cult film freak: patrick allen

Showing posts with label patrick allen. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 6/01/2025 / No comments / airplane , british , cy endfield , diane cilento , disaster , elizabeth sellars , fifties , jocelyn lane , mai zetterling , patrick allen , paul carpenter , richard attenborough , stanley baker , thriller , virginia maskell

STANLEY BAKER IN CY ENDFIELD'S AIRLINE DISASTER 'JET STORM'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6PsOtZW51zPCP_5z-l-EmTH93d0Xi_r6tT2f6rMDafTPIXkIIwVoslFW2OsEJ812wF_8_7sy27fyzLVrYcTJoEY6dy8nIKPQaYiIJGmyXb1ldE1XaLg9Vf5l8IGAK64c192d-aUGeG72TvjyFK5mNs5gDRCt6LpEdTAO17be-W3dUHZSHR-mBgt5TdHVv/s1702/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-01%20at%201.12.07%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1018" data-original-width="1702" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6PsOtZW51zPCP_5z-l-EmTH93d0Xi_r6tT2f6rMDafTPIXkIIwVoslFW2OsEJ812wF_8_7sy27fyzLVrYcTJoEY6dy8nIKPQaYiIJGmyXb1ldE1XaLg9Vf5l8IGAK64c192d-aUGeG72TvjyFK5mNs5gDRCt6LpEdTAO17be-W3dUHZSHR-mBgt5TdHVv/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-01%20at%201.12.07%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stanley Baker in JET STORM Year: 1959 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>The Pink Floyd lyric "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way" could have summed up the entire undercurrent of the British airline-disaster JET STORM, the second collaboration of Blacklisted American director Cy Endfield and Welsh actor Stanley Baker... who became a bonafide movie star the previous year in their action/noir HELL DRIVERS...Yet here, Baker is second-billed in what's mostly an equal ensemble of passengers that he's the stalwart pilot of, trying to talk down psychotically hardboiled (first-billed) Richard Attenborough, who planted a bomb somewhere that could go off, sometime, because someone on board had killed his daughter in a hit-and-run accident years earlier...

airplane, british, cy endfield, diane cilento, disaster, elizabeth sellars, fifties, jocelyn lane, mai zetterling, patrick allen, paul carpenter, richard attenborough, stanley baker, thriller, virginia maskell

STANLEY BAKER IN CY ENDFIELD'S AIRLINE DISASTER 'JET STORM'

Stanley Baker in JET STORM Year: 1959 Rating: ***1/2 The Pink Floyd lyric "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way" cou...

VICTOR MATURE WITH DIANA DORS TRUCKING IN 'THE LONG HAUL'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhds55toXEPVh93M7s_m1hwQIvZ0gsZe_ioJVC2oqlcangr_0lmx5FfQRUOmoH9CNWjbSXj6cr8D_xGNyYs8zeTUjSgqJGNyUqqgelZDh-aH2Hi8oLN0JKpjdCdyVC2SYWGlvThb6R2LcZGhpbC61luLbXGjD1tNBV5IoMZrMlkmEA0DNuaQDCFjoy0nA7X/s1584/370584764_1791579744604527_233743414952011159_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1078" data-original-width="1584" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhds55toXEPVh93M7s_m1hwQIvZ0gsZe_ioJVC2oqlcangr_0lmx5FfQRUOmoH9CNWjbSXj6cr8D_xGNyYs8zeTUjSgqJGNyUqqgelZDh-aH2Hi8oLN0JKpjdCdyVC2SYWGlvThb6R2LcZGhpbC61luLbXGjD1tNBV5IoMZrMlkmEA0DNuaQDCFjoy0nA7X/s16000/370584764_1791579744604527_233743414952011159_n.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE LONG HAUL Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>What begins as a kind of lightweight <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/HellDrivers.html">HELL DRIVERS</a> with token Yankee Victor Mature joining a breakneck trucking company, having to drive as quickly and dangerously as possible, far too quickly turns into an ON THE WATERFRONT of crooked British hauling... Where a time-worn yet leathery-tough Mature... sprung from Army life and stuck in Liverpool with a wife who wants to stay put (plus a young son)... screws up company mob boss Patrick Allen's caper of robbing his own business: Thus making both the verbal and physical altercations between Mature (with plucky sidekick Liam Redmond) and Allen... equally square-jawed, stubborn and no-nonsense... fairly entertaining Noir...

british film noir/melodrama, caper, diana dors, fifties, gene anderson, liam redmond, patrick allen, truck, victor mature

VICTOR MATURE WITH DIANA DORS TRUCKING IN 'THE LONG HAUL'

Title: THE LONG HAUL Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2 What begins as a kind of lightweight HELL DRIVERS with token Yankee Victor Mature joining a ...

HAMMER PRESENTS 'NIGHT CREATURES' WITH PETER CUSHING

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZPWly0lEmAfTuWzq80JHeYYmt_Y8rTb2BID3tV1GVkd7TP0dsOPweb8Pi_nANUgmm0eD3Br34GoDVT_IwUZaTEmch8h8SOYSbk6R9Zrf4ymse6wliimC4jYGbBSQYp5TGzSx1BMm9a4rWiz_JtRcxRnFVTjNVVQ-jdXzRadeBDqMgtpQiO1KHJ7PRcBfn/s814/Screen%20Shot%202025-12-25%20at%2011.56.17%20PM-1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="814" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZPWly0lEmAfTuWzq80JHeYYmt_Y8rTb2BID3tV1GVkd7TP0dsOPweb8Pi_nANUgmm0eD3Br34GoDVT_IwUZaTEmch8h8SOYSbk6R9Zrf4ymse6wliimC4jYGbBSQYp5TGzSx1BMm9a4rWiz_JtRcxRnFVTjNVVQ-jdXzRadeBDqMgtpQiO1KHJ7PRcBfn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-12-25%20at%2011.56.17%20PM-1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hammer's NIGHT CREATURES Year: 1962 Rating: *****</td></tr></tbody></table>Hammer's decision to name this hybrid of thriller, horror and mystery CAPTAIN CLEGG proves that that last genre wasn't intended since spoiling Peter Cushing's true identity doesn't only ruin the plot's sneaky, intriguing premise, it makes Cushing's uniquely affable performance yet another fervent and intense one, not battling monsters this time but England's 1800's-era "tax man" himself... In Patrick Allen's square-jawed Captain Collier, sent with his troops to investigate what he doesn't yet realize is a tightknit, secret-latch, wine-smuggling operation run by Cushing playing local vicar Rev. Dr. Blyss, THE ONLY character that director Peter Graham Scott... until well into the second act... intends him to be...

british, david lodge, derek francis, hammer films, horror, martin benson, martin reid, michael ripper, mystery, oliver reed, patrick allen, peter cushing, peter graham scott, sixties, yvonne romain

HAMMER PRESENTS 'NIGHT CREATURES' WITH PETER CUSHING

Hammer's NIGHT CREATURES Year: 1962 Rating: ***** Hammer's decision to name this hybrid of thriller, horror and mystery CAPTAIN CLEG...

JACQUELINE ELLIS WITH PATRICK ALLEN IN 'THE SINISTER MAN'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM6vcZBsr88JL6qZ9EcoJId_91eqyAwYv7nYAVTIHAe4PxztIBD7qDpbQD-1GZ8yrR0RJ3o825GNMB_WeJwqZGF7xcS-TLlgYW4JfRBhBMio9CC4sneoZtZimHouUFyhW4EhM-emNb2z9hZmZILAglP4Jn3Xpt9cFUHcSxyT77ZtfntC-TBZ9vpzwcgw/s1639/3.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="1639" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM6vcZBsr88JL6qZ9EcoJId_91eqyAwYv7nYAVTIHAe4PxztIBD7qDpbQD-1GZ8yrR0RJ3o825GNMB_WeJwqZGF7xcS-TLlgYW4JfRBhBMio9CC4sneoZtZimHouUFyhW4EhM-emNb2z9hZmZILAglP4Jn3Xpt9cFUHcSxyT77ZtfntC-TBZ9vpzwcgw/s16000/3.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacqueline Ellis in THE SINISTER MAN Year: 1961 Rating: *1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Another episode of EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERIES that also became a theatrical programmer, which is hard to believe since THE SINISTER MAN, never once living up to its name, is extremely episodic... and if this were a pilot for token constable John Bentley, here investigating a dead body in a river alongside a research center harboring scientist Patrick Allen and girlfriend Jacqueline Ellis, the show would have never been picked up...Because the story never picks up despite being filled with eclectic, random elements... from the overall two dead bodies having been karate-chopped to a falsely accused Asian man, there's no palpable suspense or intrigue in an sixty-minute mystery without thrills, and that feels like three hours... the best thing is seeing Jacqueline Ellis for over half that length, but she, like the plot-line, merely stands around going nowhere.

british neo noir, british tv, edgar wallace, jacqueline ellis, john bentley, mystery, patrick allen, ric young, thriller, yvonne buckingham

JACQUELINE ELLIS WITH PATRICK ALLEN IN 'THE SINISTER MAN'

Jacqueline Ellis in THE SINISTER MAN Year: 1961 Rating: *1/2 Another episode of EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERIES that also became a theatrical progra...

JACQUELINE ELLIS IN 'THE TRAITORS' STARRING PATRICK ALLEN

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGR8L5NnOjVdu49fBx7p9c7CISz9X3pivczQucfP5rMqZH_ScFbsvbY3m3RY7EVvxdetONf7THxVZ4FFsIs8J88tJ-Mit68v6rcQ-RO_5dKl4q0HO5bfVupWzVG00ib0buCz7XN8E8QnFYahEIMws45t0ZmGPMMfSEaFBsZAKCvZo7v0BXbTNYJ9Z5Tw/s911/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%205.06.11%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="911" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGR8L5NnOjVdu49fBx7p9c7CISz9X3pivczQucfP5rMqZH_ScFbsvbY3m3RY7EVvxdetONf7THxVZ4FFsIs8J88tJ-Mit68v6rcQ-RO_5dKl4q0HO5bfVupWzVG00ib0buCz7XN8E8QnFYahEIMws45t0ZmGPMMfSEaFBsZAKCvZo7v0BXbTNYJ9Z5Tw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%205.06.11%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacqueline Ellis in THE TRAITORS Year: 1962 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>The second of two British b-crimes pairing lantern-jawed <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/12/peter-cushing-patrick-allen-in-hammers.html">Patrick Allen</a>, honing one of the greatest voices in cinema history, with ingenue <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/jacqueline%20ellis">Jacqueline Ellis</a>, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/jacqueline%20ellis">THE TRAITORS</a>... written by Jim O'Connolly, who'd direct Ellis in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/11/hijackers.html">THE HI-JACKERS</a> the next year... follows the usual spy template popular in the 1960's... Herein the titular gang of microfilm-carrying turncoats are shadowed by stalwart British agent Allen paired with an American with a British accent in future <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/02/otley.html">OTLEY</a> actor James Maxwell...

british neo noir, british new wave, espionage, harold goodwin, jacqueline ellis, james maxwell, jim o'connolly, patrick allen, sixties, spy, zena walker

JACQUELINE ELLIS IN 'THE TRAITORS' STARRING PATRICK ALLEN

Jacqueline Ellis in THE TRAITORS Year: 1962 Rating: *** The second of two British b-crimes pairing lantern-jawed Patrick Allen , honing one ...

SYDNEY CHAPLIN STARS IN THE BRITISH FILM NOIR' CONFESSION'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrR43MNPBWOqIdLxoKhuuBcjc7IERwevZjlQErwIDr_wbAl8-vX11HGm2dOda_E5TOhNeC31jOdVasvuuxYAbYi_4vXCiEEd09eucn8KbDDYXIdLHtZALp44qKptPKd1sIpWJ4JJl0q1AxueMtdJpOOMmKGF5UjPgiQvene-WN5_YoqZXEl9TVtaMK-g=s818" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="818" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrR43MNPBWOqIdLxoKhuuBcjc7IERwevZjlQErwIDr_wbAl8-vX11HGm2dOda_E5TOhNeC31jOdVasvuuxYAbYi_4vXCiEEd09eucn8KbDDYXIdLHtZALp44qKptPKd1sIpWJ4JJl0q1AxueMtdJpOOMmKGF5UjPgiQvene-WN5_YoqZXEl9TVtaMK-g=w400-h310" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster for THE CONFESSION Year: 1955 Rating: **1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Charlie Chaplin's son Sydney Chaplin gets first-billing in a British Film Noir titled CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN; the melodramatic alternate references a priest hearing the confession of a killer admitting what he's done, sort of, before he himself is killed right there and then... And it's all the fault of Chaplin as prodigal son Mike Nelson, returned home from America (having no British accent left), again living with his crippled father and gorgeous sister Audrey Dalton...She thinks big brother's as clean as the driven snow, providing what others have noticed is similar to Alfred Hitchcock's "cute niece loves her charming yet secretly vicious uncle" SHADOW OF A DOUBT as well as I CONFESS with a targeted priest, leaving Chaplin little to do but look ominous and secretive, especially after sister loses trust since her boyfriend (and both their childhood friend) is the one killed after committing a defensive murder of square-jawed Patrick Allen, who was blackmailing the suitcase-full-of-cash Chaplin in a thriller where the important side-roles die off too quick to matter, and, sadly, what began as a chance for Sydney Chaplin to shine darkly (looking more like he'd be Victor Mature's brother than Charlie Chaplin's son), the picture winds up in the hands of cop John Bentley, who... as the tail wags the dog... would have been better left on the sidelines.

audrey dalton, british film noir, fifties, john bentley, patrick allen, sydney chaplin, thriller

SYDNEY CHAPLIN STARS IN THE BRITISH FILM NOIR' CONFESSION'

Poster for THE CONFESSION Year: 1955 Rating: **1/2 Charlie Chaplin's son Sydney Chaplin gets first-billing in a British Film Noir titled...

PETER O'TOOLE 'THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS' TOM COURTENAY

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV3i6Vw8zxNLCsVEAh6UmMa8hg7W9vLBVLrJYqTQv5WAbiMGlLPi-Poh9xXAOFNUnnyvkj9sddmtrq2YEFb9AKgZ8XsYYtOQ-Ydmjp_N9tKUNp8QV5PqhPiW5t4adO93yMu9cv7EgGPbG3pzDYj6rXINAPJtm9nLXEruoJ8SoLnj1mOHPGseBcITInpPZ5/s1210/14.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="1210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV3i6Vw8zxNLCsVEAh6UmMa8hg7W9vLBVLrJYqTQv5WAbiMGlLPi-Poh9xXAOFNUnnyvkj9sddmtrq2YEFb9AKgZ8XsYYtOQ-Ydmjp_N9tKUNp8QV5PqhPiW5t4adO93yMu9cv7EgGPbG3pzDYj6rXINAPJtm9nLXEruoJ8SoLnj1mOHPGseBcITInpPZ5/s16000/14.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS Year: 1967 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>The fact that a movie from the producer of and two main leads from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, and another David Lean-directed actor, Tom Courtenay, from the epic followup that also starred Omar Sharif, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, was just a pretty-good and not a really-great motion picture is probably why "all the hate" has been given for THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS throughout the years... 
 
And while spending far too much of that hefty run-time making for too long a movie in general, it's still a neat cinematic experience, especially the narrowed last half as a reluctant Courtenay's put in passive charge of driving/escorting bloodthirsty Nazi general Peter O'Toole around occupied yet art-inspired Paris: He's one of three German Generals that could be the murderer of a female German spy, unseen in the movie's expository prologue...