Susan Wooldridge Movies
British actress Susan Wooldridge is best known by American audiences for playing Daphne Manners on the acclaimed Masterpiece Theatre production The Jewel in the Crown (1984). The daughter of actress Margaretta Scott, Wooldridge made her film debut in Butley (1974). Her subsequent film career has been sporadic. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Laurence Fishburne and Ellen Barkin star in this complex tale of former C.I.A. agents who now specialize in freelance espionage. As the film opens, Nelson Crowe (Fishburne) is being interviewed for a position with the Grimes Organization, which focuses on industrial espionage. He is hired by Margaret Wells (Barkin), who then takes Crowe to her boss, Grimes (Frank Langella). Grimes and Wells visit a man named Walter Curl (Spalding Gray) to tell him that they can bribe a state judge so that Curl's company doesn't have to pay a $25 million fine for the toxic poisoning of some children. The judge himself (David Ogden Stiers) is deep in gambling debts. Meanwhile, Wells aligns herself with Crowe and tries to convince him that the two of them could do away with Grimes and take over his entire organization. The plot thickens from there, with several surprises. The first-time original screenplay was by famous crime writer Ross Thomas, and the film's elegant cinematography by Jack N. Green captures the coldness of the characters and their surroundings. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Wooldridge, Ellen Barkin, (more)
- 1992
Until not so very long ago, European-ruled islands in the Caribbean had a very distinct class structure, with European-born whites at the top, followed by the local variety, mulattos of every kind in the middle, and fully ethnic people of color at the bottom. Despite that, in this film set in 1946, one of the more liberal British-born whites has allowed his twelve-year-old son Alan to become friends with two kids from the bottom of the social ladder. This gains the boy some brickbats from his schoolmates but otherwise seems not to be a problem. Jailin is a girl whom Alan is almost in love with. Kaiser is her older brother, and Alan's relationship with him is considerably edgier but still friendly. However, on the island around him, nonwhites are being given the vote for the first time, and interracial tensions are growing more dangerous. Outside events may dictate an early end to Alan's unusual friendships. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Bergin, Susan Wooldridge, (more)
A young boy comes to fear that his blind mother may become the next victim of a serial killer in this complex psychological thriller. Unfolding at first as a traditional suspense tale, the film follows the terrified boy's attempts to determine the killer's identity, a task his policeman father has failed to achieve. Things take a more provocative and puzzling turn when the boy's penchant for fantasy is revealed, forcing the audience to question whether what has been shown has been real or merely a product of the boy's imagination. As a result, much of the anxiety in Afraid of the Dark emerges not from the violent shocks, but from the uncertain reality and the tantalizing, disturbing hints of the child's psychology. This purposeful ambiguity may strike some viewers as confusing and alienating, despite the film's assured performances and striking imagery. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Keyworth, James Fox, (more)
- 1991
- R
Patsy Kensit stars in Don Boyd's distaff version of Alfie, with Kensit playing 21-year-old Katie, an attractive and self-absorbed Londoner who has just reached this milestone of an age and is trying to make some sense out of it. Until now, Katie has enjoyed life and all its pleasures without thinking too much about it. But, as she speaks to the camera, she reflects upon the men in her life and wonders if she has made all the right romantic decisions. There is Bobby (Rufus Sewell), her charming Scottish boyfriend, who has a propensity for slipping off to the bathroom for a heroin fix. And then there is Jack (Patrick Ryecart), another lover, whose sad-eyed demeanor belies his lack of sexual excitement. So what should Katie do about her beaux, particularly when she is preparing to move to New York? ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patsy Kensit, Jack Shepherd, (more)
- 1990
Crossing to Freedom is a 1990 TV-movie remake of the 1942 film The Pied Piper; both productions were based on a novel by Nevil Shute. Peter O'Toole steps into the old Monty Woolley role of the crotchety, isolationist Britisher who finds himself the unwilling guardian of several French war- refugee children. O'Toole leads his flock out of occupied France, making good his escape by striking up an unusual bargain with a Nazi officer. The predominantly British cast members choose to play their roles without French or German accents; not so American leading lady Mare Winningham, whose musical-comedy dialect is straight out of Fifi D'Orsay. Unlike the original Hollywood-bound Pied Piper, Crossing to Freedom was filmed on location in France. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- R
In this well-wrought drama, WW II dramatically changes the lives of the Cooper family when its patriarch is called to battle, captured, and sent to a Japanese POW camp. Back at home the heretofore coddled wife, who doesn't know if her husband is still alive, must somehow figure out how to support her family and carry on in the British tradition of courage and dignity under pressure. Her solution is to join a swing band. As she becomes increasingly confident and independent, she begins wondering whether or not she still loves her missing spouse. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rebecca Jenkins, Michael Ontkean, (more)
- 1989
- R
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After years of capitalizing on the weaknesses of a gullible public, a London advertising executive finds that his worst qualities have literally taken on a life of their own in this scathing satire. Successful copywriter Dennis Bagley (Richard E. Grant) lives a posh life with his lovely wife, Julia (Rachel Ward), in the London suburbs. Pushed to distraction by a bothersome new pimple-ointment account, he flirts with renouncing his career and becoming socially aware. Immediately thereafter, Bagley discovers that he's developed a zit of his own -- a monstrous boil on his neck that begins whispering evil things in his ear. Convinced that he's being taken over by his dark half, Bagley soon finds his "good" self relegated to the boil while his malevolent alter ego returns to the world of advertising with a vengeance. At first, Julia is relieved that her husband seems to have bounced back from the abyss of mental illness, but soon she realizes that she prefers the gentle but crazy Dennis to the poisonous professional. Written and directed by Withnail & I's Bruce Robinson, How to Get Ahead in Advertising reunites the director with that film's leading man Richard E. Grant. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard E. Grant, Rachel Ward, (more)
An affectionate reverie about war, childhood, and British stoicism, John Boorman's Hope and Glory is the veteran filmmaker's recollection of the bombing of London during World War II. Set on the British home front during the early days of the war, this episodic movie shows the blitz through the eyes of seven-year-old Billy Rohan (Sebastian Rice Edwards). At the war's outset, Billy finds himself alone in a house full of women, as all the men are called off to join the war effort. With wide-eyed wonder and an outsized imagination, Billy sees the war as a grand diversion, an extension of his world of knights, tin soldiers, and war games. As bombs fall and houses burn, Billy's mother (Sarah Miles) struggles to keep the family together in her husband's absence. Even as Billy seeks to escape the harem of aunts and sisters, Dawn (Sammi Davis), his older sister, falls for a Canadian soldier who gets her pregnant. After the Rohans' home catches fire (not, ironically, as the result of a bomb blast, but from a domestic accident), the family is forced to move in with Billy's cantankerous grandfather in the countryside, where they spend the rest of their summer and enjoy an unusual idyll amid the raging war. Nominated in 1987 for a Best Picture Academy Award, Hope and Glory proved to be another high point in the career of the remarkably protean Boorman. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sebastian Rice-Edwards, Sarah Miles, (more)
- 1986
This drama is an engrossing exploration of the complexity of noble human traits, like loyalty and love, in conflict with a powerful argument for justice. Dr. David Sutton (Kenneth Welsh) and his wife Lily (Susan Wooldridge) have an argument that, unknown to them, is witnessed by their teenage son. The upshot is that they must move to a remote town in Alberta, Canada where no one knows them. David seems aloof towards his upper-crust wife; at first, it is not clear why, but little by little it becomes apparent he is sexually attracted to pre-pubescent girls. Enter a new housekeeper with a young adolescent daughter, and the tensions in the household become more volatile as they head toward an explosion. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth Welsh, Susan Wooldridge, (more)
- 1986
Peter Ustinov stars once more as Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's insufferably brilliant Belgian detective. Unlike many of Ustinov's earlier Poirot vehicles, which were set in the 1930s, the made-for-TV Dead Man's Folly takes place in contemporary England. Jean Stapleton costars as an American mystery novelist who organizes a "murder hunt" at a sprawling English manor. It isn't long before several of the guests are also sprawling--on the ground, stone cold dead. American-born British stage star Constance Cummings makes a rare TV appearance as a mysterious noblewoman. Dead Man's Folly was lensed on location at West Wycombe Park in Buckinhamshire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Ustinov
- 1982
Made for British television, this adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is doggedly faithful to its source. Dr. Frankenstein's synthetic monster speaks, aspires to intellectual achievements, and begins descending into insanity and murder against his will. As in the Shelley original, both Frankenstein and his creation are left to die on an Arctic ice flow, a fitting punishment for dabbling in God's domain. Robert Powell, Carrie Fisher, David Warner, and Sir John Gielgud are seen in the principal roles. Originally telecast in 1982, Frankenstein made the American cable-TV circuit two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
- R
An asylum director begins telling a visitor to a cricket game the story of one of his "better" patients, Crossley (Alan Bates) who is able to compete. Some time previously, Crossley accosted Anthony (John Hurt), a composer, just after church and was for some reason invited to dinner. Once at the composer's home, he tells the story of his unusual upbringing among Australian Aborigines, and of the awful and strange gifts this has left him with. Among them is the ability to bring about another's death by using a certain kind of shout. The next morning, he begins to weave an erotic spell on the composer's wife Rachel (Susannah York), and then proves his killing ability on a sheep in a field. His influence increasingly disrupts their peaceful lives, until in a confrontation, the composer finds a way to best Crossley - but which results in his being placed in a mental institution. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Susannah York, (more)
The American Film Theatre has made movies of a number of significant theatrical performances, including Laurence Olivier's Othello. Another of these filmed theatricals is Simon Gray's Butley, which was brought to the screen by playwright Harold Pinter, and which features an astonishing performance by Alan Bates. The story focuses on one very bad day in the life of Butley (Bates), a feisty, sharp-tongued, lazy and pathetic professor of English. His professional ascendancy is challenged by a slick, accomplished woman many years his junior; his ex-wife gives him conniptions when she announces her remarriage to someone he cannot bear; and his male lover of several years chooses this time to announce that he is leaving him for a sweeter-tempered but very ordinary man of the sort Butley despises. Bleak though this sounds, Butley's unconquerable wit and biting repartee transform this otherwise tragic tale into something of a celebration of survival. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Jessica Tandy, (more)
