Adrianne Allen Movies
British actress Adrianne Allen first played leads on the London and Broadway stages before launching a sporadic film career as a lead and supporting actress in the 1930s. She was married to actor Raymond Massey from 1929-39; their children Anna and Daniel Massey both grew up to be actors. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1954
Mystery writer Gale assists the police in solving the mysterious death of a person found with 2 cigarette butts and an empty cigarette pack at the bottom of a cliff. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1953
This British comedy centers around the game of Cricket. It is set as the British team and their legendary cricket player Sam Palmer, prepare for a big match with the Australians. It will be his swan song in the game. His son Reggie, a fledgling poet, must make a difficult decision. On one hand, he really wants to attend his father's final game, but on the other, he has also been invited to the home of world famous poet Alexander Whitehead. It is Whitehead who solves the dilemma as he is a Cricket fanatic. Together he and the boy speed off to the match. Actual Cricket players appear in the film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Warner, Robert Morley, (more)
- 1948
This multistoried drama purports to detail the events occurring in a single 24-hour period on Bond Street, a "typical" British thoroughfare. The Grand Hotel-like construction of the film allows for several colorful character vignettes. The "dramatis personae" includes an unpredictably temperamental dressmaker, a blinded war veteran, an escaped POW, a gang of blackmailers, and the owner of a valuable string of pearls. Linking the four main plotlines together is the impending wedding of Julia Chester-Barratt (Hazel Court in her pre-horror days). The presence of Roland Young in the cast assured Bond Street a few healthy American bookings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrianne Allen, Hazel Court, (more)
- 1948
Adapted by Eric Ambler from his own novel, The October Man centers around Jim Ackland (played by John Mills), who has been involved in a terrible accident that killed a friend's daughter and has given Ackland a brain injury. Despondent after his release from the hospital, Ackland moves into a hotel, where he meets Molly Newman (Kay Walsh). Molly has a hard time making ends meet, and must fight off the advances of another man who is willing to pay her rent if she will sleep with him. She asks Ackland to loan her money for the rent; he does, but she is found murdered soon after. Ackland is suspected of committing the deed and, due to his mental problems, he doesn't know if he is innocent. With the help of the kindly Jenny (Joan Greenwood), who believes in him, he sets out to clear his name. The October Man was the directorial debut of Roy Ward Baker, who had been an assistant to Alfred Hitchcock. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrianne Allen, John Mills, (more)
- 1948
In this comedy, the Huggett family patriarch decides to run for public office. His entire platform is built upon a promise to construct a war memorial. Unfortunately, he wants to build it on a parcel of his wife's land. She doesn't want anything there so her niece fakes her signature and the land gets donated. Fortunately, the candidate's daughter finds out about her conniving cousin and is able to save her father's name and his election. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
In this racy comedy, a harem girl desiring to escape her life, stows away on the boat of a wealthy archaeologist as it sails for England where the young nobleman is slated to receive a large inheritance. He soon finds her, and she pleads with him to let her go on to England where she has a few relatives. He agrees, and then allows her to stay at his home during her search. It is not long before they fall in love. Unfortunately, a friend of the archaeologist tells the girl that her lover cannot possibly marry her. The distressed girl run away to Paris with an oily womanizer. Soon her true love follows to save her. He finds her singing in a cafe. He also learns that she and the gigolo were not together long. Casting notions of social convention to the wind, the nobleman asks for her hand. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lupe Velez, Ian Hunter, (more)
- 1932
If only Merrily We Go To Hell was as interesting as its title! To escape an arranged marriage, heiress Joan Prentice (Sylvia Sidney) elopes with reporter Jerry Corbett (Fredric March). Unfortunately, Corbett is not only irresponsible, but also an abusive drunkard. To make matters worse, predatory Claire Hempstead (Adrienne Ames) has set her mind on stealing Corbett away from the hapless Joan. Finally fed up with her besotted mate, Joan walks out on him, only to discover that she's pregnant. The prospect of impending fatherhood causes Corbett to shape up and "dry out" in a hurry, but one still has doubts whether he'll be able to keep his promise never to touch another drop of liquor. Cary Grant has a tiny role as a stage actor in this unsettling blend of romance, drinking jokes, and Victorian melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Fredric March, (more)
- 1932
A multi-character drama set in a suburban neighborhood, The Night of June 13th takes place in four households. One of these is inhabited by unhappy husband Clive Brook, who is accused of murdering his wife. Actually, she has committed suicide, but those neighbors who could provide Brook with an alibi remain silent for selfish reasons of their own. Leavening the dramatic content is the comedy relief of Mary Boland and Charlie Ruggles as a married couple with in-law problems. Brook is saved at the last minute by an elderly neighbor who blasts the cowardice of the other suburbanites. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Brook, Lila Lee, (more)
- 1931
Two prolific British character actors contributed to the production end of The Woman Between; its script was adapted from Conflict, a play by Miles Malleson, and it was directed by Miles Mander (best to avoid any cracks about "miles and miles"). Adrienne Allen plays Lady Pamela, the daughter of nobleman Earl Bellingdon (C.M. Hallard) -- and the mistress of Conservative parliamentary candidate Tremayne (David Hawthorne), her father's best friend. Tremayne's well-ordered lifestyle is upset when Cambridge classmate Tom Smith (Owen Nares), now down on his luck, hits Tremayne up for a five-pound loan. Using the money to get back on his feet, Smith enters the world of politics as a Labor candidate, and within months he is running against Tremayne in an impending election. Pamela becomes the "Woman Between" of the title when she falls in love with Smith, leading to a political scandal of potentially cataclysmic dimensions. The Woman Between was retitled The Woman Decides in the U.S., to avoid confusion with a like-vintage RKO picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1931
In this drama, a man gives up his own life to keep his philandering wife's lover from being killed in a mining accident. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1931
The British Black Coffee starred Austin Trevor in one of his many appearances as Agatha Christie's pompous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Adapted from a Christie play, the film takes place during a house party in a rural British mansion. A famous but much-hated scientist is killed, and several of his valuable papers are missing. The insufferably brilliant Poirot rapidly determines the cause of death and the motive. Narrowing down the suspects to the most likely culprit takes a bit longer-75 minutes, in fact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Austin Trevor, Elizabeth Allan, (more)
- 1930
In this drama, a female reporter gets blackmailed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Owen Nares, Edna Best, (more)
