Lawrence Huntington Movies
Active in films from 1929, journeyman British filmmaker Lawrence Huntingdon wrote, produced and directed dozens of suspense films and melodramas. Many of Huntingdon's efforts were unremarkable; exceptions to this rule include Wanted for Murder (1946), Upturned Glass (1947), Mr. Perrin and Mr. Trail (1948). He later trafficked in horror films, the best of which was the Vincent Price starrer The Oblong Box (1967). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1969
When Sir Edward Markham (Alastair Williamson) is horribly disfigured by African natives, he is kept chained and out of sight by his brother Julian (Vincent Price). When Sir Edward escapes, he goes on a killing spree in a desperate attempt to get even with the society that has made him a monstrous outcast. Julian enlists the help of African witch doctor N'Galo (Harry Baird) for medicine to make Sir Edward appear dead so he can be evicted from the house. Dr. Neuhardt (Christopher Lee) attempts to help the hideous human. There are plenty of female corpses around to drip rivers of fresh, hot blood in this feature, the 13th Edgar Allan Poe story in which Price has appeared. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, (more)
- 1967
Also released under the title Manutara, this sci-fi film features scientist Professor Koniglich (Akim Tamiroff) as he attempts to seek revenge on the descendants of the 18th-century family who killed his ancestor. When his atomic experiment goes wrong, Koniglich finds himself transformed into a giant vulture with the face of a man, and he sets out to exact his revenge in his new horrific form. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hutton, Akim Tamiroff, (more)
- 1967
All available information indicates that Manutara was a working title for the infamous horror-rama The Vulture. Broderick Crawford plays Brian Stroud, the scion of an accursed Cornish family. Two hundred years earlier, a Spanish seafarer, buried alive with his pet vulture, placed an onus on the heads of everyone in Stroud's family. Stroud's scientist brother-in-law, Dr. Eric Lutens (Robert Hutton), is worried that the curse will strike again, especially after discovering a huge vulture's nest. Sure enough, Akim Tamiroff, the descendant of the unfortunate sailor, has developed a hideous mutant -- an enormous vulture with the face of a human being. The best scene occurs when Brian Stroud (or Broderick Crawford's stuntman) is carried aloft by a pair of papier-mâché talons. Filmed in color but released in the U.S. in black-and-white, The Vulture was restored to its full-hued splendor (if that is the word) for its ubiquitous late-night TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Death Drums Along the River was the come-on American title for this 1963 remake of 1935's Sanders of the River. Both films were loosely based on a very popular Edgar Wallace novel. Richard Todd assumes the leading role of Harry Sanders (originally R. G. Sanders), a British police investigator working in Africa. While counting the clues in a hospital murder case, Sanders is led to hidden diamond mine. The patronizing racial attitudes prevalent in the first Sanders of the River have been muted and altered out of respect for the ever-changing Africa of the 1960s. Sanders did well enough to inspire a 1964 sequel, Coast of Skeletons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
The Fur Collar is the principal clue in a mystery involving an espionage ring. Reporter John Bentley, assigned to the Paris beat, does his best to route out the spies. When his enemies try to assassinate him, Bentley pretends to be dead, the better to work undercover. Martin Benson co-stars as Inspector Legrain, Bentley's friendly enemy. Fur Collar was assembled by the ill-named production firm of Albatross. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
A movie star is typecast as a ruthless gangster. His troubles begin when he gets reality confused with his job and becomes deluded into believing that he really is a mobster. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this British thriller, a rich fellow kills a young woman's lover. She gets her revenge upon him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this murder mystery, the trouble begins when a young woman marries a British lawyer. Her jealous ex-boy friend gets his revenge by convincing her that she has killed her husband's ex-girl friend. The bride then offers him money to stay quiet and dispose of the corpse. Unfortunately, the dead woman's other ex-lover sees the two together. After getting his money from the bride, the crook takes the body to an isolated area. There he discovers that the woman is not feigning death; she has been killed by the ex-lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Before Lee Patterson established himself as an American soap opera star, he made scores of minor-league British films. In Deadly Record, Patterson plays an aviator accused of killing his wife. The actual miscreant is obvious to the audience, but the dimwitted cops continue to persecute Our Hero. Finally, Patterson uncovers the evidence (see the title) that clears himself and points to the genuine murderer. This 58-minute timekiller was adapted from a novel by Nina Warner Hooke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
In this thriller, a husband gets into all sorts of trouble when his wife takes a lengthy vacation without him. First he gets romantically involved with the chanteuse at a local nightclub. Next she tells him that her brother has gotten in trouble over some stolen diamonds. In truth, the woman desperately wants the stones for herself. She tricks the wayward husband into believing that he killed a man after he buys them two tickets out of the country. He then decides that it is better to face the music, and opts to stay and confess. The singer, too reconsiders, and decides to stay with him until his name is cleared. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
England's Richard Greene and France's Anouk Aimee (here billed simply as Anouk) star in the fast-paced espionager Contraband Spain. Greene is cast as American federal agent Lee, who is dispatched to the French-Spanish border to break up a smuggling ring. Making things difficult for Lee is the fact that his own brother is one of the smugglers. Aimee plays Elena, a nightclub singer who plays both sides, but who eventually links up with Lee. As British customs official Ricky, Michael Denison virtually reprises his foppish "Algernon Moncrieff" characterization from The Importance of Being Earnest--but his broad behavior is all part of the plot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Greene
- 1954
This film offers a trio suspenseful dramas. In the first, an unhappy wife refuses to mourn the death of her husband, a miner who was trapped in a mining accident. Instead, she gets herself a new lover. Unfortunately, the husband survived. In the second episode, one sister saves the other, who has been betrothed by locking the groom away. Unfortunately, she has locked away the wrong man. In the final vignette, a saboteur plants a bomb in a factory and must escape before it goes off. Unfortunately, just as he thinks he is home free, a helpful coworker returns the lunchbox he left behind in his haste to leave. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1954
This anthology is comprised of three stories. In the first a naive American tycoon boards the famous Orient Express and finds himself victimized by con-artists until a helpful train guard comes to aid him. The second tale centers on an impoverished Irishman's daughter who wants to marry the son of a miserly Scottsman. She and he are told they cannot marry, but the Irishman steps in and saves the day. The third tale centers upon a Norwegian artist who kills his own brother. It is his own wife who sees that he gets his come-uppance. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1953
A dead man offers an escape for prison fugitive, Jones, who discovers the look-alike body and exchanges identities only to find out later that the dead man was a spy. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1953
In this comedy, a diamond merchant's secretary gets fired by her new boss for being too efficient. She ends up kidnapped by a ring of jewel thieves. The clever hostage soon convinces the crook that she is with them and joins the gang. She then sneaks a note to her former boss and he comes to save her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1953
This anthology contains three loosely related tales. The first is set in a POW camp where two men fight for a seat on an escape plane. In the next story, a son is bitterly disappointed to discover that his late mother was not perfect. In the final tale, the love between a genie and a human is chronicled. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Two of the British film industry's most potent comic talents appear in One Wild Oat. Robertson Hare heads the cast as distinguished barrister Humphrey Proudfoot, whose daughter Cherrie (June Sylvaine) is about to marry. Unfortunately, Cherrie's fiancé is Fred Gilbey (Andrew Crawford), the son of notorious philanderer Alfred Gilbey (Stanley Holloway). Fearing that Fred intends to follow in Alfred's footsteps (so to speak), Proudfoot does his best to undermine the romance. Gilbey turns the tables by threatening to reveal Proudfoot's own past indiscretions (including one that Gilbey has completely fabricated). It is up to the wives of the two old antagonists to solve matters and pave the way for a happy ending. One Wild Oat was co-adapted by Vernon Sylvaine from his own stage farce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robertson Hare, Stanley Holloway, (more)
- 1950
Set in a quiet British village, Franchise Affair details the ramifications of a malicious lie. Schoolgirl Ketty Kane (Ann Stephens) hopes to cover up her own misbehavior by claiming that two local women, Marion Sharpe (Dulcie Gray) and Marion's mother (Marjorie Fielding), have kidnapped and abused her. Though the authorities swallow Ketty's story, village lawyer Robert Blair (Michael Dennison) had his doubts. Risking ostracism from the community, Blair quietly sets about to prove the innocence of the two women. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dulcie Gray, Anthony Nicholls, (more)
- 1949
A man recently gone AWOL from the Army (Derek Farr) is arrested in a store robbery that occurred while he was shopping. With help from a beautiful lawyer (Joan Hopkins), he must prove his innocence. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, (more)
- 1948
The "progressive" new British teaching methods of 1948 are sharply contrasted with the tried-and-true methods of the past in Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill. Self-content and thoroughly set in his ways, college instructor Vincent Perrin (Marius Goring) resents the arrival of non-traditional young prof David Traill (David Farrar). Exacerbating the situation is the fact that both Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill are both in love with Isobel Lester (Greta Gynt). Descending into petty, crass behavior, Mr. Perrin typifies all that was wrong with the postwar educational system; still, he is not entirely sympathetic, nor is the aggressive Mr. Traill 100% likeable. Based on a novel by Hugh Walpole, Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill remains surprisingly timely when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Farrar, Marius Goring, (more)
- 1947
James Mason stars in The Upturned Glass as a prosperous British brain surgeon. Mason saves Rosamund John's daughter from blindness, whereupon the married John falls in love with the doctor. The illicit lovers conduct a passionate affair while John's husband is out of the country. When John dies mysteriously, Mason suspects that the culprit is his own jealous sister-in-law Pamela Kellino (Mason's real-life wife at the time). Acting on his suspicions, Mason murders Kellino, stuffs her body in the trunk of his car, and drives to parts unknown to dispose of the corpse. Before he is able to do this, Mason is called to the home of a dying child. Despite the risk of being exposed as a murderer, Mason leaves his car unattended to rush to the side of the stricken child. The film doesn't end very happily for Mason, but he is mildly comforted by the fact that he has remained loyal to the Hippocratic oath. Upturned Glass is a virtual compendium of late-1940s British melodramatic devices: tortured hero, well-planned crime, moonlight-drenched photography, lengthy flashbacks, quasi-classical music score, and the rest of the repertoire. The film was coproduced by James Mason, and cowritten by Mason's wife and costar Pamela Kellino. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Rosamund John, (more)
- 1947
Years ago a woman discovers that she married a bigamist and gives her baby boy to a couple for adoption. Now she has remarried and wants the baby back. This heart-wrenching drama chronicles her attempts to do so. Unfortunately, the boy loves his adoptive mother, not her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Roc, Rosamund John, (more)
Anne Fielding (Dulcie Gray), a shop clerk, meets Jack Williams (Derek Farr), a bus conductor, on the London Underground. She's delayed by the train for a meeting with her friend Victor Colebrooke (Eric Portman) at Hampstead Heath; the two of them take a liking to each other while she's trying to find Victor. She finally locates him and they leave at virtually the same moment that a young woman is found strangled -- the latest in a series of six stranglings in London. The police investigate anyone who might have been with the victim -- that includes Jack, who was seen leaving in a fury late in the evening, and Victor, whose handkerchief was found in the vicinity of the body by a derelict. In a neatly Hitchcockian twist, however, the police soon get on to the right man, but between the ineptitude of one officer and sheer bad luck, Scotland Yard is unable to make an arrest or even secure a search warrant. A bizarre cat-and-mouse game ensues as Inspector Conway (Roland Culver) tries to pressure the killer into tipping his hand, which puts Anne in deadly danger. It all comes down to a race against time through London as all of the threads draw together, but around whose neck? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Portman, Dulcie Gray, (more)
- 1946
If nothing else, the British melodrama Night Boat to Dublin had topicality going for it. As Captain David Grant, Robert Newton heads the cast of this spy-hunt caper. The plot concerns the efforts to rescue a Swedish scientist from the clutches of Nazi ringleader Keitel (Herbert Lom) and his minions. The scientist is of course of the "atomic" variety, meaning that it's crucial to smuggle him to safety before the Germans can learn his secrets. The authentic Dublin dialects heard throughout the film add charm and authenticity to the proceedings, though they are a bit hard to understand at times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Newton, Raymond Lovell, (more)
