A PAIR OF BRIEFS

Mary Peach and Michael Craig

A PAIR OF BRIEFS (1962). Director: Ralph Thomas.

Tony Stevens (Michael Craig) is a young lawyer hoping to get "briefs" -- cases -- that will pay more money than others. Tony is annoyed when newcomer Frances (Mary Peach) gets a high-paying case right off the bat due to connections, so he importunes a drunken friend of his in the prosecutor's office to let him stand up for the defendant in the same case (a highly unlikely scenario). Frances is representing Gladys Worthing (Brenda de Banzie), a shabby middle-aged woman who is suing her alleged husband, Sidney (Ron Moody of Murder Most Foul), for "restitution of conjugal rights." For his part, Sidney insists that he and Gladys were never married. As the case proceeds, Judge Haddon (James Robertson Justice) nearly has apoplexy dealing with the oddly reticent plaintiff as well as the conduct of the two opposing barristers.

Nicholas Phipps

A Pair of Briefs tries hard to be a hilarious near-farce of a comedy, but it is never as funny as it might have looked on paper. The performances are fine, with handsome Craig managing to actually come off like a nerd through much of the movie. What makes the film worthwhile and memorable are the developments and twists that come in the final third of the film, which are amusing. Also in the cast is Nicholas Phipps, who wrote the screenplay, as he did for the Craig vehicle Doctor in Love, in which he also appeared. A small part is played by Judy Carne, who later went on to fame on Laugh-In and through her combative marriage to Burt Reynolds.

Verdict: Interesting developments and a good cast help put this over. ***. 

HOUSE OF SECRETS (1956)

Michael Craig and Barbara Bates

HOUSE OF SECRETS (aka Triple Deception/1956). Director: Guy Green.

"He's too smug to live."

Sailor Larry Ellis (Michael Craig) is drafted by the Criminal Investigation Association (CIA)  -- "international cops," as Larry puts it -- when it develops that he bears a striking resemblance to a deceased criminal named Steve Chancellor. Coached by his superiors, he infiltrates a gang who plan to release scads of counterfeit cash into the world's economy. Ellis' job is to find out who the real ringleader is and stop the plot. Chancellor's girlfriend, Judy (Barbara Bates), is actually an undercover agent, and there's another woman in Chancellor's life, Diane (Julia Arnell) who is the niece of the dragon lady conspirator, Madame Ballu (Brenda de Banzie of The Man Who Knew Too Much). Julius (Gerard Oury) and Anton (Anton Diffring) round out the gang, but there's an unknown traitor in the CIA who is Ellis' most dangerous adversary. This pre-Bond film comes off more like a spy thriller than a crime drama, and is not badly done. Craig, who is swaggering, rakish and sexy throughout, would actually not have made a bad 007, as he loves up the women and engages in fisticuffs with equal aplomb. There's a lively dressing room knife-fight, some decent slug-fests, and an exciting climax on a plane with a bomb on it. I had always thought that Craig suppressed his British accent in certain films, such as Mysterious Island, but his North American voice is his true one (having been raised in Canada) and he affects a British accent for such pictures as Doctor in Love. He and the other cast members are all quite good -- Anton Diffring [The Man Who Could Cheat Death] is rather wasted, however --  and the picture is fast-paced and entertaining.

Verdict: Craig would have made a fine Bond. ***.

DOCTOR AT SEA

Bardot and Bogarde

DOCTOR AT SEA (1955). Director: Ralph Thomas.

Dr. Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) becomes a ship's doctor chiefly to get away from an encumbrance with the plain daughter of his medical partner. Instead of a grumpy chief surgeon played by James Robertson Justice, he gets a grumpy Captain Hogg, also played by James Robertson Justice, and who's not much different from the surgeon. Hogg hates the idea of women on board ship, but he gets two female passengers, French chanteuse Helene Colbert (Brigitte Bardot), and Muriel Mallet (Brenda de Banzie), who is fascinated by the captain's beard and happens to be the daughter of the head of the line. There's some funny stuff in here, but more often the picture strains for hardy laughs. The cast is quite good, however, with an always-solid Bogarde, although a more demure, brunette Bardot, while attractive and capable, doesn't resemble the blonde sex bomb she was most frequently seen as. Justice played Sir Lancelot Spratt in one previous Doctor film, and in three later ones, including Doctor in Love, in which Michael Craig briefly took over from Dirk Bogarde in the lead, although not in the same role. Brenda de Banzie also had an important role in Hitchcock's 1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much, and is somewhat wasted in this piffle. George Coulouris plays a drunken sailor and plays it well.

Verdict: Fans of Bardot and/or Bogarde will enjoy this more than others. **.

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956)

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956). Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

"The Muslim religion allows for few accidents."

Dr. Ben McKenna (James Stewart) and his wife, Jo (Doris Day) are vacationing with their little boy Hank (Christopher Olsen) in Morocco when they become enveloped in intrigue. After an acquaintance of his is stabbed, the dying man (Daniel Gelin) imparts information about an upcoming assassination in London to Ben, but before he can do anything about it Hank is kidnapped by the conspirators to prevent McKenna from telling what he knows. Afraid to cooperate too much with police out of fear for Hank's safety, the worried couple go to London and try to find the child themselves. Meanwhile the clock is ticking for a dignitary who doesn't know his life is measured in hours ...  One could quibble about certain aspects of the movie, but for the most part this is a well-acted and suspenseful film with an absolutely knockout climax in Albert Hall. Stewart is fine, and Day -- while she may not be considered perfect casting -- is generally excellent as well; the two have an especially good scene when Ben tells his wife that their boy has been taken. The supporting roles are all very well cast, from Brenda de Banzie and Bernard Miles as a friendly English couple to Alix Talton (Deadly Mantis), Carolyn Jones, Hillary Brooke and Alan Mowbray as friends of the McKenna's who intrude at a delicate moment. Olsen as Hank and Gelin as the murder victim in Morocco are both fine, and Reggie Nalder probably has his best role as a marksman. Richard Wordsworth of The Creeping Unknown and The Revenge of Frankenstein shows up as a taxidermist, and Betty Bascomb makes an impression as weird Edna, one of the conspirators. Bernard Herrmann's dynamic opening credit theme is very memorable, and the film also introduced the popular song "What Will Be, Will Be" [better known as "Que, sera, sera"] as sung by Day. Herrmann didn't compose the songs nor the wonderful "Storm Cloud Cantata" that he conducts during the Albert Hall sequence. The movie has a strong and moving sub-text of the bond between parent and child.

Verdict: Flawed but often exhilarating suspense classic from The Master. ***1/2.