Jimmy Sangster Movies
One of England's top horror film writers and directors of the postwar period, Jimmy Sangster started out as a production manager in the '40s before turning to more creative pursuits. He was lucky enough to hook up with Sir James Carreras (1900-1990), the head of Hammer Films, which became one of the most successful of England's postwar studios, specializing in horror and science fiction material, where Sangster, either alone or in collaboration with others, excelled at the authorship of top-notch scripts. Some of these, such as The Curse of Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula, and The Trollenberg Terror (aka The Crawling Eye) were adaptations of pre-existing stories and characters, but in every case, Sangster added tantalizing but economical twists of character and action that made them new to audiences -- Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula started up whole new horror cycles built around Hammer Films and the personalities of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee that ran into the '70s, while The Trollenberg Terror -- which started life as a five-part BBC-TV serial -- became one of the most popular low-budget British science fiction chillers of the late '50s. Sangster later moved into more mainstream chillers, such as Seth Holt's The Nanny, starring Bette Davis, which he produced as well as scripted, and occasionally ventured into action/adventure films, such as Deadlier than the Male (1966), an entertaining but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to adapt H.C. "Sapper" McNeille's post-World War I hero Bulldog Drummond into the James Bond mold. On a still more mainstream level, his co-authored story became the basis for the 1981 Disney comedy The Devil and Max Devlin, starring Elliott Gould and Bill Cosby. Sangster has also written numerous scripts for British and American television, most notably "Horror In The Heights" for the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide- 1985
In this socially conscious drama, an ex-con meets constant opposition from avaricious land owners who want the land on which he has set up a ranch-style juvenile correctional facility. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1984
There was once a time within living memory when people eagerly awaited a TV-movie starring Mister T. The Toughest Man in the World casts the former Laurence Turand as nightclub bouncer "Bruise" Brubaker. Marshmallow-soft on the inside, Bruise befriends a group of underprivileged kids at a youth center. The film bears a marked resemblance to Mister T's Saturday-morning cartoon series; whether it is better or worse is left to the viewer. I pity the fool who missed The Toughest Man in the World when it was first telecast on November 7, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
In this taut made-for-television psychological thriller, a young woman has never been able to overcome the guilt she feels about her father's accidental death. She nearly goes insane when a stalker begins watching her every move and she becomes convinced that it is the ghost of her late dad. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1980
In this espionage drama, a computer whiz conned into assisting a tricky spy, finds himself face-to-face with the world's most deadly criminal. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Two Montana saddletramps head for bustling Music City and open up a detective agency in this comical adventure that was originally the pilot of a television series. Not only do the two have to accustom themselves to strange big-city ways, they have to learn to become less inept at the gumshoe game as they try to expose extortionists and return a missing singer. Singers Barbara Mandrell and Roy Acuff make cameo appearances. On video the film is titled Ramblin' Man. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Acuff, Claude Akins, (more)
- 1979
A couple find the body of a detective in their apartment, and follow the trail of his killer to Nashville. The film is also known as Country Music Murders. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1979
This made-for-TV espionage thriller was approximately fourteen years too late for TV's "spy cycle". Dale Robinette plays a Bondlike secret agent, while Ralph Bellamy is the "M" counterpart. Robinette is assigned to solve the mystery of several UFO sightings in Utah. The instigator turns out to be an eco-villain (Patrick MacNee), who threatens to destroy the ozone layer unless he's paid one billion dollars within 48 hours. When Billion Dollar Threat failed to yield a weekly TV series, its producers revamped the project--and the result was the equally unsuccessful Once Upon a Spy (80). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The made-for-TV Good Against Evil might not have existed had not The Exorcist shown the way three years earlier. Dack Rambo and Elyssa Davalos star as sweethearts Andy Stuart and Jessica Gordon. The course of true love is messed up when Satan claims Jessica as his own personal property. Desperately, Andy turns to a pair of priests, Fathers Kemschler (Dan O'Herlihy) and Wheatley (John Harkins), for spiritual guidance, not to mention a bit of brute force in purging poor Jessica of her demons. Jimmy Sangster's screenplay doesn't miss a trick, nor does the spooky direction by Paul Wendkos. When first telecast on May 22, 1977, Good Against Evil ran 72 minutes; syndicated prints have been expanded to 97 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
The eighth and final season of Ironside begins with the first episode of a two-part story. Believing herself possessed by the malevolent spirit of her dead brother, college coed Susan Todd (Sian Barbara Allen) confesses to the murder of her mother. Suspecting that Susan is not telling the truth, Ironside (Raymond Burr) consults a psychic to determine the murderer's actual identity. Meanwhile, Susan's somewhat sinister psychoanalyst Theodore Gallin Bill Bixby lurks ominously in the background. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
John Williams guest stars as Bill Walston, a British police inspector who shows up in San Francisco, ostensibly to a attend a convention. Linking up with his old friend Ironside (Raymond Burr), Walston effusively offers to help the Chief in his investigation of a robbery. What Ironside doesn't know is that Walston is seriously ill--and that the good Inspector was himself the mastermind behind the heist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In the conclusion of Ironside's Season Eight opener, Chief Ironside (Raymond Burr) now knows that college coed Susan Todd (Sian Barbara Allen) was not truly responsible for the murder of her mother. The real villain of the piece is Susan's deranged psychiatrist Theodore Gallin (Bill Bixby), who specializes in brainwashing his patients to do his bidding. The situation takes a truly sinister turn when Gallin "programs" policewoman Fran Belding (Elizabeth Baur) to kill Ironside! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Bette Davis stars in the TV movie Scream, Pretty Peggy. She isn't Peggy, but instead the secretive matriarch of a spooky household. Peggy, played by Sian Barbara Allen, is a goggle-eyed college student hired by Davis as a housekeeper. Ted Bessell plays Davis's son, a crazed sculptor; but no one ever sees Bessell's maniacal sister (where's Anthony Perkins when you need him?). Be assured that pretty Peggy takes up the invitation proposed by the film's title and screams loud and often. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Screenwriter Jimmy Sangster and John Llewellyn Moxey, longtime collaborators in the field of British psychological-horror efforts, once more combined their skills for the American TV movie Taste of Evil. Barbara Parkins plays a young rape victim, recently released from a mental institution. She begins experiencing "flashbacks" to her rape; are these merely illusions, or is she being systematically tortured by a mystery villain? Barbara Stanwyck, Roddy McDowell, William Windom, Roddy McDowell and Bing Russell (Kurt's father) express varying degrees of concern and menace. Taste of Evil is a bit of a letdown considering its cast and the previous achievements of the Sangster/Moxey team. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
In this espionage film, an American detective becomes part of a British spy organization's attempt to free a Russian expatriate hidden away in England. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Written by horror-film specialist Jimmy Sangster, Spy Killer stars Robert Horton as a secret agent turned private eye. Framed for murder, Horton is released, but only after promising that he'll track down a book containing a list of government agents who are operating covertly in Red China. The reluctant spy discovers that he can't completely trust anyone in this endeavor--not even his former chief (Sebastian Cabot). Spy Killer was produced for American television by Britain's Hammer Films, then released theatrically overseas. The film spawned a sequel, Foreign Exchange (70), once again starring Robert Horton and Sebastian Cabot, with Jill St. John reprising her heroine role from Spy Killer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Bette Davis plays a wealthy one-eyed widow (complete with designer eye patch) who gathers her sons together once a year to celebrate the death of the husband she detested. Mama Davis couldn't be more castrating if her last name was Bobbitt: Her grown sons (it's been 10 years since daddy died) are essentially weaklings who seem to secretly covet the emotional stranglehold she has over them. When she can't exert her authority of her sons by normal means, Davis blackmails them with her knowledge of the skeletons in their closets -- and in the case of her eldest son, the women's undies in his dresser drawers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Sheila Hancock, (more)
In this 1967 drama, resourceful British agent Bulldog Drummond, who appeared onscreen in a series of spy stories between 1929 and 1951, returned to duty in the wake of James Bond. Here, Drummond (Richard Johnson) is on the trail of Carl Petersen (Nigel Green), a corrupt industrialist who has a bad habit of stealing the ideas of others and then killing them so he can reap their profits. The nefarious Petersen has a team of female assistants willing to kill on command, led by Irma (Elke Sommer) and Penelope (Sylva Koscina). One more Bulldog Drummond vehicle, Some Girls Do, followed in 1969 before the series was retired again. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Johnson, Elke Sommer, (more)
In this thriller (which represented something of a departure for Hammer Films, noted for their gothic period pieces), Joey Fane (William Dix) has returned home after two years in an institution for mentally ill children. His sister drowned, and his family believes that Joey was to blame, despite his claims of innocence. Joey is convinced that the family's Nanny (Bette Davis) was responsible and refuses to have anything to do with her, but only neighbor girl Bobby (Pamela Franklin) agrees that there's something sinister about the woman minding the house. When Joey's neurotic mother Virginia (Wendy Craig) nearly dies after eating tainted food prepared by the Nanny, Virginia's sister Penelope (Jill Bennett) comes by to help. Penelope soon witnesses the bad blood between Joey and the Nanny, though before long she begins to think that the boy might be right about her after all. Jimmy Sangster adapted the screenplay from a novel by Evelyn Piper. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Wendy Craig, (more)
- 1964
Upon their defeat by Francis Drake, a ship's crew which served in the Spanish Armada anchors near a small coastal village in England to make repairs on their vessel. While there, the cuthroat Captain Robeles (Christopher Lee) leads his men to take control of the town in an opportunistic move, claiming to have won a naval battle. Fortunately for the villagers, they are not without means defending themselves -- especially as one crewman decides to jump ship to help them. Screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, known mostly for his horror tales, contributed yet another character for Lee as he did previously in Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Mummy, and Scream of Fear. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lee, Andrew Keir, (more)
- 1964
While visiting England, an American tourist (Robert Webber) is involved in an auto accident and suffers from amnesia. Upon his release from the hospital, he recuperates in a home paid for by a mysterious benefactor, where a dead body later appears in the shower. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Webber, Anthony Newlands, (more)
- 1963
An American artist travels to rural France for a relaxing vacation and ends up falling for a lovely young woman, whose father is the owner of a cafe. Unfortunately, her father is not in town, as he is locked up in the local looney bin for immolating the man who raped his daughter. The trouble begins when the girl's stepmother seduces the artist and then convinces him to help her free her murderous husband, a man who cannot bear the thought of a man touching his beloved daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kerwin Mathews, Nadia Gray, (more)
- 1963
A woman must contend with her family's madness as she finds her own sanity in doubt in this thriller from British horror masters Hammer Films. After the death of her parents, Eleanor Ashby (Janette Scott) would seem a safe bet to inherit their estate, but at the funeral, she's convinced that she has seen Tony (Alexander Davion), her brother who killed himself seven years ago. Eleanor's other sibling Simon (Oliver Reed), who is inarguably alive, uses this as an excuse to contest the will, arguing that Eleanor is mentally unstable and an unfit heir. Simon's claims cause Eleanor to wonder about her sanity, and in a moment of weakness she attempts suicide. Tony rescues her and tells her that he never died but simply went into hiding. He returns to the family's mansion, but soon he and Eleanor become the subject of a number of violent attacks by a masked lunatic before Eleanor learns a surprising secret about Tony. Paranoiac marked the directorial debut of ace cinematographer Freddie Francis. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janette Scott, Oliver Reed, (more)
- 1963
Legendary cinematographer (Freddie Francis) directed this Hammer horror film of madness and murder. The story concerns young Janet (Jennie Linden), a student at finishing school who is suffering from a series of recurring nightmares, having witnessed her mother stabbing her father to death. When her nightmares intensify, Janet is brought to the home of her guardian, Henry Baxter (David Knight). Henry is not home, but Janet is put into the care of his live-in nurse, Grace (Moira Redmond). Janet's nightmares continue, in which she sees a woman in white beckoning her into her parents' bedroom. Following the apparition, Janet sees the woman lying in bed, with a knife sticking from her chest. When Henry returns home, he is told by the doctors that Janet should be confined to a mental institution. Henry refuses, but the arrival of Henry's wife changes all that -- when Janet sees Henry's wife, who resembles the woman from her dreams, she grabs a knife and stabs her to death. Janet is committed to an institution for the criminally insane. However, it turns out that Grace had deliberately disguised herself as the woman in white to drive Janet over the brink and kill Henry's wife, so that they could be married. Henry and Grace get married, but Grace then receives reports that Janet has escaped from the institution and is returning to Henry's estate, bent on revenge. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Knight, Moira Redmond, (more)
- 1962
A little talkative but otherwise up to par, this western by director Michael Carreras in cooperation with a Madrid studio, is set in the Mexican valley of Sonora not that far south of the state of Arizona. The time is just after the American Civil War, and a former Confederate officer, Mike Summers (Don Taylor) has taken refuge in a small town in the valley. He has married and is hoping to live in peace the rest of his life. Instead, he and his wife and the rest of the town are suffering the depredations of a brutal gunman, Danny Pose (Alex Nicol), and his gang of outlaws. Summers holds off picking up a gun because of his personal vow of non-violence. But the situation deteriorates and a new ally comes into the picture, Steve Fallon (Richard Basehart), a wandering gunslinger who may not be able to handle the bad guys alone. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Basehart, Don Taylor, (more)
- 1962
In this high-seas adventure, a wicked one-eyed, one-armed pirate forces a young man, who was wrongfully imprisoned, to take him and his band to his Caribbean island home where the pirate believes great treasure is buried. Once there, the pirate begins fighting for control of the island and begins slaughtering the lad's family and friends. The young man is utterly appalled and with his step-sister, a young woman and her beloved, somehow escape. Later the pirate discovers a large statue of pure gold. He and his men haul it to the beach and put it on a raft. As they are floating toward their ship, they are ambushed by the man and the other survivors causing the precious statue to fall overboard and sink to Davy Jones' locker while the pirate is killed. Later the survivors return to their ravaged home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kerwin Mathews, Glenn Corbett, (more)
