TPTV Films Page 40

Against the Wind (1948)

Bloody good war film about saboteurs dropped into and infiltrating Nazi held Belgium to wreak havoc with help from local resistance fighters.

Thought I'd seen it before, but no, something very similar that was set in France and just as good as that one, with quislings and double agents.

So, a number one Belgian agent destroys a Nazi records office that holds thousands of names, but after completing the mission, he is rumbled and arrested - the job is then on to rescue him.

Head of the British agents is James Robertson Justice (superb), who oversees the band of spies/saboteurs played by Jack Warner (one of my faves), Gordon Jackson, John Slater and Simone Signoret (gorgeous) were faces I knew, and there were others in the group. The mission was difficult as it was, but one of them is also a double agent.

Gripping to the end.

Young and Innocent (1937)

I wasn't going to bother with this, as pre war films are usually a bit clunky, but I did notice it was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and so glad I did as it was a great film.

Man finds dead ex-girlfriend on beach and runs off to get help/report it; but is seen by two bathers who imply he was running away from the murder he'd just committed.

In the confusion of the court case, he manages to slip out of the police clutches and goes on the run with the initially forced help of, of all people the Chief Constable's daughter, who eventually falls in love with him and helps all she can to find a witness who can prove his innocence.

I was pleased to have spotted quite easily Hitchcock as a press photographer outside the court, in his usual (not always) appearance in his films.

Other people in it I knew were Edward Rigby, Bill Shine (with tash) and Basil Radford, without his "partner" Naunton Wayne, who he appeared with in Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" where they played two cricket fanatics.

Seemed a bit amateurish in parts, but this is more to do with the technology then, and had some very nice touches of Hitchcock humour thrown in. And a surprise when they stopped at a country garage to put 2 gallons in the Bull Nose Morris she was driving, for 3/- (three shillings), which is 15p!!!! 15p for two gallons of petrol!!

Yes, very good film, with one of those long shots Hitchcock developed, hanging on/zooming in on one person - this one being in a band of minstrels, which was a bit disturbing, seeing what is clearly an all-white band blacked up.

Cat & Mouse (1958) Yank title The Desperate Men

Canadian "American" Lee Patterson (who usually played Yanks) is a bad guy this time, being a GI deserter who, breaking into a house, happens upon a girl who was being held by an old man who wants to know the whereabouts of some diamonds her late father had hidden, which she denies any knowledge of.

So, in a struggle, she accidentally kills the old man, and basically Patterson then continues to hold her hostage until she reveals where the diamonds are.

So-so film with Victor Maddern, who is normally the baddie, playing the Detective Superintendent.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 18th April 2021, 10:32 AM

Campbell Singer as the police inspector (have always liked him)

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I always remember him in The Newcomers, BBC's first attempt at a soap to rival Corrie.

I remember there were some familiar names in that including Jenny Agutter ,Deborah Watling and Wendy Richard.And some blokes too I expect.

The Big Day (1960)

Another film I wouldn't normally have watched, but it did have a good cast and I was intrigued as to how a film about three men working in an engineering works vying for promotion to be on the board could be interesting, and it was a short film anyway.

The three men were William Franklyn, Harry H Corbett and Donald Pleasance, playing against type as a timid firm's accountant who is having a passionate affair with his 19 year old secretary played by Andree Melly (The Lad's girlfriend in HHH, who was actually 28 when she filmed this), and very sexy she looks too in this. Other faces were Betty Marsden (Round The Horne) and pretty Susan Shaw who died a tragic death following a rapid decline in her life after her husband (American actor Bonar Colleano) was killed in a car crash.

About an hour long, and not bad considering the subject, which holds your attention, especially the curiosity of seeing Pleasance vigorously snogging a young bird.

The Embezzler (1954)

Slow burn tale of a very hen-pecked husband who is chief cashier at a bank, and is told by his doctor he has two years at the most to live, and so decides to rob the bank, ditch his wife and travel the world; but as he is leaving the bank, the manager turns up and the hunt is on.

Now, if it had been me or you, you would have been even more wanting to get out of the country, but no, for some inexplicable reason he books himself into an upmarket guest house and gets involved with the residents where he decides to put "his" money to good use, leaving himself vulnerable.

No one especially famous in this except for Peggy Mount as the landlady in her first cinema release, playing of all people a Mrs Larkin! Also very brief appearance of Sam Kydd in an uncredited part.

Short film fortunately as it was just about worth a viewing.

The Girl on the Pier (1953)

I'll let the IMDb reviewer's storyline outline the plot, which is OK. BUT, "dolly bird"? In 1953? I think not .
" A London copper and his family on holiday, a Yank gangster/crooner, a junior journalist, a waxworks horror museum owner and his unfaithful dolly bird wife congregate on Brighton's Palace Pier for blackmail and murder."
I've noticed that now with these so-called expert reviewers - some are shit and a couple of times the person has clearly never watched the film!

HA!! Just noticed another mistake, to prove my point maybe - it's NOT the Palace Pier, which still stands to this day. It was filmed on the West Pier, which is now just a few stumps left in the sea, offshore.

Mainly watched this because of Campbell Singer, who I've always liked - this time we had an Australian "American" playing the baddie, who has just come out of a 4-year jail sentence for his part in a robbery that Campbell got away with, and so the "Yank" wants, naturally, his share for which he has in effect paid for in prison, and along the way he seduces Campbell's wife who is fed up with her life on the pier, anyway.

Throw into the mix a London police detective** who just happens to be on holiday in Brighton, with his wife and son, who has a vivid imagination, but does see a murder committed.

** Coincidence. Played by Charles Victor, who was a totally different character as the hen pecked husband in The Embezzler (1954, which I'd just reviewed. Odd, as I rarely see him in a film - perhaps he has a fan at TPTV.

Not a bad film actually, and not too long, so worth a watch.

Not a film - I don't want to keep opening loads of new threads - but they're starting a series this week "One Step Beyond!"

Before the X-Files. Is this where the Madness tune came from?

Tut tut!

You have to ask where the Madness tune came from ?

Quote: john tregorran @ 10th May 2021, 9:20 PM

Tut tut!

You have to ask where the Madness tune came from ?

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I know that but it may have originated on this TV show.

Oh! I always thought it originally came from Shakespeare,they usuallly do

Quote: Chappers @ 10th May 2021, 8:13 PM

Not a film - I don't want to keep opening loads of new threads - but they're starting a series this week "One Step Beyond!"

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No need to open threads - just use the f**king "Search"!! Don't be so lazy Chappers, old chap - besides, Date? Time?

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 8th May 2021, 12:18 AM

If you are into The Twilight Zone, and such like - the original type of this series (pre Zone etc.) "One Step Beyond" is being shown from S1 E1, from 1959 starting on Tuesday 11/5 at 6 pm on TPTV.

Stars such as Warren Beatty, William Shatner and even our own Alfred Burke** make guest appearances.

** Watching him in the "Public Eye" series, currently. V Good.

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Delayed Action (1954)

One short word to describe this - mess.

Stupid story about a dodgy rich man (Alan Wheatley - Sheriff of Nottingham)) who has his gang "rescue" a down and out, who was about to commit suicide by jumping into the dark, forbidding waters of the Thames, and offered a chance to make some money to pass onto whomsoever he wishes. The stipulation is he spends time about town as the rich man and then "disappears" by having his gang kill him, so the very rich man can take over his original, different identity.

I think that was the plot - I was rapidly losing interest in the whole thing. Thank heavens it was only one hour long.

The Limping Man (1953)

You wait ages for a Sheriff of Nottingham to come along, and get two together - except this time, Alan Wheatley plays (very well) a police inspector and not a baddie as in my previous review. And I'm wondering if he had it written into his contract - Leslie Phillips as his sidekick, who is constantly leering at any girl who comes within six feet of him.

Also had in it a 21-year-old Jean Marsh in her first credited part (with no lines) and the two leading parts are taken by Moira Lister and a genuine Yank this time, in Lloyd Bridges.

"Superior British noir ruined by ridiculous ending" is the headline of one review, and that pretty much sums it up.
Was really enjoying this, imagining all sorts of twists at the end, but it finished up abruptly like a popped balloon - most disappointed!

Bridges comes back to England to reignite the romance he had with Lister some 6 years previous, but she clearly has other things on her mind, but won't tell him what is the matter.

IMDb storyline: "An American WWII veteran goes back to England after the war only to discover that his wartime sweetheart has got mixed up with a dangerous spy ring." What effin' spy ring!?!? Yet another shit synopsis by some twat who clearly hasn't watched the film properly, GRRRRRR!!!