John Boxer Movies
- 1990
A rich businessman, his wife and son are involved in illegal transactions as Kojak investigates. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Telly Savalas
- 1986
To spice up their tepid social lives three ad execs from Manhattan place ads in the personals column of a local magazine. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1986
This two-part TV movie was the sequel to the ratings-grabbing 1983 miniseries Rage of Angels; both were based on the best-seller by Sidney Sheldon. Jaclyn Smith returns as dynamic New York trial lawyer Jennifer Parker, while Ken Howard likewise reprises his role as Jennifer's married lover, politician Adam Warner. Since villain Michael Moretti (Armand Assante) was killed off in Rage of Angels, we are left with Moretti's vengeful brother James (Michael Nouri) in the sequel. Part One, which aired November 2, 1986, recaps the events of the past six years and introduces mobster Moretti. Part Two, telecast November 3, reunites Jennifer with her long-lost mother (Angela Lansbury), while Moretti blackmails Senate-bound Adam Warner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Tom Conti stars as a drunken Scottish poet who preys upon the lasses of a New England college town by swooning over them with poetry and bedding them with a passion. He'd probably have continued in such fashion for who knows how long, were in not for his encounter with a lovely homespun gal (Kelly McGillis), who sets his head spinning in a lovesick swirl and forces him to get his life on track. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conti, Kelly McGillis, (more)
- 1983
Another two-part TV movie from the pen of novelist Sidney Sheldon, Rage of Angels stars Jaclyn Smith as attractive lawyer Jennifer Parker. While working as assistant D.A., Parker is targeted for persecution by organized crime, but she perseveres and emerges as one of the most successful defense attorneys in America. She is, however, not quite so lucky in matters of the heart, becoming simultaneously entangled with charismatic mob lawyer Michael Moretti (Armand Assante) and married U.S. Senate aspirant Adam Warner (Ken Howard). Serving up everything but the kitchen sink in plot complications and sinister conspiracies, Rage of Angels was telecast on February 20 and 21, 1983, garnering excellent ratings and an Emmy award for musical composer Billy Goldenberg. The film spawned a two-part sequel in 1986, Rage of Angels: The Story Continues, again with Jaclyn Smith in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Written for television by Allan Sloane, Family Reunion stars Bette Davis as an ageing New England schoolteacher who is given an "unlimited" bus ticket as a retirement present. She uses this gift to visit the farthest-flung members of her long-estranged family. In her absence, Davis' small town falls prey to corruptive influences, but with the help of her more honest relatives (four generations' worth, including Bette's real-life grandson J. Ashley Hyman), everything is resolved at the annual Founder's Day gathering. Family Reunion originally aired in two parts, on October 11 and 12, 1981; the preponderance of Davis' family members and unresolved plot strands would seem to suggest that this 4-hour film was intended as a series pilot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
A professor of astronomy, David Garrett (Ian Carmichael), is involved with a highly confidential project to develop missiles. He runs into an old friend from the Soviet Union who is now the world chess champion. As David soon discovers, the champion is with a team working for sinister businessman Hubert Marek (Curt Jugens). Marek intends to have David abducted while making it appear as if the professor has defected. Though he narrowly escapes one trap in England, David must continually ascertain who may be in on the group's scheme if he is to survive. Director Cy Endfield enjoyed much greater success earlier in 1964 with Zulu, his historical action feature about a native uprising in Africa. David Stone wrote the screenplay for Hide and Seek, adapted by Robert Foshko from Harold Greene's story. Stone and masterful cinematographer Gilbert Taylor (A Hard Day's Night, Dr. Strangelove, Star Wars) would soon have another project in common: Roman Polanski's psychological thriller, Repulsion. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Carmichael, Janet Munro, (more)
- 1958
Under the stress of wartime privations, a young Austrian boy is beaten by his Father, who threatens to sell his dog, a St. Bernard, to the butcher to help pay for food for the family. A kindly veterinarian and spinster finally take a hand in rectifying the situation. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1957
In this thriller, an American visits England and finds himself entangled with international spies after they kidnap a famous scientist and he ends up with a briefcase containing a secret formula. Rather than call the Yard, the fellow decides he will solve this by himself. But it is too much for him and eventually he teams up with the Yard inspectors and the case is solved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Kay Callard plays Joan Foster, the title role, in the British quickie Undercover Girl. She works in a nightclub that serves as the front for a dope ring. When a reporter is murdered, Joan agrees to help the reporter's brother (Paul Carter) bust up the criminal gang. Naturally, this means putting her own life on the line, but you knew that when you saw the title. If nothing else, Undercover Girl affords ample opportunities to show off attractively undressed chorus girls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Rock Around the World purports to be the life story of pop singer Tommy Steele, engagingly played by himself. The film traces Steele's The Cyclops -- which also featured Gloria Talbott. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Steele, Patrick Westwood, (more)
- 1953
After causing the needless death of another officer during a near-miss air disaster, a distraught army officer resigns from the military. Still, the American wants to serve in the war effort and so, calling himself a Canadian, enlists in the British military to train as a paratrooper. Revealing nothing about his past, he proves himself obedient and exceptionally skilled. This rouses the suspicion of his commanding officer who starts investigating the trooper. Later, the trooper more than proves himself during a dangerous mission to North Africa. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1951
The producers of Quartet and Trio concluded their cycle with this omnibus film, which features three stories based, as in the previous film, on tales by W. Somerset Maugham. "The Ant and the Grasshopper" concerns Tom Ramsey (Nigel Patrick), a fiscally unstable young man who is constantly borrowing money from his brother George (Roland Culver). Eventually, George falls on hard times and is forced to sell the family estate, just as Tom marries a wealthy woman and is in a position to purchase it. In "Winter Cruise," Miss Reid (Kay Walsh) is an aging spinster taking a voyage aboard a cargo ship. She has little to do but engage the others on board in conversation, which the passengers find so annoying that they arrange a ship-board romance for her with Pierre (Jacques Francois), a porter, in the hopes that it will keep her quiet. And "Gigolo and Gigolette" features Glynis Johns as Stella Cotman, whose husband Syd (Terence Morgan) earns his living as a performer in a high-wire act. Stella is terribly worried that Syd's risky profession will lead to his death, so she takes their life's savings to a casino in hopes of winning enough that he can retire. However, her plan hardly goes as she hoped. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nigel Patrick, Roland Culver, (more)
- 1951
This early nuclear satire offers a twisted retelling of the old fairy tale "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg." The story begins as two American newlyweds move to live on an English farm recently inherited by the husband. Unaccustomed to the ways of British country auctions, the husband accidentally buys five dozen ducks. One of those ducks lays radioactive eggs, and eventually the entire farm must be quarantined by the military. Branches of the military then begin fighting over possession of the little quacker. In the end, they all grab the wrong one. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1950
The alternate title to the British The Woman in Question is Five Angles on Murder. That pretty much sums up the tenor of this investigatory drama, wherein an enigmatic fortune teller (Jean Kent) is murdered. The police track down the five most likely suspects and start asking questions. Each suspect offers a different perspective on the murdered woman, and each provides a vital clue towards solving the killing. This "prismatic" technique was of course the foundation of Citizen Kane; while The Woman in Question is not in Kane's league, its gimmick holds the audience's attention whenever director Anthony Asquith allows the pace to lag. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Kent, Dirk Bogarde, (more)
- 1950
A battle of the sexes begins to rage in an isolated private school in this charming British comedy. Just outside of London during World War II, Axis bombing forces the evacuation of a private all-girls school, St. Swithins. Thanks to a bureaucratic mix-up, the girls of St. Swithins and their Headmistress Muriel Whitchurch (Margaret Rutherford) are to be billeted at the nearby Nutborne Boys School. While the students learn to make do with the crowded conditions, Nutborne headmaster Wetherby Pond (Alistair Sim) is less than pleased with the situation, especially after he and Whitchurch begin butting heads over which of them is truly in charge. The Happiest Days Of Your Life was based on a popular stage comedy by playwright John Dighton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alastair Sim, Margaret Rutherford, (more)
- 1949
A man recently gone AWOL from the Army (Derek Farr) is arrested in a store robbery that occurred while he was shopping. With help from a beautiful lawyer (Joan Hopkins), he must prove his innocence. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, (more)
- 1949
Anticipating The Defiant Ones by nearly ten years, the British My Brother's Keeper concentrates on the exploits of two handcuffed-together escaped convicts. The protagonists are career criminal George Martin (Jack Warner) and terrified "first timer" Willie Stannard (George Cole). The film is one long chase, with a brief respite to establish the relationship between Martin and his girlfriend Nora Lawrence (Jane Hylton). Despite the fact that they're polar opposites, George and Willie develop a grudging friendship and dependence upon one another, broken only by the events in the final scenes. Director Alfred Roome's utilization of actual exterior locations adds a great deal of credibility to the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Warner, Jane Hylton, (more)
- 1949
Stop Press Girl is admittedly a one-joke film, though that joke is a good one. Sally Ann Howes plays a winsome British lass who has the power to stop all machinery around her for a period of 15 minutes. It must needs be that Sally falls in love with a newspaperman, thereby justifying the film's title. The plot rears its ugly head when our heroine is reluctantly involved in an attempt to sabotage a rival newspaper. Stop Press Girl is one of those British comedies that used to pop up all over the place on American TV, only to virtually disappear in the mid-1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Ann Howes, Gordon Jackson, (more)
- 1949
In this comedy, two soldiers find themselves dishonorably discharged after they accidently allow a Nazi prisoner to escape. Later they open up a detective agency. They are constantly plagued by the Nazi who follows them on every case. In the climax, the trio plays a crazy cricket match using a ball with a diamond hidden within it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1949
The action in the British Marry Me! centers around a marriage bureau. Utilizing the "omnibus" approach made popular by such films as Quartet, director Terence Fisher relates the stories of four separate marriage-bound couples. The cast (including Derek Bond, Susan Shaw, Patrick Holt, Carol Marsh, David Tomlinson, Zena Marshall, Guy Middleton and Nora Swinburne) is quite appealing, and the production values are of the highest caliber. It would have been nice, though, to spend more time getting to know the individuals involved in the four playlets. Marry Me! is not a remake of the 1932 film of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Bond, Susan Shaw, (more)
- 1949
Henry Devere Stacpoole's lyrical novel The Blue Lagoon was rather chastely filmed in 1921. The 1949 remake is a tad more explicit, though it's hardly as racy as the 1980 Brooke Shields version. Two British children, Emmeline (Susan Stranks) and Michael (Peter Jones), are shipwrecked on a tropical island in the company of kindly old salt Paddy Button (Noel Purcell). Eventually, Paddy dies, leaving Emmeline and Michael, now attractively grown up and played by Jean Simmons and Donald Houston, all alone. Their relationship, more along the lines of brother and sister in their youth, blossoms into love, and then passion. Emmeline has a baby, and the two live as common-law husband and wife, content in their solitude..until.. Filmed in lush Technicolor, The Blue Lagoon was considered fairly exotic and somewhat risque back in 1949, though by current standards the film is a model of decorum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Simmons, Susan Stranks, (more)
- 1948
Adapted by Eric Ambler from his own novel, The October Man centers around Jim Ackland (played by John Mills), who has been involved in a terrible accident that killed a friend's daughter and has given Ackland a brain injury. Despondent after his release from the hospital, Ackland moves into a hotel, where he meets Molly Newman (Kay Walsh). Molly has a hard time making ends meet, and must fight off the advances of another man who is willing to pay her rent if she will sleep with him. She asks Ackland to loan her money for the rent; he does, but she is found murdered soon after. Ackland is suspected of committing the deed and, due to his mental problems, he doesn't know if he is innocent. With the help of the kindly Jenny (Joan Greenwood), who believes in him, he sets out to clear his name. The October Man was the directorial debut of Roy Ward Baker, who had been an assistant to Alfred Hitchcock. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrianne Allen, John Mills, (more)
- 1948
Assembled by the reliable team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, London Belongs to Me stars Richard Attenborough as a young, full-of-beans boy looking for fun. Bursting into a staid, wearisome London neighborhood, Attenborough exhorts the others to get some kicks out of life. Unfortunately, his search for thrills gets him involved in a murder. Just when you think that the film is a dour "slice of life" drama, a new comic element is introduced as the locals start up a petition to release Attenborough from jail. The presence of Alastair Sim in the cast should have tipped us off that London Belongs to Me wasn't meant to be taken entirely seriously. The film was released in the US as Dulcimer Street. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Alastair Sim, (more)
- 1945
This 1949 British film told a very plausible story about a triangle between a woman, her soldier husband, and her new lover. Jim Colter (John Mills) has joined the services, leaving his wife Tillie (Joy Shelton) with his mother (Beatrice Varley) and sister. Tillie is lonely, meets Ted Purvis (Stewart Granger), and falls for him. It turns
out that Purvis is a small-time crook and swindler and falsified his medical records in order to avoid serving in the war. Jim finds out about the affair and deserts the war to return home and settle matters. But he is set upon and beaten by Purvis' hoodlum buddies. Unchastened, Jim goes after Purvis, and they engage in a climactic fist fight as bombs are dropping during a Nazi air raid. The entire story is played out against the noisy backdrop of a country at war. It was based on a story by director Sidney Gilliat. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
out that Purvis is a small-time crook and swindler and falsified his medical records in order to avoid serving in the war. Jim finds out about the affair and deserts the war to return home and settle matters. But he is set upon and beaten by Purvis' hoodlum buddies. Unchastened, Jim goes after Purvis, and they engage in a climactic fist fight as bombs are dropping during a Nazi air raid. The entire story is played out against the noisy backdrop of a country at war. It was based on a story by director Sidney Gilliat. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Stewart Granger, (more)
