Calthrop, Donald

Blackmail

BLACKMAIL (DVD MOVIE)

The Man Who Changed His Mind

Boris Karloff gives a brilliant performance as mad scientist Dr. Laurience, a once-respected researcher of the mind and soul who goes off the deep end when the scientific community rejects his work. He uses his invention to first exact revenge on his enemies, then tries using it to win the heart of his delightful assistant, played by British ingénue Anna Lee. It's classic Karloff in this unforgettable early horror film.

Fire Over England

Alexander Korda often enlisted Tinseltown talent to lend his British productions some Hollywood pizzazz. For this spirited historical film about the intrigues and counter-intrigues leading up to the Spanish Armada's assault against Queen Elizabeth's brave little island, William K. Howard directed and the cameraman was the great James Wong Howe. Still, it's the Russian French art director Lazare Meerson who takes top honors with his ethereal sets. The swashbuckling pales beside Captain Blood or The Prisoner of Zenda, but the diplomatic crosstalk and young Larry Olivier's James-Bond-in-a-ruff act are delicious. Vivien Leigh is Olivier's love interest (on screen and off), and royalty is royally served by Flora Robson's gusty Good Queen Bess (a role she reprised in The Sea Hawk) and Raymond Massey's wonderfully lugubrious Philip of Spain. Robert Newton plays another Spaniard, and if you don't blink you'll glimpse James Mason as the traitorous Hillary Vane. --Richard T. Jameson

Scrooge

This British production of Dickens's Christmas Carol has been eclipsed by subsequent versions, but it stands on its own as a darkly atmospheric (if sometimes regrettably brisk) telling of the beloved tale. Even with the rough quality of existing prints, this Scrooge has a visual intensity that approaches the bold compositions of German expressionism. And in its central role it has a mostly forgotten star: Sir Seymour Hicks, one of the era's celebrated English stage actors. With his gnarled face and flyaway hair, Hicks looks every inch the mean old misanthrope, and his cruelty has a realistic quality missing in some of the more stylized interpreters of the role. Hicks had played Scrooge many times on stage (and before in silent film), and he gets the tenor of every "Humbug!" just right. As a bandy-legged Bob Cratchit, Donald Calthorp is a perfect Victorian illustration come to grinning life. --Robert Horton

Restored at last to its full length, this striking adaptation of Charles Dickens' holiday classic is notable not only for its beautiful story but also for superb performances, a vigorous script, excellent pacing, persuasive settings, costumes which utterly capture 1843 London, and impressive moving-camera photography with atmospheric lighting reminiscent of German expressionist cinema. Sir Seymour Hicks, an age-appropriate Scrooge, first played the role on screen in 1913 and delivers a first-class performance; he also co-authored the screenplay and inhabits Scrooge thoroughly, subtly and radiantly. The other characters are secondary but all impeccable, including Donald Calthrop (familiar from his roles in several of Alfred Hitchcock's British films), Maurice Evans, and rotund Oscar Asche as the unforgettably fruity Ghost of Christmas Present. Director Henry Edwards was honored for his work with a prize at the 1935 Venice Film Festival; also note the gifted hand of production supervisor John Brahm, a veteran of German theater and cinema and later director of other fine films including the similarly atmospheric "The Lodger." A wonderful film that would have made Charles Dickens proud!

Scrooge

In this original film adaptation of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol Sir Seymour Hicks gives a riveting performance as Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge is a mean old miser who wants nothing to do with Christmas harshly rejecting the company and well wishes of his fellow man. But on this Christmas Eve Scrooge s former partner Jacob Marley an invisible but forceful ghostly presence visits Scrooge to warn him that his time is running short. Throughout the long cold night the Ghosts of Christmas Past Present and Future appear to Scrooge taking him on a journey into the very spirit and magic of the Christmas holiday.System Requirements:Run Time: 60 minutes Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 796019805841 Manufacturer No: 80584

This British production of Dickens's Christmas Carol has been eclipsed by subsequent versions, but it stands on its own as a darkly atmospheric (if sometimes regrettably brisk) telling of the beloved tale. Even with the rough quality of existing prints, this Scrooge has a visual intensity that approaches the bold compositions of German expressionism. And in its central role it has a mostly forgotten star: Sir Seymour Hicks, one of the era's celebrated English stage actors. With his gnarled face and flyaway hair, Hicks looks every inch the mean old misanthrope, and his cruelty has a realistic quality missing in some of the more stylized interpreters of the role. Hicks had played Scrooge many times on stage (and before in silent film), and he gets the tenor of every "Humbug!" just right. As a bandy-legged Bob Cratchit, Donald Calthorp is a perfect Victorian illustration come to grinning life. --Robert Horton