Noël Coward

A spectacular robbery of gold bullion in Turin is masterminded by an older gentleman from a British prison where he is lord of all he surveys.

Young ANN LAKE has just moved to England from America with her successful but controlling brother STEPHEN. The two are extremely close, with Stephen doting upon Ann. In a hurry the day she enrolls her child, BUNNY, in a private school, Ann leaves her in the First Day room and asks the school's female German COOK to watch her and then runs off to meet the movers and do errands. At noon, Ann returns to the school to pick up Bunny. To her increasing dismay, however, no one at the school seems to know where Bunny is or even who she is. Ann interrogates one of the school's staff, Elvira, who hasn't a clue about the child. When the arrogant Stephen arrives, he badgers Elvira further. Soon, SUPT. NEWHOUSE, an unflappable British police officer, arrives, looking into the matter. He talks with all parties involved, including ADA FORD, one of the school's elderly founders. The eccentric Ada resides in an upstairs room, where she's currently compiling a tome about childhood nightmares. Newhouse continues his investigation, tolerating the threats and barbs from Ann's increasingly accusatory brother, Stephen. But as Newhouse puts together Ann's profile, he begins to doubt her story in subtle ways. After all, since no one saw the child (the Cook has quit and disappeared) he has to wonder if Ann even has a child. Is she delusional, perhaps? The insinuation infuriates Stephen, but he seems to back it up with references to Ann having had an imaginary playmate named Bunny as a child. Ann must now try to find clues that her child really existed. She must also fend off her creepy new landlord, WILSON, an aging Lothario actor who's always drunk and carting about his little dog. The POLICE interrogate him, as well. When Stephen comes across Newhouse talking and drinking with Ann in a pub, he blows up at the officer, threatening and accusing him. As police attempt to locate the Cook, Ann's nightmare intensifies. Desperate for evidence that will prove the existence of her child, she suddenly remembers the claim check for a doll hospital that's repairing Bunny's doll. In spite of the late hour, Ann goes off in a cab after telling Stephen where she's going. In the meantime, Newhouse and his MEN look into the ship travel records that brought Ann and Bunny to England. Ann finds the doll shop, which, although closed, has an unlocked door. She locates the doll. Stephen has followed her, however, and once Ann presents him with the doll and goes off to deal with the Proprietor, Stephen gets a crazed look in his eye and sets the doll afire. Ann is horrified and Stephen strikes her and takes her to a hospital unconscious and leaves her. Ann escapes the hospital and locates Stephen in the remote house they originally temporarily lived in after arriving in England where he has Bunny hidden. Stephen is the kidnapper! Indeed, Stephen is so close to his sister Ann he found Bunny an intrusion in their relationship. Stephen has now lapsed into another identity - a more murderous one and likely an extension of their imaginary selves as children. He's now intent upon killing the child, so as to have sole access to his sister again. Ann gets Bunny away from the demented Stephen by engaging him in a series of children's games. Stephen chases Ann and Bunny, but Newhouse and the Police soon arrive, arresting the demented brother. They finally found the evidence they needed of the child's existence by way of the ship's passenger records.

Victor and Hilary have guided tours in their English mansion. A US oil tycoon "bumps" into Hilary during a tour and charms his way into her heart. Meanwhile, Hattie pursues Victor. Victor and Hilary are so down on their luck that they allow tourists to take guided tours of their castle. But when millionaire oil tycoon Charles Delacro visits, he takes a liking to more than the house. Then Hattie Durant gets involved and they have a good old-fashioned love triangle. —Tim Kearns <tskearns@aol.com> Married for twelve years with two adolescent children, the Earl and Countess Rhyall - Victor and Hilary - live in a small section of the country manor that has been in Victor's family for generations, the rest of the manor having been turned over to the National Trust for public tours, the only way they, cash strapped, can keep the property as a legacy for the children. In addition to Hilary's side business of growing and selling mushrooms for her own pocket money, they don't live a typical royal life in not utilizing their servants to their fullest, with especially their butler, Sellers, who only sought out the job for experience to write his "great British novel", telling Victor either to fire him or reduce his wages in feeling he having nothing to do. Victor counters that especially Sellers provides the important function of the façade to the public, who pay for the tours, of true royal country manor life. Their life is turned upside down when American oil baron Charles Delacro takes the tour, and meets and falls immediately in love with Hilary. While she initially rebuffs his advances, she eventually does return his affections. In meeting Charles, Victor knows that there are feelings between Charles and Hilary, and that Hilary's extended trip to London, in which she will be staying with their socialite friend Hattie Durant, is just a guise to have an affair with Charles. With Hattie being his confidante despite their outward animosity in being former lovers themselves and with Sellers doing his butlering duties, Victor goes on a mission for Hilary to return emotionally in love with him. —Huggo

In the first shot, a quintessentially British man in a dark suit and hat, tightly rolled umbrella, and immobile face, strides along Havana streets besieged by grinning musicians and hawkers. Hawthorne (Noel Coward) is a Secret Service official based in Jamaica charged with recruiting a group of secret agents to report on Cuban military activities for a monthly stipend. Hawthorne approaches Jim Wormold (Alec Guinness), an expatriate Englishman living in Havana in the late 1950s with his beautiful teenage daughter Milly (Jo Morrow), who is attending a Catholic all girls school. Jim has lived in Cuba for fifteen years, and despite the rocky political climate, considers it home. Wormold's spare time consists of drinks with German Dr. Hasselbacher (Burl Ives) and fawning over his daughter, who has reached that precarious threshold between childhood and adulthood. Milly is being trailed by police captain Segura (Ernie Kovacs), who is friendly with the nuns at Millys school, and is looking for a traditional and pretty young woman to be his wife from among the graduating students. Milly, a dazzling blonde, is his target. When the very conspicuous Hawthorne shows up, Segura guesses that something of interest to the police may be going on, and makes inquiries hoping to use the information for blackmailing Jim in his favor, if necessary. Jim owns a vacuum cleaner shop but isn't successful enough, as he wants to provide greater luxuries for Milly, such as finishing school in Switzerland, and Milly has some expensive expectations of her own, such as owning a horse. Jim says yes to Hawthorne because of his money needs, but he has no clue about spying. Hawthorne shows him how to encode messages for telegraphing his reports and gives him general pointers. Hawthorne just tells him to approach people he knows, but that gets Jim nowhere. Jim approaches one of his trusted employees but the man misunderstands and thinks Jim is asking for prostitutes. Several times during the rest of the movie, a prostitute is brought to him by this employee. Prodded by Millys wishes to have a horse, Jim gets the Secret Service to pay for his membership in a hugely expensive country club, with the excuse that he needs access to a place where he meets important people. When he approaches members of the country club, his social ineptitude creates confusions and they think he is trying to come onto them. Instead of spying, Wormold spends most of his time drinking at the country club, which he can finally afford. Jims closest friend, a former German army officer, Dr. Hasselbacher, suggests that the best secrets are known to no one, so Jim decides to pretend to have a list of agents and provide fictional tales for the benefit of the bosses in London. Hasselbacher opines that Jim would not be doing anything immoral because countries feel obligated to play a game and spy on each other, and it might has well be him who gets paid. As he does nothing real to report, Jim pretends first to recruit agents and then that they discover secret constructions. In order to have a semblance of credibility, the names and professions he gives his fake agents are names and professions of real people. When London messages demand some information beyond lists of names, Jim notices that images of his vacuum cleaners, if enlarged and doctored, look like odd buildings having a scientific or military purpose. He sends drawings to England, and the spy boss C (Ralph Richardson) is deeply impressed. Some other reports are inspired by comic strips. He is seen as the best agent in the Western Hemisphere, and the spy agency decides to send him support staff. Soon Beatrice Severn (Maureen O'Hara) arrives in Havana, sent by C to be his "bookkeeper" and assistant. Beatrice finds Jim romantically attractive. When she begins to catch on to the deceptions, she keeps quiet despite misgivings. There are others who get suspicious of Wormold at the Agency. One agent comments to C that the drawings look like parts of a vacuum cleaner, enlarged. Hawthorne hears this while he is behind C, and realizes what Guinness is sending, but he keeps quiet. Captain Segura is aware, after hearing of Jims approaches to local fellows, that Jim was recruiting spies, but he bides his time, as his interest is getting Jim's consent for him to marry Milly. Milly accepts some courting, but her interests are rather with her horse rather than marrying. Dr. Hasselbacher, tempted by Jims reports of easy money in exchange for false information, also starts to sell lies, judging that no significant harm results from the deception. Wormolds originally harmless fraud eventually becomes dangerous. As British Intelligence agencies begin to take his work seriously, so does the other side, and thus Wormold is a wanted man, dead or alive. Spys from the other side begin to decode his cables and start disrupting his network. One of the men whom Wormold pretended was one of his agents dies in a suspicious accident. An engineer named Cifuentes (Grégoire Aslan) whom Jim approached multiple times at the country club is kidnapped and dropped off at Jims doorstep bound and gagged. These events give London the impression that Wormold's networks are under attack. Hawthorne has Jim go to Jamaica for consultations, where he warns him that Jim's discovery of military secrets is so impressive that the other sides agents have decided to silence him by assassination, most likely by poisoning at a banquet Jim has to attend as part of his vacuum cleaner business. Hawthorne instructs Jim in a variety of techniques to avoid being poisoned by food or drink. Jim manages to figure out the assassin is none other than a friendly man he met on the flight to Kingston, but he is unable to prevent the murder of his friend Dr. Hasselbacher. In seeking to avenge his friend, Jim arranges to have a meeting with Segura, ostensibly to discuss the possible courtship of Milly. Jim must get Segura so drunk that he passes out, so he can steal a loaded gun. As both of them are avid checkers players, he arranges a game of checkers to be played with miniature bottles of liquor. Each time one is captured, it must be opened and drunk immediately. As the captain is in fact a better player, the Captain gets totally, drunk, and Jim takes the gun to kill the would be assassin. Pretending friendship, he has made arrangements to go out on the town with the assassin, using himself as a decoy, assuming that the assassin will use the occasion to have him ambushed and killed by others somewhere. He tells the assassin they will be going to a couple of semi clandestine night clubs, giving their names, but in fact he goes to others, so the ambushers are sent to the wrong place, the assassin is isolated, and Jim shoots him with Seguras gun at the door of a brothel. Captain Segura wakes from his drunken binge unaware of what happened. The next day, however, after Jim and Milly attend Hasselbachers funeral, the captain orders Jim deported, and he must return to London. He tells all details of what he has done to Beatrice, who decides to quit the spy business and return to London with him. Meantime, Beatrice and Milly have become friends, Milly accepts Beatrice as a future stepmother. Accompanied by Beatrice and Milly, Jim goes to a meeting with C and other spy bosses in London. While he is waiting to be seen, the officials discuss what they should do with him. To reveal to the Prime Minister and the other top brass that Jim concocted all his intelligence would have a damaging effect on the intelligence aparatus, so they come up with a solution. A story is fabricated, claiming the hardware that Jim's agent had seen had since been dismantled. Wormold is told he is to receive an O.B.E, and the secret service offers him a position teaching espionage classes to new recruits in London. With this money, he can afford to send Milly to the fancy school in Switzerland.

In 1872, an Englishman wagers that he can circle the globe in 80 days and embarks with his valet on a journey full of adventure, romance, unending obstacles and daring escapes.

A recently divorced woman hides her scandalous past from her new husband and his family. Larita Filton is named as correspondent in a scandalous divorce case. She escapes to France to rebuild her life where she meets John Whittaker. They are later married, but John's well-to-do family finds out Larita's secret. Larita Filton is in divorce court: her husband is divorcing on grounds of "misconduct". After the verdict and her divorce she sets about trying to get on with her life. She meets John Whittaker and they fall in love. Her life seems back on track...unless her past catches up with her. Using the assumed name Larita Grey, Larita Filton has gone to the French Riviera to escape the scandal of a very public divorce. The scandal is due to a mistakenly believed to be love triangle involving her husband, Aubrey Filton, violent when he's drunk which is frequently, and Claude Robson, the painter commissioned to do her portrait. The more scandalous parts of the story are that Claude was killed under mysterious circumstances by a gunshot wound when both Feltons were present, and as Claude was indeed in love with her that he had left his entire estate to Larita. In France, Larita meets fellow Brit John Whittaker, the two who fall in love. In Larita agreeing to marry John and she not telling him of the divorce, the question becomes whether Larita can escape her past in this new life, especially in Larita and John being in the same social class. The socialite Larita Filton divorces from Aubrey Filton and the trial is scandalous since the prosecutor Mr. Greene accuses the painter Claude Robson to be her lover. He commits suicide since he loves Larita and after a troubled process, she travels to the Mediterranean to rest. In the South of France, she meets John Whittaker and they fall in love with each other. Larita and John do not tell their past to each other since John believes it is unnecessary to know what they did in the past. When they return to England, John introduces Larita to his family. His father Colonel Whittaker and his sisters Marion and Hilda Whittaker welcome Larita but Mrs. Whittaker treats Larita very bad since she wanted that her son would have married their acquaintance Sarah. Mrs. Whittaker poisons John and when she finds who Larita is, she destroys her life.