David Eady Movies
- 1977
In this crime drama, the son of a cafe owner investigates the theft of an Egyptian mummy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1970
In this children's movie, a young boy is tempted to follow in his imprisoned father's footsteps until he joins a motorbike club and learns important life lessons along with the rules-of-the-road. He puts his new outlook to the test when he must face-down a pair of car thieves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
In this children's film, a gang of boys try to prove that the innocence of a peer wrongly accused of stealing the school bell. They succeed and the real crooks are brought to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this crime drama a Yankee visiting England ends up arrested for murder. Not wanting to go to prison, he tries to convince his partner into rigging the jury. Unfortunately for him, the partner double-crosses him and justice is served. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Although there may be a few minor gaps here and there in the storyline, Faces in the Dark is a suspenseful drama by director David Eady. Richard Hammond (John Gregson) owns a factory, and on the very day his wife Christine (Mai Zetterling ) is coming to his office to tell him she wants a divorce, he is accidentally blinded during an experiment. His wife relents in her decision, but Richard is still as abrasive as ever, and now the bumpy spots in his personality are made worse by self-pity and a suspicion that he is losing his sanity. Meanwhile, Richard begins to suspect that the cool and aloof Christine and Richard's partner conspire against him, but as a blind man he has fewer resources to pinpoint why he is suspicious. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gregson, Mai Zetterling, (more)
- 1960
An unfortunate sailor (Tony Wright) gets implicated in a murder he never committed in this confusing drama by David Eady. After a bookie is murdered, the sailor is caught in an ever-tightening vice that would trap him as the killer unless he can clear himself. Along the way to struggling free and tracking down the real culprits, several unsavory characters cross his path as well as a rather interesting woman (Shirley Eaton) who sets romantic sparks flying. Although director Eady and the cast have done their best with the story, it is too thin to survive even the short running time of 69 minutes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Wright, Shirley Eaton, (more)
- 1959
The Boy and the Bridge is a very slight tale based on an original American story by Leon Ware centered on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. This adaptation by director and co-writer Kevin McClory is set on the Tower Bridge in London. The premise is simple and perhaps too much so for the 90-minute running time. A little boy named Tommy (Ian MacLaine) watches as his father is arrested after a bad brawl. Tommy believes his father must have killed someone and rather than return home, he heads to Tower Bridge to set up housekeeping there. The atmosphere and life around the bridge are a secondary protagonist in the story, introducing several interesting characters. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liam Redmond, James Hayter, (more)
- 1959
In this comedy, a man chooses an unethical way to help keep a financially struggling boy's club from closing down, by threatening to publish incriminating articles about prominent people who have recently died. His blackmail scheme is successful until he attempts to extort from a gangster's family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
The "crowning touch" of the title is a fancy woman's hat. It has been specially set aside at a posh British headwear shoppe, but no one comes to claim it. At this point the film takes a prismatic approach, with three of the shoppe's employees offering different reasons as to why the pretty young girl who'd ordered the hat never showed up. The Crowning Touch is a serviceable British shaggy-dog story, graced by the presence of such top talents as Greta Gynt, Griffith Jones, Sydney Tafler, Dermot Walsh and Irene Handl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Befitting its title, Dublin Nightmare deals with the activities of the Irish Republican Army. British photographer John Kevin (William Sylvester) arrives in Dublin to attend the funeral of his friend. It turns, out however, that the friend isn't dead at all. Moreover, the "decedent" is an IRA leader, preparing for a bloody all-out offensive. John Tully's screenplay tries to cram way too much into a 64-minute running time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
In this charming children's adventure, a big game hunter's son doesn't share his father's love of killing; he prefers his animals alive. He dreams of having his very own coatimundi. Trouble begins when one of the rare creatures disappears from the local zoo. A newsreel cameraman is blamed for the theft until the boy steps forward and confesses his crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Prejudice is a main theme in this crime drama that follows the case of a West Indian man accused of a murder because of his dark skin. A lawyer helps the boy avoid arrest until the true murderer is revealed. The killer is discovered after the lawyer saves the boy who was captured by him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
The British omnibus thriller, Three Cases of Murder includes two supernatural tales and a straight whodunit. The first segment, "The Picture," was directed by Wendy Toye, based on a short story by Roderick Wilkinson. A museum tour guide, Jarvis (Hugh Pryse), is plagued by artworks going missing, and by the mysterious repeated breaking of the protective glass over a gloomy landscape painting. Jarvis is fascinated by the dark, foreboding house in the painting. One day while he's admiring it, he bumps into a stranger (Alan Badel, who appears in all three segments). Jarvis ends up following the stranger into the world of the painting with terrifying consequences. Eddie Byrne (General Willard in Star Wars) plays the demented taxidermist, Snyder. In the second segment, "You Killed Elizabeth," written by Sidney Carroll (who co-wrote The Hustler), and directed by David Eady, lifelong friends fall in love with the same woman. George (Emrys Jones) has always stood in Edgar's (John Gregson) shadow. The two have a falling out when they realize they both love Elizabeth (Elizabeth Sellars), and when she later turns up dead, it affects the friendship in a surprising way. Badel plays the friendly bartender, Harry. The final story, "Lord Mountdrago," was based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham. Directed by George More O'Ferrall, the segment stars Orson Welles as Lord Mountdrago, the officious secretary of state for foreign affairs. Mountdrago uses his oratory powers to destroy the career of a charismatic political opponent, Owen (Badel again). Mountdrago then finds himself tormented by the vengeful Owen, who seems to have found a way to enter his dreams. Andre Morrell (Bridge on the River Kwai) plays Mountdrago's baffled psychiatrist. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Badel, Hugh Pryse, (more)
- 1951
This deliberately paced British film about a black rural priest and a white landowner whose paths cross in 1940s South Africa remains one of the most powerful cinematic statements on racism. Based on Alan Paton's landmark novel, Cry the Beloved Country is, in hindsight, naïve in its belief that apartheid would be easier to overcome than history proved it to be, but its intentions are certainly in the right place and it never trivializes the importance of the issue. To the credit of both Paton and director-producer Zoltan Korda, the film maintains a dignity and relevancy that is not always true of other "message" movies from the 1940s and '50s. Partly, this is because the characters, both black and white, are much more fully developed than a Hollywood production would have allowed them to be. Another factor is that the filmmakers do not resort to heavy-handedness, and instead allow the story to speak for itself. Knowing that the film was actually shot on location in South Africa during the height of apartheid only compounds the impact of this film. Canada Lee, as the priest Kumalo, and Charles Carson, as the farmer Jarvis, give stunning, multi-layered performances as two men who must go through a wrenching emotional experience. The solid supporting cast includes Joyce Carey as Jarvis' wife and a twenty-something Sidney Poitier as a Johannesburg priest. More than forty years later, after apartheid's fall, Cry the Beloved Country was remade with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. ~ Bob Mastrangelo, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Canada Lee, Charles Carson, (more)
