James Stewart was the first film star to enter the service for World War II, joining a year before Pearl Harbour was bombed.

He was initially refused entry into the Air Force because he weighed 5 pounds less than the required 148 pounds, but he talked the recruitment officer into ignoring the test. He eventually became a Colonel (active duty) and then Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve, and earned the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Croix de Guerre and 7 battle stars. In 1959, he served in the Air Force Reserve, before retiring as a brigadier general. (Walter Matthau was a sergeant in his unit).Despite having been a decorated war hero in World War II, he declined to talk about this, in part because of the traumatic experiences he had in killing others and watching friends die.

After the War James Stewart tended to steer clear of those Hollywood war films, explaining that they were hardly ever accurate. During his career, he only starred in two war films quite a a while after the War ended – “Strategic Air Command” (1955) and “The Mountain Road” (1960).

Col. Ramsey Potts (above, left in photo) presents the
Distinguished Flying Cross to Maj. James Stewart for
extraordinary achievement while serving as deputy leader
of a combat wing on a bombing mission to Brunswick,
Germany, Feb. 20, 1944.

James Stewart was interested in aviation as a child, he had taken his first flight while still in Indiana from one of the
barnstorming pilots that used to travel the Midwest.  As a successful actor in 1935 Jimmy was
able to afford flying lessons.  He received his civilian pilot’s license in 1935, and bought his first
airplane.  In 1938 he obtained his commercial pilot’s licence.  He often flew cross country to
visit his parents in Pennsylvania, navigating by the railroad tracks.

In the military, he was to make extensive use of his civilian pilot’s training.  In March 1941 at age
32, he reported for duty as Private James Stewart at Fort McArthur and was assigned to the
Army Air Corps at Moffett Field.  To comply with the regulations of the Air Corps proficiency
board, Stewart required additional 100 flying hours and bought them at a nearby field, at his
own expense.  He then took and passed a very stiff proficiency board examination.

In January 1942 Stewart was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant.  He was then sent to Mather
Field in California as a four engine instructor, this included both the B-17 and B-24 heavy
bombers.  Much to his dismay, Stewart stayed stateside for almost two years working as a flight
instructor, until commanding officers finally yielded to his request to be sent overseas.  
In November 1943, now a Captain and Operations Officer for the 703rd Bomb Squadron, 445th
Bombardment Group of the Eighth Air Force, he arrived in Tibenham, in Norfolk, England.  In March of
1944 he was transferred to the 453rd Bombardment Group at Old Buckenham (Old Buc) quite near to Tibenham 
Throughout his combat career, James Stewart flew as lead pilot in B-24 Liberators.   

Stewart’s war record included 20 combat missions as command pilot over enemy territory,
including raids deep into Germany to Berlin.  He didn’t fly the milk runs, and his missions
included bombing raids to Berlin, Brunswick, Bremen, Frankfurt, and Schweinfurt.  His most
memorable mission, Stewart served as the flight leader of a 1000 plain raid to Berlin.  He was
awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal with three
Oak Leaf Clusters, and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm.

By the end of the war he had risen to the rank of Colonel.  After the war he remained with the
US Air Force Reserves and was eventually promoted to Brigadier General in 1959.  In 1966, he
participated in a bombing strike in Vietnam, as an observer on a B-52 bomber.  He retired from
the Air Force in 1968 and received the Distinguished Service Medal and ultimately, the
Presidential Medal of Freedom.

James Stewart returned to Tibenham in Norfolk in the summer of 1975 – this is a recollection written by someone who was there at the time :-

James Stewart’s visit to Tibenham in 1975:

“…….In early June, 1975, I took a phone call from a [Tibenham] gliding club member who told me that film star James Stewart was planning a private visit to the base – a members’ only job, apparently; very hush-hush; no fans; no Press! But if I didn’t let on how I knew, kept in the background, and didn’t wave a notebook about, then I might be able to pass muster as a club member.James Stewart.
Believed to be on the Control Tower of the old US airbase at Tibenham, Norfolk. Image: Courtesy of the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library Collection and EDP.

However, James Stewart’s visit was not a total surprise because during the Second World War he had been based at Tibenham (and elsewhere), from where he flew 20 bomber missions. He was a genuine war hero, and now, thirty years and many films later, he was appearing in the stage play ‘Harvey’ in London, and was simply taking advantage of a day off. Though it was not known at the time, he had also planned to do a photoshoot with Terry Fincher for the Daily Express.

On the day in question I did my best to melt into the background and became a quiet bystander as James toured the base and the ruined control tower, and gazed at the runway. He clearly found it all very affecting. When they offered him a towed glider flight to RAF Coltishall and back, he jumped at the chance, and happily squeezed his lanky frame into the tiny cockpit. While he was away ….. I withdrew for a pub lunch.

Back at Tibenham again, Mr Stewart was ushered into the clubroom for sandwiches and coffee, where he looked at more memorabilia and chatted freely with everyone. Every so often his gentle drawl, ‘ahhh, well,’ and ‘kinda’ and ‘sorta’ could be heard across the crowded room. Relaxed and affable, he was in his element.

I was sitting in a corner munching sandwiches when James Stewart’s agent came across. ‘He knows who you are,’ he said. ‘He knows you’re a local journalist.’ I envisaged a firing squad. ‘Would you like to meet him?’ Yes, please!

Then James Stewart came across and sat down beside me, balancing a cup and saucer on his knee, and we talked for ten minutes. Deliberately, I ignored my notebook and later on had to struggle to remember some of the quotes. But in a way I was glad. It was not an interview, it was a neighbourly chat, freely offered and entered into.James Stewart at the derelict U.S. air base at Tibenham in June 1975. In the background, the former Control Tower where it is believed the above image of him, sitting on its rail during the war, was taken. Photo: © As on the above image.

James Stewart was like that. Aimable, interested, and at ease. He talked about Tibenham and how tough he had found it to remember his way around the base. ‘The only thing I can really orientate on is the control tower,’ he said. He talked about his glider flight, and I asked if he had taken the controls. ‘Sure I flew it. Sure I did.’ And then he talked about Norfolk and Norwich and how he hoped one day to visit the city’s American Memorial Library. Then his agent came back, and Stewart rose, shook hands, and wandered back towards the sandwiches.James Stewart being prepared for his glider flight to Coltishall and back in 1975 –‘”Sure I flew it. Sure I did.” 

James Stewart visits Norwich and the Norwood Rooms:
“Having revisited his War-time Norfolk air base at Tibenham in 1975, Hollywood film star James Stewart kept his word and joined in with two or three of the subsequent 2nd Air Division reunions. But he did not come back to England as a visiting ‘celeb,’ but as an ordinary ex-flyer, one of the boys. He stayed with his mates in the same hotels, travelled with them by coach as they did the rounds of once-familiar locations, and remained as anonymous as possible within the group. They all liked him for that.The former Norwich Central Library in which the American Memorial Library was located.

One of his more formal appearances was on the day he and his group went to see the former American Memorial Library – later severely damaged by fire, and replaced by a new Memorial tribute in the Forum – which at the time was housed at the old City library. Here he did pose for photographs, and behaved as a visiting dignitary would in a public role.

I have no doubt, however, that he had his ‘anonymous’ role firmly in mind when he and his colleagues, on another of their four-yearly visits, went to the former Norwood Rooms in Aylsham Road, Norwich – a popular dancing and dining venue at the time – for a veterans’ banquet. My wife and I were also invited, and we saw what happened.The former Norwood Rooms, Norwich in which James Stewart made an appearance.

First, he did not sit with the brass and bigwigs on the top table. He stayed at his table on the floor of the hall surrounded by his pals. And second, he was a very reluctant speaker.

When he was finally persuaded to clamber on to the band platform to say a few words, he thanked everyone, including the people of Norfolk, for the welcome they gave the Americans during the War, and he told the story of the powdered eggs. Apparently powdered eggs were the staple breakfast diet in the officers’ mess at Tibenham, and Stewart became heartily sick of them. On other days, however, they were fed fresh farm eggs straight from a local farm. Unfortunately, those were the days on which a bombing mission was scheduled. So that was how they knew what was happening. Dried eggs, and they had their feet on the ground a little longer. Fresh eggs, and it was bombs away!

Later the same evening there occurred one of those rare, unrehearsed and unexpected events that invariably stick in the memory. The band was playing some Glenn Miller favourites, which got the veterans whistling and cheering. It was particularly apt because the film, The Glenn Miller Story, starring James Stewart as Miller, was still doing the rounds. The band leader beckoned to James Stewart and invited him to take over the conducting role. Stewart shook his head. Then the audience started clapping and shouting, and he reluctantly clambered back on to the stage and led the band through an admittedly slowish version of Moonlight Serenade. It brought the house down.

Some years’ later, our local morning newspaper began a scheme promoting plaques to be fixed to buildings where famous people had appeared. Most of those erected, it seemed to me, related to 1960s and 1970s pop groups. There was nothing to remind passers-by, for example, that Count Basie and his band once appeared at the old Samson & Hercules dance hall in Tombland, Norwich.

Or that at the old Norwood Rooms a famous Hollywood film star once clambered on to the stage, borrowed the resident band, and reprised a tiny piece of one of his best-known film roles.

Eilean Donan Castle is one of Scotland’s most iconic images and is recognised around the world.

Located on an island where three lochs meet, Eilean Donan Castle is surrounded by breathtaking scenery and was built during the mid-13th century when it guarded the land of Kintail. Four different renderings of the castle have been constructed and reconstructed since then as the feudal history of Scotland emerged over centuries.

Some people say Eilean Donan is Scotland’s most beautiful and famous castle and it has appeared in many films, including Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), The Master of Ballantree (1953), The New Avengers (1976), Highlander (1986), Loch Ness (1996), Entrapment (1999) and James Bond – The World is Not Enough (1999).

I also think that Prince Valinat 1954 had some shots done here although it was mainly a Hollywood Film

There are many reasons why Eilean Donan Castle enjoys such an iconic and romantic status in the hearts of both the nation and its visitors, however to truly understand the magic of this breathtaking historical attractions, it is best to pay a visit there

During the 1719 Jacobite uprising Eilean Donan Castle was partially destroyed and lay in ruins for almost 200 years until the island was bought in 1911 by Lieutenant Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap who restored the castle over 20 years, reopening it in 1932.

Eilean Donan is a picturesque 13th century castle which traditionally features on many Scottish calendars and postcards. It lies on a small island of the same name, at the junction of Loch Alsh, Loch Duich and Loch Long in the Skye and Lochalsh district of Highland Council Area.

I always think that this castle would be a ‘must’ for makers of swashbuckling films particularly of that era, but then again taking those big Technicolor Cameras up into the Highlands along with crew etc would have been a task.

If such a film was mainly made in Hollywood then the producers would have a distance problem to cope with on top of this – so they tended to build big sets outdoors in the Californian countryside – such as this one for Columbia – Larry Parks in ‘The Swordsman’ made in Colour in 1948.

They certainly made a good job of it

This very successful TV series from the 1960s – The Champions.

Alexandra Bastedo, found fame and sex-symbol status playing the secret agent and scientist Sharron Macready and appeared with William Gaunt as Richard Barrett and Stuart Damon as Craig Stirling in the show about three agents working for the Geneva-based law-enforcement organisation Nemesis who gain superhuman powers after being rescued from a plane crash in Tibet by a mysterious lost tribe. With computer-like intelligence and Olympian levels of strength and endurance, they can communicate by telepathy and are assigned to cases where world stability is under threat.

It was one of the globally successful series made by the television mogul Lew Grade’s international production and distribution company ITC. Alexandra Bastedo described her character as a “gutsy girl before her time”.

ABOVE – an action scene with Stuart Damon and Alexandra Bastedo

The Three agents listening intently ABOVE

ABOVE: Alexandra Bastedo looks very cool in what looks a tricky situation

ABOVE – Alexandra Bastedo in a dramatic scene. After her ac ting career came to a close she devoted her time and energy to an Animals Refuge in Sussex which gave her great delight and satisfaction along with a great deal of work. Then again, it was a labour of love for her

William Gaunt seems to have been in so much on Television and on the stage – from Midsomer Murders to Shakespeare, but to me his vest remembered role must have been in The Champions but that could equally well be said of both Stuart Damon and Alexandra Bastedo

The Champions, which began a screening on Talking Pictures TV from Sunday (7 March 2021) – it is a gloriously enjoyable example of the work of the ITC production company.

The Champions offers 30 episodes of beautifully stylish television that plays to all the ITC strengths. It was comfortably, not lavishly, budgeted, but never allowed financial restraints to stop the action taking place all around the world, while the cast and crew rarely strayed far from Elstree Studios in sunny Hertfordshire.

The three lead actors add to the gloss. Square-jawed Broadway star Stuart Damon plays Craig Stirling, piercingly blue-eyed William Gaunt is Richard Barrett, and as Sharron Macready, the luminously beautiful Alexandra Bastedo is perhaps the best-remembered of the trio.

The first episode, was entitled ‘The Beginning’ and it establishes the background to the series

While escaping from a mission in China, our heroes’ plane is hit by gunfire and crashes in the Himalayas – – a good bit of ‘Lost Horizon’ in there I would say. Craig, Sharron, and Richard appear to be done for – but this is Tibet in the 1960s. So of course there’s a lost city, whose friendly inhabitants don’t just repair the bodies of the agents but bestow them with superpowers.-

That more or less sets the scene for the rest of the series.

Back at the Geneva base of their organisation Nemesis boss Tremayne waits anxiously for news of his missing agents. He’s played by the fourth regular cast member, Anthony Nicholls

While the beginning of ‘The Beginning’ is occupied with setting up the premise, the second half gives an idea of future missions. 007-style MacGuffins, breezy wit, a dash of sometimes quite blunt violence, and those super-handy superpowers are all present and correct.

Another element of every episode of The Champions that will warm the hearts of fans of the TV of this period is the wonderful array of actors filling the supporting roles. Here we have Felix Aylmer as the wise old lama, Burt Kwouk as the commander of the Chinese troops, and Joseph Furst shouting at (and over) Tremayne. Later episodes will give us such familiar faces as Nicholas Courtney, Bernard Lee, Caroline Blakiston, Roger Delgado, Anthony Ainley, Kate O’Mara, and some surprises

So if you want to escape for an hour or so, travel back to the Sixties with The Champions. This is a beautifully-made series; straightforward storytelling mixed with a note of fantasy and presented with the most exquisite design choices the budget will allow and in COLOUR too. In terms of sound and vision, The Champions is a gorgeously attractive TV show. Well done Talking Pictures TV for showing this again

Norman Lloyd, who has died aged 106, is to me anyway, best remembered for that final tussle with Robert Cummings at the top of the torch on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour in Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘Saboteur’ – that was brilliantly done and, not having a good head for heights, even now I can hardly watch it.

During his long career, he had the privilege of working as an actor, director and producer with such towering figures as Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Jean Renoir and Charlie Chaplin who also became his close friends.

Norman Lloyd never made a film with Orson Welles, he took part in two of the revolutionary stage productions by the “boy wonder”. Welles was a mere 21 when he and John Houseman formed the Mercury theatre in New York in 1937, and Lloyd was part of that famous company.

“We used to joke about Hollywood,” Norman Lloyd said. “We swore we would never make films. Orson and the others were very vocal, so I thought they meant it.” But, in 1939, Lloyd was cast in Heart Of Darkness, which was to have been Welles’s first film until the project was aborted after six weeks. Three years later, Lloyd was brought to Hollywood to play the title role (albeit a small part) in Hitchcock’s Saboteur (1942).

The most memorable sequence in this typical Hitchcock film was the climactic scene at the top the Statue of Liberty where the hero (Robert Cummings), catches up with Lloyd, a snivelling and slithery Nazi agent. They struggle on Liberty’s outstretched arm, when Lloyd slips and is about to fall from the statue. Cummings catches him by his coat sleeve, but the sleeve starts to tear at the shoulder, and he plunges to his death. “

Alfred Hitchcock told me I should have had a better tailor,” Norman Lloyd later recalled.

Norman Lloyd clings on – in ‘Saboteur’

Norman Lloyd as Fry – with the Statue of Liberty in the background as they sail on the ferry towards it

He was born Norman Perlmutter in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Max Perlmutter, an accountant who later ran a furniture store, and Sadie (nee Horowitz), a bookkeeper, he grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He had performed as a child, but began his acting career in earnest, aged just 17

Following Saboteur, Norman Lloyd began a long association and friendship with “Hitch”. He acted in five films in 1945 for various studios, including Hitchcock’s ‘Spellbound’, in which he was a psychiatric patient. Among the others were Lewis Milestone’s second world war drama ‘A Walk In the Sun’, in which he portrayed a cynical private soldier who feels that the war will last for ever with or without him, and Renoir’s The Southerner, in which he played a vindictive neighbour of a farmer.

He played a troubadour in The Flame and the Arrow (1950) a very successful film at the Box Office

However, at the end of 1950, Lloyd had a rare chance to reveal his acting ability playing the Fool to Louis Calhern’s King Lear on Broadway, directed by Houseman.

Returning to films, he played the short-lived gangster pal of John Garfield in John Berry’s He Ran All the Way (1951); a lowlife in M (1951), Joseph Losey’s Americanised remake of the 30s Fritz Lang classic, and a stage manager (with an English accent) in Chaplin’s Limelight (1952).

Unfortunately, because of his close association with a number of victims of the McCarthy witch hunts Norman Lloyd was placed on a blacklist and was then no longer hired by Hollywood executives.

It was Hitchcock who rescued him in 1955 by making him associate producer and a director on the long-running TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In the course of his eight years on the series, Norman Lloyd became a co-producer (with Joan Harrison, Hitchcock’s “right arm”) and then executive producer.

He continued directing and producing TV series, including Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected, while also appearing in dozens of TV dramas. His longest-running performance was in the 80s hospital series St Elsewhere, as the genial Dr Daniel Auschlander, terminally cancer stricken, but still dedicated to his profession.

Norman Lloyd’s reincarnation in films after more than 20 years was appropriately in Robert Wise’s Audrey Rose (1977), an unlikely tale of the reincarnation of a young girl. Other roles included the stern headteacher in Dead Poets Society (1989) and a wealthy patriarch in Martin Scorsese’s The Age Of Innocence (1993). More recently, he appeared in In Her Shoes (2005), starring Cameron Diaz and Shirley MacLaine, and, aged 100, Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck (2015).

He married Peggy Craven in 1936 and they had two children. Peggy died in 2011.

ABOVE – A set of Front of House Stills from ‘Saboteur’

A British adaptation of one of post-war Austria’s most significant films, The Angel With the Trumpet is the powerful, panoramic story of a family’s tribulations from the last decades of the nineteenth century through to the dark days of Nazi rule. Featuring the great dramatic actress Eileen Herlie in her first starring role, this film also stars Basil Sydney, Norman Wooland and Anthony Bushell, who also directed.

When Francis Alt, the head of the famous family of Viennese piano makers, decides to marry socialite Henrietta Stein, his family object due to her Jewish heritage and known dalliance with the Crown Prince Rudolph. When the marriage goes ahead despite their objections the Prince commits suicide, leaving Henrietta a note…

It is the lovely Maria Schell, who dominates the post WWII story. She is a gifted, but impoverished, pianist who marries the head of the great piano-manufacturing family that is the heart of the story. The family is part Jewish and had paid dearly under Nazi persecution. One son in the preceding generation even falls under the spell of the Nazis in the thirties and forties.

ABOVE – Maria Schell who, a few years later, was in ‘So Little Time’ with Marius Goring – a really good film that was, which didn’t do too well at the time – Marius Goring said that it came at the wrong time and audiences didn’t seem interested – maybe a bit later they would have been because it had such a strong storyline

In ‘The Angel with the Trumpet’ the story begins with the Jewish founder of the firm and his aristocratic non-Jewish wife. His wife is close to the Hapsburg court and gets intimately involved with the decline of that unhappy family. The drama begins slowly, but builds momentum as the family saga continues.

A film worth seeing. It is at times riveting and encapsulates Austrian history from pre WWI to post WWII.

The Ernst Lothar novel is available from used book dealers and in some libraries.

This novel was made into a 1948 Austrian film, with Adrienne Gessner filling one of the secondary roles. It was remade in Britain in 1950 – the version above – starring English actors but using much of the Austrian-shot footage.

It is 70 years ago as of yesterday, on 30 April 1951 that Richard Todd opened the curtains at his home at Pinkneys Green Nr Maidenhead, before heading off to Denham for the first day of filming for Walt Disney’s ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’, only to see that the garden and countryside around was covered in a blanket of snow. The Walt Disney organisation had not accounted for such a possibility and things had to be quickly re-adjusted to suit.

The snow went within a few hours but the following cold days were spent at Burnham Beeches with outdoor scenes being shot.

ABOVE – Here we are at Burnham Beeches along with Perce Pearce, Carmen Dillon and Alex Bryce, the Second Unit Film Director on this production. In fact he did virtually all of the outside action scenes for the film at Burnham Beeches

I have to say that I do feel the filming there was a little early because although the trees were in leaf they were not in full leaf as later when they are even more attractive and photographed in Technicolor so well.

It must be said that this film is one of – if not the best – Technicolor film ever

These Scenes being filmed – probably in Denham Film Studios where the site sloped down onto the River Colne – certainly filmed on that river

ABOVE – The large and seemingly antiquated – by today’s standards – Technicolor Camera – but the results were superb – see the top picture of that same scene

The Legend: The legend of Brigadoon is the story of a mythical village in the Scottish Highlands.  The village became enchanted centuries ago remaining unchanged and invisible to the outside world except for one special day every hundred years when it could be seen and even visited by outsiders.   This enchanted day is spent in joy and celebration. Those who happen upon Brigadoon may remain in this beguiling place only if they love another enough to give up the world outside.

Visitors were even allowed to stay but if anyone left the village during the enchanted day,  then the miracle would be broken and it would mean the end for them all!

The 1966 Version of ‘Brigadoon’ stars Robert Goulet and Sally Anne Howes

Many people,were severely disappointed with the 1954 MGM film.The problem with it was that the studios handed it over to a (very talented) song and dance man – Gene Kelly.He cut quite a few of the songs,and extended the dance sequences but it just became something that wasn’t Brigadoon anymore.

However the 1966 film is a beautiful Version Of ‘Brigadoon’ ! With The Voices Of Sally Ann Howes, And Robert Goulet

This 1966 version sets the record straight,and given that it was the last film version, it has to be good, and it is. Yes,there are many stage versions,but some musicals require a film treatment,and this is one,and gets the sympathetic treatment it deserves.

Anyone who knows Scotland knows that there ARE in the Highlands, glens, lochs and mountains where it is still so quiet and set apart that sometimes you can really believe that somewhere there IS Brigadoon, just over your shoulder.

This is a review by Ray Kemper, CBS Audio Engineer, retired.

I was the audio engineer on this production and enjoyed every minute of working on it. Robert Goulet was extremely professional and very nice to work with, as were all the cast members. Fielder Cook was an excellent director and catered to my wishes for carefully crafted audio. We shot the production at CBS Television City, in Los Angeles, plus location shooting. It was aired on ABC. Unfortunately, I did not keep a copy of it. I believe ABC destroyed the original but, if anyone out there ever locates a copy, please let me know. I would dearly love to have it in my files. Thank you.

This wonderful production also had the cast album. One favorite song was “My Mother’s Wedding Day” sung by “Meg Brockie” – Marlyn Mason.

This was the one song that was left out of the 1954 Gene Kelly/Cyd Charisse version

Very different from the 1954 film, this Brigadoon was quietly romantic and vividly atmospheric. With Robert Goulet and Sally Ann Howes, of course there was singing, but not in the Hollywood production number style.

Warwick Productions seemed to be testing the water in many ways, with quite a few adventure films and this was one of them – following on swiftly from ‘Safari’ with Victor Mature which seemed to have a reasonable budget and I found very entertaining

This one ‘Odongo’ is again set in Africa and was filmed at the same time as ‘Safari’ which must have made economic sense – if it can all be pulled together

The film was photographed in Cinemascope and Technicolor and set on an animal farm in Kenya and starred McDonald Carey and Rhonda Fleming.

MacDonald Carey plays Steve Stratton, a hunter who collects animals for zoos and circuses, and Fleming plays Pamela Muir, the shapely red-headed vet newly hired to look after the health of the animals being held for their buyers. When Stratton had hired “P.J. Muir,” he didn’t know she was a woman and is a bit upset, thinking the job will be too much for her. He urges her to leave but allows her to stay until he can find a new vet.

Meantime, there are plenty of animals to take care of and Muir plunges into her work with courage and dedication. Odongo is a spirited adolescent Indian boy (played by Juma) who works for Stratton, feeding and caring for the animals and also serving the whites at dinnertime. Stratton is an occasionally harsh father figure to the boy, scolding him for developing overly close relationships with the animals and taking him hunting to try to get him to learn to shoot antelopes (to get meat for the camp), all to no avail. The boy can’t bring himself to kill.

Serious conflict is introduced when Walla, a disgruntled native who’d been fired by Stratton, sneaks into camp one night, frees all the animals and then sets fire to the place. Odongo is blamed for the crime and he runs away. Walla finds Odongo and abducts him. When Walla is identified as the culprit by a wounded witness, whites and local natives join in the hunt. The chase is on.

Later Walla and pushes Odongo from a cliff into crocodile-filled waters.

Steve, luckily, is on hand to save him.

Then Walla encounters one of Odongo’s animals while trying to escape and he is killed. After all this excitement, Pamela agrees to stay

ABOVE – Juma had previously been in ‘Safari’ and had impressed the film makers to such an extent that he was quickly into this one – again he gets very good reviews

ABOVE – Still from the film – when we saw these in the glass case outside of the cinema, we just had to see the film. We couldn’t afford to miss this one !!

ABOVE – An excellent and very exciting poster

Two or three years before this, Warwick Films had scored a big box office hit with ‘The Red Beret’ starring Alan Ladd

‘Odongo’ did ok but was nowhere near as successful as ‘The Red Beret’

A snippet I did not know was that, later than this and beginning in 1965, MacDonald Carey appeared playing DR Tom Horton in the US Television series ‘Days of Our Lives’ – in fact not only was he in it, he played this part in 3828 episodes. Astonishing

We have featured this film before but today it was on Talking Pictures again and we watched it and thoroughly enjoyed it again.

It was apparently from a stage play of the same name by J M Barrie. The cast here was near perfect and it saw Kenneth More to my mind, in the best film part he ever got – and he took full advantage of his chance and was very good in the role.

Quite a big role too for Diane Cilento before she married Sean Connery and the whole ‘Bond’ thing got under way, and effectively ruined her family life and in a way, her career.

Here below is an excellent Trailer from the film – but this was the Americal release which had the title ‘Paradise Lagoon’

Cecil Parker also starred as did Sally Anne Howes whose character was transformed by her 2 years stay on the island in fact all the aristocratic family had their lives turned on its head – but they loved it

The film was a co-production between Alexander Korda’s old company and Columbia.

Lewis Gilbert the Director, said the film:

Was freely adapted from the J M Barrie play to suit Kenny More and it was a very successful film. I don’t think you owe total allegiance to the original text because you are, in a sense, making something that is very different. I was very fond of Kenny as an actor, although he wasn’t particularly versatile. What he could do, he did very well. His strengths were his ability to portray charm; basically he was the officer returning from the war and he was superb in that kind of role. The minute that kind of role went out of existence, he began to go down as a box office star

She remains best remembered for being Truly Scrumptious in name and appearance in the children’s classic “Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang” [1968] — but almost a decade earlier Sally Ann Howes’ comic turn as an English aristocrat who is stripped of her pretensions [and most of her heavy Edwardian couture] in Bermuda endeared her to an older movie audience.

A witty adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s 1903 play of the same name, “The Admirable Crichton” is about an aristocratic Edwardian family and their servants who finds themselves marooned on a South Seas island — and how the normal social roles are reversed during the struggle to survive.

With Bermuda standing in for the imaginary Pacific island, the 1957 movie was directed by Lewis Gilbert and also starred Kenneth More and Diane Cilento.

At Loam Hall in 1905 England, Lord Henry Loam [Cecil Parker], the socially conscious master of the estate, preaches equality for all, even though he enjoys a life of privilege. To prove his point, Loam instructs his three haughty daughters, Lady Mary [Ms Howes], Catherine [Mary Haystead] and Agatha [Miranda Connell], to entertain the staff at tea that afternoon.

When Loam’s impeccable butler, William Crichton [Mr. More], informs his underlings that their attendance is required at tea, they are only slightly more mortified that Loam’s daughters. Also attending the soirée that afternoon is George Brocklehurst [Peter Graves], Mary’s snobbish fiancé and his mother, the pompous Lady Emily Brocklehurst [Martita Hunt]. The party abruptly ends, however, when word comes that Catherine has been arrested for attending a suffragette meeting, causing Loam promptly to renounce all attempts at equality.

To escape the scandal of Catherine’s arrest, Crichton suggests that the family take a cruise, with the staff in attendance. Also joining the group is Alex Wooley [Gerald Harper], the second son of a Lord, a vicar [Jack Watling] and Eliza [Diane Cilento], the servant known as “Tweeny” because she has not yet achieved the position of lady’s maid.

Once at sea, Lady Mary questions Crichton about his ambition, and he replies that he is content to be a butler, the highest rank in the hierarchy of servitude. One blustery night, a storm hits, and after the engines explode, the captain gives the order to abandon ship. When the lifeboats are launched, Crichton goes below deck to rescue the sleeping Eliza.

After jumping overboard, the two are picked up by the boat carrying Loam, his daughters, the vicar and Wooley, who have become separated from the others.

Spotting an island in the distance, the group eagerly makes their way to land. Upon reaching shore, the inept vicar and Wooley tie the craft to a turtle who then tows it out to sea.

After surveying the island, Crichton reports that it is deserted and begins to take charge of the situation, assigning sleeping quarters and kindling a fire.

 Eliza, who is smitten by Crichton, describes herself as a bumbling oaf compared to the polished butler. Soon after, they see the “Bluebell”, their abandoned yacht, approaching the shore and watch as it founders on some rocks.

Swimming to the wreck, Crichton retrieves the basic necessities, prompting the others to order him to return to the boat and bring back frilly dresses and a formal dining service. When Crichton questions their frivolity, Loam fires the butler for insubordination, and Crichton leaves the camp followed by Eliza.

Hungry and helpless, that night Loam and his fellow aristocrats smell the scent of roasting pork and follow it to Crichton’s camp, where the butler beneficently offers them a pork chop.

One day while swimming to the wreck, she begins to flounder in the water. Crichton, nearby, presses her to continue on, and upon reaching the boat, she sobs on his shoulder.

Two years later, life on the island is thriving under the benevolent rule of Crichton, whom everyone now addresses as “Guv.”

Even Loam treats his former butler with deference, happily pressing his pants and running his errands.

As Crichton rallies the others to build a boat to sail back to England, it becomes obvious that no one wants to leave the idyllic life on the island.

Later, Crichton confides to Mary, with whom he has fallen in love, that he is afraid of losing her once they return to civilisation. When Crichton informs Eliza that he and Mary have become engaged, the heartbroken Eliza puts on a brave front.

On their wedding day, Mary and Crichton are in the midst of exchanging their vows when a ship is spotted offshore.

Although Mary opposes lighting the beacon they have built to signal passing ships, Crichton, putting the welfare of the others above his own happiness, orders the beacon lit. By the time the ship’s crew arrives on the island, Crichton has reverted to his role as butler. Some time later, a ball is held at Loam Hall to celebrate the return of the survivors.

Lord Loam now takes total credit for their success and Wooley has published a book about the adventure, painting himself as the hero. While they all fear that Crichton will expose their incompetence, Lady Brocklehurst, suspecting that something is amiss, decides to uncover what really happened and so assembles the survivors in the drawing room.

When she asks Crichton if they were all equals on the island, he assures her that the social order was preserved.

After the celebration ends, Crichton announces that he plans to leave service because there are “too many Lady Brocklehursts in England.” Crichton explains that he plans to finance a business with the pearls that he pried from the oysters on the island.

When Mary begs him to return to the island with her, he replies that they cannot fight civilisation.

Afterward, on the servants’ staircase, Eliza asks Crichton to take her with him. Later, Crichton bids the family farewell and is then joined by his fiancée, Eliza.

The film was the third most popular one at the British box office in 1957 and was a critical and popular hit in the US as well where it was released under the title “Paradise Lagoon.”

Ms Howes, now 82 and living in West Palm Beach, was recently greeted by 1,500 adoring fans when she attended a January Turner Classic Movies screening of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in Florida.

Born into a theatrical family, she made her acting debut as a teenager and went on to appear on Broadway and in the West End in such musical productions “My Fair Lady”, “The Sound Of Music” and “Caprice” as well as dramas like an adaptation of James Joyce’s “The Dead.”

Long-time friends, such as Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies, rave about her.

“Sally Ann is extremely attractive, level-headed, talented, a credit to both the theatrical profession and womanhood in general,” says Mr. Osborne. “I’ve never heard even a hint of temper tantrums or diva behavior from her; it’s clearly not part of her DNA. She has great respect for the profession that’s always been an integral part of her life and it shows in her work on stage and her outlook off. I’ve been an enormous fan of hers since I saw her light up a theatre in a magnificent production of ‘The Sound of Music.’

On occasions the Duke of Edinburgh rubbed shoulders with the Film Stars of the day – or maybe that should be the Film Stars rubbed shoulders with him

Here he is Above with American actress Rhonda Fleming

ABOVE – Not sure of the occasion but this photograph is taken at Pinewood Film Studios with a young lady suitable dressed serving a drink to Prince Philip – is that Lord Louis Mountbatten on the far left of the picture ?

ABOVE – Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh having a jolly time at a function – Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner to the Left of the picture – and I think that is Ginger Rogers on the right. No real idea who the lady in the centre is.

Anyway the Duke seems to be making them laugh.

A later photograph shows a very relaxed Roger Moore sharing one of his anecdotes with The Duke of Edinburgh – Cubby Broccoli seems amused by whatever has been said.

This is an occasion that Roger Moore would rake in his stride

In 1948, the Duke of Edinburgh, 27, was introduced to actress Pat Kirkwood in her dressing room at the Hippodrome Theatre in London.

That evening Philip drove Pat also 27, erratically to a Mayfair restaurant in his sports car — nearly causing an accident in the process – where the pair enjoyed dinner together at Les Ambassadeurs.

Afterwards they headed to a nightclub, where they stayed up until dawn dancing cheek-to-cheek.

Pat Kirkwood was later quoted as saying: “He was so full of life and energy. I suspect he felt trapped and rarely got a chance to be himself. I think I got off on the right foot because I made him laugh”

Philip and Pat are said to have enjoyed each other’s company a further six times – sparking alleged romance rumours.

But the time spent together soon turned sour when their friendship resulted in headlines worldwide such as “The Prince and the Showgirl”.

Pat Kirkwood always denied there was any affair, and even went as far to say their friendship “ruined her life” as the Palace refused to deny the rumours.

Her friends believe that her association with Philip is the reason she never received any official honours, despite 60 years of stardom.

Letters between her and Philip that came to light after her death in 2007, aged 86, referred to the gossip as a “ridiculous rumour” spread by “evil-minded” people, indicating an affair never happened.

• Pat’s first husband was theatrical manager Jack Lister in 1940. The marriage broke down when Pat suffered a nervous breakdown and spent eight months in a New York sanatorium.
• In 1952, she married Greek shipowner, Spiro “Sparky” de Spero Gabriele. He died two years later from a heart attack.
• Actor, playwright and composer Hubert Gregg became her third husband in 1956. He wrote hit songs such as Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner. Their marriage ended 23 years later.
• Pat met husband number four just two years later. Peter Knight, a retired lawyer and president of the Bradford & Bingley Building Society.

ABOVE – As I remember the very young Pat Kirkwood with George Formby in ‘Come On George’ one of his very best films

Another of the Duke of Edinburgh’s friends for a time was James Robertson Justice – I thought that he was a part of the ‘Thursday Club’ that met in London’s West End in the early fifties.

It has been claimed Philip was first introduced to the club by his good friend Baron Nahum, a society photographer, with the help of the actor James Robertson Justice and several others.

The Duke of Edinburgh and James Robertson Justice on occasions went wildfowling together in the Wash close to Sandringham

Jack Mills a Holbeach Lincolnshire resident, had been told an amusing story concerning Prince Philip’s stay at The Bull Hotel in Long Sutton, from actor James Robertson Justice, who was a regular wildfowler in the area.

Prince Philip joined the actor during a morning shoot on the outmarsh in 1954.

Mr Mills, of Holbeach, said: “Arriving secretly the two of them laid out all their gear in the scullery before loading into the car.”

This created some problems for a staff member who had arrived early to clean.

Mr Mills said: “To her horror, she saw the clobber on the scullery floor and was unable to start work.

“She knew Justice well but had no idea who the other fellow was, and ordered them both to get out in no uncertain terms.”

She put them both in their place on this occasion