Acting
Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan.
After the Local council he works for decides to replace its horse-drawn services with motor vehicles, one of the drivers spends his savings to buy the horse. Together they search the countryside looking for work, and meeting an assorted group of characters on the way.
Hitler's doctor is gradually realising that the Nazi regime isn't as good as it pretends to be when his friends start to "disappear" into the camps. His wife is courted by the party and accepts a political post in Berlin. Meanwhile Dr Karl decides to try to do something to counteract the Nazi propaganda and with the help of an engineer and a few friends he sets up the Freedom Radio to counteract the Nazi propaganda.
A US newsman and a British entomologist spy on germ-warfare research in a mythical country.
Eccentric Cambridge archaeologist Horatio Smith takes a group of British and American archaeology students to pre-war Nazi Germany to help in his excavations. His research is supported by the Nazis, since he professes to be looking for evidence of the Aryan origins of German civilisation. However, he has a secret agenda: to free inmates of the concentration camps.
Somerset Maugham introduces four of his tales in this anthology film: "The Facts of Life," "The Alien Corn," "The Kite," and "The Colonel's Lady."
In this drama, a frustrated upper-class writer decides that he will find real inspiration by examining his subjects first-hand. This leads him to begin wandering about the seamiest side of town where he witnesses a murder. When an innocent man is arrested, the writer refuses to assist him as the knowledge that he has been "slumming" could destroy his career. The young man is sentenced to 15 years in prison.
A man recalls his relationships with the women he loved as he tries to help another man try to understand them as well.
Jonathan Dakers' early ambition was to become a great surgeon and to marry Edie Martyn. But, on the death of his father, he is obliged to start work as a partner in a poor general practice in the Black Country. Edie falls in love with Jonathan's brother, Harold, who is killed in the Great War, and Jonathan marries her as planned. It is only afterwards that he realises he now loves another.
Garage owner Tommy and ventriloquist friend Eric join the army and go to France, where they are captured by the Nazis. However, Eric's voice-throwing skills come in handy in engineering their escape and obtaining top secret information.
Set in the diamond fields of South Africa, Stafford Parker is a lawman trying to maintain a semblance of law and order in the "Wild South".
Gert and Daisy attempt to retrieve an old dress containing £2,000. They have to impersonate two thespians, and bring all sorts of trouble to a stage-play.
Jimmy Bancroft, a fighter pilot, who is recovering from injuries sustained during the Battle of Britain, and Hazel Court, a nurse, come across a pair of rare birds nestling in a field. After a run in with the army, and a couple of thieves, they, with the cooperation of the village people and the Ornithology Society, help the eggs to hatch. A wonderful look at life in a small village, during World War II.
Mannequins in Co-operative Wholesale Society window come to life.
A famous mystery writer uses his own plot tricks to murder a blackmailer in this British thriller.
Small-time jewel thief Leo Martin is deserted by his partners-in-crime, club owner Gus Loman and driver Hatchett, when the robbery they are committing goes wrong. After serving his prison sentence, Leo emerges with an intricate plan for revenge. Leo implicates Loman, as well as his amoral boss, Gregory Lang, for murder -- but Inspector Rogers suspects Leo.
A win on the football pools in postwar Britain changes lives. A happy family is turned into an unhappy argumentative lot until it is discovered the coupon apparently didn't get posted. A mild-mannered clerk worries about how to tell his overbearing boss he is quitting. A double-bass player finds life without the orchestra lacks something. The lure of the big money even turns some people into criminals, as when a coupon checker is tempted by his night-club singer girlfriend to cheat the company. Written by Jeremy Perkins
The Helliwells, the Soppitts, and the Parkers, old friends gathered to celebrate their common silver anniversaries. To their dismay they learn that their marriages may not be valid. On hand are an outrageous housekeeper and a photographer. This was the second television film version of the J.B. Priestley play made by the BBC.
Two years of deterioration sees John and Barbara Lomax's marriage reduced to bitter sniping and "keeping up appearances" for the sake of the children. When John's old friend Bill professes his love for Barbara, the marriage finally breaks up – causing their three children to react in different ways and their son secretly determined to do Bill harm.
In 1922, young pianist and composer Olwen Trevelyan, troubled and sleepless over her inability to finish the final notes of her composition, falls to her death from the cliffs of Cornwall. 25 years on, Olwen has gained posthumous fame as a result of her tragic death and her haunting uncompleted composition 'The Dream of Olwen'. Her reclusive sister Julia (Sonia Dresdel), who has never come to terms with Olwen's death, becomes convinced that Olwen has returned when she meets an amnesiac woman who looks like her.
