Anthony Newley Movies
British entertainer Anthony Newley began as a child star, passing for 10 or 11 even as the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist (1948), when in fact he was already of driving and shaving age. As a young leading man, Newley learned the ins and outs of self-promotion, chiefly the ability to convince the populace that he could do anything well. In 1959, he became a pop recording star thanks to his singing appearance in Idle on Parade, but this was only the beginning. Stop the World, I Want to Get Off was cowritten by Newley and Leslie Bricusse, but to the world at large Anthony Newley, who also starred in the play, was the whole show. This 1961 London-to-Broadway musical was a superbly written piece and a success. Newley followed up this production with another stage collaboration with Bricusse, 1965's The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd, this time sharing the spotlight (but not without a struggle) with veteran Cyril Ritchard. Few people can remember the plotlines of either of Newley's musical plays, but such song standards as "What Kind of Fool Am I," "Gonna Build a Mountain," "Look at That Face" and "Where Would You Be?" have become audition standards. Newley's overwhelming stage presence didn't translate that well to films, with Dr. Doolittle being the most obvious example of this (it is said that Newley and co-star Samantha Eggar kidded around on the set so much that Rex "Dr. Doolittle" Harrison had to resoundingly insist upon professional decorum). Since Doolittle, Newley has been content to merely write songs for other people's movies, occasionally stepping before the camera in such pictures as Mr. Quilp (1975) and It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1976). And in 1969, Anthony Newley directed his then-wife Joan Collins in Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness, a woebegone attempt at "hip" which gained fame only through the embarrassed co-starring stints from Milton Berle and George Jessel, and the fact that many American newspapers refused (probably at the request of studio publicity flacks) to mention the film's slightly licentious title in their movie listings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
As indicated by the title, this made-for-TV movie is a remake of the 1954 theatrical feature Three Coins in the Fountain. It's the mixture as before: three pretty American tourists head to Rome, looking for romance. Replacing the original film's Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters and Maggie McNamara are Loni Anderson (who coproduced the remake), Stepfanie Kramer, Shanna Reed. Also appearing is Anthony Newley, reprising the waspish character played in the 1954 version by Clifton Webb. The Oscar-winning title song, performed by Frank Sinatra in the original, is here rendered by Jack Jones. Filmed on location, Coins in the Fountain debuted September 28, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loni Anderson, Stephanie Kramer, (more)
- 1989
There were those in 1989 who bellyached that Disney Television's Polly was a far from faithful adaptation of Eleanor Porter's classic novel Pollyanna. What they meant was that Polly did not resemble the 1960 Hayley Mills movie version of Pollyanna, which itself played fast and loose with the source material. In Polly, The Cosby Show's Keshia Knight Pulliam portrays the "Glad Girl" who brings along a satchelful of happiness and optimism when she visits her wealthy aunt one summer. Tranposing Porter's all-white story to a middle-class black community in the Alabama of the 1950s (Celeste Holm is the only white costar) isn't nearly as self-conscious or gimmicky as it seems on paper. Nor is any damage done to the original by adding musical numbers, especially when taking into consideration that the film was directed by renowned choreographer Debbie Allen (the sister of Phylicia Rashad, who plays Polly's aunt--and who in 1989 was costarring with Keshia Knight Pulliam on a weekly basis on The Cosby Show). Polly scored a boffo ratings hit, prompting Disney TV to assemble a 1990 sequel, Polly: Comin' Home! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
This episode was clearly inspired by the movie megahit Raiders of the Lost Ark--and as such constitutes an elaborate inside joke, referencing the fact that series star Tom Selleck had been forced to relinquish the role of Indiana Jones to Harrison Ford. The plot begins to snowball when Higgins (John Hillerman) dispatches Magnum (Selleck) to locate the "Lost Art of the Ancients" before the scroll's secrets can be put to bad use. Along the way, our hero has a few close (and strangely familiar) encounters with a feisty former girlfirend (Margaret Colin, who later costarred with Selleck in Three Men and a Baby), a sinister foreigner, and a longtime enemy (what, no Sherpa warrior?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Angela Lansbury once again essays the dual role of Maine-based mystery writer Jessica Fletcher and her colorful cousin, British music-hall headliner Emma MacGill. This time around, Emma is suspected of murder when her fiancé, Viscount Geoffrey Constable (Richard Johnson) expires after consuming some poisoned herring. With the same cunning and finesse as cousin Jessica, Emma turns sleuth to clear her name and expose the guilty party. The episode is highlighted by Angela Lansbury's rendition of Jerome Kern's rousing ditty "Spoon With Me", which the actress had previously performed (with a dubbed voice!) in the 1946 theatrical film Till the Clouds Roll By". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The outlaws of country music--including Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson--team up and head across the Southwestern desert braving Indians, brigands and conflict in this made-for television version of John Ford's classic film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
This video-taped performance of the famous clown's circus is hosted by Anthony Newley. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Terry Lester stars as Joe Blade in this unclaimed TV pilot film. An American, Blade works in Hong Kong, the home of his adoptive father Keye Luke. When Luke is killed and a wealthy man is kidnapped, Blade springs into action (Maybe he's a switch-Blade. Forget we said that.) Ellen Regan, Leslie Nielsen, Anthony Newley and a pre-infomercial Nancy Kwan co-star in this location-filmed actioner. Blade in Hong Kong was foisted on the public on May 15, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terry Lester, Keye Luke, (more)
This 1982 made-for-TV version of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland features an all-star cast. Such celebrities as Donald O'Connor, Maureen Stapleton and Eve Arden struggle to perform while buried under mounds of makeup and tons of eccentric costuming as Carroll's alternate-world loonies. Alice in Wonderland was first telecast Oct 3, 1983, on PBS' Great Performances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Malibu is a two-part, four-hour adaptation of William Murray's best-selling novel. William Atherton and Susan Dey play a green-as-grass married couple from Milwaukee who take a vacation in Malibu. Amidst the elite and their million-dollar beach houses, Atherton starts up an affair with divorcee Valerie Perrine, while Dey fends off the attentions of TV star Steve Forrest before succumbing to the charms of tennis pro Chad Everett. Other Southern California satyrs and nymphs wandering in and out of Malibu include James Coburn, Eva Marie Saint, Ann Jillian, Kim Novak, Richard Mulligan, and (who else?) George Hamilton. The multiple story lines all come to a head during a climactic tennis match. Malibu is trash, true, but it's trash cultivated from the highest-quality refuse heaps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
Here three classic animal tales are presented by children's host Dr. Doolittle (Anthony Newley). Stories presented are: Jack London's Call of the Wild, Sterling North's Rascal, and an excerpt from Mel Ellis' The Flight of the White Wolf. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1978
Sammy Davis, Jr. basically plays tribute to himself in this version of Anthony Newly's Broadway/screen musical Stop the World--I Want to Get Off. As in that earlier show, this production started out as a stage show and as the tale progresses, the camera seldom moves. The story centers around a humble coffee seller who impregnates his employer's daughter and ends up becoming a powerful, amoral business tycoon who cheats on his wife every chance he gets. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sammy Davis, Jr., Dennis Daniels, (more)
- 1975
The musical Mr. Quilp was based on one of Dickens' grimmest works, The Old Curiosity Shop, which has as its highlight the death of its heroine. The principal character is a villain, a hunchbacked usurer who wishes to take over the business of an antique dealer. Anthony Newley plays the horrid Mr. Quilp, and is also responsible for the music. Mr. Quilp was produced by Readers Digest Magazine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Newley, David Hemmings, (more)
- 1975
- Add It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time to QueueAdd It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time to top of Queue
In this Canadian comedy, a husband sleeps with his ex-wife on a weekly basis. The busy woman also has time to get involved with an aspiring politician whose career is on the rise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Newley, Isaac Hayes, (more)
- 1968
Sarah Deever (Sandy Dennis) is an idealistic young woman living in Brooklyn. Her altruistic nature finds her taking in visitors for a month at a time to help them in their time of need. Charlie Blake (Anthony Newley) is her latest reclamation project, a cardboard-box factory worker and owner of an annoyingly loud alarm on his wristwatch. Charlie gains entrance to her apartment and eventually her heart when he reveals he always wanted to be a poet. Sarah seeks to overcome her own problems by helping those in need, but her need for Charlie's love soon supersedes her initial intentions. He is allowed to stay for the month of November as she adheres to her traditional deadline on guests. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandy Dennis, Anthony Newley, (more)
- 1966
The Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse London and Broadway musical hit Stop the World, I Want to Get Off is given literal treatment in this filmization. Newley stars as Littlechap, whose allegorical rise to success is countered by the instability of his private life. Like the play, the film is staged impressionistically, with Newley decked out in mime makeup and periodically stopping the action to address the audience, and with all the women in his life -- German, American and "Typically English" -- played by a single actress (Millicent Martin, taking over from the stage version's Anna Quayle). In Wizard of Oz fashion, the play itself is lensed in color, while the brief prologue, showing the actors preparing for their performance, is in black-and-white. The production includes such standards (and perennial audition pieces) as What Kind of Fool Am I? and Gonna Build a Mountain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Tanner, Millicent Martin, (more)
With Goldfinger, the James Bond series took a turn away from relatively straightforward spy thrillers and toward campy gadgetry, extravagant sets, and kitschy jokes. Bond (Sean Connery) has to prevent a notorious gold smuggler, appropriately named Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe), from robbing Fort Knox. Goldfinger is surrounded by evil henchmen such as the sexy female pilot Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) and Oddjob (Harold Sakata), who kills with his steel-rimmed bowler hats. In order to stop Goldfinger, Bond has to survive several perilous situations, including a huge, deadly laser. Goldfinger is one of the most popular films in the James Bond series, and it set the tone not only for the rest of the series but also for most of the action/adventure films of the late '60s and early '70s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, (more)
- 1963
Based on a BBC television program, this underworld drama set in London's Soho district created a different sort of role for star Anthony Newley, normally a performer associated with light musical comedy. Newley is the titular character, the master of ceremonies at a sleazy strip club owned by Gerry (Robert Stephens). Sammy owes a substantial amount of money to a bookie, Fred (Kennth J. Warren), and has only five hours to pay off the debt, but he strikes out with his deli-owner brother Lou (Warren Mitchell). Desperately trying to raise the money before Fred's goons rough him up, Sammy is forced to help a naïve young girl, Patsy (Julia Foster), who shows up to the club ready to strip -- based on Sammy's outrageous claims and promises at an earlier meeting. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Newley, Julia Foster, (more)
- 1963
In this collection of clips from The Judy Garland Show, which ran for 26 episodes on CBS television in 1963 and 1964, the legendary singer and actress performs a number of songs, several of them collaborations with up-and-comer Barbra Streisand, grand dame Ethel Merman, and Garland's own daughter, the then-teenaged Liza Minnelli. Garland's solos include several of her signature numbers, from "I'm Nobody's Baby," which she performed as a fresh-faced MGM star in 1940's Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, to "The Man That Got Away," written especially for 1954's comeback vehicle A Star Is Born. Garland and Streisand alternate friendly banter about hating each other's talent with solo renditions and two extended medleys. The most famous of these pairings is their show-stopping combination of the standards "Get Happy" and "Happy Days Are Here Again"; Garland had performed the former in 1950's Summer Stock, while Streisand recorded the latter the same year the program aired. In another segment, Merman appears in the middle of the audience and joins Streisand and Garland for a leather-lunged rendition of "There's No Business Like Show Business." The Merman and Streisand footage was taped on October 4, 1963, for episode nine of Garland's eponymous program. A sequence featuring three duets and lots of clowning with Minnelli was taped a few months earlier, on July 16, for episode three. Several years after her program was cancelled, Garland was set to play Helen Lawson, a character based on Merman, for the film version of Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls; she was replaced, however, by Susan Hayward. Streisand would go on to star in her own remake of A Star Is Born, while Minnelli would mine her mother's legacy in her own repertoire. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Released in the US in 1963, the British Let's Get Married was actually filmed three years earlier. Anthony Newley plays a medical student who buckles under pressure. Hoping to get accustomed to dealing with people, he takes a job as a delivery boy. While thus employed, he meets and marries model Anne Aubrey, who's been impregnated by her previous beau. When Aubrey goes into early labor, Newley's first impulse is to panic. Will this prove to be his emotional coming of age-or his Waterloo? Based on a novel by Ken Taylor, this lightweight effort allows both Newley and Aubrey to sing a few sprightly tunes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Newley, Anne Aubrey, (more)
- 1960
The late Anthony Newley's star was already rising when he shared billing just after Robert Taylor and before Anne Aubrey in this fast-paced adventure story set in Africa. Adamson (Taylor) is an engineer in charge of a project to set up a railroad track through East Africa, the first of its kind -- well, almost. A rival railway gang is around to give him trouble. Aside from that kind of trouble, Adamson has to handle the convicts who are working underneath him, hungry crocodiles, dangerous lions, rhinos, and similar wild beasts, as well as Jane (Aubrey), a woman along for the duration. His sidekick Hooky (Newley) is a stand-out with his high energy brand of whimsy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Anthony Newley, (more)
- 1960
The "nick" in this standard prison farce is a modernistic, forward-looking jail without bars. At its core of staff are dedicated young psychologist Dr. Newcombe (Anthony Newley) and tough-minded but fair overseer Chief Officer Williams (Harry Andrews). Their jobs are made that much more difficult when four hardened criminals are inexplicably sent to the minimum security prison. The leader of this gang of four is Spider (James Booth) whose main job is to rally his cohorts into defeating a rival gang and lording it over other inmates. Their tactics and the efforts of the good doctor to reform them provide the comic fodder for the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Newley, Anne Aubrey, (more)
- 1960
This is a crime-comedy-musical romance by director Ken Hughes that has an identity problem. Bert (Anthony Newley) is an electrician who gives the wrong people a "song and dance" about his supposed expertise as a cat burglar and now he has to pay the piper. The gang of young thieves brings him into their plans for a big heist and there is no obvious way Bert can get out of it. Just when things get serious, Bert or someone else then literally breaks into a song and dance routine -- hard to smoothly integrate with the comic sequences and serious moments that have gone before. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Newley, Anne Aubrey, (more)
