Edgar K. Bruce Movies
- 1967
The subject matter being taught at this girls' school consists of teaching the ladies how to find rich husbands and separate them from their dough. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1947
Set in Yorkshire in the 19th century, this period drama centers upon a family of mill owners. The story shifts from the well-to-do surroundings of the Crowther family to the less desirable conditions in the mill. While there are the usual crises, disasters, and labor clashes, the film manages to include a few humorous moments, mostly providing by top-billed comic actor Tom Walls. The production couldn't really hope for a profitable American run, but it did well in the provincial British cinemas. Master of Bankdam was based on the novel The Crowthers of Bankdam by Thomas Armstrong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edgar K. Bruce, Anne Crawford, (more)
- 1938
In this mystery, a nephew is accused of murdering his aunt who had just refused to loan him some money. Unfortunately, he is not the real culprit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Directed by Ian Dalrymple, this comedy of manners is based on a German play, and is one of the lesser known pieces of Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison's filmographies. Set in an old-fashioned Scottish town, Storm in a Teacup features Rex Harrison as an English newpaper reporter who has traveled north in order to take a job. Once there, he meets Victoria (Leigh), the daughter of Provost Gow (Cecil Parker), who happens to be one of the wealthiest legal figures in town. It isn't until he come across an an impoverished woman and her beloved dog, however, that life becomes truly complicated. When Mrs. Hegarty (Sara Allgood) can't afford to pay her annual dog licensing fee, Leigh's father orders the dog be destroyed. Frank (Harrison) turns this into a human interest story, which rapidly travels across Scotland. With his political career in shambles, Gow (Parker) retaliates by suing Frank for slander. Victoria, however, has fallen in love with the young journalist, and gives both Frank and her father quite a surprise when she lies for him in her testimony. In doing so, Victoria unwittingly determines the fate for both her lover and the dog, Scruffy.
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vivien Leigh, Rex Harrison, (more)
- 1937
In this drama, a policeman falls in love with a woman whose brother and father are the notorious ringleaders of a gun-running and cattle rustling operation. When her brother almost kills a cop, he must hide out in an isolated cabin. During a fight between the police and the criminals, the building catches fire and the policeman is trapped underneath a blazing beam. Fortunately, his lover's brother saves his life, but then takes the woman and goes on the lam. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Set in 15th-century Italy, The Cardinal stars Matheson Lang as one Cardinal de Medici. Bound by the rules of the confessional, the cardinal is unable to disclose the multitude of sins revealed to him by one of his most influential parishioners. De Medici's dilemma is compounded by the fact that the confessor has committed a murder for which the Cardinal's brother has been arrested. The basic plot gimmick was good for another go-round in the 1953 Hitchcock flick I Confess. This 7-reel British film was based on a play by Louis N. Parker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matheson Lang, Eric Portman, (more)
- 1935
Three talented screenwriters collaborated in adapting Evadne Price and Joan Roy Byford's play The Haunted Light to the screen as Phantom Light. This British chiller-diller-thriller begins with the mysterious murder of a lighthouse keeper. After his death, the region is plagued by shipwrecks, each heralded by a "phantom light" beaming from the lighthouse. Female detective Binnie Hale teams with new keeper Gordon Harker and navy officer Ian Hunter to solve the mystery. Directed with a sure and steady hand by Michael Powell, The Phantom Light is infinitely superior to the quota-quickie melodramas then flooding the British film market. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Binnie Hale, Donald Calthrop, (more)
- 1932
Set during an ugly divorce proceeding, a faithless second wife is found guilty of adultery (with a wealthy nobleman whom she wants to marry) after the wronged husband's first wife shows him irrefutable evidence. Soon after the judge's gavel falls the newly freed husband and his first bride joyously reunite. Melodramatic but tuneful tripe. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1930
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's stage comedy The School for Scandal made theatrical history in 1777 as the first play to use an onstage prop (a dressing screen) as an important plot device. While this proved exciting to 18th-century audiences, the effect wasn't quite the same when the Sheridan play was brought to the screen in 1930, though Sheridan's potent witticisms remained intact (one suspects that the 1916 silent version wasn't quite as effective). The story concerns the misadventures of young Lady Teazle (Madeleine Carroll), who must not only fend off the jealous accusations of her elderly husband (Basil Gill) but also the envious barbs of every gossip in London. Meanwhile, two handsome brothers -- one virtuous, the other a cad -- become inextricably involved in Lady T's travails, both demonstrating their true colors in the final act. The very famous "screen scene" goes on much too long in this version, though its resolution still pays off in big laughs. The best scenes occur amongst the various and sundry gossips, who bear such spell-it-out character names as "Lady Sneerwell" and "Sir Benjamin Backbite"! Sharp-eyed viewers will spot future stars Rex Harrison and Anna Neagle in bit parts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Carroll, Basil Gill, (more)
