Anthony Asquith

  • Anthony Asquith – Cottage to Let AKA Bombsight Stolen (1941)

    Anthony Asquith1941-1950ThrillerUnited KingdomWar
    Cottage to Let (1941)
    Cottage to Let (1941)

    Cottage to Let is a taut British wartime spy thriller, laced with moments of genuinely hilarious comedy. The “maguffin” in this instance is a revolutionary new bombsight, designed by inventor John Barrington (Leslie Banks). A group of Nazi spies intend to steal the blueprints for the invention (hence the film’s alternate title Bombsight Stolen), and to that end dispatch one of their top agents (John Mills), who parachutes into the story posing as wounded RAF pilot Lt. Perry. Hailed as a war hero by the gullible locals, Perry rents a cottage from the unsuspecting Barrington and his wife (Jeanne de Casalis). The treacherous Nazi meets his match in the unlikely form of oafish Charles Dimble (Alastair Sim), who turns out to be a British undercover agent.Read More »

  • Anthony Asquith – Orders to Kill (1958)

    1951-1960Anthony AsquithFilm NoirUSAWar

    Director Anthony Asquith’s 1958 British psychological thriller Orders to Kill is an extremely powerful and persuasive wartime moral dilemma film. Paul Massie stars as Gene Summers, a French-speaking American agent parachuted into France in World War Two with orders to kill a supposed double agent, French lawyer Lafitte (Leslie French), a meek sort of family person, whom he soon comes to think may be innocent of suspected treachery as a Nazi sympathiser, leading to an agonising moral dilemma.Read More »

  • Anthony Asquith – Cottage to Let AKA Bombsight Stolen (1941) (HD)

    1941-1950Anthony AsquithMysteryThrillerUnited Kingdom

    Plot:
    Upper class Mrs. Barrington (Jeanne de Casalis) takes in two child evacuees from London, including cocky teenager Ronald (George Cole), lodging them in a cottage she owns. However, it has already been let to annoyingly inquisitive Charles Dimble (Alastair Sim). To compound the confusion, Mrs. Barrington had also agreed to allow it to be converted into a military hospital. Spitfire pilot Flight Lieutenant Perry (John Mills) parachutes into the nearby loch and becomes the first patient, tended by Mrs. Barrington’s pretty daughter Helen (Carla Lehmann). Mrs. Barrington moves Ronald to the main house, while Dimble and Perry remain in the cottage.Read More »

  • Anthony Asquith – The Woman in Question AKA Five Angles on Murder (1950)

    1941-1950Anthony AsquithClassicsMysteryUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    When a fairground fortune-teller, Agnes (Jean Kent), is found strangled in her apartment, the police interview the people around her, but quickly establish that everyone saw the murdered woman in a different way. … Only when the police discover the true nature of the murdered woman, and the motive for her murder, will they be able to unmask the killer?Read More »

  • Anthony Asquith – The Millionairess (1960)

    1951-1960Anthony AsquithComedyRomanceUnited Kingdom

    London-based Millionairess Epifania (Sophia Loren) is attracted to Dr. Kabir (MD from Delhi and PhD from Calcutta), who is more intent on treating patients. When she persists, he confides in her that he had made a commitment to his late widowed seamstress mother that he will wed any woman who will manage to survive on just Rs.500/-, for 90 days. She finds out that this sum is equivalent to just 35 shillings but readily accepts this challenge. She also informs him that her late father had also imposed a condition that she must wed a male who will turn £500 into £15000 within the same period. Epifania then finds employment with an Italian firm, ends up re-organizing, and turning up the firm’s profits. At the end of 90 days, she goes to meet Kabir and discovers that he has not only given all the money away but also has no interest whatsoever in marrying her.Read More »

  • Anthony Asquith & A.V. Bramble – Shooting Stars (1928)

    DramaA.V. BrambleAnthony AsquithSilentUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    The husband and wife acting team of Mae Feather and Julian Gordon is torn apart when he discovers she is having an affair with the screen comedian Andy Wilks. Mae hatches a plot to kill her husband by putting a real bullet in the prop gun which will be fired at him during the making of their new film, ‘Prairie Love’.Read More »

  • Anthony Asquith – French Without Tears (1940)

    Comedy1931-1940Anthony AsquithUnited Kingdom

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    IMDB review:
    This amiable Ratigan Farce is based on Ratigans’ own experiences in a French tuition school in Normandy.It was brought to the stage in London featuring Rex Harrison,Trevor Howard,Kay Hammond and Roland Culver.It was purchased by Paramount initially as a vehicle for Marlene Dietrich!However they decided that the featured actors,Culver apart,were not sufficient box office and replaced them.Whilst Ray Milland is quite enjoyable as the main lead one can only conjecture what the film could have been if Harrison had reprised his role for the screen.I saw the original 86 minute version at the Museum of London in 1983.I have just seen the American version which is some 20 minutes shorter.I cannot remember what is missing.A number of matters of interest.Mantovanni is featured in the party scene.The release of this film coincided with the outbreak of war,when all places of entertainment were closed.The director was “Puffin”Asquith,the son of the World war 1 PM.His mother used her influence with cabinet Ministers to get the cinemas reopened,according to the biography of David Lean.Lean was the editor on this film.Cinemas reopened 3 days later and the film was a success at the box office.Read More »

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