Coral Browne

Frustrated housewife/writer Cathy Palmer ghostwrites a story about Rebecca Ryan, a dashing international spy, and wins a trip to Paris. While there, she is involved in an accident, and awakens in the hospital believing she IS Rebecca Ryan. Much craziness ensues as she meets the writer of the Rebecca Ryan books, thwarts real international spies, and eventually gets her memory back. —Suzanne Houghton <tpk@infonaut.com> A housewife wins a contest and the prize is an all-expense-paid trip to Paris. En route she gets hit by a car and when she comes around she thinks that she is the main character in some romantic/thriller novels. She goes to the authors house and starts getting him involved in a huge crime ring... —Deirdre Dear

A Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition. Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart (Vincent Price) is a matinèe favorite Shakespearean actor of the old school, finding difficulty coping with new theater roles, who wreaks revenge on on the theater critics who give their annual Guild's "Best Actor" award to a new and upcoming actor rather than him. Incensed by their choice, he does this in the most ingenious and disturbing ways by imitating death scenes taken from his final repertoire of his beloved Bard's tales. Vincent Price is well supported by Dame Diana Rigg, as his dutiful daughter Edwina, and a bevy of the cream of British character actors, including; Ian Hendry, Sir Michael Hordern, Dennis Price, Robert Morley, and Arthur Lowe. —Brian Carruthers Edward Lionheart is an experienced Shakespearean actor who plays to packed theaters and is very popular among theatre audiences. But he is habitually treated with scorn and ridicule by professional critics. At an awards show, a critics' committee ignores him and gives the best actor award to a novice actor. Facing despair, Lionheart apparently commits suicide and the critics are amused by his demise. Secretly, a group of homeless people rescue Lionheart from a drowning death and agree to help him as he seeks revenge. Two years following his apparent death, Lionheart sets out to destroy the critics who ruined his life. He stages a series of murders and other crimes which are specifically based on violent scenes from William Shakespeare's plays. —Dimos I Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart (Vincent Price) is as an actor overlooked for a critics' acting award, despite producing a season of Shakespearean plays. After confronting the Critics' Circle, an attempted suicidal dive into the Thames results in Lionheart being rescued by your typical paraffin/meths/turps swigging tramps. Lionheart then (presumed dead) exacts his grizzly, and quite amusing, revenge on the critics who denied him his finest hour. —Paul Batey A serial killer stalks London, targeting theater critics who he kills in methods inspired by Shakespearean plays. The police grow to suspect the killer is Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart (Vincent Price), an egotistical actor who leapt to his presumed death after being denied an important award, mainly due to his refusing to appear in any play not written by William Shakespeare. The remaining critics and the Police find themselves helpless to stop Lionheart's increasingly baroque revenge, though they contact his daughter, Edwina (Dame Diana Rigg), in a desperate attempt to find something they can use against him. Everything builds to a reenactment of King Lear in which Lionheart will succeed or die once and for all. —rmlohner

After his father's death, an orphan goes to live with his free-spirited aunt in 1928 Manhattan. Conflict ensues when the executor of his father's estate objects to the aunt's lifestyle, as they deal with the difficulties of the Depression. Mame is an unconventional individualist socialite from the roaring 20's. When her brother dies, she is forced to raise her nephew Patrick. However, Patrick's father has designated an executor to his will to protect the boy from absorbing too much of Mame's rather unconventional perspective. Patrick and Mame become devoted to each other in spite of this restriction, and together journey through Patrick's childhood and the great depression, amidst some rather zaney adventures. —Ross Thompson <thompson@adobe.com> On September 15, 1928, the day after he executes his will, wealthy conservative Chicago businessman Edwin Dennis unexpectedly passes away. As stipulated in the will, his ten-year old son Patrick Dennis, who is the sole heir to the estate, becomes the ward of their only living relative, Edwin's equally wealthy New York residing spinster sister, Mame Dennis. Edward's will states that Mr. Dwight Babcock with the Knickerbocker Bank, will act as trustee. He will pay Mame for expenses incurred in raising Patrick, he to use his power of discretion to ensure that Patrick does not inherit any of "crazy" Mame's "damned eccentric" ideas, flamboyant and free wheeling Mame who can be considered anything but traditional or conventional. Patrick's longtime nanny, Norah Muldoon, is to accompany Patrick to New York and continue her services. Despite the disruption each provides in the other's life, Mame and Patrick form a loving, supportive relationship. Mame wants to provide her sense of guidance to Patrick, which means exposing him to a broad spectrum of all that life has to offer. That changes when Mr. Babcock learns what is going on, and the stock market crashes resulting in Mame losing all her money, the events in combination leading to Mr. Babcock taking Patrick away to enroll him in boarding school away from Mame's daily influence. Although not for herself, Mame realizes that she needs money to get Patrick back and support who she considers her entire family, which includes Norah and her faithful butler, Ito. She may get a little help in the matter from her best friend, Broadway actress Vera Charles, and a southerner she meets named Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside. Over the next several years, Mame's influence on those around her, including Patrick, is presented, although those relationships are not always smooth sailing, especially as Patrick grows into a man who has been largely influenced by conservative Mr. Babcock's direction for him. —Huggo Always armed with a colorful dress and an acerbic quip, the flamboyant, vibrant socialite Mame Dennis is the quintessential roaring 20's flapper, with a huge desire to live life to enjoy it and also just for the hell of it. Into this world comes her young orphaned nephew Patrick Dennis, whom she is appointed the guardian of. Immediately the two fall in love with each other, and she spends the rest of the movie, which takes us through the Great Depression and beyond, trying to rescue him from the stuffy, conventionalist people he's used to. There are a couple of bumps along the way, but there are plenty of fun adventures that prove that Mame is one hell of a woman. —Tommy Peter