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Wolf Rilla
Wolf Peter Rilla (16 March 1920 – 19 October 2005) was a film director and writer of German background, although he worked mainly in the United Kingdom. Rilla is known for directing ''Village of the Damned (1960 film), Village of the Damned'' (1960). He wrote many books for students, such as ''The Writer and the Screen: On Writing for Film and Television'' and ''The A to Z of Movie Making''. Early life and career Rilla was born in Berlin, where his father Walter Rilla was an actor and producer. (Originally published in the ''Reference Guide to British and Irish Film Directors'' In common with many others in entertainment and the arts, Walter recognised the dangers when Hitler came to power, and the family moved to London in 1934 when Wolf was 14.) He completed his schooling at the enlightened co-educational Frensham Heights School, Surrey, and went on to St Catharine's College, Cambridge. In 1942, he joined the BBC External Service's German section, beginning as a script editor, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Village Of The Damned (1960 Film)
''Village of the Damned'' is a 1960 British science fiction horror film by Anglo-German director Wolf Rilla. The film is adapted from the novel ''The Midwich Cuckoos'' (1957) by John Wyndham (writer), John Wyndham. The lead role of Professor Gordon Zellaby was played by George Sanders. A sequel, ''Children of the Damned'' (1964), followed, as did a remake, also called ''Village of the Damned (1995 film), Village of the Damned'' (1995). Plot The inhabitants of the British village of Midwich suddenly fall unconscious, as does anyone entering the village. The military establishes a cordon around Midwich and sends in a man wearing a gas mask, but he, too, falls unconscious and is pulled back with rope. The man awakens and reports experiencing a cold sensation just before passing out. The pilot of a military reconnaissance plane is contacted and asked to investigate. When he flies below 5,000 feet, he loses consciousness and the plane crashes. A five-mile exclusion zone around ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Shelley
Barbara Shelley (born Barbara Teresa Kowin; 13 February 1932 – 3 January 2021) was an English film and television actress. She appeared in more than a hundred films and television series. She was particularly known for her work in horror films, notably '' Village of the Damned''; '' Dracula, Prince of Darkness''; ''Rasputin, the Mad Monk'' and ''Quatermass and the Pit''. Biography Shelley was born in London, England, on 13 February 1932. Her parents were May (née Hayes) and Robert Kowin. She had an older sister, Jo, who emigrated to Canada to become a writer and producer for CBC Television. Shelley attended a convent in Harlesden, north London, where she performed in Gilbert and Sullivan productions and school plays, as well as participating in local Catholic youth drama festivals. Initially shy on stage, her acting teacher suggested that she take up modelling to gain self-confidence. Shelley followed the advice and started modelling in 1951, which led to an offer of a minor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stock Car (film)
''Stock Car'' is a 1955 British crime drama film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Paul Carpenter, Rona Anderson, and Susan Shaw. Plot When her father dies during a stock car race, Katie Glebe (Rona Anderson) takes over the running of his garage, helped by American driver Larry Duke (Paul Carpenter). Katie struggles to fend off creditors, including the unscrupulous Turk McNeil (Paul Whitsun-Jones), who seeks to repossess her property. Further dramas ensue when Turk's girlfriend Gina (Susan Shaw) shows an interest in Larry. Cast * Paul Carpenter as Larry Duke * Rona Anderson as Katie Glebe * Susan Shaw as Gina * Harry Fowler as Monty Albright * Robert Rietty as Roberto * Paul Whitsun-Jones as Turk McNeil * Sabrina as Trixie * Alma Taylor as Nurse Sprott * Patrick Jordan as Jack * Lorrae Desmond as Singer * Frank Thornton as Doctor Critical reception The ''Radio Times'' noted, "The mediocrity is unrelenting, with the race sequences every bit as hackneyed as the risible melodra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The End Of The Road (1954 Film)
''The End of the Road'' is a 1954 British drama film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Finlay Currie, Duncan Lamont and Naomi Chance.Chibnall & McFarlane p.249 It was produced by Group Three Films as a second feature with funding from the NFFC and distributed by British Lion. It was made at Beaconsfield Studios . The film's sets were designed by the art director Michael Stringer. Plot A veteran worker at the Jericho Works strongly resists when he has retirement forced upon him by his employers. He says he will retire when he is 90. All he has to show is a small clock as a retirement present which he places on the family mantelpiece. Mick-Mack lives with his son and his wife, and their young son Barnaby ("Barny"). Mick-Mack takes a job as night watchman at the Jericho Works. Meanwhile his son is fired for being late to work. The works decide that only Mick-Mack can resolve the troubles they are having in the electroplating section. Mick-Mack discovers it is drops of honey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Black Rider (film)
''The Black Rider'' is a 1954 British crime film, crime thriller film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Jimmy Hanley, Rona Anderson, and Leslie Dwyer. It was produced as a low budget second feature for release by Butcher's Film Service. It was shot at the Walton Studios near London. The film's sets were designed by the art director John Stoll. Premise In a small seaside town in Southern England Jerry Marsh, a young reporter and amateur motorcyclist, investigates sightings of a hooded black figure on a motorbike. It turns out that a gang of smugglers use a haunted castle as their base, deterring curious locals by pretending to be ghosts. Cast * Jimmy Hanley as Jerry Marsh * Rona Anderson as Mary Plack * Leslie Dwyer as Robert Plack * Lionel Jeffries as Martin Bremner * Beatrice Varley as Mrs. Marsh * Michael Golden (actor), Michael Golden as Rakoff * Valerie Hanson as Karen * Vincent Ball as Ted Lintott * Edwin Richfield as Geoff Morgan * Kenneth Connor as George Amble * Robert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marilyn (1953 Film)
''Marilyn'', released in the United States as ''Roadhouse Girl'', is a 1953 British film noir directed by Wolf Rilla starring Sandra Dorne and Maxwell Reed. Plot Drifter mechanic Tom Price (Reed) lusts after seductive Marilyn (Dorne), the young wife of ill-tempered garage owner George Saunders (Dwyer). Assuming (correctly) that Marilyn is fooling around with his employee, Saunders angrily confronts him. Defending himself, Tom accidentally kills his boss. Marilyn helps him to cover up the crime - the inquest verdict is "accidental death" - and they begin a new life together. Several months later the couple are running a just-getting-by "American bar". Wealthy businessman Nicky Everton (Mayne) agrees to lend the couple some money, believing that Marilyn will offer her affections as repayment. Everton later changes his mind as he feels they won't be happy in the longer term; and Price also walks out, frustrated by her erratic behaviour and in particular her lack of lasting commi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Large Rope
''The Large Rope'' (also known as ''The Long Rope'') is a 1953 British crime film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Donald Houston, Susan Shaw and Robert Brown. Plot After his release from prison a man returns to his village, where he is accused of murdering a woman. Cast * Donald Houston as Tom Penney * Susan Shaw as Susan Hamble * Robert Brown as Mick Jordan * Vanda Godsell as Amy Jordan * Peter Byrne as Jeff Stribling * Richard Warner as Inspector Harmer * Christine Finn as May * Thomas Heathcote as James Gore * Katie Johnson as Grandmother (uncredited) * Hilda Fenemore Hilda Lilian Fenemore (22 April 1914 – 13 April 2004) was an English actress with a prolific career in film and television from the 1940s to the 1990s. Fenemore played mainly supporting roles which were characterised in her obituary in ''The ... as Pub Landlady (uncredited) Critical reception The film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane describe ''The Large Rope'' as an "excellent thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glad Tidings (film)
''Glad Tidings'' is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Barbara Kelly, Raymond Huntley and Ronald Howard. It was based on the play of the same title by R. F. Delderfield and made at the Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames. The film's art direction was by John Stoll. The backers Eros Films were pleased enough with the film's success to adapt another Delderfield play as ''Where There's a Will'' in 1955. Plot A retired RAF officer returns home to his sleepy little rural community with an attractive new American fiancée, to the initial resentment of his children. Cast * Barbara Kelly as Kay Stuart * Raymond Huntley as Tom Forester * Ronald Howard as Corporal Nicholas Brayne * Jean Lodge as Celia Forester * Terence Alexander as Flight Lieutenant Spud Cusack * Diana Calderwood as Josephine Forester * Laurence Payne as Clive Askham * Arthur Howard as Mr. Boddington * Brian Smith as Derek Forester * Yvette Wyatt as Miggs Forester * Doris Yorke as Mr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noose For A Lady
''Noose for a Lady'' is a 1953 British crime film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Dennis Price, Rona Anderson and Ronald Howard. It is based on the novel ''Whispering Woman'' by Gerald Verner. Plot The plot concerns an amateur detective Simon Gale (Price) who races against time to clear the name of his cousin, who is accused of murdering her husband. Gale assembles all suspects in a single room in a large house and announces that one of them is a murderer. He then explains who is the murderer and how he reached that conclusion. Cast Critical reception ''TV Guide'' called the film "Overly chatty"; ''Cinema Retro ''Cinema Retro'' is an English magazine devoted to "celebrating films of the 1960s & 1970s". Founded in 2005 by Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall, it is subtitled "the Essential Guide to Cult and Classic Movies". The 64-page full-colour magazine is p ...'' found it "A quaint, cliché ridden drama," concluding more positively, "yes, of course it creaks a little, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Films
London Films Productions is a British film and television production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and from 1936 based at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, near London. The company's productions included ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933), '' Things to Come'' (1936), ''Rembrandt'' (1936), and ''The Four Feathers'' (1939). The facility at Denham was taken over in 1939 by Rank and merged with Pinewood to form D & P Studios. The outbreak of war necessitated that '' The Thief of Bagdad'' (1940) be completed in California, although Korda's handful of American-made films still displayed Big Ben as their opening corporate logo.Kulik, Karol ''Alexander Korda:The Man Who Could Work Miracles''. Virgin Books, 1990. After a restructuring of Korda's UK operations in the late 1940s, London Films were made at Shepperton. One of these was ''The Third Man'' (1949). The company's film ''The Sound Barrier'' (1952) won the Academy Award for Best Sound. More than 40 ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacksons Of Piccadilly
Jacksons of Piccadilly was a London tea house, tea wholesaler and retailer, grocer, wine merchant, and deluxe department store, founded by Robert Jackson in Piccadilly in 1700. It is now a brand owned by R. Twinings and Company Limited, a former tea business rival. By 1815, Jacksons had earned a reputation for selling pre-blended teas direct to customers, which was uncommon at that time because people blended different teas themselves at home. The Jacksons trade empire expanded and earned several Royal Warrants for tea from numerous royals through the 19th and 20th centuries. By 1905, Jacksons had moved to 171-172 Piccadilly. An example of Jacksons' blending ability was its "The Lady Londonderry Mixture Tea". It was a blend of teas from the foothills of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), the hills of Darjeeling district (in West Bengal state in India), and the tea gardens of Formosa (now the island of Taiwan, Republic of China). The blend was originally prepared for the Marchioness of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doomwatch
''Doomwatch'' is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC1 between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist (played by John Paul), responsible for investigating and combating various ecological and technological dangers. The series was followed by a film adaptation produced by Tigon British Film Productions and released in 1972, and a revival TV film was broadcast on Channel 5 in 1999. Background The programme was created by Gerry Davis and Kit Pedler, who had previously collaborated on scripts for ''Doctor Who'', a programme on which, for a time during the late 1960s, Davis had been the story editor and Pedler the unofficial scientific adviser. Their interest in the problems of science changing and endangering human life had led them to create the popular cyborg villains the Cybermen for that program. Similar interests led them to create ''D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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