John Mills Movies

Years before the story proper in The Wrong Box gets under way, a "tontine" is drawn up on behalf several young British boys. Each of the boys' parents had placed 1000 pounds in a pool, to be invested and expanded upon. The resultant fortune will go to the last surving member of the tontine. A series of montages depicts the various demises of the heirs (our favorite occurs when one of them is inadvertently beheaded while being knighted by Queen Victoria). Finally, only two of the tontine participants are left: aged brothers Ralph Richardson and John Mills. On his last legs, Mills is determined that Richardson will not outlive him, and to that end attempts to kill his brother; each attempt fails spectacularly, with the doddering Richardson none the wiser. Standing to benefit from the tontine are Mills' dimwitted med-student son Michael Caine and Richardson's greedy nephews Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. When Richardson is supposedly killed in a train wreck, Cook and Moore don't want the authorities to find out, so they appropriate what they think is their uncle's corpse and ship it home in a box. Thus it is that Caine finds the body of a perfect stranger on his doorstep. The farcical complications begin flying about thick and fast from this point onward. Among the participants in this wacky gigglefest are such formidable talents as Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Wilfred Lawson, Thorley Walters, Norman Rossington, Irene Handl and Cicely Courtenedge. Based on a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Wrong Box is a delightful harkback to the glory days of Britain's Ealing comedies. We were so wrapped up in the story that we didn't even notice all those TV antennae sprouting up on the rooftops of Victorian London. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This big-budget, big-studio espionage film is set in the last years of World War II. George Peppard, Tom Courtenay and Jeremy Kemp parachute into Germany, with orders to destroy the Nazis' V-1 rocket base at Peenemunde. Given the order of billing, guess which special operative survives the longest. This being an MGM production, Peppard has time to commiserate with Sophia Loren, the wife of the Nazi collaborator whom Peppard is pretending to be. If you're wondering about the film's outcome, remember who won the war. Operation Crossbow failed badly in its first release; MGM, deciding that the title misled moviegoers into thinking that the picture was a "Robin Hood" derivation, cleared up matters by renaming the film The Great Spy Mission. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film adaptation of Edith Bagnold's play stars Deborah Kerr as Miss Madrigal, the secretive new governess of British "problem child" Laurel (Hayley Mills). Both Madrigal and faithful butler Maitland (John Mills) are aware that Laurel's atrocious behavior stems from her belief that her oft-married mother (Elizabeth Sellars) does not love her. Madrigal determines to straighten out Laurel before she becomes totally unmanageable and hurts someone else. She knows what she's doing; Madrigal has just been released from a long prison term, having been charged with the murder of her stepsister. Dame Edith Evans steals every scene she's in as Laurel's wealthy grandmother, who is pulled away from tending her precious garden only when it appears that she has a murderess in her house (the old lady indicates that she's somewhat thrilled by the prospect). The Chalk Garden represented a "stretch" for Hayley Mills, who previously had been confined to sugary-sweet Disney heroines. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful WW II thriller, the hard-bitten commander of a British battleship stationed in Alexandria Harbor early in the war must force two captured Italian frogmen to tell him whether or not they planted time-bombs upon the ship's hull. The captives are uncooperative and the captain has them wait with the crew for the ship to explode. The minutes tick by and the increasingly nervous British sailors begin questioning their leader's judgment. Eventually, one of the hostages cracks and tells them that there is one mine, but he refuses to divulge its location or the time of detonation. The captain evacuates the ship and leaves the prisoners behind. He remains aboard and surreptitiously eavesdrops upon them. When he learns the mine's location, he attempts to have the bomb removed. Unfortunately he is too late and the ship is badly damaged. Desiring to fool the Italian reconnaissance planes he knows will come, the captain puts most of his crew on deck to make the Italian fliers think their mission failed. Meanwhile other crewmen frantically try to repair the ruined hull below deck. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This unusual western concerns the conflict between a priest and a Mexican bandito from A Night to Remember (1958) director Roy Baker. Father Keogh (John Mills) is a Catholic priest who arrives in the remote Mexican village of Quantano to build a congregation, unaware that the town is terrorized by the ruthless criminal Anacleto (Dirk Bogarde). An atheist, Anacleto has forbidden worship, so when Keogh holds services, Anacleto retaliates by murdering the locals in alphabetical order. Keogh refuses to back down. Impressed by his valor, Anacleto calls his men off and makes the priest an offer -- he'll spare him if he determines which inspires greater good, "the singer" (the priest) or "the song" (religion). Keogh doesn't answer. Meanwhile, one of the clergyman's followers, the young girl Locha (Mylene Demongeot), flees when her family, realizing that she's in love with Keogh, arranges a marriage with someone more suitable. Anacleto finds the girl and offers Keogh another deal. He'll let the girl live if the priest will admit his failure before his congregation. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Two excellent actors shine in powerful roles in this drama by Ronald Neame that pits one Scottish army colonel against another. Alec Guinness is Lt. Col. Jock Sinclair, a man who temporarily takes over command of a regiment until his replacement, Col. Basil Barrow (John Mills) arrives. Sinclair comes from the lower echelons of the social order but was at least able to work himself up the echelons in the military hierarchy. He is fairly well-liked though still a little rough around the edges for some. When Barrow takes over, the two men clash almost at once. Barrow is from the upper crust, went to all the "right" schools, and believes in discipline and then a little more discipline, as well as efficient and proper bureaucratic processes. The differences between the two men threaten to rupture the unity of the regiment, especially after Sinclair assaults a soldier he finds in the company of his daughter. Barrow opts to report his behavior, leading to a climactic series of events. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Twelve-year-old Hayley Mills made her film starring debut in the location-filmed melodrama Tiger Bay. Horst Buchholz plays a Polish sailor who, while docked in Cardiff, jealously murders his ex-girlfriend Yvonne Mitchell. The killing is witnessed by Hayley, a lonely, hoydenish preteen whose only interest in the crime is Buccholz' abandoned gun. Hayley picks up the weapon, intending to impress the other kids in town. She succeeds only in attracting the attention of police inspector John Mills (Hayley's real life father), who wants to know where she found the gun and under what circumstances. An experienced liar, Hayley drives the inspector crazy with her fabrications. Sent home with a stern reprimand, Hayley is kidnapped by Buccholz, who doesn't want to kill the child, but doesn't want to be revealed to the police, either. Convinced that Buchholz means her no harm, Hayley offers to help him escape. He returns the favor by rescuing her from a watery grave, at the cost of his own freedom. On the basis of her performance in Tiger Bay, Hayley Mills not only won a special prize at the Berlin Film Festival, but was invited to star in Disney's Pollyanna (1960). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The British Ice Cold in Alex was released in the US as Desert Attack. John Mills stars as Captain Anson, a grumbling alcoholic sent on a WW2 mission to Alexandria. Travelling to his destination by ambulance, Anson becomes acquainted with his fellow passengers, nurses Sister Diane Murdoch (Sylvia Syms) and Sister Denise Norton (Mary Clare) and South African officer Captain Van Der Poel (Anthony Quayle). One of these worthies is a German spy-and only two of the passengers will survive until the fade-out. For its American release, Ice Cold in Alex was not only given a new title, but was also trimmed from 132 minutes to 79. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the most significant moments in the history of British warfare (in both the best and worst sense) is given reverent but reserved treatment in Dunkirk. The film takes place during the 1940 evacuation of Allied troops across the English channel. One party of British soldiers becomes detached from the rest of the retreating Allies. John Mills plays an inexperienced lance corporal who resists an increase in rank, but when the chips are down performs with courage and authority in organizing the lost troop and shepherding them to Dunkirk. Running 135 minutes in its original release (much of the footage comprised of newsreel shots), Dunkirk was based on two novels: Eleston Trever's The Big Pick-Up and Lt. Col. Ewan Hunter and Maj. J. S. Bradford's Dunkirk. The above time pertains to the original British theatrical version; the film was reedited and shortened to 113 minutes for U.S. release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally released in Britain as The Circle, The Vicious Circle was based on the BBC TV series The Brass Candlestick. John Mills plays a respected doctor who comes home one evening to find the body of a murdered actress of his acquaintance. The police are summoned, and the murder weapon is found in the trunk of Mills' car. Realizing that the authorities will be useless in a case like this, Mills turns amateur sleuth to find out who's behind the frameup. The Vicious Circle eschews the cliffhanging elements of the TV version for a straightforward, step-by-step approach, with John Mills gradually catching on to the truth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Razzle-dazzle showman Michael Todd hocked everything he had to make this spectacular presentation of Jules Verne's 1872 novel Around the World in 80 Days, the second film to be lensed in the wide-screen Todd-AO production. Nearly as fascinating as the finished product are the many in-production anecdotes concerning Todd's efforts to pull the wool over the eyes of local authorities in order to cadge the film's round-the-world location shots--not to mention the wheeling and dealing to convince over forty top celebrities to appear in cameo roles. David Niven heads the huge cast as ultra-precise, supremely punctual Phileas Fogg, who places a 20,000-pound wager with several fellow members of London Reform Club, insisting that he can go around the world in eighty days (this, remember, is 1872). Together with his resourceful valet Passepartout (Cantinflas), Fogg sets out on his world-girdling journey from Paris via balloon. Meanwhile, suspicion grows that Fogg has stolen his 20,000 pounds from Bank of England. Diligent Inspector Fix (Robert Newton) is sent out by the bank's president (Robert Morley) to bring Fogg to justice. Hopscotching around the globe, Fogg pauses in Spain, where Passepartout engages in a comic bullfight (a specialty of Cantinflas). In India, Fogg and Passepartout rescue young widow Princess Aouda (Shirley MacLaine, in her third film) from being forced into committing suicide so that she may join her late husband. The threesome visit Hong Kong, Japan, San Francisco, and the Wild West. Only hours short of winning his wager, Fogg is arrested by the diligent Inspector Fixx. Though exonerated of the bank robbery charges, he has lost everything--except the love of the winsome Aouda. But salvation is at hand when Passepartout discovers that, by crossing the International Date Line, there's still time to reach the Reform Club. Will they make it? See for yourself. Among the film's 46 guest stars, the most memorable include Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, Jose Greco, Frank Sinatra, Peter Lorre, Red Skelton, Buster Keaton, John Mills, and Beatrice Lillie. All were paid in barter--Ronald Colman did his brief bit for a new car. Newscaster Edward R. Murrow provides opening narration, and there's a tantalizing clip from Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon (1902). Offering a little something for everyone, Around the World in 80 Days is nothing less than an extravaganza, and it won 5 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

War and Peace is a commendable attempt to boil down Tolstoy's long, difficult novel into 208 minutes' screen time. In recreating the the social and personal upheavals attending Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia, $6 million was shelled out by coproducers Carlo Ponti, Dino de Laurentiis and Paramount Pictures. Some of the panoramic battle sequences are so expertly handled by second-unit director Mario Soldati that they appear to be Technicolor-and-Vistavision newsreel footage of the actual events. Still, the film falters dramatically, principally because of a lumpy script and King Vidor's surprisingly lustreless direction. In addition, the casting is wildly consistent: for example, while Audrey Hepburn is flawless as Natasha, Henry Fonda is far too "Yankeefied" as the introspective Pierre. Proving too long and unwieldy for most audiences, War and Peace died at the box office; far more successful was the epic, scrupulously faithful 1968 version, filmed in the Soviet Union. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Recently freed from his MGM contract, Van Johnson headed to England to star in a series of pictures, the first of which was The End of the Affair. Adapted by Lenore Coffee from the novel by Graham Greene, the film casts Johnson as Maurice Bendrix, the clandestine lover of married Briton Sarah Miles (Deborah Kerr). When Maurice disappears during the London blitz, Sarah feels responsible; perhaps if she hadn't been cheating on her husband Henry (Peter Cushing), Maurice might never have been placed in harm's way. She gets down on her knees and prays, promising to return to her husband and give up Maurice if her lover's life is spared. The film's title rather gives the game away. The best performance is delivered by John Mills, as an affable private detective hired by Henry Miles to check up on Sarah's whereabouts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide