John Carol Movies
- 1949
The Spider and the Fly is set in Paris during the cloud-cuckoo days before WW I. The storyline intertwines the destinies of three people. Guy Rolfe plays Phillipe de Ledocq, a resourceful safecracker who always manages to elude arrest. Eric Portman is cast as police-chief Maubert, who will not rest until Ledocq is behind bars. And Nadia Gray is Madeleine, the woman beloved by both Ledocq and Maubert. Just as Maubert has managed to capture his man, Ledocq is released at the behest of the government, who wants him to steal secrets from the German embassy revealing the whereabouts of the Kaiser's secret agents. And just how does Madeleine figure into all of this? Spider and the Fly is a diverting precursor to the 1960s TV series It Takes a Thief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Rolfe, Nadia Gray, (more)
- 1947
After the war, British films began avoiding the heiresses and lordships that had dominated the drama field and began pursuing "realism" -- which often was just as artificial as the earlier white-telephone pictures. John McCallum plays Tommy Swann, a product of the working class who tries to better himself by becoming a criminal. Escaping from prison, Swann hides out in the East London home of his former mistress Rose (Googie Withers), who has since married George Sandigate (Edward Chapman). The film is told from Swann's point-of-view, and a dismal view that is. Nor does Rose seem any happier with her drab lot in life. Swann's return does nothing but further their misery, tearing Rose' family apart and sending Swann back into the arms of the law. Considered a tension-laden slice of life in 1949, It Always Rains on Sunday seems a bit contrived today, though it does full justice to the Arthur La Bern novel on which it is based -- especially when the film leaves the environs of the house and zeroes in on its colorful roster of bit actors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Googie Withers, Edward Chapman, (more)
- 1945
The title is whimsical, but the storyline isn't. Googie Withers plays the frustrated wife of a 1880s Brighton tavern keeper, looking for an easy way out of the relationship. Withers entices a chemist's son to act as accomplice in a tricky murder scheme. She is certain that no one will suspect that her husband has been poisoned by a undetectable chemical. Guess again, Googie. Pink String and Sealing Wax was based on a play by Roland Pertwee, the father of Jon "Dr. Who" Pertwee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mervyn Johns, Mary Merrall, (more)
- 1943
In this war drama set during WW II, an engineer in a Dutch shipyard assists the Nazis with the construction of two new kinds of submarines and finds himself a social pariah. Even his wife turns against her apparently traitorous husband. During the maiden voyage of one of the subs, the engineer talks high-ranking Nazis into joining him aboard their vessel. The Germans are unaware that the engineer has loaded the hapless vessel with dynamite. As that ship explodes, a group of commandos capture the other sub and smuggle it to England. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Richardson, Googie Withers, (more)
- 1943
In this weird crime drama the murder of a ventriloquist is solved by a midget who goes undercover as a dummy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1938
In this comedy, based on a tale by Edgar Wallace, a luckless gambler is assisted by a kindly lord at the racetrack. Later the gambler helps the lord realize that he is being conned by a wicked horse trainer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1938
In this British crime drama an argument over a new anaesthetic results in the murder of a hospital doctor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this WW I drama, an English soldier falls in love with an innkeeper's daughter. She is engaged to a German-born fellow who turns out to be a spy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this comedy, an American chorine travels to France with a low-budget revue and nearly ends up stranded there. Fortunately, a handsome Frenchman proposes to her. Believing that he is wealthy, she accepts. Unfortunately, he deceived her and now the bride must live in a ramshackle hovel with his three children on his little farm. She is terribly disappointed, but rather than quit, she tries to make the best of things. This is difficult as a schoolteacher is terribly jealous and torments the dancer at every turn. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenda Farrell, Claude Hulbert, (more)
- 1937
In this British thriller, a mild-mannered bank clerk has a sort of breakdown, gets tired of seeing other people always get the money, and robs the bank. He then sets up an elaborate scheme whereby it looks as if he felt so much remorse at his actions that he has ended his life by jumping overboard on an ocean liner. Unfortunately, while on board, a ship's steward finds his pre-written note, gets rid of it and steals the money. Later the steward is killed. Now the clerk is in real trouble until he meets a beautiful woman and tells her the whole sordid story. She, and a detective help him prove that he did not kill the steward. The real murderer is found, and both he and the clerk are imprisoned. While doing his time, the clerk is sustained by the knowledge that the beauty waits for him outside. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
