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The Mouse That Roared (film)
''The Mouse That Roared'' is a 1959 British comedy film on a Ban The Bomb theme, based on Leonard Wibberley's novel ''The Mouse That Roared'' (1955). It stars Peter Sellers in three roles: Duchess Gloriana XII; Count Rupert Mountjoy, the Prime Minister; and Tully Bascomb, the military leader; and co-stars Jean Seberg. The film was directed by Jack Arnold, and the screenplay was written by Roger MacDougall and Stanley Mann. Plot The minuscule European Duchy of Grand Fenwick is bankrupted when an American company comes up with a cheaper imitation of Fenwick's sole export, its fabled Pinot Grand Fenwick wine. Crafty Prime Minister Count Mountjoy (Peter Sellers) devises a plan: Grand Fenwick will declare war on the United States, then surrender, taking advantage of American largesse toward its defeated enemies to rebuild the defeated nation's economy. Duchess Gloriana (also Sellers) is hesitant but agrees to the plan. Mild-mannered game warden Tully Bascomb (also Sellers) is char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Arnold (director)
Jack Arnold (born John Arnold Waks; October 14, 1916 – March 17, 1992) was an American actor and film and television director, best known as one of the leading filmmakers of 1950s science fiction films. His most notable films are '' It Came from Outer Space'' (1953), ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' (1954), '' Tarantula'' (1955), and '' The Incredible Shrinking Man'' (1957). Early years Jack Arnold was born in New Haven, Connecticut, to Russian immigrants.Fischer, Dennis. ''Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895-1998'', McFarland & Co. (2000) As a child he read a lot of science fiction, which laid the foundations for his genre films of the 1950s. He hoped to become a professional actor and in his late teens he enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where his classmates included Hume Cronyn, Betty Field and Garson Kanin. After graduating he worked as a vaudeville dancer and, in 1935, began getting roles in Broadway plays. He was acting in ''My Sister Eileen'' whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Civil Defense
United States civil defense refers to the use of civil defense in the history of the United States, which is the organized non-military effort to prepare Americans for military attack and similarly disastrous events. Late in the 20th century, the term and practice of civil defense fell into disuse. Emergency management and homeland security replaced them. History Pre–World War There is little known history of civil defense in the United States before the twentieth century. Since ancient times, cities typically built walls and moats to protect from invasion and commissioned patrols and watches to keep an eye out for danger, but such activities have not traditionally been encompassed by the term "civil defense." The U.S. has a particular lack of early civil defense efforts because it was seldom threatened with a significant attack. Nonetheless, there are some early examples of what would today be considered civil defense. For example, as early as 1692, the village of Bedfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Foreman
Carl Foreman, CBE (July 23, 1914 – June 26, 1984) was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the award-winning films ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' and '' High Noon'', among others. He was one of the screenwriters who were blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s because of their suspected communist sympathy or membership in the Communist Party. He once said his most common theme was "the struggle of the individual against a society that for one reason or another is hostile." He elaborated that "the stories that work best for me involve a loner, out of step or in direct conflict with a group of people." Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, to a working-class Jewish family, he was the son of Fanny (née Rozin) and Isidore Foreman. He studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. In 1934, at age 19, he quit college to go to Hollywood. "I was mostly on the bum and saw the underside of Hollywood", he later said. He soon returned to Chicago and atten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include '' Jesse James'', '' The Mark of Zorro'', ''Marie Antoinette'', '' Blood and Sand'', '' The Black Swan'', ''Prince of Foxes'', ''Witness for the Prosecution'', ''The Black Rose'', and ''Captain from Castile''. Power's own favorite film among those that he starred in was '' Nightmare Alley''. Though largely a matinee idol in the 1930s and early 1940s and known for his striking good looks, Power starred in films in a number of genres, from drama to light comedy. In the 1950s he began placing limits on the number of films he would make in order to devote more time to theater productions. He received his biggest accolades as a stage actor in ''John Brown's Body'' and '' Mister Roberts''. Power died from a heart attack at the age Family background and early l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abandon Ship!
''Seven Waves Away'' (alternate U.S. titles: ''Abandon Ship!'' and ''Seven Days From Now'') is a 1957 British adventure film directed by Richard Sale and starring Tyrone Power, Mai Zetterling, Lloyd Nolan, and Stephen Boyd. When his ship goes down, an officer has to make an agonizing decision on his overcrowded lifeboat. Richard Sale adapted the film from his 1938 short story of the same name, originally published by ''Scribner's Magazine''. The plot has similarities to the real-life sinking of the American ship '' William Brown'' in 1841. The ''William Brown'' hit an iceberg 250 miles off Newfoundland and lost 31 of its 65 passengers. Two boats with 17 crewmen and the remaining passengers escaped the wreck, but more than a dozen passengers were sacrificed from the crowded longboat. Though there is no direct acknowledgment by the filmmakers, the film ends with a voice-over stating, "The story which you have just seen is a true one. In real life, Captain icAlexander Holmes was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Dietz
Howard Dietz (September 8, 1896 – July 30, 1983) was an American publicist, lyricist, and librettist, best remembered for his songwriting collaboration with Arthur Schwartz. Biography Dietz was born in New York City. He attended Columbia College and then studied journalism at Columbia University. He also served as publicist/director of advertising for Goldwyn Pictures and later MGM and is often credited with creating Leo the Lion, its lion mascot, and choosing their slogan '' Ars Gratia Artis''. In 1942, he was made MGM's Vice President in Charge of Publicity. He held that position until his retirement in 1957. He began a long association with composer Arthur Schwartz, when they teamed up for the Broadway revue ''The Little Show'' in 1929. They would continue to work on and off over the next 30 or so years. Dietz served in the US Navy in World War I and became editor of their magazine, ''Navy Life''. During World War II, he assisted the U.S. Treasury Department with the public ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Kasket
Harold Kasket (26 July 1926 – 20 January 2002) was an English actor in theatre, films and later television from the 1940s. Kasket usually played Arabs or mainland European types in many films and TV programmes such as ''Maigret'', ''The Saint'', ''Danger Man'', ''Z-Cars'', '' Department S'' and ''The Tomorrow People''. His theatre work included appearances with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh on Broadway in '' Caesar and Cleopatra'' in 1951; and playing Uncle Ben opposite Warren Mitchell at the National Theatre in ''Death of a Salesman'' in 1979. His last role was in the TV mini series ''War and Remembrance'' (1988). He died in his native London. Selected filmography * '' No Orchids for Miss Blandish'' (1948) - (uncredited) * '' Children of Chance'' (1949) - (uncredited) * ''Hotel Sahara'' (1951) - Oriental Gentleman (uncredited) * ''Made in Heaven'' (1952) - The Fat Man (uncredited) * ''Moulin Rouge'' (1952) - Charles Zidler * '' The House of the Arrow'' (1953) - Boris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Gordon
Colin Gordon (27 April 1911 – 4 October 1972) was a British actor born in Ceylon. Biography He was educated at Marlborough College and Christ Church, Oxford. He made his first West End appearance in 1934 as the hind legs of a horse in a production of ''Toad of Toad Hall''. From 1936 to 1939 he was a director with the Fred Melville Repertory Company in Brixton. He served in the army during the Second World War for six years. Film career Gordon had a long career in British cinema and television from the 1940s to the 1970s, often playing government officials. His films include ''The Pink Panther'' and '' Casino Royale'' (both with Peter Sellers, alongside whom he made five films). In the ITC series ''The Prisoner'' (1967) he portrayed Number Two twice, in " A. B. and C." and later in " The General". Gordon was a regular in another ITC production, '' The Baron'', playing civil servant Templeton-Green opposite Steve Forrest. He also starred in ''The Invisible Man (1958 TV ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Gifford
Alan Gifford (born John Lennox; March 11, 1911 – March 20, 1989) was an American-born actor from Taunton, Massachusetts, who worked mainly in the UK, where he died in Blairgowrie, Scotland at age 78. Known best for his role in '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968). Selected filmography * '' The Kangaroo Kid'' (1950) - Steve Corbett * ''The Magic Box'' (1951) - Industry Man (uncredited) * ''It Started in Paradise'' (1952) - American captain (uncredited) * ''Appointment in London'' (1953) - US General (uncredited) * '' Lilacs in the Spring'' (1954) - Hollywood Director * ''A Prize of Gold'' (1955) - Major Bracken * '' Barbados Quest'' (1955) - Henry Warburg * '' No Smoking'' (1955) - American Ambassador * '' A Yank in Ermine'' (1955) - Colonel M'Gurk * ''The Iron Petticoat'' (1956) - Colonel Newt Tarbell * ''Satellite in the Sky'' (1956) - Col. Galloway * ''Hour of Decision'' (1957) - J. Foster Green * '' Across the Bridge'' (1957) - Cooper * ''Time Lock'' (1957) - George Foste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monte Landis
Max Landstein (born 20 April 1933) is a Scottish-American film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the comic foil in multiple episodes of ''The Monkees'', most notably as "Mr. Zero" in "The Devil and Peter Tork". He began his career in Britain before moving to the United States in 1963. He also had a career in Paris in the mid-50s as emcee in cabarets and jazz clubs (Crazy Horse, Club Saint-Germain, etc.) -he played his own role later in ''Charade'' (1963)- and choreographer for the French vocal group The Blue Stars of France. Partial filmography *''The Mouse That Roared'' (1959) - Cobbley *''School for Scoundrels'' (1960) - Fleetsnod *''The Pure Hell of St Trinian's'' (1960) - Octavius *''On the Fiddle'' (1961) - Conductor *'' Play It Cool'' (1962) - Horace - the Beatnik Man *''Village of Daughters'' (1962) - Faccino *''Live Now, Pay Later'' (1962) - Arnold *'' On the Beat'' (1962) - Mr. Bassett *''What a Crazy World'' (1963) - Solly Gold *''Charade'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timothy Bateson
Timothy Dingwall Bateson (3 April 1926 – 15 September 2009) was an English actor. Life and career Born in London, the son of solicitor Dingwall Latham Bateson and the great-nephew of rugby player Harold Dingwall Bateson, he was educated at Uppingham School in Rutland and Wadham College, Oxford. At Oxford, he read history, rowed cox for the Wadham College Boat Club during Eights Week and performed in the Oxford University Dramatic Society.Michael CoveneObituary ''The Guardian'', 8 November 2009 Bateson's stage credits included the first British production of Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot'' in 1955 at the Arts Theatre in London in a production directed by Peter Hall. In 1957 he starred in the BBC adventure serial ''The Adventures of Peter Simple''. He appeared in many film, television and radio productions including ''The Cadfael Chronicles'', ''Doctor Who'' (in the serial entitled ''The Ribos Operation'') and ''Labyrinth''. He also provided the voices for several ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austin Willis
Alexander Austin Willis, (30 September 1917 – 4 April 2004) was a Canadian actor and television host. Biography Austin was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia to parents Alexander Samuel and Emma Graham (Pushie) Willis. His older brother, J. Frank Willis, was a radio broadcaster with the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (later the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). In 2002, Austin was made a Member of the Order of Canada. He is best known internationally for his appearance as Simmons, the man whom Auric Goldfinger beats at cards in the opening scenes of the James Bond film, '' Goldfinger''. Originally he was to have played Felix Leiter but, at the last minute, fellow Canadian Cec Linder switched roles with him. In Canada, he had a varied film and TV career, ranging from the early science-fiction series ''Space Command'', to hosting ''Cross-Canada Hit Parade'' for several years in the 1950s. In the 1970s he found new fans as the host of the humorous game show ''This Is the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
