Roger Marshall
Tim Burstall directs then-up-and-comers Mel Gibson and Sam Neill in this action-packed Cannes Film Festival selection about the grim realities of World War II, a gritty drama based on actual events. Sent to rescue survivors from the site of a plane crash in the South Pacific, Capt. P.G. Kelly (Gibson) and his elite squad of Australian commandos must keep tabs on a defecting Japanese official who could hold the secret to peace.
In the late 18th century, two newlyweds move into the stately mansion of husband Charles Fengriffen. The bride, Catherine, falls victim to a curse placed by a wronged servant on the Fengriffen family and all its descendants.
A car salesman journeys to France and encounters an apparently lonely woman. He immediately begins to successfully woo her only to learn that she is actually a baron's wife. Fortunately, the baron believes in open marriages and winds up hiring the Englishman to teach his son (from an earlier marriage) everything about automobiles. Meanwhile the car salesman finds himself falling seriously in love with the wife. The baron really doesn't mind as he himself is involved with another.
Special Branch is a British television. A police drama series, the action was centred on members of the Special Branch anti-espionage and anti-terrorist department of the London Metropolitan Police.
Hywel Bennett stars as Martin Durnley, a rich but damaged Oxford University drop-out with a hatred of his banker stepfather, played by Frank Finlay. His mum babies the boy, a consequence of Martin's elder brother, a Down Syndrome sufferer (or 'Mongoloid' - or even 'mentally backward' as they say here), being in full-time care, and the doctors having warned Martin's parents not to have any more children - just to be on the safe side. Too late: troubled mummy's boy Martin, with his cuddly toys and penchant for smashing his own reflection, appears to have proved the doctors misgivings.
The Theatre of Death in Paris specialises in horror presentations. A police surgeon finds himself becoming involved in the place through his attraction to one of the performers. When bloodless bodies start showing up all over town he realises there could be links with the theatre.
Bill McLean (Van Heflin) is a former CIA agent living in London. He had been fired when he stuck up for one of the men in his command who turned out to be branded a Russian defector. The embittered ex-agent combines forces with another operative to deliver a top Russian secret police official for a price. Before he can deliver the Russian, a trail of corpses and double crosses changes his plans. When his partner who concocted the scheme is murdered, McLean returns the check to the CIA. They offer him his old job back, but the proud man refuses.
Alan Roper tells Bookie Larry Hart that he is planning to steal £60,000 and Hart offers to launder the money for him. What Hart doesn't know is that it is actually his money Roper intends to steal.
Charles Hilary is in love with Kathy Forrester, a beautiful television personality, but is married to Louise, an alcoholic with as many lovers as whisky bottles. His pleas for a divorce are met with threats and abuse. "You'll have to murder me first", Louise tells him and three hours later she is found dead, shot with her husband's pistol. When Charles is arrested, Kathy desperately sets to work to prove his innocence.
