Milton Rosmer Movies

In 1948, "The Archers" -- the writing and directing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger -- had completed The Red Shoes, one of their greatest international successes, but it had yet to be released when the Rank Organization, doubting the commercial appeal of the picture, severed ties with the team and Powell and Pressburger signed a new deal with Alexander Korda's London Films. Their first project for Korda, The Small Back Room, was a dramatic change of pace, a thriller set in London in the midst of World War II. Sammy Rice (David Farrar) is explosives expert who works with British military intelligence as part of a ragtag munitions research team studying new ways to defuse enemy weapons and improve allied arms. While he's brilliant on the job, Rice is a troubled man with an artificial leg that causes him chronic pain and an appetite for alcohol that stands between him and those around him, especially his girlfriend and secretary Susan (Kathleen Byron). Rice's latest project is finding a way to defuse a new German bomb that's cleverly disguised as a children's toy, but Rice finds himself battling his superiors when Waring (Jack Hawkins), an unscrupulous businessman who has been pressed into service with the explosives team, and his colleague Professor Mair (Milton Rosmer) begin lobbying the Army to purchase a new weapon that Rice feels is both ineffective and dangerous. Despite excellent reviews and a fine cast that includes Cyril Cusack, Sidney James and Robert Morley in a cameo appearance, The Small Back Room was a box office disappointment on its original release, and it appeared in edited form in the United States under the title Hour of Glory, though later video releases allowed Americans to see the film in its original British cut. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this WW II crime drama, Johann Schmidt secretly frees a Dutch diamond cutter from a Nazi prison camp. He does it so he can uses the man's special talents for his own evil schemes. Before freeing him, wicked Schmidt killed the cutter's ex-partner and stole his raw diamonds. Now he threatens to kill the craftsman's daughter unless he cuts the stones. Fortunately, a persistent detective is on the case and brings Schmidt to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

East Indian actor Sabu is consistently better than his material in the sociological melodrama End of the River. The story concerns Mancel (Sabu), an Akuna Indian youth living in the forests of Brazil. Betrayed by a treacherous tribal chieftan, Mancel is branded an outlaw and exiled from his village. Forced to scrounge for a living in the white man's world, he runs afoul of corrupt political forces, ending up on trial for his life. The defense counsel (Maurice Denham) tries to convince Mancel that not all white men are demons, and to help the boy come to terms with his own inner turmoil. Despite its powerhouse cast, End of the River suffers from indifferent and sometimes downright lackadaisical performances; still, it deserves praise for trying to tackle a difficult subject with a semblance of intellence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Daybreak a dark, depressing melodrama, tells the story of Eddie (Eric Portman) an unemployed hangman who marries Frankie (Ann Todd) after meeting her in a bar. The couple live on a barge and one day Portman returns home unexpectedly to finds Frankie in the arms of handsome longshoreman Olaf (Maxwell Reed). A fight ensues, and Eddie is knocked overboard and disappears. Frankie, guilt-ridden, commits suicide, and Olaf is arrested for the murder and sentenced to death as the story concludes in a surprising plot twist. The film, rather long and somewhat labored, is difficult to watch because of its unrelentingly depressing viewpoint, but the performances of Eric Portman and Ann Todd add interest and flavor to an otherwise slow drama. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

The semidocumentary war film The Lion Has Wings states its case in broad strokes, juxtaposing images of rampaging German-dictator Adolf Hitler and appeasing British prime minister Neville Chamberlain with stock shots of bleating sheep. The film then depicts Great Britain as a great lion, willing and able to sprout "wings" in the form of waves of planes to hurl back the Luftwaffe. The dramatic portion of the film, lensed in ten days to assure timeliness (and, incidentally, a low budget) features an all-star British cast reflecting their native country's many reactions to the inevitability of war. All the on-camera talent involved (including Merle Oberon, Ralph Richardson and June Duprez) donated their salaries to the war effort. Produced by Alexander Korda (who also directed a few bridging sequences, sans credit), The Lion Has Wings was distributed in the US by United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An Irish fellow is determined to become a singing radio star. Unfortunately, fate seems to be determined to thwart him at every turn in this comedy. The trouble begins when he leaves his Irish village to go to a British radio station where he believes he is going to get his big chance to sing. Unfortunately, he soon discovers that he is to be a contestant in a spelling bee. This enrages him and he winds up throwing a major fit on the air. The resulting publicity lands him a talent agent who believes that the recent press will make the Irishman a singing star. It is not to be, and the agent loses his job. He and the Irishman end up drowning their sorrows, commandeering a sports broadcast where their drunken comments and shenanigans inspire the station to hire them as comedians. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A. J. Cronin's novel was brought to the screen by director Carol Reed. The film is set in a northern England mining town (far more realistically depicted than the back-lot Welsh village in John Ford's How Green Was My Valley. The parents of Michael Redgrave have labored long and hard so that their son can escape his grimy environs and make something of himself. While away at school, Redgrave is trapped into marriage by Margaret Lockwood, previously the lady friend of ill-tempered Emlyn Williams (the actor was himself a product of the Welsh mining community). When Lockwood and Williams resume their romance, the disillusioned Redgrave returns home, where he becomes deeply involved in a labor dispute. He ultimately decides that it is best for all if he remains in the village of his birth, working tirelessly on behalf of his friends, relatives and neighbors. Denied the larger budgets indigenous to Hollywood films, Carol Reed invested a gritty documentary "feel" into The Stars Look Down; the film brought him international acclaim, serving as a stepping stone for even greater cinematic accomplishments. Curiously, Reed himself didn't subscribe to A. J. Cronin's opinions vis-a-vis the nationalization of the coal mines; he was simply attracted to the dramatic possibilities of the tale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in England in the early 1900s, South Riding is a political and personal drama about a nearly bankrupt estate owner who is trying to keep himself solvent by buying into a real estate plan which he doesn't realize is morally suspect. The original British cut of South Riding ran 90 minutes, but for its American release, several Depression-era scenes were cut from the print. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

The building of the great Canadian-Pacific Railroad that stretched from Montreal to Vancouver is chronicled in this realistic drama. Amidst the country's wild grandeur, two gambling vagabonds find themselves in a railroad boomtown where they hope to win a lot of the workers' money. While there, one of the gamblers falls in love with the daughter of the construction leader. He decides to abandon gambling in favor of good old- fashioned hard labor on the line. Meanwhile, the other gambler is robbed by a greedy bar maid and ends up giving up his life so that the railroad can continue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dear old Tod Slaughter serves up another chop-licking melodrama with Murder in the Red Barn. Based on a barnstorming, fact-based American play, the film features the redoubtable Mr. Slaughter as Squire William Corder, potential defiler of the virtue of virginal Maria Marten (Sophia Stewart). When she refuses to let him have his way with her, Corder does away with the poor girl and hides her body in the red barn of the title. But the villain is -- curses! -- foiled when the girl's stalwart sweetheart uncovers the crime. Just in case anyone were to take this too seriously, the film opens with a master of ceremonies introducing all the characters, who take huge, ceremonial bows before plunging into the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eminent British stage star George Arliss is a most elegant tramp in The Guv'nor. Though shabby and indigent, Arliss seems to have a lot more financial savvy than most of London's established financiers. Through a fluke, Arliss is mistaken as a member of the Rothschild family (the actor did, after all, star in 1934's House of Rothschild) and is made a bank director. Not only does he save the Empire from ruin, but he also takes time out to play Cupid for the requisite young lovers. In other words, The Guv'nor is a standard George Arliss vehicle, despite his rags and tatters. The film was released in the US under the title Mister Hobo, which sounds more like a Mattel action figure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide