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The Blue Parrot
''The Blue Parrot'' is a low budget 1953 British crime film directed by John Harlow and starring Dermot Walsh, Jacqueline Hill, Ballard Berkeley, Richard Pearson, and John Le Mesurier. The film was produced by Stanley Haynes for Act Films Ltd. Jacqueline Hill later became well known for playing Barbara, one of the original companions of BBC TV's ''Doctor Who''. Ballard Berkeley found fame in later life playing Major Gowen in ''Fawlty Towers''. British crime reporter Percy Hoskins provided the story. Premise Soho night club the Blue Parrot is at the centre of murder and racketeering investigations, and the police go undercover. Cast * Dermot Walsh as Bob Herrick * Jacqueline Hill as Maureen Maguire * Ballard Berkeley as Superintendent Chester * June Ashley as Gloria * Richard Pearson as "Quinny" * Ferdy Mayne as Stevens * Victor Lucas as Rocks Owen * Edwin Richfield as Taps Campelli * John Le Mesurier as Henry Carson * Arthur Rigby as Charlie * Valerie W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Harlow (director)
John Harlow (19 August 1896 – 1977) was an English film director, active from the 1930s to the 1950s. Harlow worked for smaller studios, mainly in crime/thriller genre potboilers, with his better known films including ''Candles at Nine'' (1944), the Sexton Blake thrillers ''Meet Sexton Blake'' and ''The Echo Murders'' (both 1945), '' Appointment with Crime'' (1946) and the 1947 reincarnation drama '' While I Live''. He also directed two late entries in the popular, if critically unappreciated, Old Mother Riley series. Filmography (director) *1933: '' My Lucky Star'' *1934: '' Master and Man'' *1941: '' Spellbound'' *1942: '' This Was Paris'' *1943: '' The Dark Tower'' *1944: ''Candles at Nine'' *1944: ''Headline'' *1945: ''The Agitator'' *1945: ''Meet Sexton Blake'' *1945: ''The Echo Murders'' *1946: '' Appointment with Crime'' *1947: ''Green Fingers'' *1947: '' While I Live'' *1949: '' Old Mother Riley's New Venture'' *1950: '' Old Mother Riley Headmistress'' *1953: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major Gowen
''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and, in 2019, it was named the greatest ever British TV sitcom by a panel of comedy experts compiled by the ''Radio Times''.Mattha Busby, 9 April 2019"Fawlty Towers named greatest ever British TV sitcom" ''The Guardian'', Retrieved 24 May 2019 The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a fictional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay on the English Riviera. The plots centre on the tense, rude and put-upon owner Basil Fawlty (Cleese), his bossy wife Sybil (Prunella Scales), the sensible chambermaid Polly (Booth) who often is the peacemaker and voice of reason, and the hapless and English-challenged Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs). They show their attempts to run the hotel amidst farc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post-war
In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date (such as the period between World War I and World War II). By contrast, a post-war period marks the cessation of armed conflict entirely. Post–World War II Chronology of the post–World War II era The term "post-war" can have different meanings in different countries and refer to a period determined by local considerations based on the effect of the war there. Some examples of post-war events are (in chronological order) ;The Cold War (1947–1991) The Cold War was a geopolitical conflict between the capitalist and liberal democratic United States of America, the authoritarian and Communist Marxist–Leninist Union of Sovi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B-movies
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature (akin to B-sides for recorded music). However, the U.S. production of films intended as second features largely ceased by the end of the 1950s. With the emergence of commercial television at that time, film studio B movie production departments changed into television film production divisions. They created much of the same type of content in low budget films and series. The term ''B movie'' continues to be used in its broader sense to this day. In its post-Golden Age usage, B movies can range from lurid exploitation films to independent arthouse films. In either usage, most B movies represent a particular genre—the Western was a Golden Age B movie staple, while low-budget science-fiction and horror films became more popular in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sky Movies
Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema on demand content are available through these as well as via Now TV, BT TV and TalkTalk TV. In 2016, Sky rebranded its television film channel operations under one single branding on 8 July, the channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland were rebranded from Sky Movies to Sky Cinema; on 22 September in Germany and Austria, the Sky Cinema brand (originally used for the flagship network) was extended to the German channels in the group formerly known as Sky Film; the Italian Sky Cinema channels followed suit on 5 November by adopting the brand packages introduced in the United Kingdom and Ireland earlier. History 1989–1998: Early years Launched on 5 February 1989, Sky Movies was originally a single service as part of Sky's original ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pawnbrokers
A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The items having been ''pawned'' to the broker are themselves called ''pledges'' or ''pawns'', or simply the collateral. While many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, musical instruments, home audio equipment, computers, video game systems, coins, gold, silver, televisions, cameras, power tools, firearms, and other relatively valuable items as collateral. If an item is pawned for a loan (colloquially "hocked" or "popped"), within a certain contractual period of time the pawner may redeem it for the amount of the loan plus some agreed-upon amount for interest. In the United States the amount of time, and rate of interest, is governed by law and by the state commerce department policies. They have the same license as a bank, which is highly regulated. If the loan is not paid (or extended, if applica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Market
A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services whose production and distribution is prohibited by law, non-compliance with the rule constitutes a black market trade since the transaction itself is illegal. Parties engaging in the production or distribution of prohibited goods and services are members of the . Examples include the illegal drug trade, prostitution (where prohibited), illegal currency transactions, and human trafficking. Violations of the tax code involving income tax evasion in the . Because tax evasion or participation in a black market activity is illegal, participants attempt to hide their behavior from the government or regulatory authority. Cash is the preferred medium of exchange in illegal transactions since cash transactions are less- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spivs
In the United Kingdom, the word spiv is slang for a type of petty criminal who deals in illicit, typically black market, goods. The word was particularly used during the Second World War and in the post-war period when many goods were rationed due to shortages. According to Peter Wollen, "The crucial difference between the spiv and the classic Hollywood gangster was the degree of sympathy the spiv gained as an intermediary in the transfer of black market goods to ... a grateful mass of consumers."Peter Wollen (2002) ''Paris Hollywood - Writings on Film'' pp185–6 Origins The origin of the word is obscure. According to Eric Partridge the word was originally racecourse slang, but had become widely accepted by 1950. It appeared in a paperback crime novel in 1934.Axel Bracey (1934) ''School for Scoundrels'' (Rich and Cowan) The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that it may come from: *''spiffy'', meaning smartly dressed; *'' spiff'', a bonus for salespeople (especially dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ... programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by John Reith, then general manager of the British Broadcasting Company (from 1 January 1927, the BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation), it was the world's first broadcast listings magazine. It was published entirely in-house by BBC Magazines from 8 January 1937 until 16 August 2011, when the division was merged into Immediate Media Company. On 12 January 2017, Immediate Media was bought by the Germany, German media group Hubert Burda Media, Hubert Burda. The magazine is published on Tuesdays ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Rigby (actor)
Arthur Rigby (born Arthur Turner; 27 September 1900 – 25 April 1971) was an English actor and writer. He was best known for playing Sgt Flint on the TV series '' Dixon of Dock Green'', appearing in 253 episodes from 1955 to 1965. He also appeared with ''Dixon'' 's star Jack Warner in the 1949 film ''The Blue Lamp'', which was also the film in which the character of PC George Dixon was created. As a writer, Rigby co-wrote the book (with Stanley Lupino), for the musical play ''So This is Love'', which ran for 321 performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in London's West End in 1928. This was adapted to film twice, first as '' Love Lies'', in 1932, and then as ''Lucky to Me'' in 1939. Rigby also co-wrote (with Stanley Brightman), the musical comedy ''Darling, I Love You'', which ran for 147 performances at London's '' Gaiety Theatre'' in 1930, and was also later filmed as ''The Deputy Drummer'' (1935). He additionally supplied stories and scripts for the films '' Puppets o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwin Richfield
Edwin Richfield (11 September 1921 – 2 August 1990) was an English actor. Career Richfield starred in the television series '' Interpol Calling'' (1959). He was '' The Odd Man'' in Granada Television's series of the same name in the early 1960s. Richfield played regular guest roles in the 1960s spy series '' The Avengers'', frequently cast as a villain. He was the only actor – other than Patrick Macnee – to appear in each of the six seasons of the programme. Richfield's other television roles include: '' R3'', '' 199 Park Lane'', ''Gideon's Way'', ''Danger Man'', ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''Z-Cars'', ''Adam Adamant Lives!'', ''The Baron'', '' Champion House'', ''Out of the Unknown'', ''The Owl Service'', ''UFO'', '' Bergerac'', '' Crossroads'', '' Harriet's Back in Town'', ''Doctor Who'' (''The Sea Devils'' and '' The Twin Dilemma''), and '' All Creatures Great and Small''. His film credits include: ''X the Unknown'', ''Quatermass 2'', '' The Camp on Blood Island'', ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdy Mayne
Ferdy Mayne (or Ferdie Mayne) (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regime. He resided in the UK for the majority of his professional career. Working almost continuously throughout a 60 year-long career, Mayne was known as a versatile character actor, often playing suave villains and aristocratic eccentrics in films like ''The Fearless Vampire Killers, Where Eagles Dare, Barry Lyndon'', and '' Benefit of the Doubt.'' Early life He was born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel in Mainz, Germany. His German father was the judge of Mainz, while his half-English mother was a singing instructor. Because his family was Jewish, a teenage Mayne was sent to Britain in 1932 to protect him from the Nazis. He stayed with his aunt, Li Osborne (1883-1968), nee Luisa Friedericka Wolf, a well-known German theatre and film portrait ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
