Michael Wilding, Sr. Movies

A man's youthful indiscretions come back to haunt him in this droll drawing room comedy. Sir Robert Chiltern (Hugh Williams) is a fine and upstanding British gentleman who has distinguished himself in the political arena and is selflessly devoted to his wife (Diana Wynyard). However, it turns out that he wasn't always a paragon of virtue; early in his career working with the British cabinet, Chiltern sold some confidential information regarding the Suez Canal, and Mrs. Cheveley (Paulette Goddard) has made it clear to Chiltern that she knows what he did and is willing to tell others about it. She agrees to keep silent if he's willing to support a proposal currently being debated in Parliament that would put a phony canal through Argentina. A fearful Chiltern agrees, but his best friend Viscount Goring (Michael Wilding) objects, and he tries to persuade Mrs. Cheveley to rescind her blackmail threat, while explaining to Lady Chiltern how a good man could do something so wrong at some point in his life. This was the third screen adaptation of the sophisticated satire by Oscar Wilde. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Of the many films (English and American) bearing the title Carnival, only one was based on the Compton MacKenzie novel of the same name. This 1946 melodrama stars Sally Gray as a 19th century ballet dancer who makes an unfortunate career move by marrying a taciturn Cornish farmer (Bernard Miles). Sally soon longs for the bright lights of the big city, and for the arms of her artist lover (Michael Wilding). Her husband is all too aware of this; and when the lover comes calling to renew the affair, the husband shoots Gray to death. The first film version of Compton MacKenzie's Carnival was filmed in 1931 as Dance Pretty Lady. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clive Brook heads the cast of this low-key British war film. Brook plays the skipper of a tiny English cruiser, performing convoy duty in the north seas. A German battleship targets the cruiser for a deadly game of cat and mouse. Just when it seems that Brook and his crew will be blown out of the water, a battle squadron comes to the rescue. One of the first World War II combat films, Convoy features future stars Stewart Granger and Michael Wilding in very minor roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Derby Day is a typically British omnibus feature, delineating the fates of several different people during a single day at the racetrack. Peter Graves (not the American actor of the same name) plays a superficial movie star who has been won in a fan-magazine raffle by housemaid Suzanne Cloutier. Michael Wilding and Anna Neagle play a pair of disconsolates who have recently lost their respective mates in a plane crash. And Googie Withers and John McCallum (who were married in real life) portray a furtive couple whose horrible secret is revealed when they head to the window to collect their winnings. Though we count at least six principle characters in Derby Day, the film was released in the US as Four Against Fate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Per its title, Jack Smight's Frankenstein: The True Story, strives for greater faithfulness to Mary Shelley's novel than prior versions. Thus, as in the book, Dr. Frankenstein's (Leonard Whiting) creation is no monster, but a handsome young man of high intelligence (Michael Sarrazin). In fact, the doctor and his creature are the best of friends until the latter's body begins to deteriorate. This sends the creature over the bend into insanity, prompting Frankenstein -- with the help of his evil mentor, Dr. Polidori (James Mason), a character not in the Shelley novel -- to try, try again to create a viable synthetic human. The film ends more or less as the novel does, with the outcast Frankenstein and his creature expiring in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. Adapted for television by Christopher Isherwood, Frankenstein: The True Story was originally telecast in two parts on November 30 and December 1, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Heart of a Woman was the first presentation of the TV anthology The 20th Century-Fox Hour. Merle Oberon, Michael Wilding and Marcia Henderson star in this saga of a well-to-do British family. The story opens with the family patriarch (Wilding) marching off to the Boer war at the turn of the century, and ends thirty years later, with the now-aged principal characters coping with the Depression. If the story sounds familiar, it is because Heart of a Woman is adapted from the Noel Coward play Cavalcade, previously filmed by Fox in 1933. This TV remake originally aired October 5, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Few morale-boosting wartime films have retained their power and entertainment value as emphatically as Noël Coward's In Which We Serve. To witness Coward's sober, no-nonsense direction (in collaboration with his co-director/editor, David Lean) and to watch his straightforward portrayal of navy captain Kinross, one would never suspect that he'd built his theatrical reputation upon sophisticated drawing-room comedies and brittle, witty song lyrics. The real star of In Which We Serve is the British destroyer Torrin. Torpedoed in battle, the Torrin miraculously survives, and is brought back to English shores to be repaired. The paint is barely dry and the nuts and bolts barely in place before the Torrin is pressed into duty during the Dunkirk evacuation. The noble vessel is finally sunk after being dive-bombed in Crete, but many of the crew members survive. As they cling to the wreckage awaiting rescue, Coward and his men flash back to their homes and loved ones, and, in so doing, recall anew just why they're fighting and for whom they're fighting. Next to Coward, the single most important of the film's characters is Shorty Blake, played by John Mills. (Trivia note: Mills' infant daughter Juliet Mills appears as Shorty's baby.) Even so, the emphasis in the film is on teamwork; here as elsewhere, there can be no stars in wartime. For many years, the only prints available to television were from the bowdlerized American version, which crudely cut out all "hells" and "damns." Fortunately, this eviscerated American release has since been shelved in favor of the full, glorious 115-minute version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carol Reed directed this adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel about a British shopkeeper who inherits money and tries to crash society; it was later the basis of the Tommy Steele musical Half a Sixpence. Michael Redgrave is Arthur Kipps, a nondescript storekeeper who finds himself heir to a large fortune. Society golddigger Helen Walshinham (Diana Wynyard) immediately comes on the scene, hoping to trick Kipps into marrying her. Right before the wedding, Kipps gets cold feet and instead runs off with his childhood sweetheart, Ann Pornick (Phyllis Calvert). The two get married but Ann wants to live simply while Kipps continues to want to live large with his inherited fortune. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a cub reporter from the Daily Gazette attempts to catch a bank robber. He is assisted by a woman who wants to provide him with valuable information. Unfortunately she is killed before he can meet with her. The reporter eventually finds the crook, catches him and sends him to the police. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Anna Neagle plays a patriotic young British girl who joins the WRENS when war breaks out. She marries Michael Wilding, the son of an nobleman. Neagle is shipped off to Singapore and is presumed killed in action. Wilding's grief is assuaged when he meets American WAVE Frances Mercer. He remarries, and the couple have a child. But Neagle is not dead, merely marooned on a desert island. Upon returning to civilization, Neagle glimpses her husband and his new family, tearfully realizes that there's no place for her in his new life, and is promptly blown to bits in an air raid. A weeper deluxe, Piccadilly Incident was an unusually morose effort for Anna Neagle and her producer-husband Herbert Wilcox. Casting notes: Michael Wilding was third choice for the leading man after Rex Harrison and John Mills, while Frances Mercer was a last-minute replacement for Marsha Hunt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this British comedy, three sailors accidentally get on a Nazi ship. Mayhem ensues when they commandeer it for the Royal Navy. The story is also known as Three Cockeyed Sailors. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This stirring wartime morale-booster stars John Clements in a virtual reprise of his "redeemed hero" role in The Four Feathers. Clements is cast as Lieutenant Stacey, a Fleet Arm Pilot whose recklessness causes the death of a fellow airman. Cashiered from the Service, Stacey becomes a mercenary charter pilot in the Mediterranean Island of Palmos. When the Nazis take over the island in the early stages of WWII, Stacey remains, but only because of his romance with cabaret singer Kay Gordon (Ann Todd). After his best friend (Edward Chapman) is murdered by the Nazis, Stacey's long-suppressed patriotism resurfaces, prompting him to embark upon a suicide mission to destroy a German dam site. Reportedly in production for 18 months, Ships With Wings was largely filmed on the decks of such authentic British aircraft carriers as the Ark Royal. At 140 minutes, the film is too long by half, but it never fails to come to life during the heart-stopping aerial sequences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide