Vincent Ball

Vincent Ball

Born: December 4, 1923
in Wee Waa, New South Wales, Australia
Vincent Martin Ball OAM (born 4 December 1923) is an Australian-born retired character actor of radio, stage and screen, active in the industry for nearly 55 years (with a brief return) firstly in Britain and then his native Australia. He has also authored a number of books.

He is best known for film roles in British and Australian films and TV movies, including A Town Like Alice, Breaker Morant, Phar Lap, Muriel's Wedding and The Man Who Sued God. He appeared in numerous TV roles, primarily in cameo guest roles, but had recurring roles in serials like Rush, The Young Doctors, A Country Practice and Home and Away.

Vincent Ball has also worked variously in theatre, including Shakespeare, with productions of Henry IV and Romeo and Juliet and a musical based on Charles Dickens famous novel Great Expectations.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Movies for Vincent Ball...

The Night We Called It a Day
Title: The Night We Called It a Day
Character: Rex Hooper
Released: August 14, 2003
Type: Movie
Based on the true events surrounding Frank Sinatra's tour of Australia. When Sinatra calls a local reporter a "two-bit hooker", every union in the country black-bans the star until he issues an apology.
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Black and White
Title: Black and White
Character: Chief Justice Napier
Released: October 31, 2002
Type: Movie
Australia, 1958. When a nine year old white girl is found murdered, police are quick to arrest illiterate Aborigine, Max Stuart. Under interrogation Max admits to the killing. With a legal system compromised by intimidation tactics, the skills of his two gifted but naïve defense lawyers are put to the test.
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The Man Who Sued God
Title: The Man Who Sued God
Character: Cardinal
Released: October 25, 2001
Type: Movie
A lawyer becomes a fisherman from frustration. When his one piece of property, his boat, is struck by lightning and destroyed he is denied insurance money because it was “an act of God”. He re-registers as a lawyer and sues the insurance company and, as God’s representative, The Church.
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Paradise Road
Title: Paradise Road
Character: Mr. Dickson
Released: February 11, 1997
Type: Movie
A group of English, American, Dutch and Australian women creates a vocal orchestra while being imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp on Sumatra during World War II.
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Title: Blue Murder
Character: Dr. Cumberland
Released: September 14, 1995
Type: TV
Set in the 1970s and 1980s in Sydney, the miniseries concerns the relationship between controversial former Detective Roger "the Dodger" Rogerson and notorious criminal Arthur "Neddy" Smith. Rogerson and his colleagues were accused of giving Smith a "green light" to commit crimes without Police interference, with the relationship fraying when Rogerson orders hitman Christopher "Mr. Rent-a-Kill" Flannery to murder Police Officer Michael Drury.
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Muriel's Wedding
Title: Muriel's Wedding
Character: Priest
Released: September 29, 1994
Type: Movie
A young social outcast in Australia steals money from her parents to finance a vacation where she hopes to find happiness, and perhaps love.
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Sirens
Title: Sirens
Character: Bishop of Sydney
Released: March 4, 1994
Type: Movie
In 1930s Australia, Anglican clergyman Anthony Campion and his prim wife, Estella, are asked to visit noted painter Norman Lindsay, whose planned contribution to an international art exhibit is considered blasphemous. While Campion and Lindsay debate, Estella finds herself drawn to the three beautiful models sitting for the painter's current work, freethinking Sheela, sensual Pru and virginal Giddy.
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Frauds
Title: Frauds
Character: Judge
Released: June 4, 1993
Type: Movie
The film is a story of the ways in which insurance investigator Roland Copping interferes in and manipulates the lives of others with outrageous games and gimmicks. Eventually he becomes involved in an escalating vendetta with a couple who make an unusual insurance claim.
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Love In Limbo
Title: Love In Limbo
Character: Cyril Williams
Released: May 20, 1993
Type: Movie
Ken Riddle (Craig Adams), to whom sex is a mystery, joins his two mates from work, Arthur (Russell Crowe) and Barry (Aden Young), on a trip to Kalgoorlie’s infamous red light street in a fumbling attempt to collectively lose their virginity. Puffing on Lucky Strikes lit by Zippos, driving Studebakers adorned with tailfins, all the while shaking, rattling and rolling, the characters in Love in Limbo are innocent of greed, unaware of the world’s looming crisis, free of flower power and safe from sex. Love in Limbo is a good time comedy flick about love, zits and rock’n’roll!
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Title: Bangkok Hilton
Character: British Attache
Released: November 5, 1989
Type: TV
This classic Australian mini series was originally broadcast in 1989 as three 90 minute episodes and tells the story of a young woman who goes in search of the father she has never known. Her search takes her from Australia to England and then on to Bangkok. There she meets up with a charming young man, Arkie Regan, who plants drugs in her luggage and leaves her to her fate when the authorities find them during a routine search at the airport. Following her imprisonment in the notorious Bangkok Hilton prison she awaits the decision of the authorities on whether she should face the death penalty.
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Title: Home and Away
Character: Tom Knight
Released: January 17, 1988
Type: TV
Home and Away is set in the fictional town of Summer Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales, and follows the personal and professional lives of the people living in the area. The show initially focused on the Fletcher family, Pippa and Tom Fletcher and their five foster children Frank Morgan, Carly Morris, Steven Matheson, Lynn Davenport and Sally Keating, who would go on to become one of the show's longest-running characters. The show also originally and currently focuses on the Stewart family. During the early 2000s, the central storylines focused on the Sutherlands and later, the Hunters. Home and Away had proved popular when it premiered in 1988 and had risen to become a hit in Australia, and after only a few weeks, the show tackled its first major and disturbing storyline, the rape of Carly Morris; it was one of the first shows to feature such storylines during the early timeslot. H&A has tackled many adult-themed and controversial storylines; something rarely found in its restricted timeslot.
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The Year My Voice Broke
Title: The Year My Voice Broke
Character: Headmaster
Released: October 15, 1987
Type: Movie
Set in 1962, a young prepubescent boy in rural Australia watches painfully as his best friend and first love blossoms into womanhood and falls for a thuggish rugby player, changing the lives of everyone involved.
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Vietnam
Title: Vietnam
Character: Dave the Spook
Released: February 23, 1987
Type: Movie
The trials and tribulations of the Goddard family after the entry of Australia into the Vietnam War.
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Double Sculls
Title: Double Sculls
Character: Stuart
Released: October 9, 1986
Type: Movie
A man tries to rehabilitate his alcoholic friend by entering them both into the Australian national rowing championships.
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Title: The Flying Doctors
Character: Warren
Released: May 15, 1986
Type: TV
The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The success of the mini series led to its return the following year as an on-going series with McFarlane being joined by a new doctor, Chris Randall, played by Liz Burch. McFarlane left during the first season and actor Robert Grubb came in as new doctor Geoff Standish. The series' episodes were mostly self-contained but also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings. Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson, mechanic Emma Plimpton, local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers and Vic and Nancy Buckley, who ran the local pub/hotel, The Majestic. Andrew McFarlane also later returned to the series, resuming his role as Dr. Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.
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Call Me Mr. Brown
Title: Call Me Mr. Brown
Character: Captain Ritchie
Released: December 31, 1985
Type: Movie
Based on the 1971 true story known as "The Great Plane Robbery", this tele-movie tells the story of Peter Macari alias Mr. Brown. Under a grand extortion scam, he steals $500,000 in cash from Australian airlines company Qantas. This begins the start of a major international manhunt to catch a thief who is now living the high life from the spoils of his heist.
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Title: Anzacs
Character: Sir Rupert Barrington
Released: October 27, 1985
Type: TV
Anzacs was a 1985 5-part Australian miniseries set in World War I. The series follows the lives of a group of young Australian men who enlist in the 8th Battalion of the First Australian Imperial Force in 1914, fighting first at Gallipoli in 1915, and then on the Western Front for the remainder of the war.
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Title: Bodyline
Character: Joseph Lyons (Prime Minister)
Released: July 16, 1984
Type: TV
Dramatization of the 1932/33 Test cricket series between England and Australia. Played in Australia, the series gained notoriety in Australian and worldwide cricketing history for the fact that the English team (headed by captain Douglas Jardine) applied a bowling technique called "leg theory", or more commonly, Bodyline. This technique involved bowlers bowling the ball directly at the batsman's body, and resulted in many of the Australian team receiving numerous bruises and injuries, with batsman Bert Oldfield sustaining a cracked skull. The series generated much anger and resentment towards the English team within Australia and seriously damaged Anglo-Australian cricketing relations at the time.
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Phar Lap
Title: Phar Lap
Character: Lachlan McKinnon
Released: August 11, 1983
Type: Movie
Phar Lap, the big bold chestnut reigned as the king of the turf in the depression that gripped Australia of the 1930s. From his humble beginnings the New Zealand bred horse raced on to become the hero of a nation.
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The Dismissal
Title: The Dismissal
Character: Justin O'Byrne
Released: March 6, 1983
Type: Movie
The drama surrounding the dismissal of Mr. Gough Whitlam as the Labor Prime Minister of Australia - on 11 November, 1975 - by the then Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr - and the subsequent installation, in Parliament, of the Liberal 'caretaker government' and Mr. Malcolm Fraser as the 'caretaker' Prime Minister.
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The Highest Honour
Title: The Highest Honour
Character: Lieutenant Commander Hubert Marsham
Released: May 15, 1982
Type: Movie
After a highly successful raid on Singapore Harbour, soldiers of Z Special Unit lead a new expedition in Singapore, with disastrous results.
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Alison's Birthday
Title: Alison's Birthday
Character: Dr. Jeremy Lyall
Released: May 1, 1981
Type: Movie
During a Ouija board session with her teenaged friends, 16-year-old Alison gets a message from beyond the grave not to go home for her birthday three years later.
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Breaker Morant
Title: Breaker Morant
Character: Col. Ian (Johnny) Hamilton
Released: June 11, 1980
Type: Movie
During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the General Staff, as the defence puts up a strong fight in the courtroom.
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Demolition
Title: Demolition
Released: June 21, 1979
Type: Movie
When British Intelligence, following a series of experiments designed to increase alertness of long-distance lorry drivers through use of tonal repetition, discovers chordation that completely erases all memory, it is obvious that such a cleansed mind may be programmed to perform any type of action. Erstwhile agent Peter Clarke inactive for years, is chosen as courier to transport an audio tape of the tones to his native Australia.
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Title: The Sullivans
Character: Admiral Spencer / Major Greenwell
Released: November 15, 1976
Type: TV
The Sullivans is an Australian drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran on the Nine Network from 1976 until 1983. The series told the story of an average middle-class Melbourne family and the effect World War II had on their lives. It was a consistent ratings success in Australia, and also became popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Gibraltar and New Zealand.
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Title: Rush
Released: August 20, 1974
Type: TV
Rush was an Australian television series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 1974 and 1976. The first 13 episodes were produced in 1974 and filmed in black and white. In 1976, 13 more episodes were produced, in colour, in conjunction with French production company Antenne 2. Each series featured a different cast with the exception of John Waters.
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Not Tonight, Darling
Title: Not Tonight, Darling
Character: Alex / Karen's lover
Released: September 23, 1971
Type: Movie
A lonely 'Stay-at-Home' Housewife is being watched every night through the bathroom window by a 'Peeping Tom', who is being put up to it by his friend. She eventually finds out and gets her revenge on them.
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Clinic Exclusive
Title: Clinic Exclusive
Character: Bernard Wilcox
Released: January 1, 1971
Type: Movie
A beautiful massage parlor/sex clinic owner financially & emotionally mistreats her customers.
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Oh! What a Lovely War
Title: Oh! What a Lovely War
Character: Australian Soldier
Released: March 10, 1969
Type: Movie
The working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the three boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warfare.
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Where Eagles Dare
Title: Where Eagles Dare
Character: Carpenter
Released: December 4, 1968
Type: Movie
World War II is raging, and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in the Schloss Adler, a Bavarian castle that's nearly impossible to breach. It's up to a group of skilled Allied soldiers to liberate the general before it's too late.
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Title: Man in a Suitcase
Released: September 27, 1967
Type: TV
Accused of treason, a former U.S. intelligence officer based in London tries to clear his name, taking on freelance jobs around Europe as he searches for answers.
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Carry on Follow That Camel
Title: Carry on Follow That Camel
Character: Ship's Officer
Released: August 10, 1967
Type: Movie
Bertram Oliphant 'Bo' West wants to clear his unjustly smeared reputation, so he joins the Foreign Legion—with Simpson his manservant in tow. But the fort they get posted to is full of eccentric legionnaires, and there's trouble brewing with the locals too. Unbeknown to Bo, his lady love has followed him in disguise.
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The Mouse on the Moon
Title: The Mouse on the Moon
Character: Pilot
Released: May 7, 1963
Type: Movie
Sequel to The Mouse that Roared; The Tiny Country of Grand Fenwick has a hot water problem in the castle. To get the money necessary to put in a new set of plumbing, they request foreign aid from the U.S. for Space Research. The Russians then send aid as well to show that they too are for the internationalization of space. While the grand Duke is dreaming of hot baths, their one scientist is slapping together a rocket. The U.S. and Soviets get wind of the impending launch and try and beat them to the moon.
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Echo of Diana
Title: Echo of Diana
Character: Bill Vernon
Released: May 1, 1963
Type: Movie
When a woman begins to investigate her husband's mysterious death in a plane accident she discovers the involvement of a woman known simply as Diana.
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Carry On Cruising
Title: Carry On Cruising
Character: Jenkins
Released: March 12, 1962
Type: Movie
Captain Crowther's lot is not a happy one! Five of his crew have to be replaced and at such short notice before the voyage begins there isn't much to choose from. Not only does he get the five most incompetent shipmates ever to sail the seven seas, but the passengers turn out to be a rather strange bunch too. The SS Happy Wanderer will never be the same.
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Title: Compact
Released: January 2, 1962
Type: TV
Compact was a British television soap opera shown by the BBC between 1962 and 1965. The series was created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who together went on to devise Crossroads. In contrast to the kitchen sink realism of Coronation Street, Compact was a distinctly middle-class serial, set in the more "sophisticated" arena of magazine publishing. An early "avarice" soap, it took the viewer into the business workplace, and aligned the professional lives of the characters with more personal storylines. The show was scheduled for broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, thus avoiding a clash with ITV's Coronation Street on Mondays and Wednesdays. When Compact began, the editor was a woman, Joanne Minster, yet it was not long before she was replaced by Ian Harmon, the son of the magazine's owner. Despite being largely criticised by reviewers, Compact was popular with the general public, and in 1964 a regular omnibus edition was introduced, broadcast on Sundays. Morris Barry, a some-time actor and BBC director – he directed several Doctor Who stories in the 1960s – took over as producer and was given a brief to spice the series up in view of the criticism it had received from the national press. But the BBC, never comfortable with the concept of soap opera, quietly dropped the series in 1965.
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Middle Course
Title: Middle Course
Character: Cliff Wilton
Released: November 10, 1961
Type: Movie
During World War II, the residents of a French village find an able helper in their task of making life difficult for German-occupying forces in a Canadian pilot they rescue after he crash-lands in the vicinity and ends up in the hands of the Nazis. As the villagers grow increasingly dependent on the flyer's training and smarts, the Germans grow more determined to eliminate the force behind the strengthened local resistance. [Netflix]
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A Matter of WHO
Title: A Matter of WHO
Character: Dr. Blake
Released: October 3, 1961
Type: Movie
Health officials from the World Health Organization link a smallpox outbreak in Europe to oil drilling in the Middle East.
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Highway to Battle
Title: Highway to Battle
Character: Ransome
Released: May 21, 1961
Type: Movie
Months before the out break of WWII, suspicion falls on a German ambassador when one of his envoys fails to return to Berlin. The arrival of two Gestapo agents searching for the missing man causes the ambassador and his family to rethink their Nazi allegiance but is it too late to escape from Hitler's evil grasp?
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Feet of Clay
Title: Feet of Clay
Character: David Kyle
Released: November 18, 1960
Type: Movie
Newly graduated defense attorney David Kyle (Vincent Ball) is stymied by his first case: to represent youthful criminal Jimmy Fuller (Brian Smith), who refuses to explain his involvement in the murder of the revered Diana White (Angela Douglas), a probation officer seemingly devoted to her work. As he investigates, David learns that Diana's partners may not be as respectable as they appear and that Jimmy's girlfriend is in grave danger from them. [Netflix]
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Dentist in the Chair
Title: Dentist in the Chair
Character: Michaels
Released: August 8, 1960
Type: Movie
The misfortunes that befall three dental students when they become unwitting accessories to a burglary.
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Title: Deadline Midnight
Released: June 13, 1960
Type: TV
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Identity Unknown
Title: Identity Unknown
Character: Ken
Released: June 1, 1960
Type: Movie
Two reporters, a youth and a girl, find romance during interviews with relatives and friends of passengers in an ill-fated airliner.
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Dead Lucky
Title: Dead Lucky
Character: Mike Billing
Released: June 1, 1960
Type: Movie
Mike Billing's newspaper series about quasi-illegal gambling parties in Mayfair have so far been works more of imagination than genuine journalism. But when he and his columnist girlfriend, Jenny Drew, finally manage to infiltrate one of them, it leads quickly to trouble. The party's organiser is found murdered the next morning, and a number of suspects begin to emerge. But which of them killed Lucky Lewis?
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Title: International Detective
Character: Joplin
Released: December 26, 1959
Type: TV
The global adventures of Ken Franklin, ace operative of the William J. Burns Detective Agency, qualify as a pop-culture curio if only for star Arthur---later Art---Fleming, who hosted the original `Jeopardy!'
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Danger Within
Title: Danger Within
Character: Capt. Pat Foster
Released: February 17, 1959
Type: Movie
Drama set in an Italian prisoner of war camp during World War 2, where a group of British soldiers find their plans for escape thwarted by a mysterious traitor in their midst.
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Sea of Sand
Title: Sea of Sand
Character: Sgt Nesbitt
Released: November 4, 1958
Type: Movie
A small British army team is sent deep behind enemy lines to destroy a German petrol dump as part of the preparation for a major attack in the North African campaign. Sea of Sand was distributed in the US in a shortened version, Desert Patrol.
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Blood of the Vampire
Title: Blood of the Vampire
Character: Dr. John Pierre
Released: August 25, 1958
Type: Movie
A man and wife are terrorized by Mad Scientist Dr. Callistratus who was executed but has returned to life with a heart transplant. Along with his crippled assistant Carl, the 'anemic' Mad Scientist, believed to be a vampire, conducts blood deficiency research on the inmates of a prison hospital for the criminally insane to sustain his return to life.
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Menace In The Night
Title: Menace In The Night
Character: Bob Meredith
Released: June 1, 1957
Type: Movie
A woman (Lisa Gastoni) witnesses the theft of soiled banknotes from a mail delivery truck, then is threatened by the perpetrators of the crime.
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Robbery Under Arms
Title: Robbery Under Arms
Character: George Storefield
Released: January 10, 1957
Type: Movie
During the mid 1860s, brothers Dick and Jim Marston are drawn into a life of crime by their ex-convict father Ben and his friend, infamous cattlethief Captain Starlight. Making their way to Melbourne with the proceeds of a recent raid, the brothers meet and romance the Morrison sisters, Kate and Jean, whom they eventually marry; but just as they are poised to start a new life in America, Captain Starlight and his gang arrive in town, planning a raid at the local bank.
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The Long Arm
Title: The Long Arm
Character: P.C. at Hospital (uncredited)
Released: June 1, 1956
Type: Movie
Scotland Yard detectives attempt to solve a spate of safe robberies across England beginning with clues found at the latest burglary in London. The film is notable for using a police procedural style made popular by Ealing in their 1950 film The Blue Lamp. It is known in the US as The Third Key.
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A Town Like Alice
Title: A Town Like Alice
Character: Ben
Released: March 1, 1956
Type: Movie
In 1941 Malaysia, the advancing Japanese army captures a lot of British territory very quickly. The men are sent off to labor camps, but they have no plan on what to do with the women and children of the British.
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The Secret of the Forest
Title: The Secret of the Forest
Character: Mr. Lawson
Released: January 1, 1956
Type: Movie
Two children dig up an old Viking treasure ship and become involved with crooks who have buried their loot on the site. Specially made for children.
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Blonde Blackmailer
Title: Blonde Blackmailer
Character: Johnson
Released: October 1, 1955
Type: Movie
A man (Richard Arlen) wants answers when he gets out of prison after spending seven years for a murder he did not commit.
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The Stolen Airliner
Title: The Stolen Airliner
Character: Flight Sergeant Watkins
Released: January 1, 1955
Type: Movie
Three air cadets foil Revolutionaries who are plotting to steal an airliner.
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Devil's Point
Title: Devil's Point
Character: Williams
Released: December 7, 1954
Type: Movie
A Thames River barge operator finds a mysterious package dropped by smugglers.
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The Black Rider
Title: The Black Rider
Character: Ted Lintott
Released: December 1, 1954
Type: Movie
When young reporter and amateur biker Jerry Marsh investigates a mysterious hooded figure on a motorbike, he discovers crooks hiding out in a ruined castle with atomic sabotage on their minds...
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Dangerous Voyage
Title: Dangerous Voyage
Character: John Drew
Released: September 3, 1954
Type: Movie
Intrigue and smuggling in the English Channel.
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The Drayton Case
Title: The Drayton Case
Character: Henley's Assistant
Released: February 1, 1953
Type: Movie
During the early years of World War II, a bomb from a German airplane uncovers the corpse of a strangled woman.
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Encore
Title: Encore
Character: Young Husband
Released: June 11, 1951
Type: Movie
Encore is a 1951 anthology film composed of adaptations of three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham: "The Ant and the Grasshopper", directed by Pat Jackson and adapted by T. E. B. Clarke; "Winter Cruise", helmed by Anthony Pelissier, screenplay by Arthur Macrae; "Gigolo and Gigolette", directed by Harold French, written by Eric Ambler. It is the last film in a Maugham trilogy, preceded by Quartet and Trio.
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Talk of a Million
Title: Talk of a Million
Character: Jack Murnahan
Released: March 12, 1951
Type: Movie
A family reduced to imminent poverty by the father's disinclination to work; an American lawyer looking for the heir to half a million pounds; the scene is set for a hilarious tale of creative deception!
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The Interrupted Journey
Title: The Interrupted Journey
Character: the first workman
Released: October 11, 1949
Type: Movie
When John North, a budding author, pulls the communication cord of a late night train that is taking him away on a weekend with his publishers wife, he sets in motion a series of events that lead to a train crash, a murder and a police man hunt, but all is not what it seems.
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Stop Press Girl
Title: Stop Press Girl
Character: Hero in cinema sequence
Released: June 2, 1949
Type: Movie
A young woman leaves her backwards hometown to go to London to find a runaway suitor. What she doesn't know is that she has inherited a strange ability; if she's in the vicinity of a machine for more than fifteen minutes, it stops working.