Blithe Spirit 1945 N/R, 97 min. Genre: Comedy / Fantasy
Director: David Lean Cast: Rex Harrison, Kay Hammond, Constance Cummings, Margaret Rutherford, Hugh Wakefield, Joyce Carey, Jacqueline Clarke, Noel Coward, Marie Ault, Johnnie Schofield
Based on Noel Coward's play, this is a well-performed comedy about a first wife Elvira (Kay Hammond) being summoned back to this world during a seance. British novelist Charles Condomine (Rex Harrison) has invited a medium, Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford), to his home for dinner, and she manages to conjure up the ghost of Elvira. Now Elvira sticks around to create chaos in the lives of Charles and his new wife Ruth (Constance Cummings).
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The Lodger 1926 N/R, 84 min. Genre: Drama / Mystery / Thriller aka: The Case of Jonathan Drew
Director: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Ivor Novello, June, Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, Malcolm Keen, Alfred Hitchcock, Eve Gray, Reginald Gardiner
This is the prototype for Alfred Hitchcock's future suspense movies. "The avenger" is murdering women in London, and suspicions of being a murderer plague innocent Jonathan Drew (Ivor Novello) who has recently rented a room in a boarding house. The proprietor's daughter Daisey (June) suspects Jonathan and clues in her fiance Joe (Malcolm Keen) about her suspicions. Joe is a police detective, and he arrests Jonathan, but Jonathan manages to escape. Now, the police are on his trail, and Jonathan must evade the police until the real killer is discovered.
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Love on the Dole 1941 N/R, 99 min. Genre: Drama
Director: John Baxter Cast: Deborah Kerr, Clifford Evans, Joyce Howard, Frank Cellier, Mary Merrall, George Carney, Geoffrey Hibbert, Martin Walker, Maire O'Neill, Peter Gawthorne, Iris Vandeleur, Marie Ault, Marjorie Rhodes
In a Lancashire town in England during the 1930s, the Hardcastle family and their neighbors are struggling to make it through the Depression. Sally Hardcastle (Deborah Kerr) is a mill girl who is in love with factory worker Larry Meath (Clifford Evans). But, Larry is killed following a scuffle with police during a demonstration against work conditions. Sally borrows money from local bookie Sam Grundy (Frank Cellier) to pay for Larry's funeral. Sam, in turn, is interested in Sally and asks her to become his mistress. Sally compromises her morals in hopes of helping her family improve its dire circumstances and agrees to become his mistress trusting that Sam will find work for her father (George Carney) and brother (Geoffrey Hibbert).
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The Speckled Band 1931 N/R, 66 min. Genre: Mystery
Director: Jack Raymond Cast: Raymond Massey, Athole Stewart, Lyn Harding, Angela Baddeley, Nancy Price, Stanley Lathbury, Marie Ault, Joyce Moore, Charles Paton, Franklyn Bellamy, Ivan Brandt
Raymond Massey stars as Sherlock Holmes in this adaptation of Conan Doyle's story that takes crime solving out of the 19th century and into 20th-century technology as Holmes and Dr. Watson (Athole Stewart) solve the murder of a young woman. Dr. Watson's friend, Helen Stoner (Angela Baddeley), reports that her sister Violet (Joyce Moore) has died, but the cause of her death has not been determined. Her final words were, "The Speckled Band!" Helen is worried that she will become the next victim, and she asks Holmes and Watson to investigate.
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| 1. Blithe Spirit (1945)
2. The Lodger (1926) aka: The Case of Jonathan Drew
3. Love on the Dole (1941)
4. The Speckled Band (1931)
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