Virginia McKenna Movies
Beautiful in a hearty, big-sister fashion, British actress Virginia McKennastudied her craft at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art. Two years after her 1950 professional stage debut, McKenna appeared in her first film. While she could breeze through comedy with flair and abandon, McKenna was equally effective with such stark dramatic material as Carve Her Name With Pride... (read more) (1957) and A Town Like Alice (1958). Once married to actor Denhom Elliot, McKenna wed a second time to Bill McKenna, who became her leading man onscreen as well as off in films like The Smallest Show on Earth (1958) and Ring of Bright Water (1969). Virginia McKenna's most successful film was the pro-ecological Born Free (1966); her experiences while filming this Africa-based drama inspired her to write two volumes of memoirs. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Whistle-Blower
2001
Amanda Burton starred in this intense two-part British miniseries as Laura Tracey, a minor employee of a major international banking firm. While going through a routine...
Sliding Doors
PG13 1998
British actor Peter Howitt wrote and directed this British romantic comedy-drama with a "road not taken" premise recalling the 1921 play If by Lord Dunsany (1878-1957),...
Staggered
1994
This British romantic comedy from director and star Martin Clunes concerns Neil Price (Clunes), a meek toy demonstrator who becomes engaged to Hilary (Sarah Winman), a...
The Camomile Lawn
1992
Good Neighbors co-stars Felicity Kendal and Paul Eddington reunite for director Ken Taylor's adaptation of Mary Wesley's popular novel concerning the innocent...
Duel of Hearts
1992
The made-for-TV Duel of Hearts is based on a novel by Barbara Cartland. It is difficult to believe that there's a Gothic-romance TV movie in existence that isn't based on a...
Puccini
1984
The acclaimed Tony Palmer helmed this 1984 biopic on 19th and early 20th century Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, here portrayed by Robert Stephens. Palmer opts to...
The First Olympics: Athens 1896
1984
Five Emmy nominations went to the two-part TV drama The First Olympics: Athens 1896. The story begins in 1894, when Baron Pierre de Courbetin (Louis Jourdan) announces his...
The Chosen
PG 1978
Robert Caine (Kirk Douglas) is a wealthy and powerful industrialist, an engineer who develops nuclear power plants. A true believer in nuclear energy, he plans to make nuclear...
The Disappearance
1977
Following up 1975's Golden Bear-winning Overlord, director Stuart Cooper delivered this 1977 psychological thriller starring Donald Sutherland as contract killer {%Jay...
Beauty and the Beast
1976
This Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast stars George C. Scott and his wife Trish Van Devere in the title roles -- and it...
The Gathering Storm
1974
While Adolf Hitler Ian Bannen builds his war machine, Winston Churchill Richard Burton repeatedly warns England of the dangers the Nazis pose. But most of...
Swallows and Amazons
1974
Swallows and Amazons is based on the popular children's book by Arthur Ransome. The film is set in Britain's Lake District in the 1920s. The "swallows" and "amazons" are the...
Christian the Lion
1971
Somewhat of a sequel both to the 1966 film Born Free and 1971's The Lion at the World's End, George Adamson (Bill Travers) works at re-introducing to the wild a lion that...
Waterloo
1970
This lavishly costumed historical epic had an estimated $100 million price tag. Spectacularly photographed battle action contrasts with often plodding individual scenes that bog...
An Elephant Called Slowly
G 1970
This African adventure presents many interesting sights as it tells the story of a tourist couple who inadvertently find themselves taking care of three orphaned elephants. Later...
Ring of Bright Water
G 1969
When a man buys an otter for a pet, he gets more than he bargained for as he tries to keep the animal in his bathtub. He and his pet soon find life in London is not the place for...
The Lions Are Free
1969
While on location in Kenya filming Born Free, actor Bill Travers became fascinated with the tame lions with which he was "costarred." Three years later, Travers brought...
Born Free
PG 1966
Born Free is the heartwarming true story of a British couple who teach their pet lioness how to survive in the wilds of the African jungles. Joy and George Adamson...
Two Living, One Dead
1961
Two Living, One Dead examines the pitfalls of hero worship, and the culpability of the media in fostering misguided adulation. A robbery and murder is committed in a British...
The Wreck of the Mary Deare
1959
Talented special effects and adventure director Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days, 1956) keeps the suspense going in this drama about the wreck of the Mary...