Richard Wattis
Richard Cameron Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor.
After leaving the family business, Wattis became an actor. His debut was with Croydon Repertory Theatre, and he made many stage appearances in the West End in London. His first appearance in a film was A Yank at Oxford (1938), but war service interrupted his career as an actor. He served as a second lieutenant in the Small Arms Section of Special Operations Executive at Station VI during World War II (James Bond author, Ian Fleming worked in the same section). He is best known for his appearances, wearing his thick-rimmed round spectacles, in British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s, often as a "Man from the Ministry" or similar character. He was also involved as the secretary to Lord Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Such appearances included the St Trinian's films (The Belles of St Trinian's, Blue Murder at St Trinian's, and The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery) as Manton Bassett, a civil servant who was the Deputy Director of Schools in the Ministry of Education, where he was often seen frowning and expressing indignation at the outrageous behaviour of other characters. To American audiences, Wattis is probably best known for his performance as the British civil servant Northbrook in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). He broke from this typecasting in his later films, such as his starring role in Games That Lovers Play.
Wattis's other films included Hobson's Choice, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Carry On Spying, The Colditz Story, Dentist on the Job, Very Important Person, The Happiest Days of Your Life, and The Longest Day. He also appeared on television, including a long-running role in Sykes, and appearances in Danger Man, The Prisoner, The Goodies, Hancock's Half Hour, and Father, Dear Father. From 1957 to 1958, he appeared as Peter Jamison in three episodes of the American sitcom Dick and the Duchess.
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 0.8065 |
| Birthday | 1912-02-25 |
| Place of Birth | Wednesbury, Staffordshire, England, UK |
| Also Known As | Richard Cameron Wattis, |
1956
The Man Who Knew Too Much
7.441/1549
An American doctor and his wife, a former singing star, witness a murder while vacationing in Morocco, and are drawn into a twisting plot of internati...
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The Man Who Knew Too Much
1961
Nearly a Nasty Accident
7/3
The RAF Group Captain has a hard job to restrain the aircraft-man from tinkering with everything he can get his hands on
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Nearly a Nasty Accident
1952
The Importance of Being Earnest
7.215/123
Two young gentlemen living in 1890s England use the same pseudonym ('Ernest') on the sly, which is fine until they both fall in love with women using...
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The Importance of Being Earnest
1957
The Prince and the Showgirl
6.374/198
An American showgirl becomes entangled in political intrigue when the Prince Regent of a foreign country attempts to seduce her.
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The Prince and the Showgirl
1959
Ten Seconds to Hell
6.217/30
Two rivals from a German bomb squad are left to deactivate duds in postwar Berlin.
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Ten Seconds to Hell
1964
Carry On Spying
6.386/66
Carry On favourite Barbara Windsor makes her debut in this outrageous send-up of the James Bond movies. Fearless agent Desmond Simpkins and Charlie Bi...
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Carry On Spying
1974
Confessions of a Window Cleaner
4.958/36
Young Timmy starts as a window cleaner in the little company of his brother. Soon he learns that some female customers expect additional service. Youn...
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Confessions of a Window Cleaner
1953
Colonel March Investigates
6.25/4
This is a feature-length compilation of three short episodes taken from a TV series called 'Colonel March of Scotland Yard' (1954-56, 26 episodes) sta...
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Colonel March Investigates
1966
The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery
6.167/27
The all-girl school foil an attempt by train robbers to recover £2.5 million hidden in their school.
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The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery
1965
Operation Crossbow
6.726/115
Allied agents infiltrate the Nazi rocket complex at Peenemunde in order to obtain their secrets and sabotage the plant. The film alternates between Ge...
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Operation Crossbow
1963
The V.I.P.s
6.167/66
Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport fight to survive a variety of personal trials.
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The V.I.P.s
1957
The Abominable Snowman
6.217/113
A kindly English botanist and a gruff American promoter lead an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti.
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The Abominable Snowman
1956
The Iron Petticoat
5.818/22
Captain Vinka Kovalenko defects from Russia, but not for political reasons. She defects because she feels discriminated against as a woman. Captain Ch...
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The Iron Petticoat
1950
The Clouded Yellow
6.273/22
After leaving the British Secret Service, David Somers finds work catalouging butterflies at the country house of Nicholas and Jess Fenton. After the...
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The Clouded Yellow
1957
Barnacle Bill
6.563/24
A seasick sea captain commands an amusement pier despite local opposition. Released in the U.S. as 'All at Sea'
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Barnacle Bill
1954
Hobson's Choice
7.383/163
A widower refuses to let his three daughters marry in order to avoid paying settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.
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Hobson's Choice
1969
Wonderwall
5.208/24
The eccentric professor Collins lives completely secluded in his chaotic apartment. When the model Penny moves in next to him, he becomes fascinated b...
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Wonderwall
1963
Come Fly with Me
4.583/12
Three airline hostesses combine their work crossing the Atlantic with searching for a rich handsome man to marry.
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Come Fly with Me
1950
The Happiest Days of Your Life
6.714/42
Nutbourne College, an old established, all-boys, boarding school is told that another school is to be billeted with due to wartime restrictions. The s...
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The Happiest Days of Your Life
1981
Eric Sykes: One of the Great Troupers
0/0
With film clips and photos, Eric Sykes gives a tongue-in-cheek account of his follies and fortunes as an actor, gag writer, and comedian in a long and...
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Eric Sykes: One of the Great Troupers
1962
I Thank a Fool
6.143/7
After mercifully killing her terminally ill lover, Dr. Christine Allison loses her medical license and spends two years in prison. Once she has comple...
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I Thank a Fool
1938
A Yank at Oxford
6.727/11
A brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win the heart of his antagonist's sister.
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A Yank at Oxford
1952
Made in Heaven
5/4
Residents of the small English village of Dunmow react in comical ways when the Topham family hires a beautiful and young Hungarian maid.
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Made in Heaven
1971
Too Close for Comfort
0/0
An extended humorous public information film (lasting around fifteen minutes) narrated by Richard Wattis.
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Too Close for Comfort
1965
The Bargain
0/0
A BAFTA award nominated animation.
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The Bargain
1970
The Ballad of Tam Lin
5.056/18
Based upon the Celtic legend Tam Lin, a young man is bewitched by a beautiful, heartless, aging sorceress to become her lover. When his attention wand...
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The Ballad of Tam Lin
1954
The Belles of St Trinian's
6.403/62
The unruly schoolgirls of St Trinian's are more interested in men and mischief than homework and hockey. But greater trouble than ever beckons when th...
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The Belles of St Trinian's
1952
Top Secret
8/2
A British Sanitary Engineer, goes on holiday with a set of plans for a new secret weapon which he has mistaken for his new plumbing invention. Everyon...
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Top Secret
1973
Take Me High
4.773/11
Tim (Cliff Richard) is a successful ambitious young financier working for a London Merchant bank, but even his happy-go-lucky attitude is severely jol...
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Take Me High
1955
An Alligator Named Daisy
6.429/7
Returning from a cricket match in Ireland, Peter Weston gains a pet alligator from another passenger who abandons it with him. He is horrified and wh...
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An Alligator Named Daisy
1965
The Battle of the Villa Fiorita
4.5/6
Two British children travel to Italy in an attempt to break up their runaway mother's affair with an Italian concert pianist.
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The Battle of the Villa Fiorita
1952
Bachelor in Paris
7.75/2
An archetypal Englishman returns from a jaunt abroad to face a dastardly foreign count in a screwball duel for the hand of a beautiful mademoiselle.
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Bachelor in Paris
1961
Dentist on the Job
6.469/16
Colonel Proudfoot of Proudfoot Industries tries to entice a couple of newly qualified dentists to advertise "Dreem", a revolutionary type of toothpast...
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Dentist on the Job
1968
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
6.822/729
A hapless inventor finally finds success with a flying car, which a dictator from a foreign government sets out to take for himself.
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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
1962
Play It Cool
6.125/7
A struggling singer and his band befriend an heiress who, against the wishes of her father, is searching for the lover who she has been forbidden to s...
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Play It Cool
1956
A Touch of the Sun
6/6
A hotel porter is left a fortune but after living it up for a while he returns to his old place of work which is in financial difficulties.
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A Touch of the Sun
1972
That's Your Funeral
4.25/4
Two funeral parlours fight one another for business, one of whom is more shady than the other.
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That's Your Funeral
1965
You Must Be Joking
5.364/11
A motley group of soldiers are set loose on swinging England in an initiative test to collect a selection of esoteric items.
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You Must Be Joking
1959
The Captain's Table
6/6
A captain is promoted by his company from tramp steamers to their flagship passenger liner. Although he is a thoroughly competent sailor ready to take...
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The Captain's Table
1958
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
6.794/85
All her life, Englishwoman Gladys Aylward knew that China was the place where she belonged. Not qualified to be sent there as a missionary, Gladys wor...
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The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
1959
Left Right and Centre
6.071/14
At the Earndale by-election natural history expert and TV personality Bob Wilcot for the Conservatives finds himself up against Billingsgate girl Stel...
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Left Right and Centre
1955
The Time of His Life
6.667/6
Mr Pastry's social climbing daughter, president of a society for the rehabilitation for ex-convicts, hides the fact that her father is himself a priso...
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The Time of His Life
1949
The Chiltern Hundreds
6/5
Young Viscount Tony Pym wangles National Service leave on the pretext of standing as a Tory candidate for a local seat held by his family for generati...
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The Chiltern Hundreds
1955
As Long as They're Happy
7.5/4
The suburban peace of the Bentley household is shattered when John Bentley is informed by his wife Stella that their two married daughters, Pat and Co...
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As Long as They're Happy
1962
Venus fra Vestø
6.214/7
Vestø island's isolated community's prize cow is in danger of being abducted by German WWII occupation forces.
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Venus fra Vestø
1960
Your Money or Your Wife
4.5/6
Newly wed couple Gay and Pel Butterworth are forced to take in some strange paying guests when their inheritance proves troublesome, but all is not as...
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Your Money or Your Wife
1973
Diamonds on Wheels
8/2
Three kids get mixed up with jewel thieves and stolen diamonds in a 24-hour road rally.
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Diamonds on Wheels
1971
Games That Lovers Play
4/8
Joanna Lumley and Penny Brahms star as notorious prostitutes Fanny Hill and Lady Chatterley faced with the challenge of seducing the seemingly impossi...
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Games That Lovers Play
1965
Bunny Lake Is Missing
7.235/206
A woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.
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Bunny Lake Is Missing
1965
Up Jumped a Swagman
7/2
A dreamy Australian singer comes to London to seek his fortune and falls for a down-to-earth lass and a high-strung debutante at the same time.
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Up Jumped a Swagman
1957
High Flight
6.2/5
The Commanding Officer of an RAF Training School must deal with a difficult cadet, but the cadet reminds the C.O. of himself when young.
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High Flight
1954
Lease of Life
7.375/8
The parson of a small rural community knows he is dying and this makes him reconsider his life so far and what he can still do to help the community.
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Lease of Life
1957
Second Fiddle
6.333/6
Deborah and Charles, young executives at the thriving Pontifex Advertising Agency, are very much in love. Deborah is recognised by her employers as th...
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Second Fiddle
1959
Libel
6.796/27
A California commercial pilot sees a telecast in London of an interview with Sir Mark Lodden at his home. The Canadian is convinced that the baronet i...
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Libel
1965
The Liquidator
6.341/22
Lighthearted spy drama about Boysie Oakes, who takes a nice job with the British Secret Service, enjoys all the perks, and signs all the forms before...
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The Liquidator
1952
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire
4.3/22
The legendary Bela Lugosi as "the Vampire" teams up with Britain's much-loved "Mother Riley" in this hilarious comedy adventure. The Vampire plans to...
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Mother Riley Meets the Vampire
1959
The Ugly Duckling
6/6
Henry Jekyll was always the outsider, a bungling and awkward buffoon, relegated to waiting for his invitation to participate in life that never arrive...
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The Ugly Duckling
1953
Innocents in Paris
5.206/17
Romantic comedy about a group of Britons flying to Paris for the weekend.
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Innocents in Paris
1954
Doctor in the House
6.5/30
The first of the seven "Doctor" films, based on Richard Gordon's novels and released between 1954 and 1970. Simon Sparrow is a newly arrived medical...
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Doctor in the House
1953
Small Town Story
5.929/7
Canadian ex-serviceman Bob Regan returns to Oldchester, the English town where he was posted during the war. Meeting up with his friend Mike, now mana...
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Small Town Story
1953
Top of the Form
7.5/2
A con man hides out in a boys' school, posing as a professor. When the undisciplined and lazy boys have to pass a few tests, cheating becomes the only...
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Top of the Form
1955
The Colditz Story
6.845/58
The Germans believed that no man could escape from Colditz Castle, set as it was in the heart of the Reich, 400 miles from any neutral frontier. This...
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The Colditz Story
1955
Simon and Laura
5.857/14
A couple of bickering, married performers agree to star in a "Mr. and Mrs." TV show.
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Simon and Laura
1970
Egghead's Robot
6/2
'Egghead' Wentworth adapts his father's robot paratrooper to perform his chores, but forgets to programme it to keep him out of trouble.
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Egghead's Robot
1959
Follow a Star
6.233/15
Norman Truscott is a store worker who dreams of stardom. Vernon Carew is a singer whose star is fading. Vernon manages to get a recording of Norman si...
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Follow a Star
1953
Background
7/2
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....
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Background
1953
Blood Orange
5.5/9
Discharged by his employer, a private eye stays on a jewel theft case after a model with information for him is murdered.
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Blood Orange
1967
The Troublesome Double
9/1
Egghead creates a robot double of his sister.
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The Troublesome Double
1960
Follow That Horse!
10/1
A race horse swallows a microfilm and is pursued by the major superpowers spy agencies.
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Follow That Horse!
1967
Casino Royale
5.257/816
Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be...
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Casino Royale
1953
Appointment in London
6.531/16
Wing-commander Tim Mason leads a squadron of Lancaster bombers on almost nightly raids from England. Having flown eighty-seven missions he will shortl...
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Appointment in London
1949
Kind Hearts and Coronets
7.64/601
When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be bu...
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Kind Hearts and Coronets
1955
A Yank in Ermine
6/3
An American airman inherits an Earldom in England along with the small matter of $3 million on the proviso that he gives up his US citizenship. Unsur...
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A Yank in Ermine
1956
The Green Man
7.038/39
Unknown to everyone but his shady Middle Eastern bosses, watchmaker Hawkins is actually a professional hired assassin with a predilection for killing...
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The Green Man
1956
It's a Wonderful World
5.75/4
Two aspiring songwriters finally manage to sell a tune by claiming that it was composed by a reclusive musical genius. When the tune hits the top of t...
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It's a Wonderful World
1951
Lady Godiva Rides Again
5.9/10
Marjory Clark wins a competition in her Midland town and finds herself in a Festival of Britain procession as Lady Godiva - though not in the buff. Th...
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Lady Godiva Rides Again
1953
The Intruder
7.643/7
When Ex Colonel Merton discovers a burglar ransacking his home, he is shocked to find out that the thief is a former soldier from his tank regiment. W...
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The Intruder
1956
Eyewitness
7/8
Lucy Church, the sole witness to a fatal robbery, is struck by a passing bus and her life lies in the balance as the thieves wait for a chance to fini...
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Eyewitness
1953
The Final Test
6.667/7
Legendary England cricketer Sam Palmer (Jack Warner) is due to bat in his final test match against Australia. He is desperate for his son Reggie (Ray...
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The Final Test
1955
I Am a Camera
6.219/16
Just before the Nazis ascend to power in Berlin, Chris, an aspiring novelist from England, meets flamboyant cabaret entertainer Sally Bowles and an un...
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I Am a Camera
1952
Derby Day
6.8/5
Entertaining ensemble piece dealing with several characters who are on the way to the races on Derby day. It cleverly blends dramatic, romantic and co...
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Derby Day
1956
The Silken Affair
3.333/3
An accountant who is creative with his firm's books uses the money to fund a romantic spree.
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The Silken Affair
1972
Sex and the Other Woman
5.3/10
A series of vignettes exposing how women manipulate their men into submission.
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Sex and the Other Woman
1953
Park Plaza 605
4.727/11
Suave private investigator Norman Conquest intercepts a secret message and meets a beautiful but foreign blonde lady in room 605 of the Park Plaza hot...
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Park Plaza 605
1962
Bon Voyage!
5.565/23
The Willards from Terre Haute, Indiana travels abroad for the once-in-a-lifetime vacation in Paris, France. Harry Willard believes that the greatest p...
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Bon Voyage!
1957
Blue Murder at St Trinian's
6.774/31
With their headmistress under lock and key in her majesty's prison, the St Trinian's girls find themselves under the protection of the army. However,...
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Blue Murder at St Trinian's
1961
Very Important Person
5.542/12
Comedy set in World War Two, starring James Robertson-Justice and Leslie Phillips. Sir Ernest Pease (Robertson-Justice) is a self-important scientist...
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Very Important Person
1965
The Alphabet Murders
5.781/48
The Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates a series of murders in London in which the victims are killed according to their initials.
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The Alphabet Murders
1949
Helter Skelter
6.375/4
A detective gets involved with a wealthy socialite who can't seem to stop hiccuping.
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Helter Skelter
1954
The Crowded Day
5.833/9
One day in the lives and loves of the staff in a large department store.
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The Crowded Day
1962
The Longest Day
7.608/1011
The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the d...
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The Longest Day
1956
Jumping for Joy
6.667/3
At the racetrack, cleaner, Willy Joy is tricked into buying Lindy Lou, a useless greyhound, who's not too healthy either. While getting the dog back i...
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Jumping for Joy
1949
Marry Me
5.75/4
The stories of several individuals who consult a marriage bureau, including a peer of the realm, his butler, a lonely school teacher, a French girl on...
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Marry Me
1956
The Man Who Never Was
7.011/94
The true story of a British effort to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a Britis...
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The Man Who Never Was
1951
Appointment with Venus
5.667/9
At the outbreak of WWII the British realise they can't prevent the invasion of the Channel Islands. However, someone realises that a prize cow is on t...
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Appointment with Venus
1952
Penny Princess
6.667/6
A tiny European country which for years has survived financially only through evading its bills and smuggling is finally facing bankruptcy, when a ric...
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Penny Princess
1974
Aladdin
0/0
Christmas pantomime presentation of Aladdin, starring the cast of Crackerjack
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Aladdin
1957
Hancock's Half Hour: Volume 1
0/0
Thirty-five years after his premature death in 1968 Tony Hancock was voted Britain's best-ever comedy performer. Here's a chance to see what made him...
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Hancock's Half Hour: Volume 1
2004
The Prince, The Showgirl and Me
0/0
Colin Clark, younger brother of Alan Clark and son of Lord Kenneth Clark wanted to work in the movies. When Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh came to...
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