PASSPORT TO PIMLICO

The wonderful Margaret Rutherford

PASSPORT TO PIMLICO (1949). Director: Henry Cornelius.

After discovering a cache of treasure hidden under the streets, the residents of the district of Pimlico in Post-WW2 London discover documents that (in a convoluted way) actually make them residents of Burgundy. Then a handsome Duke of Burgundy (Paul Dupuis) shows up and begins romancing one of the local women. At first the residents playfully refuse to follow certain British rules -- such as shutting the pubs down at a certain hour -- because, after all, they aren't Londoners but Burgundians.  Unfortunately, this excites and dismays the British parliament and before long the residents of Pimlico find themselves mired in red tape and having to cross customs just to leave or enter their own district. In true British fashion, they decide to fight back and display their English tenaciousness. Okay. This is a cute idea and it does have some amusing sequences, but it gets bogged down way before its over, and its attempt to create characters you actually care about don't quite hit the mark. Most of the cast is unknown on American shores with the exception of Hermione Baddeley, Stanley Holloway, and the wonderful Margaret Rutherford, who plays a historian with her customary panache and enlivens every scene she's in. If only there were more of them!

Verdict: One of those quaint British movies that you can either take or leave. **1/2.

AND SOON THE DARKNESS (1970)

Pamela Franklin and Clare Kelly

AND SOON THE DARKNESS (1970). Director: Robert Fuest.

Two young British women, Jane (Pamela Franklin of The Third Secret) and Kathy (Michele Doutrice) are on a bicycle trip through the countryside of France. Kathy is intrigued by a handsome stranger at one cafe, and refuses to go any further with the less-free-spirited Jane; the two have a fight and go their separate ways. Still, when Kathy disappears Jane tries to surmount the language barrier and find out what happened to her friend. To make matters worse, she learns that a young woman was murdered in this town two years earlier and her killer was never caught. Suspects for her disappearance and the earlier murder include the aforementioned stranger, Paul (Sandor Eles of The Evil of Frankenstein), who claims to be working for the Surete; a couple, the Lassals (Hana Maria Pravda and Claude Bertrand) who run an inn; a mentally-disturbed veteran; a British schoolteacher (Clare Kelley); and others. John Nettleton appears as a sympathetic Gendarme. And Soon the Darkness is not without flaws -- to create suspicion in the audience's mind over anyone and everyone, some of the characters behave much more weirdly than they might have -- but it is a very creepy and intensely suspenseful film that has good performances (although Franklin underplays too much), an effective score by Laurie Johnson (with the exception of the awful opening theme), and excellent widescreen photography of lonely, sinister vistas by Ian Wilson. There's a wonderfully macabre sequence involving a closet and a corpse late in the picture. Jane never asks Paul for his I.D. Very well directed by Robert Fuest [Dr. Phibes Rises Again]. Remade in 2010.

Verdict: Handsome and disturbing thriller. ***.

OPERATION BULLSHINE

OPERATION BULLSHINE (1959). Director: Gilbert Gunn.

On a remote English Army base during WW2, there is a full complement of female soldiers as well as men. Lt. Gordon Brown (Donald Sinden) is secretly married -- against orders -- to one of the lady soldiers, Betty (Barbara Murray), which causes complications when she arrives at the base. The chief complication is private Marge White (Carole Lesley), a vivacious blonde who has set her sights on Gordon. When the two ladies both wind up in a hotel room with Gordon, his commanding officer, Major Pym (Naunton Wayne of The Hidden Room/Obsession) is appalled. Can everything be straightened out? Operation Bullshine is not as smarmy as you might imagine, although it can't avoid the usual condescension towards women of this era. The three leads are all attractive and capable, although the movie never actually erupts into hilarity. Except for one brief sequence, you would never know there's a war going on. This is really a drawing room/mistaken identity picture disguised as a military comedy. Pretty Lesley could have been considered England's answer to Marilyn Monroe, whom she resembles, only she doesn't quite have Monroe's mystique or panache; tragically she committed suicide at 38. John Cairney, who was in Jason and the Argonauts, plays Gunner Willie Ross, who sings with a dubbed voice more than once. Gilbert Gunn also directed The Cosmic Monsters/Strange World of Planet X.

Verdict: Appealing cast puts this over. **1/2.

SPACEWAYS

Eva Bartok and Howard Duff

SPACEWAYS (1953). Director: Terence Fisher.

Dr. Stephen Mitchell (Howard Duff) is an American scientist working on a top-secret British rocket base. One day his wife Vanessa (Cecile Chevreau) disappears with her lover, Dr. Philip Crenshaw (Andrew Osborn). A repellent investigator named Dr. Smith (Alan Wheatley) suggests that Mitchell killed wife and lover, drained some fuel from a rocket, and put their dead bodies inside it to create the perfect murder -- it has been determined that the rocket may not fall back to earth for many decades. Now Mitchell decides the only thing he can do is risk life and limb by taking a manned rocket into space and bringing back the other rocket to prove there are no corpses on board ... Spaceways has an interesting and unusual plot, and it's well-acted and suspenseful enough to be reasonably entertaining. Director Fisher, responsible for several zesty Hammer horror flicks, does a briskly-paced job, and the beginning of the picture really pulls you in, even if the rest is somewhat disappointing. Duff [Dante] is more than okay as the leading man; Bartok, who is better as the leading lady, also gives a good performance. Michael Medwin plays another scientist named Toby, and Philip Leaver is the fatherly Professor Koepler. Bartok makes a very different impression in this movie than she does in Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace.

Verdict: Good story line with so-so execution. **1/2.

THE FLYING SCOT

Kay Callard and Lee Patterson

THE FLYING SCOT (aka The Mailbag Robbery/1957). Director: Compton Bennett.

Ronnie (Lee Patterson), Jackie (Kay Callard of The Unholy Four), and Phil (Alan Gifford) plan to rob a train called the Flying Scotsman which runs from Glasgow to London. The booty is many bags of bank notes that are destined to be burned. In a prologue that reminds one of the later film Gambit, the robbery goes off silently and without a hitch, the trio celebrating in South America. But that's just the run through and the way Ronnie hopes the robbery will go -- the real robbery is somewhat more difficult. Ronnie and Jackie pretend to be a couple on their honeymoon. Things are complicated by the fact that Phil has a perforated ulcer, postponing a trip to hospital to participate in the caper, and is in terrible pain. The wall between the room on the train and the compartment with the money next door has a barrier they didn't anticipate. There's a drunk who keeps hoping to get some liquor, and a cute little boy who wanders around getting into mischief ... The Flying Scot is a fast-paced, suspenseful crime drama with good performances. Lee Patterson later played a private detective on Surfside 6. Compton Bennett also directed such fine films as Daybreak and The Seventh Veil.

Verdict: Nifty little British "B." ***.

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. **.

YOUNG AND WILLING aka THE WILD AND THE WILLING

Virginia Maskell and Ian McShane

YOUNG AND WILLING aka The Wild and the Willing/1962). Director: Ralph Thomas.

"Damn it woman! Lloyds doesn't underwrite everything in life!"

Harry Brown (Ian McShane in his film debut) is a charismatic ladies man at an English college who has a steady girl, Josie (Samantha Eggar of Curtains), but has an affair with the wife, Virginia (Virginia Maskell), of one of his professors, the rather stern Chown (Paul Rogers). Harry is kind to his somewhat geeky roommate, Phil (John Hurt of Alien), and friendly with what appears to be the sole black student on campus, Reggie (Johnny Sekka). Other characters include Sarah (Katherine Woodwille), for whom Phil is carrying a torch, and somewhat snooty Andrew (Jeremy Brett), who was also involved with Virginia. It all leads up to a protracted finale in which Harry gets Phil to help him climb a tower and plant a flag as a prank, an act that leads to tragedy. Young and Willing has its moments, but a lot of it is very predictable. However, the actors are quite good, especially McShane and Maskell, here playing a role very different from hers in Doctor in Love, which was also directed by Ralph Thomas.

Verdict: Some compelling moments and performances. **1/2.

A SUMMER STORY

A SUMMER STORY (1988). Director: Piers Haggard.

Just before the war two young men are hiking in the area of Devon and Somerset (where A Summer Story was filmed), when the nicer of the two, Frank Ashton (James Wilby), badly sprains his ankle. The two men find a farm that lets rooms, but when his friend gets bored and leaves, Frank stays on and on and on all summer -- drifting into an intense love affair with orphaned Megan (Imogene Stubbs) and promising her his undying devotion and indeed the world. Unfortunately, things don't quite work out that way in this deeply affecting, beautifully done picture that delineates the tragic aspects of romance. A Summer Story also shows in unflinching terms that even supposedly "nice" people can be unspeakably weak and cruel. This is based on the story "The Apple Tree" by John Galsworthy and has been very well dramatized by Penelope Mortimer. Georges Delerue has crafted a memorable score and the countryside is expertly photographed by Kenneth McMillan. Wilby, Stubbs, Jerome Flynn as Joe (who also loves Megan), Susannah York, and the rest of the cast are excellent. Director Haggard, who has done mostly television work, also directed the wretched Blood on Satan's Claw, but is clearly much more inspired by the material this time around. A Summer Story is a decided tearjerker but by no means is it a soap opera. Beautifully done on all levels.

Verdict: This has been known to make grown men blubber. ****.

THE SLEEPING TIGER

Dirk Bogarde and Alexis Smith

THE SLEEPING TIGER (1954) Producer/Director: Victor Hanbury [Joseph Losey].

"A cheap hoodlum -- flipping me away like a cigarette!"

Dr. Clive Esmond (Alexander Knox) is held up at gunpoint by a thug, Frank (Dirk Bogarde), whom he later invites into his home for treatment instead of sending to jail. Knox is an incredible bleeding heart -- he blames all of Bogarde's actions [which might seem tame by today's standards] on his childhood, and can't see what's happening under his nose: an attraction between Frank and Esmond's beautiful wife, Glenda (Alexis Smith), which eventually blossoms into an affair -- and leads to a lot of melodramatic complications. Bogarde is, as usual, quite good, but he seems a little too old and intelligent to be this dysfunctional youth, although if he had played it like a complete lowlife it would have been hard to see Glenda as having romantic feelings for him as well as sexual ones. Knox is fine as the clueless cold fish who can't see this sexy younger guy as a threat to his marriage [there doesn't seem to be any real indication that he himself is attracted to Frank -- aside from his covering up and excusing his criminal actions -- although a modern-day remake might explore this a bit more]. Smith is sexy and not bad as Glenda, although she isn't quite up to the demands of the more challenging sections of the script, although one could argue that this film is not exactly a serious drama and melodramatic emoting was the order of the day. Whatever its flaws -- including an especially pretentious ending and dubious character reversals --  The Sleeping Tiger holds the attention and is entertaining.

Verdict: A good picture that could have been a great one. ***.