Anthony Havelock-Allan Movies
The son of a British nobleman, Anthony Havelock-Allen began his film career in a variety of capacities in 1933. By 1937, Havelock-Allen had become a producer. He was most closely associated with director David Lean; this collaboration resulted in such quality films as Brief Encounter (1945), Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948). He frequently co-scripted the films he produced, earning an Academy Award nomination in this capacity for Great Expectations. Not long after producing his final feature, Lean's Ryan's Daughter (1970), Havelock-Allen was elevated to knighthood. Anthony Havelock-Allen was married twice, to actresses Valerie Hobson and Marguerite Chapman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1938
In this British comedy, a bishop is desperate to finish the restoration on his cathedral. To quickly raise the needed cash, he gives a fellow some money. The fellow promises the bishop that he will use it to make the 1,000 pounds needed to complete the job. The ingenious man uses the honest money to buy smuggled goods. Among the things he buys are silk lingerie and brandy; the latter ends up being sold at a church bazaar and the money is raised. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
- Add An Evening with the Royal Ballet to QueueAdd An Evening with the Royal Ballet to top of Queue
Listed as sole director of the British documentary Evening with the Royal Ballet in many sources, Anthony Asquith was actually co-director. Asquith's collaborator on this project was Anthony Havelock-Allen, who also produced the film. Starring Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, highlights of An Evening with the Royal Ballet include selections from "Sleeping Beauty" and "Les Syphildes." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, (more)
- 1948
Blanche Fury combined two elements that were surefire moneymakers in postwar Britain: a brooding, Gothic-novel storyline and the dazzlingly handsome Stewart Granger. Heroine Blanche Fury (Valerie Hobson) is an impoverished governess who marries into wealth and sets herself up as the mistress of a vast estate. Enter Heathcliffe-like stable boy Philip Thorn (Granger), who intends to run the estate and eventually claim Blanche as his own. After a torrid, bodice-ripping romance between Blanche and Philip, the story segues into a no-names-please reenactment of the infamous 19th-century "Rush Murder." To "explain" the motives of the characters, the screenwriters deviate from the original Joseph Shearing novel by imposing all sorts of 20th-century "psychological disturbances" upon hero and heroine, with an abruptness and lack of logic that takes the viewer's breath away. Up until the end, however, Blanche Fury is a prime example of high-budget postwar British melodrama. Oddly, despite its $1.5 million price tag, con brio performances and superb Technicolor cinematography, Blanche Fury was a box-office disappointment, bringing an end to the "Gothic cycle" that had begun so promisingly with 1943's The Man in Grey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Hobson, Stewart Granger, (more)
The Noel Coward/David Lean combination which turned out such dramas as Brief Encounter and This Happy Breed sets its sights on the viewer's funny bone with Blithe Spirit. Rex Harrison plays a novelist, newly married to straight-laced Constance Cummings. Via a seance, Harrison accidentally summons the spirit of his first wife, Kay Hammond. Believing that Hammond wants to ruin his marriage, Harrison enlists the services of local medium Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford) to exorcise Hammond's spirit. She fails, and in time, Harrison's second wife is killed; now he has two playful spirits on his hands! Technicolor is used throughout Blithe Spirit, with the ghosts' shimmering paleness providing contrast to the plain, everyday colors of Harrison's conservative country home. Blithe Spirit was later transformed into the Broadway musical High Spirits, with the original script bent out of shape to turn the character of Madame Arcati (played by Beatrice Lillie) into the leading role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, (more)
Based on Noël Coward's play "Still Life," Brief Encounter is a romantic, bittersweet drama about two married people who meet by chance in a London railway station and carry on an intense love affair. Sentimental yet down-to-earth and set in pre-World War II England, the film follows British housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), who is on her way home, but catches a cinder in her eye. By chance, she meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), who removes it for her. The two talk for a few minutes and strike immediate sparks, but they end up catching different trains. However, both return to the station once a week to meet and, as the film progresses, they grow closer, sharing stories, hopes, and fears about their lives, marriages, and children. One day, when Alec's train is late, both become frantic that they will miss each other. When they finally find each other, they realize that they are in love. But what should be a joyous realization is fraught with tragedy, since both care greatly for their families. Howard and Johnson give flawless performances as two practical, married people who find themselves in a situation in which they know they can never be happy. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, (more)
- 1954
Also known as Chance Meeting, The Young Lovers can be described as an Iron Curtain romance. The boy, Ted (David Knight), works as a code expert at the American Embassy in London. The girl, Anna (Odelle Versois), is the daughter of a communist dignitary. When Ted and Anna fall in love, they find their every move monitored by both sides. The course of true love is eventually roadblocked by bureaucracy, forcing hero and heroine to escape to a neutral corner of the world; the trouble is, there isn't any such corner. A lighter variation on this theme can be found in Peter Ustinov's play and film Romanoff and Juliet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Odile Versois, David Knight, (more)
- 1939
This mystery is set aboard the Orient Express bound for Istanbul. There a French agent thwarts a scheme by revolutionaries to blow up a politician. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
D.W. Griffith served as supervisor (but not director) for the Fine Arts production Cross Currents. Helen Ware plays Elizabeth Crane, the fiancee of handsome and wealthy Paul Beale Courtenay Foote. Upon learning that her kid sister Flavia (Teddy Sampson) is hopelessly in love with Beale, Elizabeth nobly steps aside to allow sis to marry the man. After the marriage, Beale and Flavia go on a yachting voyage, accompanied by Elizabeth and several other wedding guests. The yacht catches fire, stranding Elizabeth and Beale together on a desert island. By an amazing coincidence, the island is inhabited by one of Elizabeth's former suitors, Silas Randolph (Sam DeGrasse). The two men fight over Elizabeth's attentions, and for a moment it looks as though the physically stronger Silas will win. But Elizabeth takes a hand in matters by killing Silas, allowing her and Beale to live as common-law husband and wife until their rescue. Returning to civilization, the couple discovers that Flavia is pregnant with Beale's child. With the same nobility she exhibited in reel one, Elizabeth once again removes herself from Beale's life, insisting that he "belongs" to Flavia and swearing him to silence regarding their idyllic island romance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this romantic comedy a woman inherits a boarding house. The enterprising lass turns it into a fancy nightclub. There she finds herself between two handsome suiters, a musician and a gambler. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Ballistics expert Perrins testifies at the trial for his wife Lisle accused of killing a spy who was searching for the secret plans of an anti-aircraft gun designed by Perrins. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1936
British journalist Guy Newall falls hard for comely model Mary Glynne. For her part, Glynne is engaged to blustery nobleman Eric Cowley. For his part, Cowley spends most of his time trying to avoid his predatory ex-wife. It all ends in a nightclub floor show, just like a Hollywood film. Grand Final was released in the US by Paramount Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Immediately grabbing the audience's attention with a heart-stopping opening scene in a dark graveyard, acclaimed British director David Lean realizes the cinematic potential of Charles Dickens' classic 1861 novel, and the result is considered by many to be one of the finest literary adaptations ever made as well as one of the greatest British films of all time. Crystallized into a tight 118-minute running time by Lean, Ronald Neame, and a corps of uncredited contributors, this is the story of young Pip, a lad of humble means whose training as a gentleman is bankrolled by a mysterious benefactor. Along the way, Pip falls in love with the fickle Estella, befriends the cheerfully insouciant Herbert Pocket, has memorable encounters with the escaped convict Magwitch and the lunatic dowager Miss Havisham, and almost (but not quite) forgets his modest origins as the foster son of kindhearted blacksmith Joe Gargery. The role of Pip is evenly divided between Anthony Wager as a child and John Mills as an adult; Alec Guinness makes his starring film debut as the jaunty Pocket; Jean Simmons and Valerie Hobson are costarred as the younger and older Estella; and Martita Hunt is unforgettable as the mad Miss Havisham ("It's a fine cake! A wedding cake! MINE!") Remade several times, Great Expectations resurfaced in 1989 as a TV miniseries, with Jean Simmons, originally the young Estella, tearing a passion to tatters as Miss Havisham; and in 1998 it was remade again, in a contemporary version, with Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert DeNiro, and Anne Bancroft in the Miss Havisham role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Valerie Hobson, (more)
Few morale-boosting wartime films have retained their power and entertainment value as emphatically as Noël Coward's In Which We Serve. To witness Coward's sober, no-nonsense direction (in collaboration with his co-director/editor, David Lean) and to watch his straightforward portrayal of navy captain Kinross, one would never suspect that he'd built his theatrical reputation upon sophisticated drawing-room comedies and brittle, witty song lyrics. The real star of In Which We Serve is the British destroyer Torrin. Torpedoed in battle, the Torrin miraculously survives, and is brought back to English shores to be repaired. The paint is barely dry and the nuts and bolts barely in place before the Torrin is pressed into duty during the Dunkirk evacuation. The noble vessel is finally sunk after being dive-bombed in Crete, but many of the crew members survive. As they cling to the wreckage awaiting rescue, Coward and his men flash back to their homes and loved ones, and, in so doing, recall anew just why they're fighting and for whom they're fighting. Next to Coward, the single most important of the film's characters is Shorty Blake, played by John Mills. (Trivia note: Mills' infant daughter Juliet Mills appears as Shorty's baby.) Even so, the emphasis in the film is on teamwork; here as elsewhere, there can be no stars in wartime. For many years, the only prints available to television were from the bowdlerized American version, which crudely cut out all "hells" and "damns." Fortunately, this eviscerated American release has since been shelved in favor of the full, glorious 115-minute version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noël Coward, John Mills, (more)
- 1937
In this British comedy, a working-class father wins a fortune on the football pools and ends up buying a tiny tea shop in the high-class section of town. Both he and his daughter enjoy the high life, especially after she falls in love with a handsome aristocrat. Naturally, his snooty mother is appalled by the romance until at last all is resolved and the class differences cease to matter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1938
This breezy British action comedy stars Gordon Harker as Albert Rughouse, cockney conductor of a passenger bus running the Victoria Station-Epping Forest route. In his spare time, Albert indulges in magic tricks, become rather proficient at sleight-of-hand. This talent serves him well when his bus is commandeerd by foreign spies bent on stealing valuable government aviation plans. Proving that the hand is quicker than the eye, Albert flummoxes the villains and makes the world safe for Democracy once more. No mere programmer, The Lightning Conductor is exceptionally well cast, with such reliables as John Lodge, Sally Gray, Ernst Thesiger and Steven Geray going through their usual expert paces. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon Harker, John Lodge, (more)
- 1936
When 2 people plan to meet on a cruise, they send substitutes who end up falling in love with each other in this comedy. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1935
Superstitious Bouchier doesn't make a move without a sign from her Eastern astrologer Wells until this obsession causes problems in her marriage. When she gives her husband business tips, the stars prove to be correct! ~ All Movie Guide
