Gillian Lynne Movies

This historical look back at the Pirelli Calendar, featuring the sensuous women with Pirelli tire marks across their backs, and a look at the choreography of the 1988 edition. ~ All Movie Guide

Barbra Streisand's directorial debut, Yentl, is a musical adaptation of a story by the beloved Jewish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer. Yentl (Streisand) is a young woman who wants nothing more than to study religious scripture. She is denied that possibility because she is a woman. She moves, passes herself off as a male named Anshel, and then begins her studies. She becomes close to fellow student Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin), eventually falling in love with him, although she can not reveal her true self as she would then be expelled. Avigdor is in love with Hadass (Amy Irving), but religious law forbids him from marrying her. Avigdor attempts to fix Anshel up with Hadass, leading to Hadass falling in love with Anshel. Yentl received four Academy Award nominations, including two Best Song nods. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Dale Wasserman's long-running Broadway smash comes to the screen in this musical based on Miguel de Cervantes' classic satire Don Quixote de la Mancha. Cervantes (Peter O'Toole) is arrested and put in prison by the soldiers of the Spanish Inquisition after staging a comic performance which mocked the Spanish government. Cervantes' fellow inmates are eager to divvy up his belongings, but the author is desperate to save a manuscript of his latest work; in order to win the prisoners over, he stages, with their assistance, his latest comedy about the delusional knight Don Quixote (O'Toole). Don Quixote, with the help of his loyal manservant Sancho Panza (James Coco), is determined to battle evil, though he most often finds himself combating windmills. Don Quixote encounters the beautiful virgin Dulcinea -- personified by a jailed prostitute, Aldonza (Sophia Loren) -- and is certain he has found the love of his life. However, tragedy befalls Don Quixote when a band of savages rape Dulcinea as he sleeps, and he must decide where his greatest loyalty lies when his niece Antonia (Julie Gregg) arrives, asking Quixote to please return home to his family. In a move which was widely criticized at the time of the film's release, Peter O'Toole's singing voice was dubbed for most of his musical numbers, while Sophia Loren did all of her own vocal tracks. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

British musical star Tommy Steele had starred in Half a Sixpence in London and on Broadway, thus he was first choice for this garish film version. Based on the H.G. Wells story Kipps (previously filmed in 1941 with Michael Redgrave), Half a Sixpence tells the tale of a humble London drapery clerk (Steele) who inherits a fortune. He briefly forgets his old mates and his faithful girl friend (Julia Foster), but soon discovers that High Society isn't his cup of tea. Filmed during the "monster musical" cycle fostered by The Sound of Music, Half a Sixpence isn't really suited for the spectacular approach dictated by co-producer Charles H. Schneer. Fortunately, the guiding directorial hand is the film's other producer: George Sidney, a veteran of MGM's Arthur Freed unit, who knew how to successfully weld music with story. Thanks to Sidney and star Steele, Half a Sixpence never gets too out of hand, though we'd argue with some of the eyestrain-inducing color choices in the bigger numbers. The film might have done better at the box office had the score yielded a few hit songs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A group of high-spirited youngsters finds friendship, love, and music together while working summer jobs at a holiday camp in this Merseybeat musical. Gerry (John Leyton) is a bartender who fantasizes about being a famous pop star. Christina (Grazina Frame) is an upper-class bird who sneaks off to be a waitress against the wishes of her Aunt Winifred (Hazel Hughes), who would rather she keep up her operatic voice lessons with the great Italian maestro Professor Bastinado (Ron Moody). Susan and Jennifer (Susan and Jennifer Baker) are boy-crazy twins who work in the nursery, and Timothy Gilben (Mike Sarne) is the arrogant nightclub singer who signs on as the camp's entertainer before realizing his audience will be a gaggle of preschoolers. The camp's annual talent show is to be televised live this season, so the gang sets aside their jockeying for each other's affections long enough to form a musical group. They need to practice in secret to keep Christina away from her meddling Aunt Winifred, but Gerry's father (Michael Ripper) recognizes the Professor as a Cockney comic from the old music hall days, and the outed Bastinado is forced to help the kids if he wants to keep his secret. British Invasion pop stars Freddie and the Dreamers appear as five musical, madcap chefs and sing two numbers, while Liverpool beat group the Mojos supply some hard teenage blues during a swinging dance club scene. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

A persuasive ad man cons a British TV makeup artist to slip in a promotion for Bonko Detergent during a show in this comedy. The ploy is a success until the makeup man is fired. He and the ad man team up and create a pirate station that broadcasts their commercials into other shows. They soon find themselves in trouble when thieves, believing their roving broadcast van is filled with gold, steal the vehicle. The adman radios the police and the robbers are captured. This leads him to get a new job with the television network. The makeup man then interrupts the man's first show with his commercials. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Though his Hollywood career had petered out, Tom Conway continued to star in British films throughout the 1950s. In Last Man to Hang, Conway heads the cast as Roderick, who at present is on trial for his life. Accused of poisoning his wife, Roderick's fate rests in the hands of the jury, who must decide whether or not the death was accidental. The most damning evidence is provided by Roderick's housekeeper Mrs. Tucker (Freda Jackson), who will do anything to see her ex-employer swinging from a gibbet. The title refers to the British Parliament's mid-1950s efforts to outlaw capital punishment; this legislation would in fact not come about until after the miscarriage of justice dramatized in 1972's Ten Rillington Place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide