81% (3) The Man Who Knew Too Much 120 min, PG, [Drama, Thriller] [Alfred Hitchcock] [01 Jun 1956]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 75%, Rotten Tomatoes: 91%, Metacritic: 78%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.
Actors: Bernard Miles, Brenda de Banzie, Doris Day, James Stewart
Writer: John Michael Hayes (screenplay), Charles Bennett (based on a story by), D.B. Wyndham-Lewis (based on a story by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Arabic, French Country: USA
Plot: While attending a medical conference in Paris, American physician Dr. Ben McKenna, his wife, retired musical theater actress and singer Jo McKenna née Conway, and their adolescent son Hank McKenna decide to take a side trip to among other places Marrekesh, French Morocco. With a knife plunged into his back, Frenchman Louis Bernard, who the family met earlier in their bus ride into Marrakesh and who is now masquerading as an Arab, approaches Ben, cryptically whispering into Ben's ears that there will be an attempted assassination in London of a statesman, this news whispered just before Bernard dies. Ben is reluctant to provide any information of this news to the authorities because concurrently Hank is kidnapped by British couple, Edward and Lucy Drayton, who also befriended the McKennas in Marrakesh and who probably have taken Hank out of the country back to England. Whoever the unknown people the Draytons are working for have threatened to kill Hank if Ben divulges any information told to him by Bernard. With what little information they have on hand, Ben and Jo head to London to try and thwart the assassination attempt and more importantly find an alive and safe Hank. Scotland Yard is aware of some pieces to the puzzle, including the fact that Bernard was a French secret service agent and that there will be an assassination attempt on someone. They and the McKennas will have to work together as they hit a diplomatic roadblock, one that may be overcome with a special Jo Conway song.
Rotten Tomatoes: The debate still rages as to whether Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much is superior to his own original 1934 version. This two-hour remake (45 minutes longer than the first film) features more stars, a lusher budget, and the plaintive music of Bernard Herrmann (who appears on-camera, typecast as a symphony conductor). Though the locale of the opening scenes shifts from Switzerland to French Morocco in the newer version, the basic plot remains the same. American tourists James Stewart and Doris Day are witness to the street killing of a Frenchman (Daniel Gelin) they've recently befriended. Before breathing his last, the murder victim whispers a secret to Stewart (the Cinemascope lens turns this standard closeup into a truly grotesque vignette). Stewart knows that a political assassination will occur during a concert at London's Albert Hall, but is unable to tell the police: his son (a daughter in the original) has been kidnapped by foreign agents to insure Stewart's silence. The original script for Man Who Knew too Much was expanded and updated by John Michael Hayes and Angus McPhail. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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83% (2) Hobson's Choice 108 min, [Comedy, Drama, Romance] [David Lean] [19 Apr 1954]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 90%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.
Actors: Brenda de Banzie, Charles Laughton, Daphne Anderson, John Mills
Writer: Harold Brighouse (by), David Lean (screenplay), Norman Spencer (screenplay), Wynyard Browne (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: UK
Plot: 1880s Salford, England. Widowed Henry Hobson, owner/operator of Hobson's Boots, lives with his three adult daughters, Maggie, Alice and Vicky, in a flat attached to the shop. Henry is miserly, dipsomaniacal and tyrannical, not allowing his daughters to date as their sole purpose in life is in service to him and to the shop, they who receive no wages in that professional service. He changes his mind about Alice and Vicky, for who he will choose husbands, despite they, the romantic ones, already having chosen the men they would marry if given the opportunity. He will, however, not provide them with a dowry, which may prove to be a challenge in finding them who he would consider suitable husbands. Concerning Maggie, he believes she is far too useful to him as the overly efficient and organized one to let go, and too old at age thirty for any man to want her anyway. Incensed by her father's attitude about her, Maggie decides that she has to show him how wrong he is about her being an unmarriable spinster. As such, she makes a proposal to timid Willy Mossop, the shop's poor, uneducated and illiterate boot hand but best boot maker - apparently better than any boot maker in nearby Manchester - he who has known no other professional life than the shop: they enter into a marriage of convenience. Despite the differences in their social classes, Maggie believes she can show her father that she can find a husband, while forcing him to treat Willy better, and by association her, by paying him decent wages or else she will use her wifely influence to convince Willy to take his and her valuable services elsewhere. If their hands are forced, Maggie believes their best weapon is wealthy and particular Mrs. Hepworth, who said she will have no one else but Willy make her boots. Maggie has even taken into consideration what effect her actions will have on her sisters' nuptials, she who vows to them that all will be all right in that regard. Although she truly has no idea how her father will react, she also may not have considered Willy, who may already have a life of his own outside the shop, and if he does agree what effect her plan will have on him and his entire being.
Rotten Tomatoes: A "Hobson's Choice," as any slang expert will tell you, is no choice at all. In this 1953 filmization of Harold Brighouse's 1915 play Hobson's Choice, hero John Mills finds after several reels of evidence to the contrary that he does have a choice over how he'll conduct his life after all. Mills is the assistant to domineering boot-shop owner Charles Laughton, who lords it over his employees and three daughters by day, then tumbles through the streets on many a drunken evening. Laughton's "old-maid" daughter Brenda DeBanzie breaks free of her father's tyranny, marries Mills, and together with her new husband sets up a rival boot shop when Laughton refuses her a dowry. Father rants and raves, but finally agrees to a merger with his daughter that will assure Mills a large measure of freedom over managing things. The winner of the British Film Institute "Best Film" award of 1954, Hobson's Choice chalked up another international success for director David Lean. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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75% (2) The Entertainer 96 min, [Drama] [Tony Richardson] [02 Dec 1960]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, Rotten Tomatoes: 80%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.
Actors: Brenda de Banzie, Joan Plowright, Laurence Olivier, Roger Livesey
Writer: John Osborne (adapted from the play by), John Osborne (screenplay), Nigel Kneale (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: UK
Plot: On the far side of middle age, Archie Rice lives in a British seaside resort with his father, retired successful vaudevillian Billy Rice, second wife Phoebe Rice, and doting son Frank Rice. Following in retired Billy's footsteps, Archie is a song-and-dance music hall headliner, with Frank supporting his dad as his shows' stage manager. The waning popularity of Archie's type of shows, a dying form of entertainment, is not helped by Archie's stale second rate material, which brings in small unappreciative crowds. Archie clings to his long held lifestyle, including heavy drinking and chronic infidelity, of which Phoebe is aware. What Archie has not told his offspring is that Phoebe was his mistress while he was still married to their now deceased mother. His want to be a music hall headliner is despite his financial problems, he an undischarged bankrupt who now signs Phoebe's name to everything. Phoebe wants them to escape this life to something more stable, such as the offer from her relations to manage a hotel in Ottawa, Canada, while Archie, always one step ahead of his creditors for his current show, wants to mount another for the winter season. Long suffering Phoebe often drowns her sorrows with booze. One person in their immediate family who has somewhat escaped their life is Archie's daughter, Jean Rice, an art school teacher in London, she who is still trying to find her place in the world. Her pre-engagement boyfriend Graham wants her to move to Africa with him for a job, which she is reluctant to do if only because of not yet being ready to leave her dysfunctional family behind, they who she still feels to need to watch over. Unlike Archie, Jean is more concerned about the fact of her brother Mick Rice just having been shipped overseas to fight in the Suez Crisis. Archie's steps in his determination to mount that new show, seemingly at any cost, may break the family apart once and for all.
Rotten Tomatoes: Laurence Olivier recreates his stage role of Archie Rice in this in-your-face film adaptation of John Osborne's play. The son of a legendary music hall comedian (Roger Livesey), Archie is strictly a third-rater, headlining a tacky music hall revue in a seedy seaside resort town. Archie can't admit that he's a failure, and his grim insouciance destroys everyone around him. Archie finagles his dying father into financing one last revue; he cheats shamelessly on his alcoholic wife (Brenda De Banzie); and he all but forces one of his sons (Albert Finney) to run off to join the army, only to die in the Suez. Through all his personal crises, Archie jigs and jabbers before his ever-diminishing audience, but by the end of the film he isn't even entertaining himself. Joan Plowright, who married Olivier shortly after completing The Entertainer, plays the film's one sympathetic character: Archie's daughter, whose love for her father blinds her to his flaws. The Entertainer was remade for television in 1976, with Jack Lemmon as Archie Rice and original songs by Marvin Hamlisch.
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76% (1) The Mark 127 min, APPROVED, [Drama] [Guy Green] [08 Jun 1961]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 76%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.
Actors: Brenda de Banzie, Maria Schell, Rod Steiger, Stuart Whitman
Writer: Charles E. Israel (novel), Sidney Buchman (screenplay), Stanley Mann (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, French Country: UK
Plot: This is the story of a 33 year old man, Jim Fuller, released from prison after serving a three year term for intent to commit child molestation. Fuller is assisted by the prison psychiatrist in obtaining a position. He does well in this position and falls in love with the secretary of the owner of the company. A child is molested and beaten in the town where he now lives and the police pick him up for questioning. He has an alibi and is released, but a reporter who covered his former trial recognizes him. The reporter begins to follow him and reports that Fuller spent time alone with the daughter of his girl friend.
Rotten Tomatoes: Guy Green's social drama stars Stuart Whitman as the title character, a man whose unhealthy childhood has left him bewildered by sex. After an affair with a woman his own age ends badly, Mark finds himself increasingly drawn to young girls, who he feels do not pose the same threat of emasculation that adult women do. When he is charged with kidnapping a ten-year-old girl in order to molest her, his conviction results in a three-year prison sentence. With the help of Dr. Edmund McNally (Rod Steiger), a prison psychiatrist, Mark comes to terms with his urges and is released from prison a changed man. Soon after, he gets engaged to Ruth Leighton (Maria Schell), a widow with a ten-year-old daughter of her own. After Mark is seen in the vicinity of a recent molestation incident, a journalist digs into his background and his past is brought to light, destroying not only his relationship with Ruth but his fledgling career as well. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
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70% (1) Too Many Crooks 85 min, Not Rated, [Comedy, Crime] [Mario Zampi] [08 Mar 1959]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 70%, External Reviews
Actors: Bernard Bresslaw, Brenda de Banzie, George Cole, Terry-Thomas
Writer: Christiane Rochefort (story), Jean Nery (story), Michael Pertwee (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: UK
Plot: Accident-prone Fingers runs a pretty unsuccessful gang. They try and rob wealthy but tricky Billy Gordon - who distrusts banks and fears the Inland Revenue - but he sees Fingers and the boys off. So they decide to kidnap his daughter, only to end up with his wife Lucy. Gordon makes out he couldn't be more pleased, spurring Lucy to take charge of the hopeless bunch of villains.
Rotten Tomatoes: An uneven but at times hilarious slapstick comedy, Too Many Crooks features an inept gang of four would-be criminals who manage to botch every job they plan. After a few dismal failures they try to rob the wealthy, philandering Billy Gordon (Terry-Thomas) and fail again. Unwilling to let go of a good resource when they see it, the gang decides to kidnap his daughter, drug her, put her in a coffin in a hearse, and take off to their safe hideaway in a mad, mad dash. The plan amazingly succeeds except for one minor detail -- they have kidnapped the tycoon's wife, and he could not be happier. The offended spouse sees red at her philandering husband's attitude and sets the stage for revenge. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
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66% (1) Flame in the Streets 93 min, [Drama] [Roy Ward Baker] [15 Sep 1961]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, External Reviews
Actors: Brenda de Banzie, Earl Cameron, John Mills, Sylvia Syms
Writer: Ted Willis (screenplay), Ted Willis (story)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English Country: UK
Plot: A union leader in a large company tries to win equal rights for the handful of West Indian workers at the company, but finds it is an uphill battle. After being successful, and rightly proud of his efforts, he finds that he and his wife have a difficult time coming to terms with the fact that his only daughter intends to marry a West Indian.
Rotten Tomatoes: The faces of racism at work and at home provide the focus of this drama. When union members threaten to strike because their new foreman is black, the union boss persuades them not to by reminding them that a man's skin color has nothing to do with his competence and worth. His words take on a new meaning when at home he and his wife learn that their daughter has fallen in love with a Jamaican.
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66% (1) The 39 Steps 93 min, APPROVED, [Comedy, Crime, Drama] [Ralph Thomas] [13 Mar 1959]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, External Reviews
Actors: Barry Jones, Brenda de Banzie, Kenneth More, Taina Elg
Writer: Frank Harvey (screenplay), John Buchan (based upon the novel by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, French Country: UK
Plot: Richard Hannay witnesses a hit-and-run involving a woman pushing a pram. Looking in the pram he sees a gun instead of a baby. He tracks the woman down and she reveals that she is a secret agent trying to stop foreign spies leaving the country with important military secrets. Later that night she is murdered in Hannay's flat. Hannay takes it on himself to thwart the enemy agents. This involves travelling to Scotland and keeping one step ahead of the police who are looking for him in connection with the murder of the woman.
Rotten Tomatoes: Richard Hannay witnesses a hit-and-run involving a woman pushing a pram. Looking in the pram he sees a gun instead of a baby. He tracks the woman down and she reveals that she is a secret agent trying to stop foreign spies leaving the country with important military secrets. Later that night she is murdered in Hannay's flat. Hannay takes it on himself to thwart the enemy agents. This involves travelling to Scotland and keeping one step ahead of the police who are looking for him in connection with the murder of the woman.
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