To Paris with Love (1955)

Alec Guinness is usually regarded as a serious actor due to his roles in The Bridge on the River Kwai, Tunes of Glory and Star Wars, but he was primarily a star of light comedies throughout the 1940s and 1950s and he made a number of entertaining films... one of which was To Paris with Love, released in 1955. 

In this film, Guinness plays Sir Edgar, a middle-aged Scotsman who is on holiday in Paris with his grown son John (Vernon Gray). He is secretly hoping that his son would find romance in Paris with a young pretty Parisian, while John is hoping his father would find romance with a rich middle-aged woman. They meet Lizette (Odile Versois), a salesgirl at a fashionable boutique, the first day they arrive and Sir Edgar thinks she is ideal for John so he arranges a meeting with her for lunch the next day. Meanwhile, John meets Sylvia (Elina Labourdette), the owner of the same boutique, and thinks that she is ideal for his father so he, too, arranges a meeting with her for lunch the next day. Before they know it, John is dating Sylvia who is twenty years his senior and Sir Edgar is dating Lizette, who is twenty years younger than he! Both found romance in Paris in an unexpected way and how the twosome work out their mixed-up affairs makes up the remainder of this short and delightful Parisian holiday. 

To Paris with Love is another one of those classic British comedies that in recent decades has somehow been overlooked stateside, yet at the time of its release it was quite popular in the U.S. The film was shot in Eastmancolor on location in Paris and the city looked lovely. The characters kept referring to "springtime in Paris" although it was clearly shot in the autumn with the color changes of the trees evident. 

Alec Guinness didn't show much display of emotion in this film yet his feelings for young Lizette seemed genuine and one can easily see how she can find him attractive. He was especially good in his little bits of humor, such as when he got his badminton birdie up in a tree and thought he was agile enough to climb up and get it. That he did...but getting down was a different story! Vernon Gray was the likeable young chap in Now and Forever and he played a similar character here, although this time he found an older woman more attractive than Janette Scott. 

Odile Versois made several good comedies in the early 1950s and this wasn't her first British production. The following year she starred in the entertaining crime drama Checkpoint (1956) with Stanley Baker. In To Paris with Love there is a secondary romance between her and a young postman who is enamored with her and a nice side comedy about her father being a taxi-driver. Also in the cast is Austin Trevor, Jacques Francois, and Claude Romain. 

To Paris with Love is currently available on DVD and it is worth checking out. It is one of those amusing light-hearted comedies that has such a relaxing pace and beautiful Paris setting that you'll end up rewatching it every few years. 

The Reptile (1966)

Hammer Studios was the king of horror film studios in the 1960s and they offered something deliciously frightful for all appetites. 

If blood-sucking vampires, ferocious werewolves, or linen-wrapped dead people aren't your cup of tea, then The Reptile, a scrumptious bit of gothic horror from the year 1966, may wet your lips. 

In this tale, Captain Harry Spalding (Ray Barrett) and his wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel) come to England from India due to the sudden death of Harry's brother Charles.  They want to live in the cottage that Charles left behind, but the village folk warn them against it. In fact, most of the villagers are downright hostile to the couple, except for local pub owner Tom Bailey (Michael Ripper). 

Neighboring the cottage is the mansion of Dr. Franklin (Noel Willman) and his daughter Anna (Jacqueline Pierce), a young woman who is frightened of her father. Shortly after the Spaldings' arrival, a villager dies mysteriously with bite marks on the back of his neck and foam pouring from his mouth. Harry believes his brother may have died the same way and thinks Dr. Franklin is hiding the truth about his death. 

The Reptile is one of Hammer Studio's more tamer productions and, like The Gorgon (1964), most of the film builds up to the creature-revealing climax, which in this case is a - surprise! - reptile. This climax would have been much more exciting if the title of the film, and the poster, did not give away the ending. 

In spite of its tameness, The Reptile is engrossing and well worth a watch, if only to soak in all that wonderful gothic atmosphere that Hammer productions were so good at creating. 

The cast were all capable actors (both Noel Willman and Jennifer Daniel may look familiar from Kiss of the Vampire), the music is fittingly eerie, and the color palette is marvelous. The cottage that the Spaldings stay in, as well as Dr. Franklyn's manor across the lawn, reminded me of Cherry Cottage and Cavor's home in First Men in the Moon but these were different filming locations. The Reptile was filmed in and around Windsor in Berkshire next door to Bray Studios, where the picture was made. 

The Reptile is currently available on DVD as well as on Blu-Ray. 

Alive and Kicking (1958)

Every once in a while, you might come across a wonderful film and wonder why it is not more well-known than it is. At least, I do that....and, unfortunately, it is quite rare to find hidden gems; but Alive and Kicking is one such movie. I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it instantly. Granted, its plot would not appeal to a large audience so I can understand why it is as obscure as it is. 

Sybil Thorndike, Estelle Winwood and Kathleen Harrison star as three elderly women who escape from a nursing home when they learn that they will be relocated to other nursing homes and separated. They take what little belongings they have and hike out on foot. After an escapade at sea, they arrive on a small island off the coast of Ireland and discover an abandoned stone cottage. However, the cottage isn't empty for long. Shortly after they claim it, a gentleman (Stanley Holloway) arrives and tells them that he just purchased the cottage and plans to move in. Darn the luck! 

They hope to discuss renting one of the rooms of the cottage from him, but lo! he disappears from the cliffside where they left him. All they can find is his hat floating on the ocean waves below. Since no one in the village met the man yet, the three crafty dames decide to pretend that he is living in the house and that they are his nieces (!). Much of the film after this point deals with how these women settle into the village and make a new life for themselves in Ireland. 

Alive and Kicking was probably banned from being shown in nursing homes because of its uplifting message of independence for the elderly. These three women have only a few pounds in their purse but somehow manage to procure a house, furniture, and plenty of food (thanks to one of them being a good shot). Most impressive however, is the positive effect they have on the villagers, even going so far as to start a new industry for the sheep farmers and their wives. 

Among these villagers are some familiar faces including Marjorie Rhodes (who was excellent as the mother in The Family Way), a young Richard Harris, Paul Farrell, Liam Redmond and Colin Gordon as a bird watcher who decides to perch on their property.

The comedy has a definite "Irish air" to it...but shush, don't tell the Irish...the movie was actually filmed on Easdale, one of the Slate Islands of Scotland. Life on a small island in the 1950s centered around agriculture and the village people and, with a village of that size, the arrival of three strange women would not go unnoticed for long so our heroines must be given credit for coming up with so many delicate lies to fool the villagers as long as they did. 

Sybil Thorndike is the ringleader of the group and she boasts the most brains as well. It is her idea to start a sweater-making industry to earn money for themselves and for the village. Estelle Winwood is clever too, while Kathleen Harrison plays her usual kindly cockney character. All of the principal players went on to live long lives after this film with both Winwood and Harrison "alive and kicking" past the age of 100. 

Director Cyril Frankel does a wonderful job of keeping the movie entertaining from start to finish and composer Philip Green penned a delightful score with an especially lovely folksy tune "One I Truly Love" performed by Olive McFarland. 

Night Ferry (1976) - A CFF Film

An ancient Egyptian mummy is stolen from The British Museum and young Jeff (Graham Fletcher) witnesses the criminals carrying the mummy case to their hiding place at the railyards. He wants to go to the police but is afraid to since it would mean confessing that he trespassed on railway property while searching for his model plane. This dangerous act caused a railway worker to be injured. Instead, he recruits his two friends, Nick (Engin Eshref) and Carol (Jayne Tottman) to keep an eye on the master criminal known as Pyramid (Bernard Cribbins) and see if they can track down the mummy themselves.

Night Ferry was one of many Children's Film Foundations distributions released in the United Kingdom during the 1970s. This one is a cut above the rest since the criminals are not the usual bungling sort, although it still is very much juvenile fare. The location scenes around London's Victoria and Clapham stations are nice and the film clips along at a good pace. It actually builds up a fair amount of tension towards the climax when the criminals discover that the children are on their trail. 

Night Ferry was directed by David Eady and written by Michael Barnes who also teamed up to produce the film. This is one of several films that they made together for the Children's Film Foundation. The child actors do an adequate job, although young Jeff was a bit wooden. Bernard Cribbins (The Railway Children, Jackanory) stars as the criminal Pyramid, a master-of-disguise who arranges crimes to order. In this case, a private collector in France wants the mummy for his own collection so they are delivering him via the night ferry across the channel. 

Also in the cast is Aubrey Morris, Jeremy Bulloch and Carole Rousseau...whom some may recognize as the host of the BBC French instructional video course A Vous La France (1984).

Since Night Ferry is only one-hour long, it was later aired on television as one episode of the children's anthology series called Once Upon a Classic, hosted by Bill Bixby. It is currently available on DVD as one of three films on the BFI's Children's Film Foundation Collection "London Tales".

The Hour of 13 (1952)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios always had a flair for making period films, especially those with a Victorian setting.....and they made quite a number of them, too. Being quite a savvy production company, they also discovered that a good script is worth repeating. Hence, many of the Victorian-era thrillers that the studio made in the 1930s and 1940s were later remade. One such film was The Mystery of Mr. X (1935) which they remade in 1952 under the title The Hour of 13. 

Robert Montgomery starred in the original film as dapper gentleman thief Nicholas Revel. A killer known as "Mr. X" is on the loose in London targeting police constables. By a strange coincidence, his latest killing occurred the same night and in the same location as one of Revel's latest robberies. In order to clear his name, Revel decides to play an amateur detective and track down the fiend himself, all the while dodging the suspicious eye of Police Commissioner Sir Herbert Frensham (Henry Stephenson). 

The Mystery of Mr. X was based on the novel "X vs Rex", written by Philip MacDonald (The List of Adrian Messenger). Howard Emmett Rogers worked it into a quick and thrilling script and MGM had another winning Robert Montgomery picture in the theaters. 

What works once can work again, hence, seventeen years later, producer Hayes Goetz blew the dust off the script and hired screenwriter Leon Gordon to rework it into a vehicle for MGM's young star, Peter Lawford. What resulted was a charming gaslit London mystery that holds up quite well for its age. 

This time, Nicholas Revel is tracking down the killer known as The Terror. The police - primarily Inspector Connor (Roland Culver), believe that if they find the thief who stole Lady Elmbridge's emerald, they find the Terror. Since Revel stole the emerald, he wants the real Terror caught before they fence him in for a series of murders he did not commit. 

The Hour of 13 was made at the MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, England and, while there are not many location scenes, the film sets are excellent and perfectly evoke that Jack-the-Ripper setting of old London. 

Peter Lawford is not my idea of a gentleman thief (Stewart Granger would have been excellent in this part) but he is surprisingly good. In fact, it would have been nice to see him in a series of Nicholas Revel mysteries. Playing his leading lady is English actress Dawn Addams who had a long career with MGM and an even longer career working in television. Also in the cast is Michael Hordern as Sir Henry Frensham, Derek Bond, Leslie Dwyer, and Colin Gordon. 

The Hour of 13 is available on DVD via Warner Archives.

Hammer Horror - The Golden Era (1956-1967)

Each year along with the approach of Halloween comes the bombardment of Hammer Horror films on television. Blood, gore, and buxom babes are splattered onscreen in brilliant Eastmancolor, while sanguinary counts and grimly ghoulish characters lurk stealthily in dark corners of seedy districts intent on carrying out nefarious deeds on their unsuspecting prey.

And we…sweet, kind, gentle, innocent viewers…sit by with pizza in hand, eyes-a-goggled and heart-a-pounding as we stare transfixed at our screens while these deliciously diabolical scenes are being carried out.

Prior to the British Hammer film, there really was no such thing as a “gory” film. There were lords of tiny European hamlets suffering from lycanthropy, mad scientists making pastiches out of gently worn body parts, secluded islands inhabited by horrific animal creatures, misguided poor souls continually making themselves disappear, and of course the all-too-common haunted house filled with frustrated spirits (and the occasional runaway gorilla)……but alas, no gore. Hammer Studios had found a niche and filled it capitally.

Just what would Halloween be without Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing entertaining us?  

Hammer Productions was formed in 1934 by William Hinds, a comedian and businessman who once went by the name of Will Hammer on stage. His films were low-budget and simply made but, even with his own distribution company, he wasn’t able to find a market for them and filed for bankruptcy in 1937.

A year later, his son, along with producer James Carreras, resurrected the production company and began work on a series of BBC radio adaptions such as Dick Barton Special Agent, and The Adventures of PC 49. Many films were made during the 1940s and early 50s but nothing of noteworthy attention, until, that is…1955. This was the year Hammer Studios released The Quatermass Xperiment, a wonderfully chilling adaption of the popular BBC television series of the same name. 

Quatermass, also known as The Creeping Unknown, was about a missile sent into space with three astronauts on board. Only one of the men return to Earth and with him, brings an alien infestation which turns him into an ‘orrible blood-sucking monster. Professor Bernard Quatermass (played by American actor Brian Donlevy) becomes the first of many, many scholarly extraterrestrial/mythical/vampyr hunters to be featured in Hammer film….Van Helsing being the most famous of these.

The film became the first to ever receive an X rating certificate from the British Film Board and was so successful that similarly themed pictures were quickly put into production and released.

X- The Unknown (1956) 

Radiation tests done by the British Army in a remote Scottish village unearth an unknown radioactive “blob” that leaves only the bodies of its burnt victims behind. Dr. Royston sets out to stop the beast before it grows bigger and bigger and feeds off of them all! Dean Jagger, Leo McKern, Edward Chapman, Anthony Newley.

Quatermass II: Enemy from Space (1957) 

Professor Quatermass explores a deadly gas that is originating from a hidden factory in rural England. Unusual creatures just may be planning something deadly for planet Earth and, once again, Quatermass is the man to stop them. Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sidney James, Brian Forbes.

But it was when The Curse of Frankenstein came out in 1957 that the studio earned its infamous title as a House of Horror. This was, officially, the start of Hammer Horror.

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) Using the hands of a pianist and the brains of a renowned scholar, Doctor Frankenstein sticks together a "human" from leftover bodies and finds that it didn’t quite turn out to be the success he had planned. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court.

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, heretofore relatively unknown company players, quickly earned worldwide recognition for their roles as Dr. Frankenstein and his Monster and for the next ten years basked in the sunshine – or rather moonlight – of success.

The Abominable Snowman (1958) High in the snow-covered Himalayan mountains, an English botanist and a burly American scientist lead an expedition to discover the legendary Yeti creature. Peter Cushing, Forrest Tucker, Maureen Connell.

Universal Studios was the American distributor of the Hammer horror series and since they earned such great returns off of them, they let them have access to their stock house of scripts. Numerous retellings of their horror classics were plotted out, and the studio focused all its efforts and funds on the making of these colorful adaptions.

The Horror of Dracula (1958) After a man attacks Dracula in his castle (yes, bold man he be!), Dracula travels to a nearby village to seek revenge on his family and his fiancée. They turn to Professor Van Helsing, a fellow student of vampires, for help in destroying him. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous Sherlock Holmes novel gets a colorful retelling here, as the ace detective and his doctor friend come to the aid of a nobleman who is being threatened by supernatural hounds on the moors of his estate. Peter Cushing, Andre Morell, Christopher Lee, Marla Landi

The Hound of the Baskervilles was one of the less successful films in the series though Peter Cushing made an admirable Holmes, as did Andre Morell as Dr. Watson. During 1951 – 1967, Hammer Studios' home was in Bray, near Windsor, Buckinghamshire. A house (Down Place), a large backlot, and several smaller studios were on this property. The house was included in many of the films (it added a lot to that “Hammer atmosphere”) and the backlot was turned into a European village which was used again and again in different films. First in The Brides of Dracula, then as a Spanish village in The Curse of the Werewolf, as London in The Phantom of the Opera, and then as a Russian palace in Rasputin, the Mad Monk.

From 1960 on, Hammer consigned themselves to raising their monsters from their graves in sequels or rehashings of their previous successes…with the exception of The Phantom of the Opera, Curse of the Werewolf (another misfire), and The Gorgon…which were new characters to the series.

The Brides of Dracula (1960) A schoolteacher unknowingly sets free a young man ( of the undead variety ) in Transylvania, and worse yet, finds that he’s after her students at her school for girls. Peter Cushing, Martita Hunt, Yvonne Monlaur, David Peel

The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) A young Spanish boy on a hunting trip gets bitten by a wolf, and years later moonlights as a first-class howler in this retelling of the classic Universal The Wolf Man. Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain

The Phantom of the Opera (1962) In Victorian London, a poor musical professor finds that his life work has been stolen by a corrupt lord and, with his fire-burnt disfigured face, he hides out in an Opera house as a “phantom” waiting for his moment of revenge. Herbert Lom, Edward de Souza, Michael Gough, Heather Sears

Kiss of the Vampire (1963) A young honeymooning couple gets stranded in a southern European village and are “helped” by an aristocratic family…who have a taste for newlywed blood. Clifford Evans, Edward de Souza.

Evil of Frankenstein (1964) – Penniless Baron Frankenstein, returns to his family castle to renew his work on his beloved Monster, only to find that an evil aid, Zoltan has been using his monster for his dirty work. Peter Cushing, Peter Woodthorpe, Duncan LaMont

The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964) An Egyptian mummy is delivered to London, where it begins a rampage while under the control of a man with murderous intentions. Terence Morgan, Ronald Howard, Fred Clark

The Gorgon (1964)  In pre-WWII Germany, a small village is being plagued by a snake-haired gorgon who turns those who bear their eyes upon her to stone…only during full moons though. Professor Meister and Dr.Namaroff come to the aid of the townsfolk. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Richard Pasco, Michael Goodliffe, Barbara Shelley

All of these Hammer Horror pictures really weren’t that scary (especially compared to today’s standards) but, in 1965, gore, as in bottles of oozy gooey goopy red ketchup, entered the picture. EEeeek!!

This was the year that the content of the Hammer films became more….ahem, mature…with the eyes of our blood-sucking fiendish friends glaring more fiercely, the bodices of their voluptuous prey creeping lower and lower, and pools of blood squirting to and fro, making Van Helsing’s appearance – along with his cross of Christ – all the more anticipated so we can see our anemic villains writhe in terror at their impending doom.

Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966) Four unwary tourists take refuge in Count Dracula’s castle for the night (!). Within a few hours one of them is drained of his blood and his wife ( Shelley ) gets transformed into a vampire so the gruesome twosome can pursue the remaining two “guests”. Some hospitality. Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Charles Tingwell

Island of Terror (1966) A group of doctors head to a remote island off the coast of Ireland to investigate a series of medical mysteries and discover a deadly lifeform unleashed. Peter Cushing, Edward Judd, Carole Gray, Keith Bell. 

Rasputin, The Mad Monk (1966) The story of the mad Russian “monk” Rasputin (aid to the Czars) is exploited in all its gory glory. Christopher Lee, Richard Pasco, Barbara Shelley, Suzan Farmer

Quatermass and the Pit (1967) While digging a subway in London, a construction crew discovers a skeleton and what seems to be a German missile….but in truth it is an alien spaceship. James Donald, Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley

The Reptile (1966) While investigating his brother's death, a man and his wife move into his former cottage in a small village in England and become embroiled in a reptilian curse. Ray Barrett, Noel William, John Laurie, Jennifer Daniel. 

The Mummy's Shroud (1967) An archeological team discovers the remains of a mummy while on a dig in Egypt in 1920. Returning home to England with their find, the members are killed one by one. Andre Morrell, David Buck, Elizabeth Sellars, Maggie Kimberley.

There were also a number of "Scream Queens" that became associated with Hammer Horror (Hazel Court, Barbara Steele, and, later, Ingrid Pitt) but of them all, no one can top Barbara Shelley, that lovely English lady who somehow got caught in the vortex known as “the horror genre”. In total, she made seven pictures with the studio, sometimes as the victim, but not infrequently as a vampire herself.

Many believe that the golden age of Hammer Horror ended with Dracula: Prince of Darkness and that does indeed have some credibility to it, for the films made after this tend to be repetitious and rather malodorous.

All in all though, Hammer Studios had a long line of successes and it is during this bewitching month that we fans appreciate them the most. We get to sit back, have some popcorn, and enjoy Peter Cushing and those legendary ghouls give us goosebumps….what more fun could you have than that? 

Derby Day ( 1952 )

May is known in the sporting world as Derby season and taking place this evening is one of the most popular derby races in America, the 149th Kentucky Derby. If you are like most classic film fans, you will probably be enjoying a good horse-racing film tonight to tie in with the Derby. It may be The Story of Seabiscuit, Riding High or National Velvet ( check out our post Horse Racing Films of the 1940s and 1950s for other titles )....but if you want a treat that is slightly different than your usual Hollywood fare, look no further, for we have a title for you: Derby Day ( 1952 ).

Derby Day is a marvelous British ensemble drama starring Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding and a host of popular British actors from the era. The story focuses on four different groups of people, all of whom are attending the famous Derby Day race at Epson Downs. Unlike some ensemble pieces that keep all of the stories separate, Derby Day has the different groups interact with one another at the race, which is rather nice to see. 

First, there is Google Withers who is in a right good pickle. She was carrying on an affair with her lodger ( John McCallum ) when her husband returned from work early and caught them together. McCallum gives him a kick and the poor bloke takes a nasty tumble backwards down the stairs. They quickly hide his body and then McCallum heads to Epsom Downs to contact a man whom he knows can "fix it" so that he can escape from England before the police catch him. 

Michael Wilding is attending the race to make some sketches for a newspaper, but he really has another reason for wanting to go. The taxi he is traveling in happens to break down on the road there and he is kindly offered a lift by Lady Forbes and her brother-in-law ( Anna Neagle and Edwin Styles ). They eventually find that their lives are intertwined more than they had realized. 

Peter Graves plays Gerald Berkeley, a hammy film star, who is attending the race because he was "won" in raffle. The old woman who won a Day-with-a-Film-Star sprained her ankle and so her young and pretty French maid, Suzanne Cloutier, is taking her place....much to the delight of Mr. Berkeley. 

Lastly, Gordon Harker and Gladys Henson play a taxi-cab driver and his wife who have talked about attending Derby Day in person for the past 40 years but never had an opportunity until today. 

Each of these characters is well-developed and their happenings at the race are highly entertaining. It could have been written in such a way that Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding's characters took center stage and the other stories were not as enjoyable, but instead, they are equally engrossing. Every three or four minutes the focus changes between the characters so you never tire of any of the couple's dramas.

Derby Day was the last of six films that Neagle and Wilding were paired in, a pair that critic Godfrey Winn deemed "the greatest in British films". All of their pictures were produced and directed by Neagle's husband Herbert Wilcox, who also had his own highly successful Herbert Wilcox Productions company. 

Most horse-racing films give you a look at the jockeys, horses, and all of the drama behind the scenes, but Derby Day doesn't cover any of that. It is unique because it is all about the people, the atmosphere of the Derby Day race at Epsom, and the general feeling of excitement of attending a race like that in person. 

So if you are not attending the 149th Kentucky Derby this evening and want to savor the excitement of a day at the races ( even one spent looking at the tele ), then give Derby Day a try. It is available via streaming online or on DVD from Network Distributing. 

Note: In the U.S., Derby Day was released under the title Four Against Fate.

Snowbound ( 1948 )

Dennis Price and Stanley Holloway head to the Swiss Alps in the 1948 British thriller Snowbound. Price is assigned to pose as a screenwriter gathering material for a new film when in reality he is to gather information about the people who are staying at a mountain chalet and report that information to a former British espionage agent ( Leo Genn ). Within days, his cover is exposed and he quickly finds that everyone staying at the chalet is there for a secret reason...and not for "their health" as they claim. Among the suspicious characters are Marcel Dalio, Mila Parely, Herbert Lom, and Guy Middleton.

Snowbound is a quick thriller that has some nice Alpine location filming. While the story is easy to follow, the film could have been improved upon by a little less dialogue and more action. Aside from an occasional visit to the hotel down the mountain, most of the action takes place within the chalet, making it seem rather stage-like. This is surprising since the story is from a novel ( The Lonely Skier by Hammond Innes ) that was adapted directly to the screen. 

Variety magazine's review of the film claimed that the "main failing of the yarn is that situations do not thrill sufficiently", which is quite true. The action does not build up until the second half of the film, but then it does conclude with an exciting finale. 

Sydney Box produced the film, which was distributed stateside by RKO. Sydney was the head of Gainsborough Studios and produced a number of fine British films on his own as well. His sister Betty Box was also a prolific producer of many great British classics. 

Snowbound is worth watching for its cast of character actors ( Dennis Price makes a good "spy"  ) and its snowy mountain location. It is especially enjoyable to watch on a winter afternoon, but if you miss it airing on television, it really is not worth going out of your way to hunt it down.  

Mr. Forbush and the Penguins ( 1971 )

Richard Forbush is a rich young philanderer. He likes to woo girls and wear smart-looking clothes to college. His professor considers him to be one of the most academically brilliant students in his class with "the potential to be an outstanding biologist," but Forbush has little interest in biology, only mating. 

One day, he meets Tara (Hayley Mills), the new waitress at his local pub, and, smitten with her, attempts to impress her with tales of how he will go "down the Amazon" and be one of the last men to undertake a great scientific adventure. When his professor offers him the opportunity to live the great adventure by spending six months in Antarctica tracking the population and habits of a penguin colony, he turns it down.... until a casual remark made by Tara changes his mind. 

"That's all you are. Wind. Empty wind."

He is aghast that Tara does not succumb to his charms and is downright offended when she calls him "empty wind". He decides to accept the position after all but begins to regret it soon after. 

"It's a grim prospect, all that ice. I don't know how I am going to get back in one piece. I feel rather like poor Captain Oates. Remember what he said when he walked into the blizzard to die, 'I'm just going outside and may be some time'"

Within a few weeks, Forbush is dropped off at Shackleton's Hut at Cape Royds with a two-way radio being his only link to the outside world. He is told not to interfere with nature but he grows attached to the penguins he is studying and their plight to survive. After months of watching skuas steal the penguins' eggs, he attempts to destroy them by building a catapult to hurl rocks at them. All is in vain and Forbush comes home realizing that every living creature depends in some way upon every other.

Mr. Forbush and the Penguins, also released as Cry of the Penguins, is not your typical arctic adventure film. Instead of the man-battling-the-elements plot line, this film focuses on how six months spent alone with penguins can change a man. It does indeed transform Mr. Forbush dramatically. 

John Hurt gives a wonderful sensitive portrayal of the young playboy turned penguin fancier. It is hard to imagine that the man throwing rocks at the invading skuas at the end of the film is the same Mr. Forbush who showed little to no interest in arctic birds at the beginning of the picture. Hurt has such a marvelously silky voice that it is a pleasure to hear him narrate the penguin sequences. Hayley Mills also gives a good performance in what is strangely listed on the credits as a guest appearance. Also in the cast is Tony Britton as Forbush's professor, Dudley Sutton, Thorley Walters, and Judy Campbell.

The production for Mr. Forbush and the Penguins was rather rocky. Alfred Viola, a commercial director, was making his directorial debut when he signed on for the production but mid-way through was dismissed by producer Roy Boulting, who took over directing himself. Boulting also put his wife Hayley Mills in the role of Tara, in place of Susan Fleetwood, whom Hurt preferred. Swedish director Arne Sucksdorff flew to the Arctic for location filming and captured some beautiful footage of the penguins in their natural habitat while John Addison (Tom Jones) created a compelling score for the film. 

Unfortunately, after all that effort (and a nearly £600,000 investment), Mr. Forbush and the Penguins tanked at the box office.  The publicity department mistakenly tried to publicize the movie as a comedy, plastering the posters with corny taglines like "It's not often that 740,000 penguins can help a love affair!" and "the zaniest bunch of birds on the South Pole!". 

If one is looking for comedy, then this film would fall short. In fact, the first 15 minutes are rather a drag. But after the professor hands Forbush his opportunity to become an explorer of old, the film becomes an absorbing blend of documentary and drama. A look into the life of one man and over half-a-million tuxedo-clad arctic birds.... quite a novel idea for a film. And speaking of novels, if you want to enjoy this story in print, read Graham Billing's original 1965 novel "Forbush and the Penguins". 

The Family Way ( 1966 )

The Family Way is one of those films that you have probably heard a lot about but never bothered to watch, thinking it to be just a routine British drama. But it is not routine. And it is worth watching. The plot may sound simple, certainly not something one would build a film around, and yet it is deceptively rich. This is because the characters are so well created and so very well performed. 

Playwright Bill Naughton's tale focuses on a working-class family in England. Arthur Fitton ( Hywel Bennett ) has just married his childhood sweetheart Jenny ( Hayley Mills ) and they are both looking forward to taking their honeymoon in Majorca. Unfortunately, the travel agent absconds with their money and they find themselves starting their marriage in the upstairs room of Arthur's parents' house...where the walls are "paper thin". Arthur is a sensitive young man and he finds it difficult to make love in a house where one can hear every whisper. So he sits and listens to Beethoven while Jenny patiently waits for him to come to bed. Their marriage remains unconsummated several weeks later and Arthur and Jenny begin to feel frustrated - for different reasons. Jenny feels she may not appeal to Arthur and Arthur thinks something must be wrong with himself. Their struggle with arousing sexual urgings generates much of the humor of the story but it also stirs up revelations from Arthur's parents about their own marriage which leads into the real heart of the story. 

John Mills and Marjorie Rhodes give stellar performances in the role of Arthur's parents, Ezra and Lucy. The Frittons are an everyday family from Yorkshire with Papa Fritton going off to work each morning leaving his wife to tend to the washing and cooking. Arthur works, too, but, unlike his father, he does not spend his free time in pubs drinking with his friends. He is a loner who would rather spend time at home reading and listening to his records. This clash in personalities has made Arthur feel distant from his father and closer to his mother. 

The Frittons have another son, Arthur's younger brother Geoffrey ( Murray Head in a non-singing role ). Geoffrey is not like his father either but this does not seem to bother Ezra much, perhaps because he is not the eldest. Ezra wants Arthur to be a man and his quiet interests make him worry that Lucy's gentle upbringing of the lad has made him queer. 

Surprisingly, when Jenny's parents come to the Fritton's house for a private talk "about Arthur", we discover that Ezra's friendship in his youth with an old pal named Billy may have looked strange to outsiders as well. After all, how many newlywed men take along their best friend on their honeymoon?

Lucy's recollections of her unorthodox first days of marriage bring up memories best forgotten. This old friend, Billy, who "suddenly left" one day without a word may have meant more to Ezra and Lucy than both are willing to admit. 

Ezra's final line "He looked just like Billy" ( speaking of Arthur as he was leaving ) makes one wonder whether Arthur even was Ezra's son at all, and not Billy's. Naughton's script gives the audience only vague hints about the Frittons' past, which lends the story a richness that would have been spoilt had all been revealed. 

The Family Way began as a television play ( titled Honeymoon Postponed ) by Bill Naughton for ABC's Armchair Theatre in 1961. Naughton later adapted it into a theatrical play that premiered in 1963 with Bernard Miles in the role of Ezra Fitton. John Mills happened to catch this performance and was so enthralled with the part that he went backstage hoping to discuss purchasing the film rights as a vehicle for him and his daughter. He was told that the Boulting brothers and an American had already purchased the rights. Roy Boulting had hoped to make the film with Peter Sellars in the lead but after the project was put on hold for several years, he contacted John Mills, who was tickled pink and considered it to be "the best part I've had since Hobson's Choice". 

Indeed, it was. Mills gave a wonderful performance of a lower working-class father whose thoughts and ways are quite different from his more sensitive son. Marjorie Rhodes deserves equal credit for a powerfully understated performance. Also excellent are the two young leads. Hayley Mills, whose acting always standouts, looks especially lovely in this film. Perhaps it was the glow of a young woman in love captured on film ( Mills was having a romance with The Family Way's director Ray Boulting at the time ). 

Hywel Bennett was relatively new to film but had experience in theater. The success of The Family Way led to a contract with British Lion films and two more pictures opposite Hayley Mills ( Twisted Nerve and Endless Night ). Roger Ebert called Bennett "one of England's best young actors" in 1969. Today, he is best known for his role as James Shelley in the popular sitcom Shelley ( 1979-1984 ) and for his voiceover work for the British Rail television adverts of the 1980s. Also in the cast are Liz Fraser, Avril Angers, John Comer, and Barry Foster. 

In addition to its empathetic script and fine performances, The Family Way is noted for its soundtrack, particularly its theme song by Paul McCartney. It is George Martin who really deserves credit for creating the score, having just a 15-second piano piece from Paul to work with. He turned a simple tune into a beautiful and subtle score. 

You can watch The Family Way for free on Tubi ( via Roku or online at tubitv.com ) or on DVD. 

Murder at the Gallop ( 1963 )

"Yes, old Enderby was frightened to death!"

One afternoon, while collecting funds for charity, Miss Marple witnesses the death of Mr. Enderby, a death that the doctor claims was due to a heart attack. Miss Marple believes it was deliberate murder: a heart attack triggered by the sight of a cat. Mr. Enderby, a rich recluse, had "a weak heart and a pathological horror of cats. What easier than for some interested party to slip a cat into the house, a cat that the old man would come upon accidentally. Yes, old Enderby was frightened to death!"

She takes her suspicions to Inspector Craddock of the local police, whom she had worked with on a previous murder case. Craddock found her to be "of some small help" before but, upon hearing this new theory of hers, suggests she read fewer thrillers.

At the reading of the will, Mr. Enderby's family members are shocked to hear demure Aunt Cora also suggest that his death was deliberate. "He was murdered....wasn't he?" When Aunt Cora is dispatched with - by a hatpin of all weapons! - Miss Marple decides to don her Sherlock Holmes cap and solve the mystery herself. 

Murder at the Gallop was the second of four Miss Marple mysteries made in the 1960s starring the engaging English character actress Dame Margaret Rutherford. It was a follow-up to Murder, She Said ( 1961 ) and many of the elements used in Murder, She Said are repeated in this second outing, notably the family inheritance plot line, the eccentric male lead ( this time played by the perpetually baffled-faced Robert Morley ), the surly stablehand, and the multiple murders. Yes, when Miss Marple attempts to solve a case, murder is never a solitary occurrence. Even the finale of Miss Marple receiving a marriage proposal is repeated. 

The members of the Enderby family are not as interesting as the Ackenthorpes of Murder, She Said but they do make wonderful murder suspects. Each of them received a goodly inheritance from old Mr. Enderby, but one of them is obviously out for a larger share of the money. 

Hector Enderby ( Robert Morley ) leads the list of suspects as the head of the family and proprietor of the Gallop Hotel, where the Enderbys, Aunt Cora's companion Miss Milcrest, and Miss Marple are all staying. Hector loves to be in the saddle more than anything else and he sees "this whole murder business" and the police's presence as interference with running his business establishment. 

His niece Rosamund, portrayed by Katya Douglas, is a spoiled and demanding woman. She is not overly interested in the Enderby fortune because her mind is preoccupied with curiosity as to why her husband Michael ( James Villiers ) lied about what he was doing the afternoon Enderby died. Nephew George ( Robert Urquhart ) is certainly greedy enough to murder. He quickly becomes Miss Marple's prime suspect, but when he turns up dead, she - and the audience - are forced to re-examine the case. 

"Agatha Christie should be compulsory reading for the police force."

Murder at the Gallop is one of the best of MGM's Miss Marple mysteries. It was loosely based on Agatha Christie's 1953 Hercule Poirot novel "After the Funeral". Credit should be given to screenwriter James P. Cavanaugh ( a frequent writer of episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents ) for reworking the story into such an entertaining yet baffling mystery. Murder mysteries are often filmed as dramas or comedies but Murder at the Gallop straddles both of these genres. It is neither serious drama nor farce. It is simply an enjoyable - and highly amusing - tea and crumpet mystery. 

Ron Goodwin's sprightly harpsichord music greatly contributes to the entertainment and the overall production is top-notch. The cinematography by Arthur Ibbetson is properly atmospheric and the location filming around Buckinghamshire adds to the film's appeal. But make no doubt about it, the film's most charming asset is Dame Margaret Rutherford herself, the endearing star of these films.

Rutherford's characterization of the popular sleuthing spinster bears little resemblance to the Jane Marple you will find in Agatha Christie's novels. Plump and energetic, Rutherford completely transformed Miss Marple into a spunky, emancipated, lovable old gal with a taste for mystery and mayhem. With jowls jiggling and a tongue firmly jutted in her cheek, Jane swings her tweed cape about her, squares her shoulders, and is ready to face any danger that stands in the way of her amateur sleuthing. She has an indomitable spirit that will suffer no nonsense - not even from a murderer!

Often aiding Miss Marple in her detective work is her loyal friend, Mr. Stringer, custodian of the local library in Milchester. This character was newly created for the series to give Margaret Rutherford's husband, Stringer Davis, a co-starring role in the series. Mr. Stringer, or "dear Jim" as Miss Marple affectionately calls him, is an invaluable source of support and the perfect partner to Jane. In Murder at the Gallop, he does the "leg work" in town for Miss Marple while she remains at the Gallop Hotel keeping a close eye on the suspects. At the exciting climax, they also get to perform the twist together!

The remaining cast, which includes Finlay Currie, the talented Flora Robson, Charles Tingwell as the kindly Inspector Craddock, and Duncan Lamont, add to making this an overall delightfully entertaining mystery.....one that even a loyal Agatha Christie fan would enjoy. 

This post is our contribution to the Movies are Murder! Blogathon being hosted by the Classic Movie Blog Association. Click here to read more reviews of murder-themed classic films and click here to view the original trailer for Murder at the Gallop.