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A Jolly Bad Fellow
''A Jolly Bad Fellow'' (U.S. title: ''They All Died Laughing''; also known as ''Don Among the Dead Men'') is a 1964 British black comedy film directed by Don Chaffey and starring Leo McKern and Janet Munro."A Jolly Bad Fellow (1964)" British Film Institute. Retrieved 30 April 2021 In the film, a university professor advances his career through habitually poisoning his colleagues at the university. It was called "an attempt by Michael Balcon to recapture the magic of Ealing" and gave a rare leading film role to Leo McKern. Plot Kerris Bowles-Ottery is professor of science at the University of Ockham. To advance his career, he poisons inconvenient colleagues with an untraceable substance he has discovered that induces hysteria an ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Chaffey
Donald Chaffey (5 August 1917 – 13 November 1990) was a British film director, writer, Film producer, producer, and art director. Chaffey's film career began as an art director in 1947, and his directorial debut was in 1953. He remained active in the industry until his death in 1990 from heart failure. His film ''Charley One-Eye'' (1973) was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival. He is chiefly remembered for his fantasy films, which include ''Jason and the Argonauts (1963 film), Jason and the Argonauts'' (1963), ''The Three Lives of Thomasina'' (1963), ''One Million Years B.C.'' (1966), ''The Viking Queen'' (1967), ''Creatures the World Forgot'' (1971), ''Pete's Dragon (1977 film), Pete's Dragon'' (1977), and ''C.H.O.M.P.S.'' (1979), his final feature film. Concurrent with his theatrically released films, Chaffey directed episodes of numerous British television series, including multiple installments of ''Danger Man'', ''The Prisoner'', and ''The Avengers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Wheatley
Alan Wheatley (19 April 1907 – 30 August 1991) was an English actor. He was a well known stage actor in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, appeared in forty films between 1931 and 1965 and was a frequent broadcaster on radio from the 1930s to the 1990s, and on television from 1938 to 1964. His most prominent television role was the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1950s TV series ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'', with Richard Greene as Robin Hood; Wheatley played the sheriff in 54 episodes between 1955 and 1959. Earlier, he had played Sherlock Holmes in the first television series featuring the great detective. In addition to acting, Wheatley was a radio announcer during the Second World War, broadcasting to occupied Europe, where he became a well known voice. Poetry was another of his interests: he translated the poetry of Federico García Lorca and was a frequent reader of poems on air. In his later years he worked mainly in radio, as a narrator, a verse-reader and an actor. Life a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bryanston Films (UK)
Bryanston Films was a British film company formed by Michael Balcon and Maxwell Setton in mid-1959 following the collapse of Ealing Studios. Neither a production studio, nor a distributor, it released independent British films through British Lion Films In operation until 1963, it was intended to be an unofficial group of independent film producers. History The Bryanston consortium was composed of 12 to 15 members who bought their way in by putting up £5,000; the equity of the group guaranteed distribution through British Lion and financing from the National Film Finance Corporation, banks, and American producers. In addition to Balcon and Setton, members included Kenneth Shipman, John Bryan, Tony Richardson, Julian Wintle and Ronald Neame. Alliance Films, Denham Laboratories and Lloyds Bank were also investors. Producer-investors were meant to "vet" each other's scripts. Ronald Neame said that: The old complaint of producers has always been that the distributors tend to ask u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Halliwell
Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Filmgoer's Companion'' (1965), a single volume film-related encyclopaedia featuring biographies (with credits) and technical terms, and ''Halliwell's Film Guide'' (1977), which is dedicated to individual films. Anthony Quinton wrote in the '' Times Literary Supplement'': "Immersed in the enjoyment of these fine books, one should look up for a moment to admire the quite astonishing combination of industry and authority in one man which has brought them into existence." Halliwell's promotion of the cinema through his books and seasons of "golden oldies'"on Channel 4 won him awards from the London Film Critics' Circle, the British Film Institute and a posthumous BAFTA.''Broadcast'' magazine, 28 June 1985. Early life Born in Bolton, Lancashir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nothing But The Best (film)
''Nothing but the Best'' is a 1964 British black comedy film directed by Clive Donner and starring Alan Bates, Denholm Elliott, Harry Andrews and Millicent Martin. The screenplay by Frederic Raphael is based on the 1952 short story "The Best of Everything" by Stanley Ellin. A young and ambitious businessman hires an unemployed upper class, upper-class man to tutor him in a number of life skills. Plot James Brewster, a young man starting with a large London firm of estate agents and auctioneers, is ambitious to get to the top. In a cheap café, he meets Charles Prince, a drunken layabout who has everything James wants: effortless upper class, upper-class arrogance and impeccable tailoring. In return for a room to live in and loans for drink and betting, Charles agrees to tutor James in the life skills which he thinks are necessary to succeed. By bluff and sabotage, James rises in his firm, catching the eye of the owner and of his only daughter Ann. Disaster threatens when Charle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Monthly Film Bulletin
The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a narrow arthouse release. History The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was edited in the mid-1950s by David Robinson, in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Peter John Dyer, and then by Tom Milne. By the end of the 1960s, when the character and tone of its reviews changed considerably with the arrival of a new generation of critics influenced by the student culture and intellectual tumult of the time (not least the overthrow of old ideas of "taste" and quality), David Wilson was the editor. It was then edited by Jan Dawson (1938 – 1980), for two years from 1971, and from 1973 until its demise by the New Zealand-born critic Richard Combs. In 1991, the ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was merged with '' Sight & Sound'', which had until then be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Breaking Of Bumbo
''The Breaking of Bumbo'' is a 1970 British comedy film directed by Andrew Sinclair and starring Richard Warwick, Joanna Lumley, Jeremy Child and Edward Fox (actor), Edward Fox. The screenplay was by Sinclair, a former Coldstream Guards National service officer, adapted from his 1959 novel of the same name. Plot Newly commissioned Brigade of Guards, Guards Ensign (rank), Ensign 'Bumbo' Bailey learns the facts of life from his new girl friend in Swinging London as well as from his platoon and commanding officer. Cast Development The novel came out in 1959 and was a bestseller. Woodfall Films had made an attempt to film it but, according to Alexander Walker "it had come to nothing, because there was not sufficient intervening time to allow the ‘youthful follies’ of the Suez War generation to have turned into the ‘camp amusements’ of the ‘Swinging Britain’ one. It was neither ‘period’ nor modern." In 1962 it was announced Donald Taylor would produce the film from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judith Furse
Judith Furse (4 March 1912 – 29 August 1974) was an English actress. Career She was a member of the Furse family; her father was Lieutenant-General Sir William Furse and mother Jean Adelaide Furse. Her brother, Roger, became a stage designer and painter who also worked in films. She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School and studied theatre at the Old Vic in the early 1930s. By the end of that decade, she became a stage actress. One of Judith Furse's earliest film roles was as Sister Briony in '' Black Narcissus'' (1947). She was known for her heavy-set, somewhat masculine looks, and was often cast as overbearing types such as the villainous Doctor Crow in '' Carry On Spying'' (1964). Other films included ''The Man in the White Suit'' (1951), '' Mother Riley Meets the Vampire'' (1952), '' Blue Murder at St Trinian's'' (1957), ''Carry On Regardless'' (1961), '' Live Now, Pay Later'' (1962) and '' Carry On Cabby'' (1963). One of her more sympathetic roles was as Flora, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wally Patch
Walter Sydney Vinnicombe (26 September 1888 – 27 October 1970), known as Wally Patch, was an English actor and comedian. He worked in film, television and theatre. Biography Vinnicombe was born in Willesden, Middlesex and began working on the music hall stages in 1912 and at regular theatres in 1938 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. His first film appearance was in 1928, and went on to appear in 213 other films. On stage he enjoyed success in the 1950 play ''Reluctant Heroes'', the first of the Whitehall farces. He worked up to his death, with his last television appearance in the comedy ''Doctor in the House'' in 1970. Partial filmography * '' Blighty'' (1927) - Drill Sergeant * '' Boadicea'' (1927) - Officer in Roman Army (uncredited) * '' The King's Highway'' (1927) - Police Chief * '' Carry On'' (1927) - Andrews * '' The Luck of the Navy'' (1927) - Stoker Clark * '' The Guns of Loos'' (1928) - Sergeant * '' Shooting Stars'' (1928) - Property Man * '' Balaclava'' (1928) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Sharp (actor)
John Herbert Sharp ( – ) was a British actor who made numerous appearances on television during a career spanning 42 years. Biography Sharp made more than 130 appearances in television and occasionally films between 1949 and 1991. Although active in theatre, Sharp began as a film actor in 1949 and appeared in films throughout the 1950s. By the mid-1960s he mostly appeared in British television on popular shows of the era such as '' The Avengers'' in the 1967 ''" Murdersville"'' episode as the publican, the ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'' episode ''" The Ghost Who Saved the Bank at Monte Carlo"''; ''The Prisoner'', ''Not on Your Nellie'' opposite Hylda Baker, ''Z-Cars'', and in 1976 in '' The Sweeney'' episode ''"On the Run"'' in which he played ''Uncle,'' a homosexual retired Magistrate who becomes embroiled in the escape of a psychopathic prisoner having befriended the prisoner's former accomplice. He performed in Charles Dickens TV adaptations in the 1980s. In 1991, he ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerome Willis
Jerome Barry Willis (23 October 1928 – 11 January 2014) was a British stage and screen actor, with a strong reputation for Shakespearean roles in the theatre. Willis had a leading role in the ITV Network, ITV drama series ''The Sandbaggers'' as Matthew Peele. He also appeared in ''Z-Cars'' as DCS Richards, ''Within These Walls'' as Charles Radley, and ''Doctor Who'' as corporate polluter Stevens in ''The Green Death''. He played Praetorian Guard commander Macro in the ITV Roman series ''The Caesars (TV series), The Caesars''. His other television appearances include the cult children's television series ''Freewheelers'' as the manic Professor Nero, and the science fiction police drama ''Space Precinct'' as Captain Podley. In 2002 Willis appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Pericles'' at the Roundhouse in London. His film credits included ''Siege of the Saxons'' (1963), ''A Jolly Bad Fellow'' (1964), ''Khartoum (film), Khartoum'' (1966), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Michael
Ralph Michael (26 September 1907 – 9 November 1994) was an English actor. He was born as Ralph Champion Shotter in London. His film appearances included '' Dead of Night'', '' A Night to Remember'', '' Children of the Damned'', '' Grand Prix'', '' The Assassination Bureau'' and '' Empire of the Sun''. Television credits include: ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'', ''A Tale of Two Cities'', ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''Danger Man'', '' Kessler'', '' The Forsyte Saga'', ''Man in a Suitcase'', '' The Avengers'', ''Colditz'', '' Doctor at Large'', ''Gazette'', '' Public Eye'', '' Sutherland's Law'', '' Softly, Softly'', '' The Professionals'', ''Rumpole of the Bailey'', ''A Tale of Two Cities'', ''Prince Regent'', ''Doctor Who'', '' Bergerac'', ''Miss Marple'', ''Dempsey and Makepeace'', '' Rockliffe's Babies'', '' Howards' Way'', ''A Bit of Fry & Laurie'' and ''Jeeves and Wooster''. In ''Dempsey and Makepeace'', Ralph Michael played the part of Lord Winfield, Harriet Makepeace's f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |