Peter Illing Filmography

The Devils of Darkness

Synopsis: An Englishman finds himself on the holiday from hell in this horror movie. He had gone to Britanny for rest and relaxation. Instead he finds himself involved in a satanic cult run by a sophisticated vampire. Two of the man's friends are killed there because the cult requires human sacrifices. The Read More

The Secret Door

Synopsis: In this wartime espionage drama, two incarcerated safecrackers are released to help Naval Intelligence steal classified Japanese documents following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The documents are hidden in the Japanese embassy in Lisbon. Once there, the crooks learn that the papers are worth a Read More

Echo of Diana

Synopsis: A spy ring is responsible for the death of Betty McDowall's husband as discovered by reporters. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Nine Hours to Rama

Actors: Horst Buchholz, José Ferrer, Valeiie Gearon, Don Borisenko, Robert Morley

Synopsis: This drama follows the nine hours that came before the assassination of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu radical. Naturam Godse (Horst Buchholz), a Brahmin who was rejected for service in the British Army and is horrified by the fighting between Moslem and Hindu fanatics, comes to the Read More

The V.I.P.'s

Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Louis Jourdan, Elsa Martinelli, Margaret Rutherford, Maggie Smith

Synopsis: Terrence Rattigan, the playwright who brought us the multicharactered, multistoried Separate Tables, again offers us an episodic cross-section of humanity in The V.I.P.'s. When a heavy London fog paralyzes all air traffic, the lives of several people are profoundly affected. As indicated by the Read More

Village of Daughters

Actors: Eric Sykes, Scilla Gabel, Gregoire Aslan, John Le Mesurier

Synopsis: When a traveling salesman arrives to hawk his wares in an economically depressed Italian village, the last thing he expects is to be assailed by the most beautiful single girls in town, but that is exactly what happens. The reason for it stems from the fact that all but one of the town's eligible Read More

The Happy Thieves

Actors: Rex Harrison, Rita Hayworth, Joseph Wiseman, Gregoire Aslan, Alida Valli

Synopsis: The happy thieves in this international effort are Rex Harrision and Rita Hayworth, both specialists in swiping rare art objects. Their plan to pilfer a priceless Goya involves creating a public diversion at a nearby bullring. Oh, we forgot to tell you: the film was made on location in Madrid, the Read More

Das Geheimnis der gelben Narzissen

Actors: Christopher Lee, Marius Goring, Penelope Horner, Ingrid van Bergen, William Lucas

Synopsis: In this detective film, a Chinese detective breaks up a drug smuggling ring and tries to find the "Daffodil Killer." The drug smugglers had devised the ingenious method of smuggling heroin from Hong Kong in the stems of daffodils. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Secret Partner

Actors: Stewart Granger, Haya Harareet, Bernard Lee, Hugh Burden, Lee Montague

Synopsis: In this routine mystery story by director Basil Dearden, someone who favors mysteries and comedies, Stewart Granger is John Brent, a VIP in a shipping company with a prison record behind him. When a quarter of million dollars goes missing from the company's vault, he is the primary suspect of Read More

The Middle Course

Actors: Vincent Ball, Lisa Daniely, Peter Illing, Roland Bartrop, Marne Maitland

Synopsis: This war drama, set in WW II, chronicles the endeavors of a Canadian pilot who attempts to help French villagers fight the Germans on their own. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons

Actors: George Sanders, Corinne Calvet, Jean Kent, Patricia Roc, Greta Gynt

Synopsis: W. Lee Wilder, the lesser-known brother of Billy Wilder, directed this unexceptional story based on the actual history of French serial killer Henri Landru. The killer (played by George Sanders) has been changed here from an ordinary, inconsequential man to a suave antique dealer with a passion Read More

Malaga

Actors: Trevor Howard, Dorothy Dandridge, Edmund Purdom, Michael Hordern, Paul Stassino

Synopsis: This routine crime drama with a dash of romance begins with a tense opening, a jewel theft is carried out almost without a word of dialogue. One of the thieves, John Bain (Trevor Howard) an expert locksmith plagued by a stint in prison, has been coerced into helping the master thief Peter Curran (Edmund Purdom Read More

Operation Stogie

Sands of the Desert

Actors: Charlie Drake, Peter Arne, Sarah Branch, Raymond Huntley, Peter Illing

Synopsis: In this British comedy set in Saudi Arabia, a gentle British travel-agency clerk decides that it would be a smashing idea to open up a desert resort in Arabia. He heads to the desert and immediately finds himself on the bad side of a local sheik as the fellow tries to build his resort atop Read More

Friends and Neighbors

Synopsis: In this comedy, a British bus conductor is elated to learn that he has won the lottery's grand prize. Then he finds out that the prize is a visit from two Russian social workers. The conductor's wife cleverly turns the visitation into a drinking party and the Russians are very happy. They have so Read More

Whirlpool

Actors: Juliette Greco, O.W. Fischer, Marius Goring, Muriel Pavlow, William Sylvester

Synopsis: An uneven, bland tale of escape and capture on the River Rhine, Whirlpool features Juliette Greco as Lora, the girlfriend of a petty criminal. She wants to leave him but does not make the desperate effort leaving requires, until after he shoots a policeman. Then she escapes him by boarding a Read More

The Invisible Man: The Vanishing Evidence

Synopsis: Industrial espionage becomes a deadly game when Peter Thal (played by Charles Gray, aka "The Criminologist" in The Rocky Horror Picture Show) murders Professor Harper (Robert Raglan) and steals valuable scientific documents. With the blessing of the British Secret Service, Harper's colleague Peter Read More

Jet Storm

Actors: Richard Attenborough, Stanley Baker, Hermione Baddeley, Bernard Braden, Diane Cilento

Synopsis: In this airborne disaster movie, a has-been brilliant scientist plants a bomb on a transatlantic jet to exact revenge upon a passenger whom he blames for his daughter's death -- she died during a plane crash. When the booby-trap is discovered and the passengers learn the motive for the scientists' Read More

The Wreck of the Mary Deare

Actors: Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, Michael Redgrave, Emlyn Williams, Richard Harris, Cecil Parker

Synopsis: Talented special effects and adventure director Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days, 1956) keeps the suspense going in this drama about the wreck of the Mary Deare. John Sands (Charleton Heston) is the captain of a salvage ship that is almost rammed by the apparently abandoned Mary Read More

The Angry Hills

Actors: Robert Mitchum, Elisabeth Müller, Stanley Baker, Gia Scala, Theodore Bikel, Donald Wolfit

Synopsis: Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly) directed this cloak-and-dagger yarn (based on a bestseller by Leon Uris), filmed on sumptuous locations in Greece. Set in Athens in 1941, before the Nazis overran the country, Robert Mitchum plays American war correspondent Mike Morrison, who has come into the Read More

I Accuse!

Actors: José Ferrer, Anton Walbrook, Viveca Lindfors, Leo Genn, Emlyn Williams

Synopsis: The still-controversial L'Affair Dreyfuss of the late 19th century is the focal point of I Accuse! Jose Ferrer (who also directed) stars as French Army captain Alfred Dreyfus, who is chosen as the fall guy for a major military scandal for no other discernable reason than his Jewishness. Wrongly Read More

The Electronic Monster

Actors: Rod Cameron, Mary Murphy, Meredith Edwards, Peter Illing, Carl Jaffe, Kay Callard

Synopsis: When a movie star dies mysteriously, insurance investigator Jeff Keenan (Rod Cameron) is put on the case. It seems that the dead man was attending a private psychiatric clinic on the Riviera. Keenan learns that one of the staff doctors has been tinkering with an experimental "dream machine," Read More

Stowaway Girl

Actors: Trevor Howard, Leslie Weston, Donald Pleasence, Warren Mitchell

Synopsis: Released in the US as Stowaway Girl, Manuela top-bills Trevor Howard as Prothero, the stalwart middle-aged skipper of a tramp steamer. Though he has a weakness for alcohol, Prothero is a model of restraint when it comes to the opposite sex. Thus, when his first mate Mario (Pedro Armendariz) Read More

Man in the Shadow

Actors: Jeff Chandler, Orson Welles, Colleen Miller, Ben Alexander, Barbara Lawrence

Synopsis: Man in the Shadow is a better-than-usual Albert Zugsmith production starring Jeff Chandler as the newly appointed lawman in a corrupt southwestern town. A Mexican laborer has been murdered, a crime which powerful land baron Orson Welles wants the sheriff to ignore. Chandler bucks Welles' wishes Read More

Campbell's Kingdom

Actors: Dirk Bogarde, Stanley Baker, Michael Craig, Barbara Murray, James Robertson Justice

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Hammond Innes, the British Campbell's Kingdom is set in the Canadian Rockies. Dirk Bogarde plays Bruce Campbell, a British aristocrat who has been given only six months to live. Inheriting a financially troubled Canadian valley, Campbell finds a new lease on life as he Read More

Miracle in Soho

Actors: John Gregson, Belinda Lee, Cyril Cusack, Rosalie Crutchley, Peter Illing, Ian Bannen

Synopsis: London's colorful but rundown Soho district is the setting for this thinnish romantic comedy. John Gregson plays a Soho roadworker who has little hopes of finding happiness in life. Belinda Lee is a like-minded barmaid in a tiny pub. Gregson and Lee discover each other, and the "miracle" happens. Read More

Violent Stranger

Synopsis: In this suspenseful, convoluted crime drama, the wife of a wrongly-condemned murderer begins looking for the real killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

A Farewell to Arms

Actors: Rock Hudson, Jennifer Jones, Vittorio De Sica, Alberto Sordi, Kurt Kasznar, Mercedes McCambridge

Synopsis: Farewell to Arms is the second film version of Ernest Hemingway's World War One novel--and also the last film produced by David O. Selznick (Gone with the Wind). Rock Hudson plays an American serving in the Italian Army during the "War to End All Wars". Jennifer Jones is his lover, a Red cross Read More

Fire Down Below

Actors: Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon, Herbert Lom, Bernard Lee, Bonar Colleano

Synopsis: Jack Lemmon and Robert Mitchum star as Tony and Felix, co-owners of a tramp-steamer service in the West Indies. Threatening their friendship is itinerant trollop Irena (Rita Hayworth). Tony seethes with jealousy as Irena gravitates towards Felix, leading to a heated confrontation. Felix retaliates Read More

Pickup Alley

Actors: Victor Mature, Anita Ekberg, Trevor Howard, Bonar Colleano, Andre Morell

Synopsis: Victor Mature stars in this European-based crime thriller. Mature is an FBI agent on the trail of a drug smuggling operation, following his quarry all over the Continent (with accompanying pretty pictures of Portugal, Spain, France etc.) The criminal mastermind (Trevor Howard) is something of a Read More

Passport to Treason

Actors: Rod Cameron, Lois Maxwell, Clifford Evans, Douglas Wilmer, Andrew Faulds

Synopsis: Passport to Treason was put together by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman, the same team who'd later collaborate on the TV series The Saint. Rod Cameron stars as an American private eye, stationed in London. For the sake of a murdered friend, the detective takes over the dead man's case, which Read More

It's Never Too Late

Synopsis: It's Never Too Late stars Phyllis Calvert as a sedate and settled British wife and mother. Deciding that her family has taken her for granted far too long, the bored Ms. Calvert types up a movie script. Her work becomes a hit film and Phyllis suddenly finds herself a celebrity. Now she must choose Read More

Zarak

Actors: Victor Mature, Michael Wilding, Sr., Anita Ekberg, Bonar Colleano, Finlay Currie

Synopsis: In this desert adventure, a bandit chieftain roams the northwest deserts of India. Wherever he goes, he leaves a trail of ruin and raped women. A British major is assigned to capture the bandit and his gang. He succeeds, but soon the bandit, with the assistance of a sadistic nomad, escapes. The Read More

Bhowani Junction

Actors: Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, Bill Travers, Abraham Sofaer, Francis Matthews

Synopsis: Ava Gardner was never more alluring than as the half-caste heroine of Bhowani Junction. Set during India's battle for independence from Britain, the film begins with Gardner returning to her native land after spending several years in England. Her true loyalties, and her own sense of who she Read More

Pursuit of the Graf Spee

Actors: John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Peter Finch, Ian Hunter, Jack Gwillim, Bernard Lee

Synopsis: Widely regarded as one of the best and most intelligent British war dramas of the 1950s, The Battle of River Plate is the story of Britain's first significant naval victory in WW2. John Gregson heads the cast as Captain Bell, skipper of the Exeter, one of several vessels engaged in pursuit of the Read More

Loser Takes All

Actors: Rossano Brazzi, Glynis Johns, Robert Morley, Tony Britton, Felix Aylmer

Synopsis: In this location-filmed domestic seriocomedy, Rosanno Brazzi and Glynis Johns play an accountant and his new wife, honeymooning in Monte Carlo. With the casino in full view and ready for action, the couple would be remiss if they didn't give the gaming tables a try. Besides, Brazzi is certain that Read More

That Lady

Actors: Gilbert Roland, Paul Scofield, Françoise Rosay, Dennis Price

Synopsis: Based on a true event from 16th century Spain, this costume drama follows the tragic life of Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Eboli, (Olivia de Havilland) who is secretly loved by her good friend the King. Unfortunately for the monarch, she marries one of his ministers and bears his son. Her husband Read More

A Race for Life

Actors: Richard Conte, Mari Aldon, George Coulouris, Peter Illing, Alec Mango

Synopsis: Less than a month after the release of 20th Century-Fox's The Racers, Lippert Productions picked up the American distribution rights for the British A Race for Life. Richard Conte stars as Peter Wells, a onetime champion race-car driver whose career was interrupted by the war. Linking up with an Read More

Svengali

Actors: Hildegarde Neff, Donald Wolfit, Terence Morgan, Derek Bond, Paul Rogers

Synopsis: In Svengali, the 1955 adaptation of George DuMaurier's classic novel Trilby, Donald Wolfit achieves the near-impossible: he out-hams John Barrymore, who'd played Svengali in the 1931 version. A last-minute replacement for the equally flamboyant Robert Newton, Wolfit pulls out all the stops as the Read More

As Long As They're Happy

Actors: Jack Buchanan, Janette Scott, Jean Carson, Brenda de Banzie, Diana Dors, Susan Stephen

Synopsis: Not quite a full-fledged musical, As Long as They're Happy can be described as a romantic comedy with song-and-dance interludes. Adapted from the London stage hit of the same name, the film stars Jack Buchanan as stockbroker John Bentley, whose household is thrown into a tizzy when popular singing Read More

Chance Meeting

Actors: Odile Versois, David Knight, Joseph Tomelty, Paul Carpenter, Theodore Bikel, David Kossoff

Synopsis: Also known as Chance Meeting, The Young Lovers can be described as an Iron Curtain romance. The boy, Ted (David Knight), works as a code expert at the American Embassy in London. The girl, Anna (Odelle Versois), is the daughter of a communist dignitary. When Ted and Anna fall in love, they find Read More

West of Zanzibar

Actors: Anthony Steel, Sheila Sim, William Simons, Orlando Martins, Edric Connor

Synopsis: No relation to the 1928 Lon Chaney vehicle of the same name, the British West of Zanzibar was filmed on location in East Africa. Game ranger Bob Payton (Anthony Steel) makes it his mission in life to capture the head of a vicious ivory-smuggling racket. Payton tracks his quarry through some of the Read More

The Flame and the Flesh

Actors: Lana Turner, Anna Maria Pier Angeli, Carlos Thompson, Bonar Colleano, Charles Goldner

Synopsis: Filmed on location in Europe, Flame and the Flesh is nothing more nor less than a vehicle for the glamorous Lana Turner. The plot finds Madeline (Ms. Turner) stranded in Italy with nary a lire to her name. But this doesn't bother her, because she's always depended upon the kindness of Read More

Heat Wave

Synopsis: Alex Nicol stars as writer Mark Kendrick, who becomes involved in an affair with his murderous neighbor Carol Forrest (Hillary Brooke). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Affair in Monte Carlo

Actors: Merle Oberon, Richard Todd, Leo Genn, Peter Jones, Joan Dowling

Synopsis: Originally titled 24 Hours in a Woman's Life, the British Affair in Monte Carlo stars Merle Oberon and Richard Todd. A compulsive gambler, Todd is on the verge of disgrace and ruin. Ms. Oberon makes it her mission in life to save Todd from himself. The story is told from the point of view of Read More

Never Let Me Go

Actors: Clark Gable, Gene Tierney, Theodore Bikel, Bernard Miles, Richard Haydn, Belita

Synopsis: Clark Gable's next-to-last MGM film was the Cold War melodrama Never Let Me Go. Filmed in England, the story finds American journalist Philip Sutherland (Gable) desperately trying to retrieve his Russian-ballerina bride Marva Lamarkins (Gene Tierney) from behind the Iron Curtain. Stymied by Read More

Innocents in Paris

Actors: Alastair Sim, Ronald Shiner, Margaret Rutherford, Claire Bloom, Claude Dauphin

Synopsis: Innocents in Paris is a series of anecdotes bundled together by geography. First we see the efforts by British diplomat Alastair Sim to loosen up Soviet-agent Peter Illing long enough to forge an economic plan between Russia and England. Then we watch as dotty artist Margaret Rutherford purchases Read More

A Woman's Angle

Outcast of the Islands

Actors: Ralph Richardson, Trevor Howard, Robert Morley, Kerima, Wendy Hiller

Synopsis: Partially filmed on location in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Outcast of the Islands is a reasonably faithful adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel. Trevor Howard plays a degenerate British expatriate who wanders aimlessly around a Malayan island. Most of the film involves the search for Howard by those Read More

Lucky Nick Cain

Actors: George Raft, Coleen Gray, Charles Goldner, Walter Rilia

Synopsis: George Raft plays Lucky Nick Cain, a successful American gambler who acts as an advance man for a posh Italian casino. Colleen Gray is a tourist who loses all her money at the casino, but Cain falls in love with her and tries to make good her debts. Cain and the girl find themselves in jeopardy Read More

Traveller's Joy

Actors: Googie Withers, John McCallum, Yolande Donlan, Maurice Denham, Colin Gordon

Synopsis: Real-life Mr. and Mrs. John McCallum and Googie Withers star in Travellers Joy. McCallum and Withers are cast as Reggie and Bumble Pelham, a divorced couple living hand-to-mouth in Stockholm. Before they can leave for their native England, Reggie and Bumble must first pay their hotel bill. To Read More

Quel Bandito Sono Io

Actors: Jean Kent, Robert Beatty, Margaret Rutherford, Rona Anderson

Synopsis: Based on a play by Pepine de Felipe, Her Favorite Husband is a British comedy set in Italy. Housewife Jean Kent is bemused by her husband Robert Beatty, who is not quite himself these days. In truth, he is not himself at all: Jean's husband has been replaced by a lookalike gangster who is plotting Read More

Operation X

Actors: Nora Swinburne, Peggy Cummins, Richard Greene, Finlay Currie, Ronald Adam

Synopsis: Denied steady work in the U.S. because of his alleged left-wing political beliefs, Edward G. Robinson was obliged to seek out film roles elsewhere in 1950. My Daughter Joy stars Robinson as self-made businessman George Constantin, whose ruthlessness knows no bounds. In fact, Constantin hopes to Read More

Eureka Stockade

Actors: Chips Rafferty, Gordon Jackson, Peter Finch, Jane Barrett, Jack Lambert, Peter Illing

Synopsis: Released in the U.S. as Massacre Hill, the Australian Eureka Stockade was one of that country's biggest and most expensive postwar productions (it was nearly two years in the making!) Set during the 19th-century Australian gold rush, the film top-bills Chips Rafferty as boisterous prospector Peter Read More

Children of Chance

Actors: Patricia Medina

Synopsis: In this drama, set at the end of WW II, two Italian prostitutes ply their trade with American soldiers. When the war ends, they go back home to spend their money which is used by a local priest to create a home for illegitimate war children. Director Luigi Zampa shot this film at the same time as Read More

The Great Manhunt

Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Glynis Johns, Olga Lowe, Jack Hawkins

Synopsis: It isn't surprising that The Great Manhunt invokes fond memories of Alfred Hitchcock; the film was scripted by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, the two former Hitchcock collaborators responsible for the screenplay of The Master's The Lady Vanishes (38). Gilliat also directed this fast-paced Read More

The Huggetts Abroad

Synopsis: The Huggets Abroad is the last and most contrived of Britain's "Huggetts" film series. The titular family members, first introduced in the 1947 film Holiday Camp, are played by Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Susan Shaw and Petula Clark (the same). Mr. Huggett feels he's in a rut, so he quits his Read More

Floodtide

Actors: Gordon Jackson, Rona Anderson, John Laurie, Jack Lambert, Jimmy Logan

Synopsis: The all-purpose title Floodtide was trotted out once more for this 1949 British drama. Gordon Jackson plays a lowly shipyard worker who falls in love with Rona Anderson, his boss' daughter. For the girl's sake, Jackson keeps an eye out for opportunities to advance himself. Through determination Read More

Madness of the Heart

Actors: Margaret Lockwood, Paul Dupuis, Kathleen Byron, Maxwell Reed, Thora Hird

Synopsis: In this melodrama, a London girl falls happily in love with a Frenchman and immediately goes blind. Convinced her affliction is a Divine punishment for her sins, she joins a convent. The good sisters know she does not belong there and gently convince her to leave. Shortly after returning to Read More

Against the Wind

Actors: Robert Beatty, Simone Signoret, Jack Warner, Gordon Jackson, James Robertson Justice, Paul Dupuis

Synopsis: Set in World War II times, this drama involves a highly trained bunch of British soldiers who must parachute into Nazi-held Belgium on a rescue and destroy mission. Documentary film footage is included in the early parts of the film as the trainees get prepared for the task ahead. Robert Beatty Read More