Gladys Young Movies
- 1955
Peter (Anthony Richmond) is a British schoolboy who has somehow come into possession of a magic marble. The wondrous orb has the capability of granting wishes, allowing Peter to escape such childhood tortures as schoolrooms and bullies. The "one too many" wish of the title involves a toy steamroller, which grows to gargantuan dimensions, threatening to flatten the whole city. One Wish Too Many won a best children's film award at the Venice Film Festival in 1956. Its 55-minute length was ideal for the late-1960s TV anthology CBS Children's Film Festival, where the film was rebroadcast at least a dozen times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Richmond, Rosalind Gourgey, (more)
- 1951
British film-favorite Anna Neagle, having previously played such great historical personages as Queen Victoria and Edith Cavell, tackles the role of Florence Nightingale in Lady with the Lamp. Based on a play by Reginald Berkeley, the film traces the indefatigable Nightingale's efforts to minister to the thousands of casualties of the Crimean War. Opposed in the uppermost circles of British government because she is "merely" a woman, Nightingale is championed by the Hon. Sidney Herbert (Michael Wilding), minister of war. Herbert pulls strings to allow Nightingale and her nursing staff access to battlefield hospitals, and in so doing changes the course of medical history. Lady with the Lamp was, as usual, produced and directed by Anna Neagle's husband Herbert Wilcox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1949
The Gay Lady is better known by its British title, Trottie True. Jean Kent stars as Trottie, a turn-of-the-century British music-hall performer who works her way up the ladder from chorus girl to headliner. As her fame increases, Trottie has no time for true love, preferring instead the attentions of men of nobility and wealth who can advance her career. But it's not enough, and at the end Trottie trots back to her husband. Based on the play by Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon, The Gay Lady is best seen in its original Technicolor British release version, which unlike some American prints leaves most of the musical numbers intact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Kent, James Donald, (more)
- 1947
Originally released in England as The Courtneys of Curzon Street, The Courtney Affair entertainingly covers the first 45 years of the 20th century. Anna Neagle plays an Irish maid who upsets the class-distinction equilibrium by marrying aristocrat Michael Wilding. Shunned by "proper" society, Neagle leaves her husband and returns to Ireland, where she bears her child. During World War I, Wilding is reunited with Neagle, who has become a popular cabaret entertainer. Casting tradition to the winds, Wilding begs his wife's forgiveness and they start life all over again. An enormous moneymaker in Great Britain, The Courtney Affair was one more example of the international box-office clout of star Anna Neagle and her producer/director husband Herbert Wilcox (Note: the US version is eight minutes shorter than the British original--and the cuts are none too tidy). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
