Gift SubscriptionsKen Hodges
- 1971
The plight of an English couple struggling to raise a disabled child is given a darkly humorous treatment in this English comedy. Based on the successful stage play by Peter Nichols, the film centers on the parents of Jo, nicknamed "Joe Egg," a mentally challenged invalid subject to violent seizures. The couple (played by Alan Bates and Janet Suzman) attempts to maintain a stoic and occasionally cheerful facade in the face of their daughter's condition, but they find themselves unable to cope with the strain. Faced with the imminent collapse of their marriage, they eventually agree that euthanasia may be the answer to their troubles. Some viewers may consider the subject matter inappropriate for comedy, but the film mines its uneasy laughter not from the child's plight but from the eccentricities of the parents' reactions. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Janet Suzman, (more)
- 1961
In another standard British comedy of the absurd with the usual eccentric characters who play off each other like tennis pros on a court, A Weekend with Lulu centers on the misadventures of the occupants of an ice cream truck and its rundown trailer. Because of a mix-up, the four inside the truck -- two men at odds with each other, a harridan, and her voluptuous daughter -- do not end up at the seashore as they planned. Instead, they are rattling merrily through France, chased by a wild variety of irate groups -- racing cyclists, rogues, and distraught police. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Monkhouse, Leslie Phillips, (more)
- 1970
Someone is sexually assaulting and (usually) killing the students of a girls' school. There are entirely too many suspects to make the job of the Scotland Yard detective (Frank Finlay) an easy one. The girls' persistent use of the shortcut through the woods in which the crimes occur has only compounded the problem. Although one of the victims has survived the attack, shock has erased her memory of the event, and the detective's investigations are perforce guided by the vague impressions of the school's art mistress (Suzy Kendall), who witnessed something. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 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)
- 1953
Background is a tearful flashback drama centering around a dysfunctional family. Valerie Hobson and Philip Friend play a long-married couple on the verge of divorce. As they ponder the question of who will receive custody of their children (Janette Scott, Mandy Miller and Jeremy Spencer), the couple has second thoughts about their upcoming litigation. It is the children who eventually bring Hobson and Friend back together, though the reunion seems strangely without passion. Background was released in the US as Edge of Divorce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Hobson, Rick Hart, (more)
- 1972
In this thriller a race-car driver develops mysterious psychic powers that allow him to warn people of impending danger. No one believes him until he meets an understanding parapsychologist who helps race off to warn those he saw in his terrifying vision. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonard Nimoy, Susan Hampshire, (more)
- 1977
This comedy was the final episode in the "Confessions of.." trio. This time the characters from the previous films are cast as dreadfully untalented entertainers working in a resort. Slapstick ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Askwith, Anthony Booth, (more)
- 1977
Britain's Confessions series, like the Carry On films, were episodic slapstickfests with emphasis on questionable taste. Based on an autobiographical novel by Timothy Lea, the film stars Robin Askwith as a feckless driving teacher named...Tom Lea. His customers range from inept to dangerous. Their "victims" include golfing dowagers, violinists and boy hikers. Somehow or other, a group of former borstal boys (reform school students) gets mixed up with Lea and his reckless charges. Chronologically, Confessions of a Driving Instructor was wedged between Confessions of a Window Cleaner (one of the few series entries to get an American release) and Confessions of Holiday Camp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This lackluster 1970 version of Charles Dickens' classic novel, David Copperfield (made as a film twice before) turns Dickens' picaresque tale into an extended flashback, with David Copperfield (Robin Phillips) as a young man, brooding on a deserted beach, recalling his youth. The characters are all trotted out in choppy flashbacks as David remembers his life as a young orphan, brought to London and passed around from relatives, to guardians, to boarding school. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Cyril Cusack, (more)
- 1962
Conrad Phillips stars as a British secret agent not named James Bond in Dead Man's Evidence. The story is set in motion by the discovery of a dead frogman, washed up on the coast of Ireland. The body is identified as that of a double agent who has sold out to the Russians. In fact, the dead man is innocent. The real culprit is still alive-and murderously protective of his identity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
A fair stab at yet another World War II comedy, this film by Michael Relph features the humorous antics of an ENSA troupe (the British equivalent of the American USO) and an absurd involvement with an army major (Alfred Marks) that leads to the capture of a German commanding officer (Marius Goring). The troupe of entertainers includes a pair of seasoned crooners, a level-headed piano player, a leader who seems to fail equally well at comedy and singing, his wife, and a few others. This disparate group gets mixed up in the Brit Major's agenda and precipitates a series of unexpected circumstances that somehow lead everyone to bumble through to ultimate triumph. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfred Marks, Sidney James, (more)
- 1960
Although there may be a few minor gaps here and there in the storyline, Faces in the Dark is a suspenseful drama by director David Eady. Richard Hammond (John Gregson) owns a factory, and on the very day his wife Christine (Mai Zetterling ) is coming to his office to tell him she wants a divorce, he is accidentally blinded during an experiment. His wife relents in her decision, but Richard is still as abrasive as ever, and now the bumpy spots in his personality are made worse by self-pity and a suspicion that he is losing his sanity. Meanwhile, Richard begins to suspect that the cool and aloof Christine and Richard's partner conspire against him, but as a blind man he has fewer resources to pinpoint why he is suspicious. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gregson, Mai Zetterling, (more)
- 1978
In a Flemish village, pride and cupidity vie for control, and each of them loses. When the villagers hear that a highway might be built near their village, they perk up -- it could be just the thing for their faltering economy. The current mayor has scotched the easiest route, which would take the road through a bird sanctuary he fought to establish. Instead, a few modest houses will be torn down to make way for the road. This is not acceptable to his political opponent, who pulls out all the stops to oppose him on the road issue, in order to defeat him at the polls during the next election. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willeke van Ammelrooy
- 1968
Based on a play by John Osborne, this is one of those movies where the audience pulls for the protagonist but has a hard time actually saying that he IS a protagonist. A highly unlikeable fellow, this protagonist is an attorney in all the ways that make this more an epithet than a profession. He's hated by his office personnel as much as his associates. He's unfaithful to his wife, lousy to his clients, and miserable with his children. Surprisingly, though, Nicol Williamson has taken this nasty person and made us still somewhat care what happens to him. Quite an accomplishment considering the lack of anything at all to love about this misanthrope, but somehow we see just a glimmer of humanity. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicol Williamson, Eleanor Fazan, (more)
This dark drama unfolds in an unnamed community outside of London, where a beleaguered and grief-stricken tavern owner named Jim Radford (James Booth copes with the rape and murder of his young daughter. The remainder of his family shares his distress, and in time, it begins to rip the clan apart. When the young man who is being tried for the crime is let off thanks to paltry connecting evidence, Jim grows desperate and teams up a buddy of his named Harry (Ray Barrett) whose daughter suffered from a like fate - presumably, though not definitively, at the hands of the same killer. The two hone in on the young man who they believe is responsible, kidnap him and torture him in a number of ways. Unfortunately, the youth will not talk and ends up dead. Moreover, in time it becomes apparent that this might not have been the correct individual. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1963
This engaging children's musical finds Billy Bowles (Tommy Steele) as an A & R talent co-ordinator who has grown up as an orphan. He returns every Saturday to play with the orphans in the place he grew up. The sentimental Billy arranges a recording session and a benefit performance to help the institution. He gathers a bevy of song and dance professionals in the spirit of Andy Hardy and puts on a show the kids will never forget. Billy steals the show with his inspired hoofing and crooning. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Steele, Michael Medwin, (more)
- 1975
This bedroom farce seems better suited to a suburban dinner theatre than the Big Screen, but everyone involved strives to please, and often as not they succeed. The plot hinges upon a misdelivered parcel of pornographic postcards, which end up in the hands of a staid banker and his frigid wife. By the middle of the film (read: Act Two), everyone is being mistaken for someone else. By the end (Act Three), the leading characters have dropped their trousers or lost their dresses. No Sex Please, We're British began life as a stage play by Anthony Marriot and Alistair Foot, which ran for years in London--mostly as a tourist attraction for easily entertained Americans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronnie Corbett, Beryl Reid, (more)
- 1952
A small Scottish island has never paid its mandatory road tax. This brings forth an investigating committee of Parliament members, including the formidable Ronald Squire. The committee heads to the delinquent Hebridean isle, where they succumb to the easygoing charm of the residents. Cowritten by director John Eldridge, Laxdale Hall was an adequate imitation of the Ealing farces (notably Tight Little Island), with an overload of whimsy in place of originality. out to the Hebridean isle to check into this breach of law. The film made it to the States under the title Scotch on the Rocks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Squire
Based on the Stephen King short story The Body, Rob Reiner's easygoing nostalgia piece is set in Castle Rock, OR, over Labor Day weekend, 1959. A quartet of boys, inseparable friends all, set out in search of a dead body that one of the boys overhears his brother talking about. The foursome consists of intellectual Gordie (Wil Wheaton), born leader Chris (River Phoenix), emotionally disturbed Teddy (Corey Feldman), and chubby hanger-on Vern (Jerry O'Connell). The boys' adventures en route to the elusive body are colored by the personal pressures brought to bear on all of them by the adult world. Richard Dreyfuss, playing the grown-up Gordie, narrates the film, while Kiefer Sutherland dominates every scene he's in as a brutish high-school bully. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, (more)
- 1977
In this comedy, two soldiers stationed in Singapore set off in pursuit of the fairer sex instead of carrying out their orders. Soon after their arrival on the exotic island, the two visit a local brothel and there encounter a pair of lusty nurses who have also come in for a bit of erotic R&R. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Askwith, Nigel Davenport, (more)
- 1960
Having portrayed Robin Hood on TV for five years, Richard Greene reprises the role in Hammer Films' Sword of Sherwood Forest. This time, Robin does a little undercover work to determine the wicked machinations of the Sheriff of Nottingham (played by Hammer stalwart Peter Cushing). Our Hero and the Merrie Men do their best to foil a plot to kill the Archbishop of Canterbury (Jack Gwillim). Sarah Branch co-stars as the obligatory Maid Marian. Sword of Sherwood Forest was released in the US by Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Greene, Peter Cushing, (more)
- 1952
The Brave Don't Cry aspires to the "feel" of a documentary, right down to the deliberate absence of background music. A mine in Scotland falls victim to a cave-in, trapping some one hundred workers. Rescue parties are formed as the tremulous families of the miners wait in agony. As in the actual incident upon which this film is based, the rescue is nip and tuck and times, but eventually successful. The faces of real-life Scottish mining folk are melded with the professional actors in The Brave Don't Cry, adding poignancy to this otherwise cut-and-dried film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gregson, Meg Buchanan, (more)
- 1969
- PG
This crime drama finds American agent Novak (Yul Brenner) sent to Scotland Yard to help uncover a gang of forgers, murderers and counterfeiters. Even when the British agent Thompson (Edward Woodward) is assigned to help, Novak still remains suspicious of everyone. From Liverpool, the duo traces the Owl (Charles Gray) to London where they hope to meet up with the mysterious gang leader Mr. Big. Novak eventually trusts Thompson as the two close in on the gang that is raking in millions with their illegal activities. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Charles Gray, (more)
- 1966
- AddThe Great St. Trinian's Train Robberyto QueueAddThe Great St. Trinian's Train Robberyto top of Queue
Cartoonist Ronald Searle's delightfully diabolical private-school girls are back in action in The Great St. Trinian's Bank Robbery. Comedian Frankie Howerd plays the head of a train-robbery gang who cleverly hides the loot from their biggest haul (presumably the infamous "Great Train Robbery" of 1963) in a deserted old mansion. The gang waits the traditional seven years for the statute of limitations to run out then returns to the mansion to dig up their $7 million booty. Unfortunately, the joint has been converted into the new site for St. Trinian's School for Girls. Even more unfortunately (for the crooks, but not the audience) those "girls" are all holy terrors. The film's climax occurs during a riotous Parents' Day ceremony, which predictably segues into a wild train chase. Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery might have been funnier had Alastair Sim, the star of the first three "St. Trinian's" entries, made a return appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Howerd, Reg Varney, (more)
- 1967
Two brothers looking to avoid becoming pawns of the establishment come up with a better way of making a living -- through theft -- in this satiric comedy. David Tremayne (Oliver Reed) is a successful London architect, and his younger brother Michael (Michael Crawford) is weighing his options after being kicked out of school. The brothers share a bemused disgust with the world around them and a desire to get through life without the burden of labor; toward this end, one day they begin plotting an elaborate scheme to steal the British Crown Jewels. Mind you, they don't intend to sell them, or even keep them very long -- the idea is to return them after a week, simply to prove that it could indeed be done, and make themselves famous in the process. After studying the procedures of Scotland Yard's Bomb Disposal Unit, the inner working of the Tower of London's Jewel Room, and the London ambulance services, the Tremaynes come up with a foolproof plan -- they call in a bomb threat to the Tower, and they are able to enter the Jewel Room posing as men from the bomb squad. They then feign injury and are able to escape in an ambulance. It all seems simple enough, and it actually works, until Michael "forgets" his part of the agreement to take half of the responsibility for the theft. The supporting cast includes Edward Fox, Frank Finlay, and Harry Andrews. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Crawford, Oliver Reed, (more)
