Dick Emery Movies
Dick Emery was a popular comic actor in Great Britain who was most famous for his television work. He made his feature film debut in The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn (1956). Subsequently, his film appearances were sporadic. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1975
A pre-stardom John Candy first teamed with John Dane in the wacky Canadian comedy-melodrama It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. Playing the same characters--a pair of incompetent cops--Candy and Dane reunited for Find the Lady. Alas, even Candy's considerable comic gifts couldn't save this muddled story about an heiress' kidnapping. At times the level of humor is so low that it's positively subterranean. Following John Candy's Second City TV success, Find the Lady was picked up by several videotape distributors and released under a dizzying variety of titles, including Call the Cops and Kopek and Broom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
In this crime drama, a pair of grifters flee from London to Rome in order to find thousands of dollars in missing bonds. The mob is hot on their heels. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1972
In this comedy, two men pursue four very valuable women who have tattooed the location of stolen bonds upon their rumps. The Mafia is also in pursuit of the marked women. The two fellows are lead to Rome where the lead character tries to sell the Sistine Chapel to American tourists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Emery, Derren Nesbitt, (more)
- 1970
- PG
Joe Orton's black comedy farce has been adapted to the screen in a fast-paced, but ultimately ineffective, adaptation. Hywed Bennett and Roy Holder are two lay-abouts named Dennis and Hal who decide to improve their lot in life by robbing a bank. After pulling the job, they have to hide the loot -- and where else but in the casket of Holder's recently deceased mother? Unfortunately, although the boys hide the money, they can't hide the casket, so they opt for stashing it in the bathroom of the hotel run by Holder's father (Milo O'Shea). All is well until wacky Inspector Truscott (Richard Attenborough) arrives to investigate. Snapping at his heels is Fay (Lee Remick) -- a sexy nurse looking for the loot. Soon, the father's hotel becomes a cacophony of stomping feet and slamming doors, with the loot and the corpse in a farcical shell-game, one step ahead of discovery by the inept Truscott. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Lee Remick, (more)
- 1969
Luci (Linda Hayden) is the illegitimate teenage sex kitten who goes to live with a doctor and his family after her sleazy, promiscuous mother (Diana Dors) dies. Robert (Keith Barron) is the doctor who may very well be Luci's father. Convinced Robert contributed to her mother's demise by rejecting her years ago, Luci sets out to destroy her new family. She teases the teenage son with kisses before bringing out the lesbian leanings of the mother Amy (Ann Lynn). After putting on a show for the neighbors and dancing with an ominous black man in a sleazy nightclub, Luci sets her sights on Robert in this shocking tale of a titillating teenage tramp. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Lynn, Keith Barron, (more)
Yellow Submarine is an animated meandering journey filled with puns and dry British humor, where psychedelic music videos take precedent over any linear story. What little there is of a plot, however, concerns a vibrantly colored place called Pepperland that resembles the album cover for Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band come to life. The swirling animation is a mixture of pop-culture images and modern artistic styles brought loosely together with a naïve antiwar message and some clever political commentary. The Blue Meanies take over Pepperland, draining it of all its color and music, firing anti-music missiles, bonking people with green apples, and turning the inhabitants to stone by way of the pointed finger of a giant white glove. As the only survivor, the Lord Admiral escapes in the yellow submarine and goes to London to enlist the help of the Beatles (voiced by actors). The charming and innocent boys travel through strange worlds and meet bizarre characters, including the tagalong Nowhere Man. Several blissed-filled musical sequences and drug references later, the Beatles drive out the Blue Meanies and restore Pepperland to tranquility armed with only music, love, and witty remarks. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Though long defunct in the United States, the tiny production firm of Pathe continued churning out British programmers into the 1960s. Pathe's The Big Job stars Sidney James, Dick Emery and Lance Percival as a trio of none-too-bright bank robbers. Released from jail after 15 years, the intrepid trio makes a beeline for the location where they hid their stolen money. Uh, oh: the cash is squirreled away in a tree, and the tree has now been replanted in front of a police station. Thus, the "big job" of the title consists of the crooks' efforts to retrieve their swag without the Bobbies catching on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Sylvia Syms, (more)
- 1963
The star of this slapstick comedy is not a person but an antique Bentley sports car, the source of several misadventures. Murdoch Troon (Stanley Baxter) is a simple civil servant who has his heart set on romancing Claire (Julie Christie in an early role), the daughter of wealthy businessman Charles Chingford (James Robertson Justice). As a part of his scheme to appear irresistible, Murdoch takes driving lessons so he will be able to impress Claire in the Bentley. Both the lessons and his driving test produce moments of hilarity, and as might be expected, there cannot be a movie featuring a car without a wacky, wild chase. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Robertson Justice, Stanley Baxter, (more)
- 1963
British teens struggle to win the right to vote in this swinging musical from England. When the established political parties pay no mind to the young campaigners and so the youths decide to start their own party and use some of England's most popular singers to help them campaign. Among the artists lending their support are Freddy Cannon, Bobby Vee, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, the Spotniks and Joe Brown and the Breakaways. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Wynter, Bobby Vee, (more)
This comedy features a 12-step Program for habitual hoods. The recovering criminal takes a job as a department store Santa, and again finds himself confronted with temptation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
When a gang of London thieves, disguised as policemen, begin robbing other thieves....well, that's just not cricket. Benevolent burglar Peter Sellers, the man in charge of all "respectable" crooks in town (he even offers such incentives as a vacation plan and filmed training sessions!), sets about to ascertain how the renegade criminals have received inside information concerning upcoming robberies. He arranges a temporary truce with Scotland Yard so that both criminal and constable can work together in nabbing the miscreants. Alas, he must now contend with incompetent peacekeeper Lionel Jeffries, who poses an even greater threat than the "mole" who's been tipping off the phony cops (who is closer to Sellers than he'd ever suspect). Short, simple and sweet, the black-and-white Wrong Arm of the Law manages to pack more solid laughs than any three of Sellers' later overproduced Technicolor vehicles combined. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries, (more)
- 1962
In this British comedy drama, a dotty old widow finally finds a new love and happiness until her unruly sons bust out of prison and beg her to hide them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
In this comedy, an aged cashier decides to rob the insurance company where she works. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Director Lewis Gilbert is best known for his other cinematic efforts, such as Educating Rita or in films in a wartime genre, Sink the Bismarck. This unexceptional comedy is about a bumbling searchlight unit during World War II. Ensemble acting creates a series of intertwining stories that involve the various soldiers assigned to this post. Lt. Ogleby (Ian Carmichael) is the cheerful, inept officer in charge, then there is the womanizer whose concept of birth control is limited, the lovesick soldier unhappy over a misunderstanding with his girlfriend, the Cockney cook, the father-figure, and several others. Their trials and tribulations provide the bulk of the comedy, such as it is. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Carmichael, Tommy Steele, (more)
- 1956
This hilarious outing is filled with keen-edged, outrageous British comedy that features the reunion of many veterans of the Goon Show who do an improvisational lampoon of mysteries. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
