Val Guest Movies
When his acting career fell into decline, Londoner Val Guest worked as a journalist in England, then moved to Hollywood, where he wrote his own columns and hacked away as a tipster for Walter Winchell. Returning to London, he churned out scripts for such comic talents as Will Hay, the Crazy Gang and Arthur Askey, developing a talent for combining laughs with thrills. He made his directorial bow in 1942, subsequently producing and writing many of his own efforts. Guest was an accomplished trend-follower, directing girl-filled musicals, science fictioners, spy melodramas and even such sexploitationers as The Au Pair Girls (1972) Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1973). One historian has commented that Guest the director was far more talented than Guest the screenwriter, an assertion borne out by the fact that his best films--especially The Creeping Unknown (1955), Enemy From Space (1957) and The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)--were penned by others. On the other hand, Guest did a commendable job adapting and directing his own novel, 80,000 Suspects. Val Guest is married to actress Yolande Donlan, who starred in several of her husband's films (Mr. Drake's Duck, They Can't Hang Me etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1985
Former Battlestar Gallactica leading man Dirk Benedict turns baddie in the British/Canadian Mark of the Devil. After committing a murder, Benedict is confident that he'll escape detection. That's when he discovers that his body has been marked by a tattoo, which begins to spread all over his evil epidermis. Jenny Seagrove, George Sewell and John Paul costar. Made for British television, Mark of the Devil premiered in America over the USA Cable Network on March 6, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
This analytical video tells the story of a family that discovers a wall around their entire home and the new symbol that has appeared everywhere within. This covers the dramatics in the development of child's play. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1985
Carole Lynley and Christopher Cazenove star in the British TV movie In Possession. The stars play a married couple who move into a "disturbed" English house. On cue, Lynley and Cazenove are plagued by hallucinations and visitations. And inevitably, one of them is possessed by malevolent spirits. In Possession premiered in America over the USA cable etwork on January 12, 1985, in tandem with another British production, A Distant Scream. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
The British comedy team of Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball star in this funfest as a pair of policemen who man the police station in the small town of Little Botham. Crime is rare in Little Botham, and authorities plan to close the station as an economy measure. Not wanting to lose their jobs, Ball and Cannon fabricate a phony crime wave to make it look as if they're needed after all. But when they attempt to steal a valuable painting from Lloyd (Roy Kinnear), one of the richest men in town, they find that a gang of real art thieves have been at work, and now they have a serious case to crack. Boys in Blue is a remake of Ask a Policeman, a 1938 vehicle for British comedy star Will Hay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzanne Danielle
- 1981
In this comic-detective movie, Dangerous Davies, a bungling gumshoe uses archaic methods to solve his cases. This time he must solve a 15-year-old murder involving an adolescent girl. He finds himself on a convoluted trail surrounded by the lowest of the lowlife. It is not until the picture is almost over that he realizes that the solution to the mystery has been under his nose all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Cribbins, Bill Maynard, (more)
- 1980
An old-fashioned drama about old-fashioned values in an old-fashioned town called Shillingbury, this conventional film may not be quite the ticket for a more cynical, demanding audience (whatever their age). Pop musician Peter (Robin Nedwell) and his wife Sally (Diane Keen) take refuge in Shillingbury when their mod, mad life in the Big City gets more than they can handle. The problem is that the small town's band assaults the senses, especially the musical senses, every time the group gathers to play. They can empty out a room quicker than a fire alarm. So Peter agrees to take them on, coach them, and bring back an audience. As a result, the band members rebel because they love their old leader, Saltie (Trevor Howard) and resent his being shoved aside. Their rebellion, it turns out, produces exactly the opposite of what everyone in the town had expected, including themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Howard, Robin Nedwell, (more)
- 1977
The Persuaders were a pair of globe-trotting, sophisticated playboys who solved crimes of passion and espionage every week on television. This video contains some of their most memorable exploits. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1975
- R
Peter Fonda stars as a diamond mine security officer who fakes a robbery in order to gain the respect of the group of mercenaries he needs to help him pull off the biggest heist in history. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Telly Savalas, Peter Fonda, (more)
- 1975
The Persuaders were a pair of globe-trotting, sophisticated playboys who solved crimes of passion and espionage every week on television. This series of videos contains some of their most memorable exploits. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- R
The British "Confessions" film series was reminiscent of the "Carry On" series, albeit far, far dirtier. Many fans consider the first entry, Confessions of a Window Cleaner, to be the best of the batch. Based on a supposedly autobiographical novel by Timothy Lea, the film stars Robin Askwith as an apprentice window washer with a voyeuristic streak. Nearly everyone with whom Askwith comes in contact is an oversexed, underdressed female. Potato-shaped
Dandy Nichols plays the protagonist's mother. An anachronism even before it was released, Confessions of a Window Cleaner was nonetheless successful enough to inspire several sequels, none of which were released to American theatres. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Dandy Nichols plays the protagonist's mother. An anachronism even before it was released, Confessions of a Window Cleaner was nonetheless successful enough to inspire several sequels, none of which were released to American theatres. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Val Guest, veteran director of many interesting British films covering a multitude of subjects, joined the nudie-cutie bandwagon of the 1970s with The Au Pair Girls. Anyone who's taken first-year French will probably know that the title refers to young foreign girls living in England who perform domestic chores in exchange for room and board and the opportunity to learn the English language. In this film, the girls' "services" range far beyond mere light dusting. It's the 1972 equivalent to those old stag reels of the 1950s with titles like Lucky Pierre Goes Fishing. Among the au pair girls in this R-rated effort are Gabrielle Drake, Astrid Frank, and Me Me Lai. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Astrid Frank, Gabrielle Drake, (more)
- 1972
Originally telecast February 16, 1972, the 60-minute Five Miles to Midnight is an episode of the Anglo-American TV adventure series The Persuaders. Tony Curtis and Roger Moore star as Danny Wilde and Lord Brett Sinclair, two millionaire playboys who double as private detectives. Laurence Naismith costars as Judge Fulton, their elderly mentor. In this installment, Danny and Brett get mixed up with an American mobster (Robert Hutton), on the lam from a hit man. The boys are aided and abetted by troublesome photojournalist Joan Collins. Filmed on location in the Italian Alps, Five Miles to Midnight was released to video in the early 1980s to capitalize on Ms. Collins' Dynasty fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
The Persuaders were a pair of globe-trotting, sophisticated playboys who solved crimes of passion and espionage every week on television. This video contains the second episode in the series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
The Persuaders were a pair of globe-trotting, sophisticated playboys who solved crimes of passion and espionage every week on television. This video contains the pilot episode. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- G
Sanna (Victoria Vetri), a beautiful blonde woman, is condemned to death when she is blamed for a sudden aberration of the sun. Fortunately, the girl is rescued by fisherman Tara (Robin Hawdon), a member of the nearby Sand Tribe, but Sanna's presence infuriates Tara's girlfriend Ayak (Imogen Hassall). While others run from the carnivorous dinosaurs, Tara trains one of the beasts who believes she is one of her offspring. A typhoon leaves four survivors to fight for survival in this prehistorically inaccurate science fiction story. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Vetri, Robin Hawdon, (more)
- 1970
This insipid science fiction musical concerns a group of students paying their way through school by forming a pop band. The group is led by Olivia Newton-John, and organist Vic Cooper has invented an instrument called the "tonaliser." The sonic vibrations from the invention causes an extra-terrestrial (Roy Dotrice) to beam up the group to entertain the Alphoid population. The film title refers to the group name. Newton-John would go on to a successful singing and acting career, most notably in the 1978 musical Grease. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivia Newton-John, Benny Thomas, (more)
- 1967
This lugubrious spy yarn finds Philip Scott (Stephen Boyd) posing as a toy manufacturer to hide his real purpose in life. He and his faithful operative Harris (Michael Redgrave) battle the evil Smith (Leo McKern) in Austria, England and West Germany. Toni Peters (Camilla Sparv) is the love interest in Philip's life, which is in constant danger from shadowy spies and double agents. The low-key direction ends up having no key to unlock anyone's imagination, but there's nothing inspiring about much of anything in this feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Boyd, Camilla Sparv, (more)
Retired after years of international espionage, Agent 007 is lured back into action to battle the evil spy organization SMERSH in this notoriously incoherent parody of the James Bond films. David Niven portrays the aging Bond, who atypically rejects the advances of a variety of women, and agrees to battle SMERSH's hold on the lavish Casino Royale only after organization head M is murdered. Also mixed up in the affair are several other secret agents, all named James Bond, played by everyone from Peter Sellers and Woody Allen to a chimpanzee. Despite a star-studded cast, a large production budget, and a hit score by Burt Bacharach, the film was universally panned as a muddled, overlong failure, with the occasional amusing sequence lost in the unintelligible surroundings. The participation of several screenwriters and five different directors, including John Huston, only adds to the confusion. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, (more)
- 1966
The Beauty Jungle can hardly be considered an expose of the beauty-contest business, since most of what happens in the film is what the average viewer has suspected all along. The lovely and graceful British leading lady Janette Scott stars as an ambitious typist who enters the "Miss Globe" pageant. She doesn't care what she does or whom she hurts along the way, the result being that she wins the competition. But when the anticipated decline sets in, she confronts the same embittered people on the downward spiral that she stepped over during her upward climb. Cliched though it may seem on paper, The Beauty Jungle is fascinating in its own garish way; the film was issued to the US under the title Contest Girl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Hendry, Janette Scott, (more)
- 1965
Dr. Love (David Niven) is a suave British secret agent sent to Lebanon to investigate the murder of his colleague Parkington (Nigel Davenport) by an enemy agent in this spy spoof. With the help of the beautiful Vikki (Francoise Dorlac), Love uncovers a plot by Russian agents to kill a Middle Eastern Prince who favors the British. The story was taken from the novel Passport To Oblivion by James Leasor. Niven carries the feature with his typical aplomb. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Françoise Dorléac, (more)
- 1963
British doctor Richard Johnson arrives in the city of Bath, where a smallpox epidemic has broken out. If he has any hope of stemming the disease, he must locate and isolate its source. As if he hasn't got enough trouble on his hands, Johnson must contend with his failing marriage to Claire Bloom. Both of his problems are solved to everyone's satisfaction, but not without a few hypertense moments along the way. Director Val Guest lifts 80,000 Suspects out of the ordinary with his inventive utilization of darkness and shadows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, (more)
- 1961
In this heavy drama, a race car driver suffers a head injury on his wedding day and becomes a mental case. The couple puts off their honeymoon while he is treated by a psychiatrist. Later when they make love, he tries to strangle her. This behavior becomes a habit, for every time they are romantic he becomes insanely angry with her. He thinks he has really gone 'round the bend until he sees his new bride and the shrink together. He goes to the doctor and confronts him. In turn, the shrink tries to make the man believe that he is hallucinating. A chase ensues between the men. The frightened doctor tries to flee in a cable car and ends up having a fatal fall. The married couple then continues their honeymoon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Dauphin, Diane Cilento, (more)
- 1961
Jigsaw was based on Hilary Waugh's play Sleep Long My Love. The scene is Brighton: A woman's body is found in an isolated beach house. The local constabulary painstakingly assemble the "jigsaw" of random clues to reconstruct the woman's history and her last moments on earth, hoping this will lead them to the killer. Though essentially a mystery, the storyline hides nothing from the viewer; the clues are there if you're willing to pick up on them. At 107 minutes, the film is long but never tiresome. With so many films titled Jigsaw floating around the TV schedule, this 1961 production can be characterized as "the good Jigsaw." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Warner, Ronald Lewis, (more)
