Stars: Anna Neagle, Trevor Howard, Marius Goring, Peter Ustinov, Bernard Lee, Alfred Schieske, Gilles Quéant, Marianne Walla, Fritz Wendhausen | Written by Warren Chetham Strode | Directed by Herbert Wilcox
World Wars are won on many fronts, and not only the ones that include battle. The war that was raged by the intelligence agencies is one that was secret during the war, but after we got to see the bravery normal people put to push the allied forces to success. This included women who worked in enemy territory as spies. One of the famous ones was the story of Odette.
When the call is made for holiday photographs from France to be sent to the intelligence agencies, Odette (Anna Neagle), a French woman living in France provides some. When the Special Operations Executive contact her, she decides to help them by being flown into Occupied France where she fought for the French resistance.
World Wars are won on many fronts, and not only the ones that include battle. The war that was raged by the intelligence agencies is one that was secret during the war, but after we got to see the bravery normal people put to push the allied forces to success. This included women who worked in enemy territory as spies. One of the famous ones was the story of Odette.
When the call is made for holiday photographs from France to be sent to the intelligence agencies, Odette (Anna Neagle), a French woman living in France provides some. When the Special Operations Executive contact her, she decides to help them by being flown into Occupied France where she fought for the French resistance.
- 7/9/2019
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Honorary Award: Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth among dozens of women bypassed by the Academy (photo: Honorary Award non-winner Gloria Swanson in 'Sunset Blvd.') (See previous post: "Honorary Oscars: Doris Day, Danielle Darrieux Snubbed.") Part three of this four-part article about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Honorary Award bypassing women basically consists of a long, long — and for the most part quite prestigious — list of deceased women who, some way or other, left their mark on the film world. Some of the names found below are still well known; others were huge in their day, but are now all but forgotten. Yet, just because most people (and the media) suffer from long-term — and even medium-term — memory loss, that doesn't mean these women were any less deserving of an Honorary Oscar. So, among the distinguished female film professionals in Hollywood and elsewhere who have passed away without...
- 9/4/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Oldest person in movies? (Photo: Manoel de Oliveira) Following the recent passing of 1931 Dracula actress Carla Laemmle at age 104, there is one less movie centenarian still around. So, in mid-June 2014, who is the oldest person in movies? Manoel de Oliveira Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira will turn 106 next December 11; he’s surely the oldest person — at least the oldest well-known person — in movies today. De Oliveira’s film credits include the autobiographical docudrama Memories and Confessions / Visita ou Memórias e Confissões (1982), with de Oliveira as himself, and reportedly to be screened publicly only after his death; The Cannibals / Os Canibais (1988); The Convent / O Convento (1995); Porto of My Childhood / Porto da Minha Infância (2001); The Fifth Empire / O Quinto Império - Ontem Como Hoje (2004); and, currently in production, O Velho do Restelo ("The Old Man of Restelo"). Among the international stars who have been directed by de Oliveira are Catherine Deneuve, Pilar López de Ayala,...
- 6/17/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Singer, dancer and actor whose Hollywood career was overshadowed by her marriage to Errol Flynn
The gifted singer, dancer and actor Patrice Wymore, who has died aged 87, had the misfortune to be typecast in secondary roles at Warner Bros studios in the 1950s, and to be known as the third wife of the Hollywood star Errol Flynn.
The 23-year-old Wymore and the 41-year-old Flynn got married after co-starring in Rocky Mountain (1950), a minor western in which he played an army officer who rescues her from marauding Indians, though they had no love scenes together on screen. It was Wymore's second film, while Flynn was a veteran of more than three dozen movies. It was the beginning of her film career, while his was on the slide. Both were under contract to Warner Bros.
At the time, MGM musicals reigned supreme, though Warner Bros had Doris Day, a top box-office singing star.
The gifted singer, dancer and actor Patrice Wymore, who has died aged 87, had the misfortune to be typecast in secondary roles at Warner Bros studios in the 1950s, and to be known as the third wife of the Hollywood star Errol Flynn.
The 23-year-old Wymore and the 41-year-old Flynn got married after co-starring in Rocky Mountain (1950), a minor western in which he played an army officer who rescues her from marauding Indians, though they had no love scenes together on screen. It was Wymore's second film, while Flynn was a veteran of more than three dozen movies. It was the beginning of her film career, while his was on the slide. Both were under contract to Warner Bros.
At the time, MGM musicals reigned supreme, though Warner Bros had Doris Day, a top box-office singing star.
- 3/25/2014
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Schoolgirl Zoë Smith was penning lucid movie reviews back in 1932, and when our veteran film critic retired, she sent him her work. He was so impressed, he drove to her home to meet her
A few months ago a rather special present arrived on my 80th birthday, my final day as film critic of the Observer. It was a small, lined notebook, seven by four-and-a half inches. On the first page was a drawing of the matinee idol Clive Brook under the title "Film Criticisms 1932". It had been sent from south London by the 97-year-old Zoë Di Biase. She'd been a regular Observer reader since the age of 18, she said, and this was a gift to mark my retirement. "I've always enjoyed the cinema and you were a great follow-on to CA Lejeune," she wrote, referring to my predecessor who was this paper's critic from 1928 to 1960. "Turning out the other day,...
A few months ago a rather special present arrived on my 80th birthday, my final day as film critic of the Observer. It was a small, lined notebook, seven by four-and-a half inches. On the first page was a drawing of the matinee idol Clive Brook under the title "Film Criticisms 1932". It had been sent from south London by the 97-year-old Zoë Di Biase. She'd been a regular Observer reader since the age of 18, she said, and this was a gift to mark my retirement. "I've always enjoyed the cinema and you were a great follow-on to CA Lejeune," she wrote, referring to my predecessor who was this paper's critic from 1928 to 1960. "Turning out the other day,...
- 12/29/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
(1945-53, StudioCanal, PG)
A public school boy from the professional middle-class, the ruggedly handsome Trevor Howard (1913-88) was the first new British star to emerge after the second world war, usually playing middle-class professionals – doctors, lawyers, military men, colonial officials. He was, however, Oscar-nominated as Paul Morel's hard-drinking, working-class father in Sons and Lovers (1960).
His movie career lasted more than 40 years, but his most memorable star parts came early on. Five of these are in this excellent box set, starting with his decent doctor caught up in a chaste but passionate affair with housewife Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter (1945), a classic example of British understatement, and the first of his three films with David Lean. This is followed by his cynical intelligence officer pursuing black marketeer Harry Lime through the sewers of postwar Vienna in the Carol Reed-Graham Greene masterpiece The Third Man (1949).
In the third film,...
A public school boy from the professional middle-class, the ruggedly handsome Trevor Howard (1913-88) was the first new British star to emerge after the second world war, usually playing middle-class professionals – doctors, lawyers, military men, colonial officials. He was, however, Oscar-nominated as Paul Morel's hard-drinking, working-class father in Sons and Lovers (1960).
His movie career lasted more than 40 years, but his most memorable star parts came early on. Five of these are in this excellent box set, starting with his decent doctor caught up in a chaste but passionate affair with housewife Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter (1945), a classic example of British understatement, and the first of his three films with David Lean. This is followed by his cynical intelligence officer pursuing black marketeer Harry Lime through the sewers of postwar Vienna in the Carol Reed-Graham Greene masterpiece The Third Man (1949).
In the third film,...
- 10/5/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Feature Aliya Whiteley 26 Sep 2013 - 07:13
An acting great British of the post-war era, Trevor Howard's the subject of a new movie box set. Aliya looks at its five classic films...
It's difficult to describe Trevor Howard. I could start by saying he was a great leading man of British post-war cinema, but that leaves out his supporting turns in films like The Third Man, and his character performances, such as Captain Bligh in Mutiny On The Bounty (1962), or Sir Henry At Rawlinson End (1980). He could be called an upper-class gentleman, but in Sons And Lovers (1960) he played a Nottinghamshire miner perfectly.
I could talk about how he wasn't traditionally handsome, but the look in his eyes when he falls passionately for Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter) contains a male beauty that continues to define cinematic love today. Or maybe I could mention how perfectly he inhabited the role of...
An acting great British of the post-war era, Trevor Howard's the subject of a new movie box set. Aliya looks at its five classic films...
It's difficult to describe Trevor Howard. I could start by saying he was a great leading man of British post-war cinema, but that leaves out his supporting turns in films like The Third Man, and his character performances, such as Captain Bligh in Mutiny On The Bounty (1962), or Sir Henry At Rawlinson End (1980). He could be called an upper-class gentleman, but in Sons And Lovers (1960) he played a Nottinghamshire miner perfectly.
I could talk about how he wasn't traditionally handsome, but the look in his eyes when he falls passionately for Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter) contains a male beauty that continues to define cinematic love today. Or maybe I could mention how perfectly he inhabited the role of...
- 9/25/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Paul Henreid: Actor was ‘dependable’ leading man to Hollywood actresses Paul Henreid, best known as the man who wins Ingrid Bergman’s body but not her heart in Casablanca, is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013. TCM will be showing a couple of dozen movies featuring Henreid, who, though never a top star, was a "dependable" — i.e., unexciting but available — leading man to a number of top Hollywood actresses of the ’40s, among them Bette Davis, Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland, Eleanor Parker, Joan Bennett, and Katharine Hepburn. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of Paul Henreid movies to be shown on Turner Classic Movies in July consists of Warner Bros. productions that are frequently broadcast all year long, no matter who is TCM’s Star of the Month. Just as unfortunately, TCM will not present any of Henreid’s little-seen supporting performances of the ’30s, e.
- 7/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Paulette Goddard: An Ideal Husband and Paris Model on TCM Paulette Goddard height: Supposedly 5’4″. Paulette Goddard age: Well… Goddard would have turned 108 today. Or 103. Or 102. Or 98. It all depends on the source, though Goddard herself apparently — and not at all surprisingly — preferred the 1915 birth date, which would have made her 98 years old in 2013. Whether a centenarian or a nonagenarian, Paulette Goddard is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Day. TCM has already shown several Goddard movies, among them Charles Chaplin’s Modern Times and the Luise Rainer star vehicle Dramatic School, and it’s currently showing An Ideal Husband. (Picture: Paulette Goddard publicity shot, ca. 1940.) Made in England for London Films, An Ideal Husband (1947) was quite a prestigious production so as to justify the presence of a top Hollywood star in a British film. No less a figure than London Films founder Alexander Korda directed this movie adaptation of...
- 6/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Makeup artist who created Yoda and Chewbacca for the Star Wars films
If there was a film made in Britain between the early 1940s and early 1980s that required innovations in makeup and prosthetics design, chances are that Stuart Freeborn, who has died aged 98, was involved in it in some capacity. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, David Lean's adaptation of Oliver Twist, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Omen, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back: all these benefited from Freeborn's pioneering approach to makeup. When audiences gaze with wonder upon the apes in the "dawn of man" sequence at the beginning of 2001, or fall under the spell of the 2ft tall guru Yoda and his gnomic proclamations, their response is a testament to Freeborn's persuasive artistry.
He was born in Leytonstone, east London, where it was assumed that he would follow in the footsteps of his father,...
If there was a film made in Britain between the early 1940s and early 1980s that required innovations in makeup and prosthetics design, chances are that Stuart Freeborn, who has died aged 98, was involved in it in some capacity. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, David Lean's adaptation of Oliver Twist, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Omen, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back: all these benefited from Freeborn's pioneering approach to makeup. When audiences gaze with wonder upon the apes in the "dawn of man" sequence at the beginning of 2001, or fall under the spell of the 2ft tall guru Yoda and his gnomic proclamations, their response is a testament to Freeborn's persuasive artistry.
He was born in Leytonstone, east London, where it was assumed that he would follow in the footsteps of his father,...
- 2/9/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Being a film star not high up on the list of 1950's children's career ambitions
Only 2 per cent of the boys and 5 per cent of the girls answered "Film actor" or "Film actress" to the question in a Government "quiz" on cinema-going "What would you most like to be when you grow up?" When they were asked which of sixteen film stars they would like to be nearly one in seven said "None." The children's ambitions were, on the whole, very practical, says the report, issued to-day, of a social survey made by the Central Office of Information in 1948 for the Departmental Committee on Children and the Cinema.
Answering the careers question, which was put only to children in the 10-15 age group, 58 per cent of the boys made "realistic" choices. So did 73 per cent of the girls. Compared with 36 per cent of the boys, only 15 per cent of the...
Only 2 per cent of the boys and 5 per cent of the girls answered "Film actor" or "Film actress" to the question in a Government "quiz" on cinema-going "What would you most like to be when you grow up?" When they were asked which of sixteen film stars they would like to be nearly one in seven said "None." The children's ambitions were, on the whole, very practical, says the report, issued to-day, of a social survey made by the Central Office of Information in 1948 for the Departmental Committee on Children and the Cinema.
Answering the careers question, which was put only to children in the 10-15 age group, 58 per cent of the boys made "realistic" choices. So did 73 per cent of the girls. Compared with 36 per cent of the boys, only 15 per cent of the...
- 11/9/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Originally published in the Observer on 18 December 1938
I am writing this letter now, so that the readers of the Observer can light their fires with it on Monday morning, and you will have six days after it has gone up the chimney to study my wants and decide what you are going to do about them. I know you will be very busy this Christmas, but in case you have time to think about the cinema, here are one or two suggestions for useful gifts.
Give back a film industry to England, just a little one. We have been very stupid, shortsighted and wasteful here, but most of us are sorry now. There are thousands of people out of work in the studios this Christmas, many of them with little prospect of getting back again. Be kind to them, please.
Whisper in the ear of politicians and City men, and...
I am writing this letter now, so that the readers of the Observer can light their fires with it on Monday morning, and you will have six days after it has gone up the chimney to study my wants and decide what you are going to do about them. I know you will be very busy this Christmas, but in case you have time to think about the cinema, here are one or two suggestions for useful gifts.
Give back a film industry to England, just a little one. We have been very stupid, shortsighted and wasteful here, but most of us are sorry now. There are thousands of people out of work in the studios this Christmas, many of them with little prospect of getting back again. Be kind to them, please.
Whisper in the ear of politicians and City men, and...
- 12/18/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
David Cronenberg, Ralph Fiennes to Become BFI Fellows. [Right: Bette Davis.] The list of those who have received a British Film Institute Fellowship since it was first handed out in 1983 is quite extensive. [See below.] BFI Fellows include not only Britishers, but also numerous foreigners who have somehow or other been associated with either the film world or the BFI itself, among them directors (Michelangelo Antonioni, Marcel Carné), producers (John Brabourne, David Puttnam), film executives (Harvey Weinstein, Sidney Bernstein), editors (Thelma Schoonmaker), cinematographers (Jack Cardiff), actors (from Alec Guinness to Bette Davis, from Jean Simmons to Isabelle Huppert), writers (Graham Greene), critics (Dilys Powell), and philanthropists (J. Paul Getty). There are a number of puzzling omissions, however. For instance, the following are a few British actresses who have left an indelible mark on world cinema: Anna Neagle (left out perhaps because she died in 1986), Margaret Lockwood, Julie Andrews, Julie Christie, Lynn Redgrave, and Greer Garson.
- 10/6/2011
- Alt Film Guide
From The Red Shoes to Bond and Harry Potter, some of cinema's most iconic scenes were shot on its sound stages. As Pinewood marks 75 years in the business, we chart the studio's rise to the pinnacle of British film production
75 years after the first film started shooting at Pinewood - London Melody, starring Anna Neagle - we take a look back through the archive at other major events in the studio's history.
The studio opened on 30 September 1936, with owners Sir Charles Boot and J Arthur Rank inspired by Hollywood to create a thriving British film industry, a desire that led to a series of mergers with other studios over the years - the first in 1938, when Pinewood took over Alexander Korda's Denham Studios.
Pinewood quickly established itself as a location for great British films. The Red Shoes, starring Moira Sheaerer, was one of two Powell and Pressburger films to...
75 years after the first film started shooting at Pinewood - London Melody, starring Anna Neagle - we take a look back through the archive at other major events in the studio's history.
The studio opened on 30 September 1936, with owners Sir Charles Boot and J Arthur Rank inspired by Hollywood to create a thriving British film industry, a desire that led to a series of mergers with other studios over the years - the first in 1938, when Pinewood took over Alexander Korda's Denham Studios.
Pinewood quickly established itself as a location for great British films. The Red Shoes, starring Moira Sheaerer, was one of two Powell and Pressburger films to...
- 9/30/2011
- by Lauren Niland, Guardian Research Department
- The Guardian - Film News
He was the cocksure teen charmer in Skins, and stripped off for Colin Firth in A Single Man. But Nicholas Hoult isn't about to bare all for anybody
"I've been called Colin Firth and Hugh Grant's love child before," jokes Nicholas Hoult self-consciously. Their young co-star has certainly got their quintessentially British art of saying "um" and looking embarrassed down to a T. Studiously dressed down in mud-coloured hoodie, jeans and "don't look at me" trainers, the 21-year-old is still strikingly handsome, with his Vulcan eyebrows, alpine cheekbones and the sort of blue eyes you'd have thought possible only with extensive Photoshopping. Yet he's clearly anything but at home – either in his skin, or in the luxury of his Soho hotel suite. "My father was a pilot, and growing up we'd always get warnings about how expensive the minibar was: 'Don't touch the salted peanuts!'"
Talent-spotted at the...
"I've been called Colin Firth and Hugh Grant's love child before," jokes Nicholas Hoult self-consciously. Their young co-star has certainly got their quintessentially British art of saying "um" and looking embarrassed down to a T. Studiously dressed down in mud-coloured hoodie, jeans and "don't look at me" trainers, the 21-year-old is still strikingly handsome, with his Vulcan eyebrows, alpine cheekbones and the sort of blue eyes you'd have thought possible only with extensive Photoshopping. Yet he's clearly anything but at home – either in his skin, or in the luxury of his Soho hotel suite. "My father was a pilot, and growing up we'd always get warnings about how expensive the minibar was: 'Don't touch the salted peanuts!'"
Talent-spotted at the...
- 5/20/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Seeing the actor in the flesh at Edinburgh's gala screening of The Man Who Would Be King unexpectedly enhanced my viewing experience, and it got me thinking about when fuzzy feelings intrude on films
On Sunday I went along to the gala screening of The Man Who Would Be King at the Edinburgh film festival, and it turned out to be a great event for all sorts of reasons. First of all, The Man Who Would Be King is one of those great popular classics that you see on TV all the time, but rarely, if ever, gets on the big screen. (More good news: it's going to get a full cinema release in the autumn.)
All sorts of nuances and gestures become evident that get lost on TV and Sean Connery's understated acting style really comes into its own – I don't think I'd be alone in having always...
On Sunday I went along to the gala screening of The Man Who Would Be King at the Edinburgh film festival, and it turned out to be a great event for all sorts of reasons. First of all, The Man Who Would Be King is one of those great popular classics that you see on TV all the time, but rarely, if ever, gets on the big screen. (More good news: it's going to get a full cinema release in the autumn.)
All sorts of nuances and gestures become evident that get lost on TV and Sean Connery's understated acting style really comes into its own – I don't think I'd be alone in having always...
- 6/23/2010
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
He went from pre-teen "shrimp" in About a Boy to the sexy face of Skins. Now, Nicholas Hoult is set to crack Hollywood. His only problem is working out how he feels about it all
"Oh no. Interview, uh oh. I always panic about these things." Nicholas Hoult does look genuinely apprehensive, which is annoying because he's been perfectly at ease until now. He arrived promptly at the west London studio where he's to be photographed at 9am on this December Monday morning, introducing himself very politely to everyone. He swapped jeans and hooded top for a dapper suit by Tom Ford, the fashion designer whose directorial debut, A Single Man, stars Hoult alongside Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, then chatted away with the make-up artist about his newly shorn head, a crop to cut out hair extensions for his role in upcoming CGI blockbuster Clash of the Titans. But...
"Oh no. Interview, uh oh. I always panic about these things." Nicholas Hoult does look genuinely apprehensive, which is annoying because he's been perfectly at ease until now. He arrived promptly at the west London studio where he's to be photographed at 9am on this December Monday morning, introducing himself very politely to everyone. He swapped jeans and hooded top for a dapper suit by Tom Ford, the fashion designer whose directorial debut, A Single Man, stars Hoult alongside Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, then chatted away with the make-up artist about his newly shorn head, a crop to cut out hair extensions for his role in upcoming CGI blockbuster Clash of the Titans. But...
- 1/31/2010
- by Alice Fisher
- The Guardian - Film News
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