Mervyn Johns

Acting

Mervyn Johns

Born 1899-02-17 · Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK

Father of actress Glynis Johns, who appeared with him in The Halfway House (1944) and The Sundowners (1960). Stocky, benevolent-looking Welsh character who became an unexpected star of British movies during WWII, then moved quickly into post-war supports, with one of his fondly-remembered parts being that of the cowering "Bob Cratchit" to Alastair Sim's cold-hearted "Ebenezer Scrooge" in the definitive film version of A Christmas Carol (1951).

Acting credits

Moby Dick poster
7.1

In 1841, young Ishmael signs up for service aboard the Pequod, a whaler sailing out of New Bedford. The ship is under the command of Captain Ahab, a strict disciplinarian who exhorts his men to find Moby Dick, the great white whale. Ahab lost his leg to that creature and is desperate for revenge. As the crew soon learns, he will stop at nothing to gain satisfaction.

Moby Dick

1956

The Heroes of Telemark poster
6.9

Set in German-occupied Norway, resistance fighter Knut Straud enlists the reluctant physicist Rolf Pedersen in an effort to destroy the German heavy water production plant in rural Telemark.

The Heroes of Telemark

1965

The Intimate Stranger poster
6.1

Film producer Reggie Wilson is worried he may have a dual personality. Fleeing Hollywood, he finds himself in England and married to the studio boss's daughter after which he quickly rises through the studio ranks. Then the letters begin to appear from a lovesick American actress who wants to know why he has thrown her over.

The Intimate Stranger

1956

The Sundowners poster
6.7

In the Australian Outback, the Carmody family--Paddy, Ida, and their teenage son Sean--are sheep drovers, always on the move. Ida and Sean want to settle down and buy a farm. Paddy wants to keep moving. A sheep-shearing contest, the birth of a child, drinking, gambling, and a racehorse will all have a part in the final decision.

The Sundowners

1960

55 Days at Peking poster
6.9

Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief and tacit support of the Boxers by the Empress of China and her generals.

55 Days at Peking

1963

1984 poster
6.5

In a totalitarian future society, a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.

1984

1956

Dead of Night poster
7.2

An architect, visiting an English country house, realizes the other guests are familiar from his recurring nightmare. When they share their tales of the supernatural, he is filled with a growing dread.

Dead of Night

1945

Scrooge poster
7.4

Ebenezer Scrooge malcontentedly shuffles through life as a cruel, miserly businessman, until he is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him how his unhappy childhood and adult behavior has left him a selfish, lonely old man.

Scrooge

1951

The Day of the Triffids poster
6.1

After an unusual meteor shower leaves most of the human population blind, a merchant navy officer must find a way to conquer tall, aggressive plants which are feeding on people and animals.

The Day of the Triffids

1963

Jamaica Inn poster
6.1

In early 19th-century Cornwall, young Mary Yellan travels to live with her aunt and uncle at the remote Jamaica Inn, where she discovers the inn is a front for a violent gang of wreckers who lure ships to their doom along the coast. As she becomes entangled in their crimes, Mary must fight to survive and uncover the truth behind the terror that haunts the moors.

Jamaica Inn

1939

The Devil's Disciple poster
6.6

In a small New England town during the American War of Independence, Dick Dudgeon, a revolutionary American Puritan, is mistaken for local minister Rev. Anthony Anderson and arrested by the British. Dick discovers himself incapable of accusing another human to suffer and continues to masquerade as the reverend.

The Devil's Disciple

1959

Francis of Assisi poster
7.7

In 13th century Italy, Francis Bernardone, the son of an Assisi merchant, renounces a promising army career in favor of a monastic life and starts his own religious order, sanctioned by the Pope.

Francis of Assisi

1961

House of Mortal Sin poster
6.5

A troubled young girl goes to confession at the local church. Unfortunately, the sexually frustrated priest she confesses to becomes obsessed with her. At first, the priest stalks the girl, but later it is revealed that he will stop at nothing, including blackmail and murder, just to get close to her.

House of Mortal Sin

1976

Convoy poster
5.6

A tale of life on board a Royal Navy cruiser assigned to protect the vital convoys between America and England during WWII.

Convoy

1940

Storm in a Teacup poster
7.4

A local politician in Scotland tries to break the reporter who wrote a negative story about him, and who is also in love with his daughter.

Storm in a Teacup

1937

A Thinking Man as Hero poster
NR

A television producer encounters personal problems while making a documentary about the philosopher Wittgenstein.

A Thinking Man as Hero

1973

Romeo and Juliet poster
5.4

In Shakespeare's classic play, the Montagues and Capulets, two families of Renaissance Italy, have hated each other for years, but the son of one family and the daughter of the other fall desperately in love and secretly marry.

Romeo and Juliet

1954

The Old Dark House poster
5.9

An American car salesman in London becomes mixed up in a series of fatal occurrences at a secluded mansion.

The Old Dark House

1963

The National Health poster
7.0

Peter Nichols adapted his own hit play to the screen, based on his experiences in hospitals. A riotous black comedy that's as timely today as ever, it contrasts the appalling conditions in a overcrowded London hospital with a soap opera playing on the televisions there. In an ingenious touch, the same actors appear in the "real" story as well as the "TV" one, thus blurring the distinctions even further. Jack Gould directs such outstanding British actors as Lynn Redgrave, Colin Blakely, Eleanor Bron, Jim Dale, Donald Sinden, Mervyn Johns, and, in only his second film, Bob Hoskins. The renowned Carl Davis composed the score.

The National Health

1973

The Master of Ballantrae poster
5.9

Scottish highlander Jamie Durie falls into a life of piracy after joining the failed rebellion of Bonnie Prince Charlie against the British crown.

The Master of Ballantrae

1953

Helter Skelter poster
6.4

A detective gets involved with a wealthy socialite who can't seem to stop hiccuping.

Helter Skelter

1949

The Magic Box poster
6.5

Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once young and handsome William Green. He changed his name to include his first wife's for the photographic portrait work he excelled at. But he was also an inventor and his search for a way to project moving pictures became an obsession that ultimately changed the life of all those he loved.

The Magic Box

1952

The Captive Heart poster
6.4

A series of stories about the lives and loves of men in a Prisoner of War camp over five years. The main story is of Hasek (Redgrave) a Czech soldier who needs to keep his identity a secret from the Nazis. To do this, he poses as a dead English Officer and corresponds with the man's wife. Other inmates’ stories are also revealed. Location shooting in the British occupied part of Germany adds believability.

The Captive Heart

1946

The Rebel poster
7.8

Anthony Hancock gives up his office job to become an abstract artist. He has a lot of enthusiasm, but little talent, and critics scorn his work. Nevertheless, he impresses an emerging very talented artist. Hancock proceeds to con the art world into thinking he is a genius.

The Rebel

1961