Irene Browne Movies

A false accusation divides a town and destroys a clergyman's career in this adaptation of the Philip King stage play of the same name. Anthony Quayle stars as Reverend Howard Phillips, a new arrival in a small town that's become overrun with punk kids. Trying to make a difference and improve the town's fortunes, Phillips earns the respect and love of Hester Peters (Sarah Churchill), a spinster and the daughter of the previous vicar. Unfortunately, Phillips runs afoul of Larry Thompson (Andrew Ray), leader of the delinquents running roughshod over the town. A nasty piece of work, Thompson has murdered one person and doesn't hesitate to concoct a false story that Phillips made an unwelcome homosexual advance toward him that turned into an assault. Instead of rallying to his defense, the narrow-minded town elders simply backbite and gossip. Director Terence Young went on to direct three of the first four James Bond films, Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), and Thunderball (1965). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

In this slapstick British comedy, a proud man from a family of seamen is so prone to seasickness that even the slightest aqueous movement makes him unbearably ill. The man's illustrious family history is witnessed from the Stone Age via flashback. To preserve his family's name and his own honor, he opens up a hotel for sailors with an amusement pier. It is a great success and this inspires the jealousy of the local residents who try to destroy his new empire. Fortunately, the fellow's sailor pals intervene and save the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

David Lean's Madeleine was inspired by a true story that rocked the English legal system to its foundations in the mid-19th century. Told in flashback, the film explains why aristocratic young Scotswoman Madeleine Smith (Ann Todd, then the wife of director Lean) is on trial for murder. The audience is apprised of Madeleine's illicit romance with deceptively charming Frenchman Emile L'Angelier (Ivan Desny), her futile attempts to break off the relationship, her "proper" betrothal to Englishman William Minnoch (Norman Wooland), and the murder by poison of the now-inconvenient L'Angelier. The jury's verdict was as controversial in 1950 as it had been a century earlier. David Lean and scenarists Stanley Haynes and Nicholas Phipps refuse to take sides, permitting the viewers to draw their own conclusions about the notorious Madeleine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

George Gordon, aka Lord Byron, the clubfooted 19th-century poet with the uncontrollable libido, is played by Dennis Price in this lavish British chocolate-box epic. From the vantage point of his deathbed, Byron recalls his life and many loves, imagining that he's pleading his case before a celestial court. Joan Greenwood looks like she's just stepped out of a portrait frame as Lady Caroline Lamb (whose own sordid story would also be filmed in due time). Her performance is far more persuasive than that of Dennis Price, who seems less libertine than precocious as Byron. Roundly ridiculed by British film critics in 1949, The Bad Lord Byron has stood the test of time -- not really a classic, but an acceptable rainy-day wallow. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's influential musical tragedy set the stage for the climactic dance ballets that became a staple of the Arthur Freed-MGM musicals (An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon) of the early 1950s. Hans Christian Andersen's tragic fairy tale forms the basis of this film about betrayal, love and art. The story begins as struggling composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) attends a performance of the Lermontov Ballet Company and recognizes his own score in the production of "Hearts of Fire." Julian protests to ballet company director Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) about the unauthorized use of his music. Impressed by Julian's talent, Boris hires him to compose the score for his next ballet -- a dance version of "The Red Shoes." Boris also hires an attractive young dancer, Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), to perform in the ballet. When the lead ballerina announces that she plans to get married, Boris, in a pique over being abandoned, casts Victoria in the starring role. As Julian works on the score and Victoria struggles to perfect her dance technique, the two fall in love. When "The Red Shoes" ballet is premiered -- seen in a stunning and glorious fifteen-minute sequence -- it is a raging success and it makes Victoria a star. But when Boris learns that Julian and Victoria have fallen in love, Boris, who is secretly in love with Victoria, in a fit of rage forces Julian to leave the ballet company; Victoria leaves with him. Since Boris owns the rights to "The Red Shoes" ballet, he forbids Victoria to perform the dance and she becomes unemployable. Time passes and Julian and Victoria are now happily married. Julian's compositions have made him an international success. One day, with Victoria disembarking from a train in Paris, she meets Boris, who implores her to do one performance of "The Red Shoes" in Monaco. Victoria agrees as Julian cancels an engagement in London to travel to Monte Carlo in order to convince his wife not to perform the ballet. But Victoria goes on with the performance, with tragic results. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Carol Reed directed this adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel about a British shopkeeper who inherits money and tries to crash society; it was later the basis of the Tommy Steele musical Half a Sixpence. Michael Redgrave is Arthur Kipps, a nondescript storekeeper who finds himself heir to a large fortune. Society golddigger Helen Walshinham (Diana Wynyard) immediately comes on the scene, hoping to trick Kipps into marrying her. Right before the wedding, Kipps gets cold feet and instead runs off with his childhood sweetheart, Ann Pornick (Phyllis Calvert). The two get married but Ann wants to live simply while Kipps continues to want to live large with his inherited fortune. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller star in Anthony Asquith's and Leslie Howard's classic version of George Bernard Shaw's satiric comedy. Henry Higgins (Howard) is an upper class phonetics professor who encounters low-class guttersnipe Eliza Doolittle (Hiller) and bets his friend Colonel Pickering (Scott Sunderland) that he can pass her off as a duchess within three months. Pickering accepts Higgins' bet, with Eliza readily agreeing to the proposal, since she will get to live in Higgins' fancy home. Once in Higgins' house, Eliza is subjected to intensely repetitive phonetics lessons in an effort to transform her Cockney accent into the speech of proper English. Things are a bit rocky at first, with Eliza blurting out "Not bloody likely" at a tea party. But when Eliza is presented at the Ambassador's Ball, she is not only accepted as a princess but is the talk of the ball, everyone in attendance commenting on her charm, beauty, and poise. Relishing his success, Higgins abruptly dismisses her. But Eliza has fallen in love with Higgins and is aghast at her cursory treatment by him. She tells him, "I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself. Now you've made a lady of me, I'm not fit to sell anything else." When Eliza leaves, Higgins realizes that he loves her too, but Eliza has announced to Higgins that she plans to marry high society playboy Freddie Eynsford-Hill (David Tree). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

A prize-winning aviator (Katharine Hepburn) falls for the title character (Colin Clive), a British politician who is happily married. Both fall into a tempestuous affair, but are able to resist their urges. ~ John Bush, Rovi

The Hollywood debut of German star Lillian Harvey, this film operetta was held back in favor of Harvey's second outing, My Weakness (1933), which, despite its title, was considered a stronger effort. In My Lips Betray, the erstwhile star of Congress Dances plays Lili, a café singer mistakenly believed to be the mistress of King Rupert of Rutania. A composer of love songs in his spare time, the King (John Boles) is immediately smitten with both Lili's voice and Lili herself. The girl, however, erroneously takes him for a mere captain of the guard and keeps up the charade that has made her popular all over the land. Rutania is in dire economic strains, meanwhile, and Rupert is all but forced to marry a wealthy foreign princess. But when the latter hears about her fiancé's supposed dalliance with a café chanteuse, she elopes to Paris with a tango dancer and Rutania once again faces bankruptcy. Happily, there is oil in them thar hills and King Rupert is finally free to tell Lili the truth and ask her to become his queen. Lillian Harvey and John Boles take time out from romance to sing "I'll Build a Nest," "To Romance," and "Why Am I Happy?," all by William Kernell, while comic relief El Brendel performs "His Majesty's Car." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The evergreen Laurette Taylor stage vehicle Peg O' My Heart was the basis for this Marion Davies picture. 36-year-old Davies plays a twentysomething Irish colleen who inherits a large sum of money from her grandfather. To collect the legacy, she must leave her beloved Pa (J. Farrell McDonald) and live in England for three years. Hoydenish Davies raises a ruckus in her staid family mansion, meanwhile falling in love with handsome young Onslow Stevens. It is Stevens who tells Davies that her father, who'd pretended to be dead so that she wouldn't return from England before the three years were up, is actually alive. Renouncing her inheritance, Davies returns to Pa, with Stevens not far behind. A silent version of Peg O' My Heart, with Laurette Taylor recreating her stage role, was filmed in 1923. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After Many Days was no better nor worse than any other British film of its period. The plot concerns a burglar who seduces an aspiring model. When the girl has a baby, the burglar intimates that his own brother was responsible. Though innocent, the brother does "the right thing" by the girl. In the last reel, the burglar is revealed as a cad and bounder, to the surprise of absolutely no one. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi