Colin Campbell Movies

This story of love and espionage focuses on political turmoil as a small nation struggles to free itself from colonial rule, and one man tries to serve both justice and his own heart. In the late 1950s, the island of Cyprus is under the political control of Great Britain, but groups of Cypriot activists are fighting for the country's independence. Maj. McGuire (Dirk Bogarde) is an English military leader who is on the trail of Haghios (George Chakiris), a terrorist leader who guides the struggle for freedom in Cyprus. Juno Kozani (Susan Strasberg) is an American student of archeology who visits friends on the island, only to discover that they're helping to hide Haghios from the police and the British military. McGuire is convinced that Kozani knows Haghios' whereabouts, but while she has told McGuire nothing, Haghios is convinced that Kozani has turned him in and threatens to kill her. Desperate, Kozani seeks protection from McGuire, who allows her to hide out in his apartment. Put into close contact, McGuire and Kozani fall in love, but when his superiors find out that he's been keeping her in hiding, McGuire is transferred to Greece. Kozani follows him there, only to discover that a mysterious man has been following them. The High Bright Sun has also been released under the titles McGuire Go Home! and A Date with Death. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

At one time the longest-running Broadway musical, My Fair Lady was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe from the George Bernard Shaw comedy Pygmalion. Outside Covent Garden on a rainy evening in 1912, dishevelled cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) meets linguistic expert Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison). After delivering a musical tirade against "verbal class distinction," Higgins tells his companion Colonel Pickering (Wilfred Hyde-White) that, within six months, he could transform Eliza into a proper lady, simply by teaching her proper English. The next morning, face and hands freshly scrubbed, Eliza presents herself on Higgins' doorstep, offering to pay him to teach her to be a lady. "It's almost irresistable," clucks Higgins. "She's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty." He turns his mission into a sporting proposition, making a bet with Pickering that he can accomplish his six-month miracle to turn Eliza into a lady. This is one of the all-time great movie musicals, featuring classic songs and the legendary performances of Harrison, repeating his stage role after Cary Grant wisely turned down the movie job, and Stanley Holloway as Eliza's dustman father. Julie Andrews originated the role of Eliza on Broadway but producer Jack Warner felt that Andrews, at the time unknown beyond Broadway, wasn't bankable; Hepburn's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961). Andrews instead made Mary Poppins, for which she was given the Best Actress Oscar, beating out Hepburn. The movie, however, won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Harrison, and five other Oscars, and it remains one of the all-time best movie musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story of an expedition to a remote plateau rumored to be the home of prehistoric beasts, already the basis of a 1925 sci-fi classic, is again brought to the screen in Irwin Allen's lesser version. Claude Rains stars as Professor Challenger, who leads a team of fellow scientists and adventurers deep into the Amazon jungle. The team must battle unforgiving jungle conditions before arriving at the isolated plateau that is their final destination. There they discover a strange group of prehistoric beasts and unexpectedly find themselves in a fight for survival. While the 1925 Harry Hoyt version is still considered noteworthy for its ground-breaking stop-motion effects, Allen relies on enlarged footage of modern-day animals dressed up as their prehistoric counterparts, a technique that has aged less gracefully. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

The best thing that can be said about Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops is that it's better than the team's previous outing Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Set in 1912, the film casts Bud Abbott and Lou Costello as a couple of New Yorkers who are swindled out of their life savings by a crooked lout (Fred Clark). Pursuing the villain to Hollywood, the boys discover that the double-dealer is now posing as an autocratic Russian film director. To put A&C out of the way, the crook and his partner in crime (Lynn Bari) hire the boys as stunt men, intending to kill them off at the first opportunity. But the comic duo save the day when they enlist the aid of the Keystone Kops in capturing the fleeing villain, who has absconded with the studio payroll. Pretty dull stuff for most of its 78 minutes, Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops finally comes to life during the climactic chase, which is every bit as funny and thrilling as anything put together in the silent era. Though the film is rife with anachronisms, a measure of authenticity is achieved by such silent-era guest stars as Mack Sennett (who gets to throw a pie at Costello), Heinie Conklin, Herold Goodwyn and Hank Mann. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While returning to Metropolis from a European assignment, Clark (George Reeves) and Jimmy (Jack Larson) make a stopover in England, where they find themselves up to their necks in "supernatural" phenomena. It seems that a recently deceased magician named Brockhurst (Leonard Mudie) has apparently risen from his grave to wreak vengeance on his enemies. It is up to Clark's alter ego Superman (George Reeves) to expose the fraud behind Brockhurst's ghostly "visitations", and to save his would-be victims from being bumped off en masse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this revised adaptation of Oscar Wilde's famous comedy of manners, Lady Windermere's Fan, the middle-aged but still beautiful Mrs. Erlynne (Madeleine Carroll), well-known for her romantic adventures, has cast her eye upon Lord Windermere (Richard Greene), who is married to Lady Windermere (Jeanne Crain), a woman young and beautiful but socially conservative and harsh in her judgements of others. Lord Windermere is just as interested in Mrs. Erlynne as she is in him, and soon he's giving her money to live in the lavish manner to which she's accustomed. When Lady Windermere discovers this, she takes up with handsome rogue Lord Darlington (George Sanders), who makes no secret of his interest in her. When Mrs. Erlynne hears of Lady Windermere's indiscretion, she urges the younger woman not to make the tragic mistakes she has made and reveals a long-hidden secret: she is actually Lady Windermere's mother. The legendary Dorothy Parker co-wrote the screenplay for The Fan, which proved to be the last film for co-star Madeleine Carroll. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven deserves a historical footnote as director William Castle's only comedy western. Future Wild Bill Hickok star Guy Madison plays Eddie Taylor, a lonesome cowboy who falls in love with city-gal Perry Dunkin (Diana Lynn). The couple "meets cute" in Brooklyn, where the two have migrated to seek their fortunes. The plot veers into Runyonesque territory as Eddie tries to write the Great American Play, while Perry "adopts" pickpocket Mandy (Florence Bates) to pose as her mother. The loosely structured storyline permits several entertaining diversions, including a trip to Coney Island and a wild episode at a Brooklyn riding academy which hero and heroine have been conned into purchasing. Audie Murphy makes his second film appearance in a near-microscopic role. Based on a Saturday Evening Post story by Barry Benefield, Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven was released in England as The Girl From Texas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the novel by Agatha Christie and play by Frank Vosper, Love From a Stranger isn't quite as good as the 1937 version of the same property. This time, Sylvia Sidney and John Hodiak play the roles originally filled by Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone. Falling under the romantic spell of charismatic Manuel Cortez (Hodiak), impressionable sweepstakes winner Cecily Harrington (Sidney) marries him after a whirlwind courtship. It doesn't take long for Cecily to figure out that Cortez is a dangerous psychotic, bent on murdering his wife and claiming her fortune. Unable to convince anyone else of Cortez intentions (even though his behavior would, in real life, get him locked away in a minute), Cecily determines to outsmart her husband and catch him in his own trap. Ironically, Frank Vosper never saw either film version of Love From a Stranger, having died under mysterious circumstances in 1937 (too bad Agatha Christie never wrote that story!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is the title character, a young king exiled by evil conspirators. Forced to live far from his homeland, Fairbanks is harassed by the wicked Henry Daniell, who has been appointed to keep the young monarch from reclaiming his throne. After falling in love with commoner Paula Croset (later billed as Mara Corday), Fairbanks decides to take on the corrupt elements that have ousted him, and he dispatches Daniell in an exciting sword duel stage in an old windmill. Many of Fairbanks' more dangerous stunts were handled by David Sharpe, who received credit as second-unit director. Filmed in black and white, The Exile was originally released to theatres in "Sepiatone", a process which enhanced the film stock with a light brown tint. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Humphrey Bogart plays a psychotic killer who disposes of his wives through slow ingestion of poison in The Two Mrs. Carrolls, made in 1945 but shelved for two years because of its similarity to Gaslight. Bogart is Geoffrey Carroll, an artist who paints a portrait of his wife as "The Angel of Death" and then meets Sally Morton (Barbara Stanwyck), with whom he quickly falls in love. In order to get rid of his wife and take up with Sally, Geoffrey slowly poisons his spouse by lacing her nightly glass of warm milk with liberal doses of toxic chemicals. He sends his daughter Beatrice (Ann Carter) away to school and, while the daughter is away, his wife dies. He immediately marries Sally and they appear to be happily together. But a few years pass and Geoffrey begins to work on another "Angel of Death" portrait of Sally, this time after he falls in love with his attractive neighbor Cecily (Alexis Smith). As before, Sally begins to grow weak from the daily nightcap of tainted milk. But complications set in when Cecily demands that she and Geoffrey run away together and the local druggist, Mr. Biagdon (Barry Bernard), presents Geoffrey with a blackmail demand. But Geoffrey overplays his hand when he once again tries to send Beatrice away to school. Sally now begins to suspect her husband is a serial killer. Borrowing a gun from a friend, Sally must defend herself against her deranged and murderous husband. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

If Grecian storyteller Aesop really did exist, he was most likely a black slave. He wasn't an Austrian actor with an Egyptian name, but that's who played him in A Night in Paradise. Turhan Bey portrays the fable-spouting Aesop, who tries to escape his bondage by disguising himself as an old man. It is at the lavish court of King Croesus that the greyed-up Aesop first meets luscious Grecian princess Merle Oberon. The low-born talespinner is smitten, and determines to win the princess for his very own. Moral: If Universal buys a novel by George S. Hellman titled The Peacock's Feather, transforms it into a picture called A Night in Paradise, and appoints onetime Abbott and Costello cohort Arthur Lubin as director, you know what you're in for. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this murder mystery, a Scotland Yard inspector investigates the murder of a prominent matron. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Lodger was the third film version of Mrs. Marie Belloc-Lowndes' classic "Jack the Ripper" novel, and in many eyes it was the best (even allowing for the excellence of the 1925 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation). Laird Cregar stars as the title character, a mysterious, secretive young man who rents a flat in the heart of London's Whitechapel district. The Lodger's arrival coincides with a series of brutal murders, in which the victims are all female stage performers. None of this fazes Kitty (Merle Oberon), the daughter of a "good family" who insists upon pursuing a singing and dancing career. Scotland Yard inspector John Warwick (George Sanders), in love with Kitty, worries about her safety and works day and night to solve the murders. All the while, Kitty draws inexorably closer to The Lodger, who seems to have some sort of vendetta on his mind?..Some slight anachronisms aside (for example, the villain falls off a bridge that hadn't yet been built at the time of the story), The Lodger is pulse-pounding entertainment, with a disturbingly brilliant performance by the late, great Laird Cregar. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi