Got this dvd mainly for the nostalgia of the 50s and to show my grandchildren the old Liverpool waterfront with the Overhead Railway. But other than that, for the most part the cast as terribly well spoken. He enjoyed early success on the stage playing juvenile roles. Now everyone, including the police, are trying to find Johnny to give him a medal for giving the man the magnet that helped raise the money for the Iron Lung.Later, Johnny sees the little boy's nanny and overhears her telling her friend (Thora Hird) about her budgie, which she says has died of a broken heart. After a six-year interruption for military service in the Second World War, his acting career did not reach the heights of his early years. They hide him in a building on the disused pier. : He was born and raised into an affluent British family deeply rooted in the acting world. Looking forward to watching this film to see how Liverpool was in those days. In many ways it is a typical "Ealing" film, although much location work takes place on Merseyside and, in particular New Brighton. - Read William Fox's Times Obituary, 2018. Show more Show more Try YouTube Kids Learn more Little Big. , Director Fox's career showed great promise with his role as a boy whose life gets complicated once he acquires "The Magnet" (1951), but he soon gave up acting to finish school. : Fox's father agreed to fund Fox's studies only on the basis that Fox would complete what was normally a two-year course in a single year. EXTRAS ARE: A nine minutes long introduction to the film by film historian Steve Chibnall and an image gallery of around thirty production stills, plus the original British quad poster. In 1930 Fox left drama school and won a role in London's West End performing in an eight-month run of W. Somerset Maugham's new play The Breadwinner at the Vaudeville Theatre.Following this success Fox co-founded an acting troupe, based in the West Country, where they converted a former swimming baths in Teignmouth into a theatre. (1998), Jinnah [8], The film has not achieved the general popularity of better-known Ealing comedies such as Passport to Pimlico and The Lavender Hill Mob, although it is described as "a mild-mannered affair and the comedy gives way to a decidedly poignant conclusion". After six years service Fox was demobbed with the rank of major (and had had a spell as an acting lieutenant-colonel). so after all the stories from Nan and granddad about how great New Brighton was you get to see for yourself. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. Entitled De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure ("On the Magnet, Magnetic Bodies, and the Great Magnet of the Earth"), the work . original screenplay. "ObituaryWilliam FoxVersatile actor and connoisseur of the civilised life", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Fox_(actor)&oldid=1084098812, People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley, Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 22 April 2022, at 15:02. To view this content, please use one of the following compatible browsers: James William Fox, When I saw it for the first time recently on Talking Pictures TV, I was totally engrossed in it. Incidents come and go but James Fox is annoying as an actor and his accent is totally out of character in Liverpool, and the rest of the actors suffer from the same Kensington/Chelsea complaint, or should I say Belgravia and Mayfair. On a train returning to school, Johnny sees the little boy's nanny and overhears her telling her friend about her budgerigar, which she says has died of a broken heart. He staged the thriller Rope and following a glowing review from actor Cyril Maude, the play had an eight-week sold-out run. TMDb This part, one of Fox's finest, typified many of his subsequent roles: classy yet often duplicitous, prone to weakness, decadence, and bad judgment. A friend of mine recently told me of this film and was amazed that I was able to buy it at Amazon for the amazing price of 5.65 including P&P,just took 2 days ! So much so that I bought the remastered DVD of it.As an adult actor, William Fox changed his name to James Fox and co-starred in many films, including The Servant with Dirk Bogarde. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. His second wife was actress Patricia Hilliard, whom he first met in 1938 when they were in a play together. (1992), As You Like It Younger; produced the musical "Chess" on both the Broadway and London stages; formerly married to Natasha Richardson. As a fan of Hue and Cry, I was expecting something similar, which it is, but even better. . T.E.B. Various other things he overhears confirms his theory. Feels a lot like a short stretched painfully to feature length, and even then only just. Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile, Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980 (28-Feb-2009), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (13-Jul-2005), Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (15-May-1988), Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (30-Mar-1984), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (16-Jun-1965), Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile. Following this success Fox co-founded an acting troupe, based in the West Country, where they converted a former swimming baths in Teignmouth into a theatre. Profession Actor. [4], The film was a box office disappointment.[10]. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2018. After feeling guilt (and particularly the fear of being caught out) he hands the . IMDb | His guilt sparks a chain of misplaced assumptions that lead to a search being mounted for the boy, who has run away after becoming convinced that he is wanted for murder. Find where to watch James Fox's latest movies and tv shows . The bike shop was Longworths in Rowson St. You went and chose your bike and Mr Longworth told you to come and collect it next week so he had time to put the seat at the right height, check the brakes,oil it for you and check the tyres. living now in New Brighton,where the film is set and mostly filmed,and being at an age the be able to remember the 50's well,I was actually born the year this film was made,but it was a total delight to watch,seeing the overhead railway again,the beach,the Perch rock,the indoor fairground,I spent half my youth in there,and spotting all the locations around was wonderful,every person over 50 living on the Wirral should see this little film,not many real "scouse" accents though !did anybody spot the businessman on the Overhead railwaysurely that was Arthur Lowe but not mentioned in the credits,wonderful wonderful film. (1970), Isadora Remove Ads Cast Crew Details Genres Cast To put it in a nutshell this male brat is avoiding 'growing up ' and wearing long trousers by behaving ( in 1950's terms ) badly. As Johnny carries on to feel bad for taking the boy's magnet, he goes off to Liverpool, where the magnet comes back to him in a surprising way. Alright kids adventure, fleeing from the law and getting into a decent amount of trouble along the way. [3] Leslie Halliwell similarly described it as a "very mild Ealing comedy, not really up to snuff". More conventional leading man duties came with "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (1967) and as one of the lovers of "Isadora" (1968) in that biopic of the dancing Duncan. (1985), A Passage to India His imagination - coupled with his stricken conscience - takes over, as the boy with the magnet becomes of interest to the local authorities. William Fox is an actor based in West Yorkshire and has many TV, theatre and Film credits such as, Peterloo, Coronation St, The Syndicate, Wolfblood, The A word, Jamie Johnson, That day we sang. Smith's wife, Joanne Cervelli Smith, said the star of. (1950), The Magnet Born on June 17, 1912; daughter of Lucy Glitters Worthington and Frederick Lonsdale; mother was married to Dr. Henry Worthington but had three daughters by Lonsdale; Noel Coward wrote his famous song "Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington" about her; died on December 1, 1999; had stormy marriage to husband punctuated with separations and infidelities on both sides. | There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. The late 1970s saw him return to theatre and the West End in a revival of T. S. Eliot's The Family Reunion. This movie suffers in the middle section where it wanders off to nowhere and only the end make it worthwhile. This article was amended on Wednesday October 1 2008. Actor Born in London, the younger brother of Edward Fox, he began as a child actor (William Fox), playing the son in The Miniver Story (d. H.C.Potter, 1950) and starring as the mendacious owner of The Magnet (d. Charles Frend, 1950). After watching his father board the ferry to his work as a psychologist in Liverpool, he spends the rest of the morning playing on the beach. Clarke. (1983), Pavlova However, Johnny eventually manages to con it out of him by swopping it for an "invisible watch". I can handle the truth. [3][4], The Magnet was filmed on location in and around New Brighton, Wallasey, the Wirral, Cheshire, Liverpool, Ealing and at Ealing Studios, London, in black and white. Every time this cuts to something ten year old Johnny likes doing in his spare time, I lost it practicing writing with his toes, squatting on the fireplace to see if he can get around his room without touching the floor, befriending a sailor shaving his legs with a cut-throat razor, electrical experiments, melancholy donkey petting. Having successfully obtained the magnet, Johnny immediately starts to feel guilty about his swindling behaviour. (1978), The Arp Statue Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2018. Metacritic Reviews. An Ealing Studios production released through The J. Arthur Rank Organisation. I remember seeing this film on the children's' matine in the 1950's - I enjoyed it then, and it has lost none of its charm now. "Here he is. FAQ There is no actual plot to the story but it is just a journey of a boy revolving the magnet. Its a strange mix of experiments of all types. Ealing often sent their crews to exotic locations and the claim in the opening credits that this fanciful whimsy was filmed at Ealing Studios - unusually without Alec Guinness - is ironically promptly contradicted by its's vivid rendering by cameraman Lionel Banes of the Merseyside locations around which a young 'William' Fox (as he was then called) is pursued; although Banes does also do an atmospheric job on the interiors. The Magnet is a 1950 British comedy film featuring Stephen Murray, Kay Walsh and in his first starring role James Fox (then billed as William Fox). Gentle Ealing comedy about childhood, guilt and half-truths starring a young James Fox (then known by his real name, William Fox) as Johnny Brent, a mischievous boy who tricks a younger boy (Keith Robinson) into giving him his magnet in return for an 'invisible' clock. When the magnet gets Johnny into distress, he choose to give it away. William Fox Actor 26 January 1911to 19 September 2008 A character actor familiar for playing authority figures, Fox appeared in popular series such as When The Boat Comes In (1976-77), Crown Court (1975-84), Yes Minister (1981) and All Creatures Great & Small (1988). After feeling guilt (and particularly the fear of being caught out) he hands the powerful magnet to a charity organiser, feeling that he would be rid of his culpability. This post-war British film from the great Ealing studios, is a charming tale of innocence lost, and particularly the idea of childhood guilt, brought on by a small incident and exacerbated by fear and misconstrued information. The Magnet (1950) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Charles Frend Writing Credits T.E.B. With his distinguished middle-aged bearing, Fox has usually incarnated a series of old guard authority figures: David Lean specifically asked for him for "A Passage to India" (1984), and Fox was also effective as a British statesman who misguidedly gives in to his own prejudices and weaknesses while placating the Nazis in the name of peace in "The Remains of the Day" (1993).
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