals his land because of Rob's love for Helen Campbell (Gladys Jennings). Rob becomes an outlaw and is hunted by the Duke's henchmen. He spends 10 years avoiding capture and gathers the clan to take back his title and property. The clan proves victorious over the forces of the dastardly Duke in this historical costume adventure. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1922
After Lillias, a pretty but self-serving woman, accidently kills the dog of a gypsy woman, the gypsy puts an evil spell on her. Later, when Lillias dumps her latest lover Hugo, he goes off to join the gypsy's touring circus, and he ends up falling in love with the gypsy. After the couple has set a wedding date, they run into Lillias in London, and she invents a scheme to win back the heart of Hugo by destroying the reputation of the gypsy woman. Though Lillias's plot does indeed drive the two lovers apart, ultimately she fails to bring Hugo back into her own arms and, in defeat, Lillias finds a rich American to marry and eventually has a child with him. But when her daughter is stricken with a near-fatal illness, the gypsy woman is the only one who can save her, and she promises to help if Lillias admits to her deceitful ways. Lillias complies, and Hugo and his true love are brought back together once and for all. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Based on a novel by Samuel Lover, Handy Andy stars Peter Coleman in the title role. The hero is a 19th-century Irish stable boy who longs for adventure. Posing as his cousin, Andy rescues a pretty young lass from kidnappers. It turns out that the girl is Andy's own sister, and in order to conceal his true identity, he is forced to marry his sibling! But fear not: things aright themselves before the censors can have their way. The script was prepared by Elliot Stannard, one of the most talented artisans in the lackluster British silent-film industry. The 1934 Will Rogers vehicle Handy Andy is not a remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1919
The popular, morale-boosting British play Flag Lieutenant was twice adapted to film within a ten-year period. The first version, made in 1919, starred George Wynn as Lieutenant Dickie Lascelles. During an enemy attack in Africa, it appears as though Lt. Lascelles has deserted his post. In truth, he is a hero, but the only person who knows this is Major Thesiger (Ernest Wallace), who alas suffers from amnesia. The W. P. Drury-Leo Tover stage original was altered somewhat to give more prominence to top-billed Ivy Close, cast as faithful heroine Lady Hermione Wynne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1913
This silent adventure, based on Sir Walter Scott's classic epic novel, is filled with pageantry and excitement as it chronicles the star-crossed love between a dashing knight and a beautiful Jewish maiden. The blazing castle scene is one of the film's highlights. The director Herbert Brenon, filmed Ivanhoe in Great Britain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
