Jack Clayton Movies

This drama centers around a love triangle between an English sculptor, his wife, and a cellist. The story is set during the 1920's in an English suburb. The trouble begins when the sculptor begins to suspect that his wife is having an affair with a famed cellist. In reality they are only friends. The artist decides to teach the musician a lesson. He invites the cellist over so that he can make a plaster cast of his hands. The cellist agrees to this. When his hands are firmly trapped in the hardened plaster, the sculptor then confronts the cellist. To "punish" him, the sculptor says that he will cut off the cellist's hands. He grabs a long fake knife. The poor musician is literally almost frightened to death. This scene is foreshadowed by a lengthy Russian ballet sequence that was choreographed and performed by George Balanchine. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Moulin Rouge is the story of 19th century French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, portrayed by José Ferrer. The film records his frustration over his physical handicap (the growth in his legs was stunted by a childhood accident), his efforts to "lose" himself in Paris' bawdy Montmartre district, and his career as a painter, which brought him money only when he turned out advertising posters--but what posters! Toulouse-Lautrec's drinking and debauchery lead to his early death, which in the hands of director John Huston is staged (brilliantly) in the manner of a musical comedy finale. This is the film in which Zsa Zsa Gabor actually acts, in the role of demimonde entertainer Jane Avril. As a bonus, the film's musical score (by Georges Auric) managed to hit the Top Ten charts in the U.S. When this immensely successful film was released to television in the late '50s, Moulin Rouge proved to be one of the strongest-ever incentives to purchase a color TV set. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Humphrey Bogart stars as one of five disreputable adventurers who are trying to get uranium out of East Africa. Bogart's associates include pompous fraud Robert Morley, and Peter Lorre as the German-accented "O'Hara", whose wartime record is forever a source of speculation and suspicion. Becoming involved in Bogart's machinations are a prim British married couple (Edward Underdown and blonde-wigged Jennifer Jones). As a climax to their many misadventures and double-crosses, the uranium seekers end up facing extermination by an Arab firing squad. The satirical nature of Beat the Devil eluded many moviegoers in 1953, and the film was a failure. The fact that the picture attained cult status in lesser years failed to impress its star Humphrey Bogart, who could only remember that he lost a considerable chunk of his own money when he became involved in the project. Peter Viernick worked on the script on an uncredited basis. Beat the Devil eventually fell into public domain, leading to numerous inferior editions by second and third-tiered labels. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Julie Harris repeats her stage portrayal of the irrepressible Sally Bowles in John Van Druten's I Am a Camera. Set in pre-Hitler Berlin, the film details the curious, chaste relationship between Sally, an entertainer at a bawdy nightclub, and fledgling writer Christopher Isherwood (Lawrence Harvey). Shelley Winters co-stars as Natalia Landauer, whose impending marriage to a wealthy young Jewish man is imperiled by the anti-Semitism which envelops Berlin as the Nazis gain political power. If all this sounds familiar to you, it is because I Am a Camera is the non-musical precursor to the Broadway musical hit Cabaret. Both properties were based on Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories. Those familiar with the film version of Cabaret will notice that certain plot elements have been watered down in Camera. Examples: Isherwood's homosexuality is left unmentioned, save for Lawrence Harvey's opaque opening comment that he is "a confirmed bachelor;" and Sally Bowles' third-act abortion is changed into a false-alarm pregnancy. Also, Julie Harris' dynamic but rather overbaked interpretation of Sally is not nearly as memorable as Liza Minelli's Oscar-winning interpretation of the character in Cabaret. Still, I Am a Camera is well directed and deftly adapted for the screen (by John Collier); and even taking into consideration Ms. Harris' hamminess, she remains one of the most fascinating stage personalities of the mid-20th century. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy three bookies attempt to win back their recent losses by kidnapping the favored horse and substituting it with a heavily drugged nag. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Three Men in a Boat is the second film version of the comic novel by Jerome K. Jerome. The titular trio is played by popular British comedian Jimmy Edwards, up-and-coming leading man Laurence Harvey and stalwart character actor David Tomlinson. Escaping their dull weekday pursuit, the three pals take a pleasure excursion down the Thames in a small boat, encountering all sorts of comic and romantic complications. Jill Ireland makes an early screen appearance as a young lady who briefly bewitches the bookish Harvey. Though dated, Three Men in a Boat was just as capable of eliciting laughter as it had been in its first cinematic incarnation in 1933. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ruthless young working-class Englishman Laurence Harvey takes a job in a North Country village controlled by millionaire Donald Wolfit. Harvey resents Wolfit's class consciousness and vows to rise to the top by wooing the millionaire's daughter, Heather Sears. Meanwhile he has an affair with Frenchwoman Simone Signoret. Though he regards Signoret as a mere self-gratifying conquest, she takes their romance seriously enough to kill herself when Harvey impregnates Field. Only as he leaves the chapel after marrying the millionaire's daughter does Harvey that his "smart" marriage, coupled with the guarantee of a fabulous business career, has been attained at the cost of his soul. Based on the novel by John Braine, Room at the Top was one of the most successful films of the British angry-young-man school; it later spawned two sequels, as well as a weekly TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Anne Bancroft stars as a restless, twice-married British woman with six children, whose third husband is a fledgling screenwriter (Peter Finch). When success spins Finch's head around, he begins to dally with women other than his wife. Meanwhile, Bancroft is forced to stay home and play "domestic goddess", a role for which she is utterly unsuited. After suffering a nervous breakdown, Bancroft wanders the streets of London in a vain search for a sympathetic ear. She eventually comes to grips with the situation at hand--but as in most of playwright Harold Pinter's works, the characters of The Pumpkin Eater are just as unfulfilled in the last scene as they were in the first. Anne Bancroft won a Cannes Film Festival award for her performance in this film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This third film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic 1925 novel was one of the most hyped movies of the summer of 1974. Robert Redford stars as self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby, who uses his vast (and implicitly ill-gotten) fortune to buy his way into Long Island society. Most of all, Gatsby wants to win back the love of socialite Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow), now married to "old money" Tom Buchanan (Bruce Dern). Calmly observing the passing parade is Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston), Gatsby's best friend, who narrates the film. Francis Ford Coppola's screenplay is meticulously faithful to the original novel, but Theoni V. Aldredge's costume design and Nelson Riddle's nostalgic musical score won the film its only Oscars. The huge supporting cast includes Howard Da Silva, who played Wilson in the 1949 Great Gatsby, and a very young Patsy Kensit as Daisy's daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Judith Hearne (Maggie Smith) is a middle-aged "maiden lady" piano teacher living in 1950s Dublin. Timid and self-deprecating, Judith permits herself to yearn over her new boarding-house neighbor, hotel entrepreneur Bob Hoskins. Hoskins thinks that Judith has enough money to bankroll his latest scheme, so he decides to return her affections. Judith, blind to Hoskin's duplicity, convinces herself that she's finally found true love. The shattering of her illusions drives Judith to drink--and, unexpectedly, to a more fulfilling new life. Based on the novel by Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is typical of the "muted emotion" ouevre of director Jack Clayton. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi