: : List of feature movies with a rating above 7.00. No one wants it though and it keeps coming back allowing it to be repeatedly auctioned. Sorry, there was a problem saving your cookie preferences. (1990), Death on the Nile (1997), Never Ever 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. 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. the old pier, the baths the indoor fairground. 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. As a territorial soldier Fox was amongst the first to be called up in 1939 upon the declaration of war with Germany. 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. It was fun to see James Fox as child, he did well even back then. WAITING. Film data from TMDb. After several successful productions Fox handed over the chairmanship of the Reunion Theatre to Laurence Olivier. These activities led to his devoting less time to actingthough he continued to perform, notably in television shows such as The Duchess of Duke Street, When the Boat Comes In and Yes, Prime Minister. Directed by Charles Frend. Country: When the magnet gets Johnny into distress, he choose to give it away. (1967), The Chase (1990), She's Been Away Fox, es un actor canadiense-estadounidense retirado. It's main theme of "cheats not prospering" was a fine ideal then, and still applies today. Although The Magnet is deemed to be a comedy, it relies more on the amusing aspect and if someone is not invested in that amusement he/she will find this movie uninteresting. Entitled De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure ("On the Magnet, Magnetic Bodies, and the Great Magnet of the Earth"), the work . External Reviews : Fox was a member of the Garrick Club, and often spent time there in the company of Kenneth More and Kingsley Amis.[2][3]. The iron lung maker, rather bizarrely demonstrating his equipment in the middle of a seaside beauty contest, tells the story of the magnet at various fund-raising events, exaggerating wildly and portraying Johnny as everything from a spoiled brat to a Dickensian ragamuffin. (2000), Sexy Beast Stephen Murray. Scene from the classic movie "The Magnet" (1950) in which William (later James) Fox sets his eyes on a younger boy's favorite toy. 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. [2][3][5] After the war he continued to hold a reserve commission as a captain and honorary major until 1961, when he reached the age limit for service. This part, one of Fox's finest, typified many of his subsequent roles: classy yet often duplicitous, prone to weakness, decadence, and bad judgment. William Fox was born on January 26, 1911 (died on September 20, 2008, he was 97 years old) in Manila, Metro Manila as William Hubert Fox. IMDb It is very amusing having Fox listen to adults having conversations that have nothing to do with him and getting more guilt-ridden with every adult boys he hears. 'The Magnet (1950)' is one of the studio's lesser-known comedies, but ranks among their most charming efforts. Johnny seems a bit odd, no wonder, because so do his parents. As a fan of Hue and Cry, I was expecting something similar, which it is, but even better. 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. His birthplace is Manila. (1994), Shadow on the Sun The star in this case (a very young William/James Fox) is a lonely schoolboy, recovering from scarlet fever and wandering the streets of what is now Merseyside, as well as the streets of his imagination, bowling an imaginary cricket bowl as he goes. (2014), A Long Way from Home (1952), The Miniver Story Wonderful post war film of ENGLAND as she was, with decent honest Englihmen and Ladies behaving in a true English way of decency and high standards. This movie suffers in the middle section where it wanders off to nowhere and only the end make it worthwhile. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. Aspect Ratio (2005), Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance The film follows a boy (a young James Fox) plagued with guilt after he steals a magnet, while his well meaning parents attempt to armchair diagnose his mysterious behaviour. An Ealing Studios production released through The J. Arthur Rank Organisation. Profession Actor. 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There is no actual plot to the story but it is just a journey of a boy revolving the magnet. (1999), Circle of Passion 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). Though The Magnet oozes middle-class wholesome 1950's family values, which can be seen these days as starchy and very straight-laced, this unusual offering from the Ealing Studios works well on many levels. Since his return to acting in the early 80s, Fox has been more prolific than ever, alternating offbeat, small-scale efforts ("Pavlova" 1983, "As You Like It" 1992), with mainstream Hollywood fare ("The Russia House" 1990, "Patriot Games" 1992) and prestigious historical epics. He did not return to acting until a decade later, but quickly enjoyed success in the role of a haughty but ultimately malleable aristocrat strangely corrupted by his butler (Dirk Bogarde) in Joseph Losey's striking drama, "The Servant" (1963). Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. Made film acting debut, billed as 'William Fox' in "The Miniver Story", Played most prominent feature role as a child in "The Magnet", Returned to feature films after a ten-year absence to act in a small role in "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner", First adult leading role in film, "The Servant", First American film since "The Miniver Story", "King Rat", Left acting for a time to join an international Christian missionary sect, the Navigators, One-shot return to acting, the religious drama, "No Longer Alone", Returned to acting regularly; appeared in the film, "Country", Played Waldorf on the PBS biographical miniseries, "Nancy Astor", Played Angus Meikle on the "Masterpiece Theatre" miniseries, "A Perfect Hero", Starred in Jonathan Glazer's "Sexy Beast", Cast as the King of Denmark in "The Prince and Me", Played Mr. Salt in Tim Burton's adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic tale "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. : I bought this black & white video recently from a street vendor in St Albans market, Hertfordshire as part of a job lot of three Ealing comedies he was selling for 15.The others were "Whisky Galore" and "Passport to Pimlico".The other comments written below adequately deal with the basic plot, so I shall not elaborate further on that.What is interesting is to see the young William Fox play the juvenile lead small boy and whose later stage name was changed to James Fox (brother of Edward Fox) who later became well known in the film "The Servant" and "Performance".I was born in 1946 and this film was produced in 1950 so those scenes shown of early post war Britain have a reminiscence for me, when I remember those bomb sites, school dinners, food rationing which extended up to 1955, and an altogether more simple life.In those days children went "out to play" with their friends much more than todays TV/computer bound generation. 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. He was expected to go on to Oxford University and thence into the petroleum industry; this was not to be. writer. William Fox. Producer: Michael Balcon. (2003), Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairy Tale The swimming baths where the Miss New Brighton Competition takes place has gone as well. Well, it's definitely been restored as far as the image goes. 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. The actor William Fox, who has died aged 97, was also a soldier, playwright, wine-merchant - and connoisseur of the civilised life. (2001), Lover's Prayer Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Produced by Michael Balcon. Find the perfect william fox the magnet 1950 stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. Written by T.E.B. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. I remember watching it when I was very young; probably around age 6. I recently watched this video (there are more from the event on British Path's YouTube channel) of the unveiling of Danny Kaye's waxwork at Madame Tussaud's, in 1948. Enter challenges, watch videos, and take part in our annual vote to decide the best film, TV show and game of the year. This review may contain spoilers. 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. By using this site, you agree to our updated, Gently investigating the murder of the owner of the luxury resort (working on location in Jamaica), police chief and title character Denzel Washington introduces himself to the savvy Hadley Elgin (Mimi Rogers), young wife of probably-corrupt political fixer Thomas (James Fox), in, Lord Darlington (James Fox), with friends, observes the accident with Mr. Stevens senior (Peter Vaughan), then consults with his son, the butler Mr. Stevens the younger (Anthony Hopkins), in, Performance (1970) -- (Movie Clip) Memo From Turner, Mick Jagger with his band wrote and recorded this number for his character "Turner," who dresses down the gangsters (Anthony Morton, John Bindon et al) in a scene occurring in the mind of Chas (James Fox) from Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell's, Top London gangster Harry (Johnny Shannon) is explaining things to victim Joey (Anthony Valentine) and scolding thug Chas (James Fox) for over-enthusiasm, early in, Performance (1970) -- (Movie Clip) Goodbye The Ferrari, Injured gangster Chas (James Fox) is scamming a bit, trying to gain entrance to the Notting Hill home of Turner (Mick Jagger, not seen here), on the intercom with his housemate Pherber (Anita Pallenberg) in Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell's, James Fox and Anne Sidney in the unorthodox and R-rated opening of, Performance (1970) -- (Movie Clip) We Push The Buttons, Pherber (Anita Pallenberg) is bandaging Chas (James Fox) while Turner (Mick Jagger) performs an improvised talking-blues not available on the soundtrack to, Performance (1970) -- (Movie Clip) Poor White Hound Dog, Soundtrack cut from gospel singer and Rolling Stones supporting vocalist Merry Clayton, as Chas (James Fox), half through his make-over, pops in on Turner (Mick Jagger) and, King Rat (1965) -- (Movie Clip) One Day I'll Be Dead, Jones (Gerald Sim) is losing it until jaded senior Brit officer Larkin (Denholm Elliott) arrives to preside, after the Japanese commandant (Dale Ishimoto) learns of an illicit radio in his WWII prison camp in Singapore, John Standing the guilty party, in Bryan Forbes'. But, and this is a big but, StudioCanal, going by some of their DVD releases of vintage British films, seem fanatical about damping down the sound of the original optical soundtrackso that any slight crackle on it cannot possibly be heardthe result of which is that the sound is rather muffled, like a vinyl record being played with a very blunt needle, and the lower registers of the sound spectrum are removed, making it difficult to hear the dialogue unless the actors and actresses are talking loudly or shouting. If you wish a change and want to compare the scum and low standard fare served up today, with a truly great ENGLISH film then buy this and treasure it as a shining example of how great a country was before the scum and riff raff took over. This film is one of the main reasons why I have loved films all my life. Perhaps Fox's finest work in this period came in the bizarre but galvanizing "Performance" (1970), as a vicious hit man on the lam who hides out at a reclusive rock star's (Mick Jagger) mansion and falls prey to a series of bisexual orgies and weird costume changes. , Run time (1990), The Mighty Quinn The Daniels handpicked the 61-year-old actress to appear in the cover spread - dubbed 'Coolidge vs. Haute Squad 5: Attack on Neo Runway City - and coincidentally all three attended Emerson College The man tells the story of the little boy and the magnet at various fund-raising events, but each time exaggerating wildly about the boy to gain sympathy from the people at the auctions and portraying Johnny as everything from a rich, spoiled brat to a Victorian mudlark and ragamuffin to a penniless street urchin who gave all he had in the worldthe magnetto help those even worse off than himself. Lots of nostalgia for those of us brought up at that time and place:New Brighton Pier and Lido;Mersey Ferry and Dockland Overhead Railway;Blitzed Area of Liverpool below Anglican Cathedral;Biscuits being delivered in large tin boxes. William Fox is a 97 years old British actor from Manila, Metro Manila. Young Johnny Brent (James Fox) guiles another boy at his school into giving him a influential magnet. The film moves at a solid pace and, although it's not always successful, it's certainly never dull. They hide him in a building on the disused pier. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 August 2007. [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. This article was amended on Wednesday October 1 2008. (1983), Country He used to be Queen Elizabeth, this fella, before they turned him into Danny Kaye.". T.E.B. The other boy's nanny is not happy with the swap. One actor who benefited from this was Dirk Bogarde. Classic Evocation of 1950 Wirral and Liverpool Childhood. Click Customise Cookies to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. A false rape charge threatens British-Indian relations in director David Lean's last movie, A glamorous Polynesian raises temperatures at a boy's school when she comes to visit her cousin in, Life in post-war England is the subject of. All in all a lovely, timeless classic of a movie! He meets an eccentric iron lung maker who is raising funds for the local hospital, and gives him the magnet to be auctioned for charity. This is a delightful film about a young boy growing up in a small riverside town,just across from Liverpool, in 1950.He experiences guilt after conning a younger boy out of a magnet and wrongly believing that this has lead to the other boy's death.Humour is provided by the boy's father a psychiatrist/psychologist who has a theory and an answer for everything, unfortunately these are usually wrong. William Hubert Fox TD (26 January 1911 20 September 2008) was a British character actor and writer. His first performance was in 1934 in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea. After a short spell on Broadway, Fox returned to Britain. There's no predictability, no massive copying. (1996), The Old Curiosity Shop English films from right after the war particularly those from Ealing or Archers are a pretty interesting pocket to mine. (1970), Isadora Unconfirmed13724 Woolner: One Wild Oat Hooper, the Porter: 1951: Lavender Hill Mob Gregory: 1951: No Place for Jennifer Paula's Counsel: 1951: Queen's Guards Mr. Walters: 1960: Ransom Ferris: 1974: Omen 3: The Final Conflict Diplomat: 1981: It's not that Ealing were scared of accents, they ventured into Wales and Scotland, but for the most part they didn't stray out into the Provinces and if they wanted to imbue their characters to with, err character, they gave them a touch of the Cockney. Scouse accents are notable by their absence, but post-war Liverpool (and New Brighton, across the Mersey) provides a beautiful setting. Their next two comedies - A Run for Your Money and The Magnet - had none of the same impact and are often left off the. The fashion-timing is wrong, as it's supposed to be 1958, but still the breakout moment for Suzette (Patsy Kensit), wardrobe assistant turned instant sensation, at the London runway show by "Henley Od" (James Fox), Anita Morris the reporter on the spot, in, Thoroughly Modern Millie - (Wide release trailer), When she comes to New York, Julie Andrews becomes, Lavender Hill Mob, The - (Original Trailer), An overlooked gold transporter with twenty years service plots to steal a million pounds of gold in the comedy, A convict's escape ignites passions in his hometown in. | PLAY. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice. (2004), The Mystic Masseur Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. Johnny is awarded the Civic Gold Medal. He staged the thriller Rope and following a . He achieved this, and was awarded the school's gold medal upon graduating. Alleged to mean "Big James with the beard": "The Magnet Movie Review (1950) from Channel 4 Film", "Port Cities: Culture and Ethnicity Differences in Liverpool Chinese Community", The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Magnet_(film)&oldid=1129726443, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Michael Brooke (as Michael Brooke Jr) Kit, This page was last edited on 26 December 2022, at 21:08. Various other things he overhears confirms his theory. "Here he is. The actor William Fox joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1951, not the Royal Shakespeare Company, as we reported in his obituary above. His parents were amateur actors and managed a medical technical school. William is represented by Regan Management What William said about us - click to read review William Fox (actor) was born on 1911-01-26. Letterboxd Limited. It's all a bit forced, if somewhat harmless, though I'm not sure it would play to kids today unaccustomed to scarlet fever quarantines, unmonitored outdoor play, iron lungs, and having no toys better than a magnet. Some elements are predictable - he thinks the police are out to get him when in fact they want to reward him - but there's some local character here from the Liverpudlian kids and some strong talent from cameoing stars like Harold Goodwin, Sam Kydd and Thora Hird. i'll watch this with my sister who still lives there and she will point out the roads. Of course Ealing had previously released comedies, but Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore and Kind Hearts and Coronets came out within three months of each other, all were critically and commercially successful and they merged in people's minds as a unique form of British comedy - in fact the three films are very different and the idea of Ealing Comedy was more happy accident than an aesthetic movement or studio strategy, but once the idea was planted Ealing sensibly ran with it. camp in Singapore, has summoned talented Brit Marlowe (James Fox), whom he had not previously met, sidekick Max (Patrick O'Neal) attending, in Bryan Forbes'. This has been corrected. An Ealing Studios film, The Magnet is a lesser known Ealing comedy. (2013), Bunny and the Bull Filmed on location in Birkenhead; New Brighton; Liverpool and Wallasey.The then eleven years old William Fox, in only his second film, gives an excellent performance as Johnny Brent, the son of well off parents (Stephen Murray and Kay Walsh), who covets a large magnet owned by Kit (Michael Brooke), a younger boy who is building sandcastles on the beach at New Brighton and who is watched over by his nanny (Gladys Henson). Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2018. Please consider upgrading to a Pro accountfor less than a couple bucks a month, youll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages (example), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads! The British have an understated way of delivering these kind of gems to the screen; whereas Hollywood always goes for the big production values and star power most of the time. - Read William Fox's Times Obituary, 2018. 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. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. Charles Frend directs this Ealing comedy-drama in which a boy steals a powerful magnet from a younger boy, which gets him into all sorts of trouble. William George Zane, better known as Billy Zane, was born on February 24, 1966 in Chicago, Illinois, to Thalia (Colovos) and William Zane, both of Greek ancestry. [2][3][5], 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. 1996-2022, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates, Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon. He saves the life of one boy who had fallen through a disused pier. I can handle the truth. A lot of the film was shot in New Brighton, and I have added this to the database as a location. Dr. Brent. 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. There is a young boy in the film who is injured (or sick) and ends up in an "iron lung" machine because he needs help breathing. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. (1950), The Magnet ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. [6], Fox went on to perform in J.B. Priestley's play Dangerous Corner, directed by Tyrone Guthrie; he was billed as "a great discovery". Fox left acting in 1973 when he joined a Christian missionary group, the Navigators, though he did act in the story of a suicidal woman saved by religion, "No Longer Alone" (1978). While the storyline of The Magnet can become a bit too unbelievable at times, on the whole, it is a fine morality story with a solid leading performance from a young James Fox (credited as William Fox). (1998), Jinnah , Actors Please try again. (1965), The Servant It does do an effective job showing the way guilt couples with the normal blithe egocentrism of childhood to create a shadowy antagonistic web so vast that everyone around you is in on your shame and looking to bring you down. His second wife was actress Patricia Hilliard, whom he first met in 1938 when they were in a play together. 2023 Turner Classic Movies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Find where to watch James Fox's latest movies and tv shows . : Learn more. [4], The film was a box office disappointment.[10]. : James Fox plays a boy who comes into possession of a rare magnet on the beach, before finding himself engaging in various escapades with oddball people. Fearing that he has caused the death of the boy, Johnny runs away. In 1916 Fox was sent to preparatory school, then attended Haileybury public school. [2] [3] Contents 1 Early life 2 Pre-war career The comparison of the affluent, comfortable, public school lifestyle of the main character to that of the boys he meets when he crosses the river to Liverpool, is very well drawn and brings an excellent sense of realism to the film. William Hubert Fox TD (26 January 1911 - 20 September 2008) was a British character actor and writer. Got this dvd mainly for the nostalgia of the 50s and to show my grandchildren the old Liverpool waterfront with the Overhead Railway. 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. Johnny mistakenly thinks she is talking about the little boy himself, and becomes convinced that he has caused the death of the boy. Mobilesite. Brooke Shields Actress | The Blue Lagoon [2] [3] Contents 1 Early life 2 Pre-war career His innocence and politeness (addressing his parents as "Mummy" and "Daddy") are heartbreaking - indeed, when we encounter a group of Scouse "toughs" later in the movie, they all politely say "goodnight" to each other too! 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.