Lyndon Brook Movies

Plenty boasts a cast of actors ranging from John Gielgud as an ethical and caustic senior diplomat to Meryl Streep as Susan Traherne, a woman looking for solace and a decent life in the aftermath of World War II. After World War II has ended, along with her work in the French Resistance movement and an idealized love affair with a soldier, Susan finds jobs in the business and diplomatic worlds. Her life slowly disintegrates as she tries and fails to have a child then marries diplomat Raymond Brock (Charles Dance) and suffers further emotional decline as her rather conventional marriage eventually becomes cool and finally, alienating. Against Susan's difficulties are tumultuous events in the background -- the Suez Canal crisis and Middle East developments among them. David Hare adapted the screenplay from his successful stage play which first opened in 1978. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Steed (Patrick MacNee), Purdy (Joanna Lumley) and Gambit (Gareth Hunt) foil the latest mission of Soviet agent Perov (Peter Jeffrey). In retaliation, and in defiance of his superiors, Perov reactivates several "sleeper" agents who have been squirreled away throughout the U.K. for the past 20 years. At first, it would seem that Perov's sole motivation is to kill the Avengers--but there's far more to his sinister scheme. This is the episode in which Gambit poses as a pop star and Purdey impersonates a squealing teenage fan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Fleet Street reporter-turned-aspiring novelist experiences the ultimate real life plot twist when his wife is brutally murdered and he is wrongly accused of the crime. Guy Foster (Peter Barkworth) is an ace reporter who has fallen on hard times. One night, as Guy is struggling to pen his first novel, his wife falls prey to a vicious killer. As if losing his beloved bride isn't painful enough, all evidence points to Guy as the culprit. Now, with the authorities fast closing in and a killer on the loose, Guy must race to catch the true party responsible for the crime before it's too late. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel by Aldous Huxley, the four-episode British miniseries Point Counterpoint was set in 1920s London. Concentrating on a group of dissolute young intellectuals, the story was a biting satire on the false, hypocritical, and often dangerous values of those with nothing but time on their hands. Lyndon Brook was cast as Huxley's alter ego Phillip Quarles, who quietly recorded the many fads and foibles (among them political fanaticism, open infidelity, and even a "necessary" murder) indulged in by his friends. First broadcast in Britain in 1972, Point Counterpoint was reedited as a five-parter and telecast in America as part of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre beginning February 18, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Britain's Merton Park Productions briefly put its Edgar Wallace series on the back burner for the 1965 sci-fier Invasion. Per its title, the film involves a massive invasion of earth by extraterrestrials. Keeping within its tight budget, the film depicts only a handful of the invaders, who are fended off by the staff of a small hospital. Head doctor Edward Judd, who is caring for an imprisoned alien, decides to protect his patient from the invaders, who plan to kill the prisoner before he can betray them. Armed with little more than his wits, Judd saves himself and his charge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is an unimpressive spy-comedy from director Stanley Donen who inserts his specialty, a small song-and-dance number, into the odd proceedings. Gangster Nico March (Yul Brynner) has been ordered out of the United States because of his unsavory activities and back to the Greek island from whence he came (actually Rhodes). Once on the island, various characters enter the picture, including a local, corrupt police chief. Nico decides to send for a bundle of money left in the States but his double-crossing "friends" send him a bundle of feminine wiles instead, Gabby Rogers (Mitzi Gaynor). Obviously, Nico is none too pleased with the lousy substitution for hard cash, though he does not yet realize he is sure to fall in love with her. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Based on the Rumer Godden novel An Episode of Sparrows, Innocent Sinners stars June Archer and Christopher Hey as the title characters. Neglected by her mother, contentious little Lovejoy (Archer) runs off to an abandoned London building, where with the help of several street urchins she begins to build a tiny garden as a home-away-from-home. Misunderstood by the film's adult authority figures, Lovejoy is carted off to a charity home, from which she is rescued by her new friends, including street-smart Tip (Hey). Among the few sympathetic grownups in the film are David Kossoff and Barbara Mullen as a pair of likeable restauranteurs, and Flora Robson and Catherine Lacey as the standard golden-hearted old crones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Greek actress Melina Mercouri made her English-language film debut in The Gypsy and the Gentleman. Mercouri plays tempestuous gypsy girl Belle, while the "gentleman" is Sir Paul Deverill (Keith Michell). Escaping an arranged marriage, Sir Paul weds the bewitching Belle,who intends to take him for every penny he's got, then move on to other lovers. Imagine her disappointment when she discovers that her prize catch is flat broke. All sorts of bizarre complications ensue, including the kidnapping of an heiress (June Laverick) by Belle's gypsy compadres. Gypsy and the Gentleman was directed by American expatriate Joseph Losey, whose British film career wouldn't truly get off the ground until his collaborations with Harold Pinter in the 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A story of family interaction, this is an adaptation of an A.J. Cronin novel, with Dirk Bogarde in the title role. More a character study, the movie depicts an insecure man who sees his son's close relationship with their Spanish gardener and is jealous of it. Torn by the jealousy, he contrives to frame the man and have him sent off to jail, but the gardener escapes. When the son discovers what his Father has done, he runs off to be with the gardener, with his Father hot in pursuit. A touching story of a Father/son relationship, it is also the story of the friendship between the young boy and the gardener. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

One of the many inspirational true stories told about WWII, this is the story of Douglas Bader, an undauntable character who was involved in an accident which cost him both of his legs. Despite this, he became a WWII squadron commander and was a hero during the Battle of Britain. Shot down over France and held prisoner by the Germans, he still survived and returned to England leading 3,000 planes over London in a victory flight. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

The British Passing Stranger stars Hollywood actor Lee Patterson as a deserting American GI. He drifts about until he falls in with a gang of gunrunners. He wants to quit, but can't until he makes enough money to support himself and his love Diane Cilento. Just before this is possible, Cilento's ex-boyfriend blows the whistle on the crooks. Just long enough not to wear out its welcome, The Passing Stranger is a passing good little film noir. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide