Maurice Denham
Simon Ashby is a wealthy psychotic who is is coddled by his aunt in their palatial mansion outside of London. One day, Ashby’s long lost brother mysteriously arrives at the house, but events prove that he is an impostor, sent by Keith Kossett, son of the attorney for the family estate, who has been dipping into the family trust fund.
When a humorous script-reader in her New York apartment sees an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature for a bookstore in London that does mail order, she begins a very special correspondence and friendship with Frank Doel, the bookseller who works at Marks & Co., 84 Charing Cross Road.
JULIA covers the 1930s when Lillian attained fame with the production of her play “The Childrens’ Hour” on Broadway. It centers on Lillian’s relationship with her friend, Julia. It’s a relationship that goes beyond mere acquaintance and one for which the word “love” seems appropriate. While Julia attends the University in Vienna, Lillian suffers through revisions of her play with her mentor and sometimes lover Dashiel Hammett. After becoming a celebrated playwright, Lillian is invited to a writers conference in Russia. Julia, having taken up the battle against fascism, enlists Lillian en route to smuggle money through Nazi Germany which will assist in the Anti-Fascist cause. During a brief meeting with Julia on this trip, Lillian learns that Julia has had a child which is called Lilly.
During World War One an English adventurer, an American elephant poacher and the latter’s attractive young daughter, set out to destroy a German battle-cruiser which is awaiting repairs in an inlet just off Zanzibar. The story is based on a novel by Wilbur Smith, which in turn is very loosely based on events involving the light cruiser SMS Königsberg, which was sunk after taking refuge in Rufigi delta in 1915.
Recently divorced career woman Alex Greville begins a romantic relationship with glamorous mod artist Bob Elkin, fully aware that he’s also intimately involved with middle-aged doctor Daniel Hirsh. For both Alex and Daniel, the younger man represents a break with their repressive pasts, and though both know that Bob is seeing both of them, neither is willing to let go of the youth and vitality he brings to their otherwise stable lives.
Philip Hannon, a blind playwright living in London, overhears part of a conversation , that leads him into a desperate race, to find a kidnapped child. When he gets no help from the police, he along with his butler, and his ex fiancée, attempt to track down the crooks.
After losing his bride in a Luftwaffe air raid, bomber pilot Forrester becomes a solitary killing machine, who doesn’t care whether he dies. The reckless Canadian pilot is both admired and feared by the rest of his squadron in World War II Burma. The squadron physician is assigned to determine the embittered Bill Forrester’s fitness for duty. To break through the nightmare-haunted man’s wall of silence, the physician drives Forrester to visit an outpost of English-speaking refugees, which includes an alluring young Burmese woman.
Based on the story of Elisabeth Bathory, the 18th century Countess who indulged herself in an orgy of murder and vampirism before before being walled up in her room by the authorities. The ageing Countess Dracula discovers that the blood of young virgins has a restorative effect on her celebrated beauty. Years later, she becomes engaged to a handsome young Hussar and is forced to repeat vile atrocities with ever-increasing regularity to hold off old age.
