The Moonraker
| The Moonraker | |
|---|---|
 British cinema poster | |
| Directed by | David MacDonald |
| Produced by | Hamilton G. Inglis |
| Written by |
Arthur Watkin (play) Robert Hall Wilfred Eades Alistair Bell |
| Starring |
George Baker Sylvia Syms Marius Goring |
| Music by | Laurie Johnson |
| Cinematography | Mutz Greenbaum |
| Edited by | Richard Best |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Associated British-Pathé |
Release dates | 22 May 1958 |
Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Moonraker is a British swashbuckler film released in 1958 and set in the English Civil War. It was directed by David MacDonald and starred George Baker, Sylvia Syms, Marius Goring, Gary Raymond, Peter Arne, John Le Mesurier and Patrick Troughton.
The film depicts a fictionalised account of the escape of Charles II, arranged by a foppish royalist nobleman, the Earl of Dawlish, who leads a double life as a roundhead-baiting highwayman called "The Moonraker", who already has helped more than thirty royalists to escape to France.
Synopsis
After the Battle of Worcester at the end of the Second English Civil War, the main aim of General Oliver Cromwell (John Le Mesurier) is to capture Charles Stuart (Gary Raymond), son of the executed Charles I. However, the dashing Royalist hero nicknamed "the Moonraker" (George Baker) prepares to smuggle him to safety in France, under the noses of Cromwell's soldiers. According to the story, the hero is called "the Moonraker" after the smuggler term, Moonrakers, sometimes claimed to hide contraband in the village pond and to rake it out by moonlight.
Cast
- George Baker as the Moonraker, otherwise Anthony, Earl of Dawlish
- Sylvia Syms as Ann Wyndham
- Marius Goring as Colonel Beaumont
- Peter Arne as Edmund Tyler
- Clive Morton as Lord Harcourt
- Gary Raymond as Charles Stuart
- Richard Leech as Henry Strangeways
- Iris Russell as Judith Strangeways
- Michael Anderson Jr. as Martin Strangeways
- Paul Whitsun-Jones as Parfitt
- John Le Mesurier as Oliver Cromwell
- Patrick Troughton as Captain Wilcox
- Julian Somers as Captain Foster
- Sylvia Bidmead as Meg
- Patrick Waddington as Lord Dorset
- Fanny Rowe as Lady Dorset
- Jennifer Browne as Henrietta Dorset
- Richard Warner as Trooper
- George Woodbridge as Captain Lowry
- Victor Brooks as Blacksmith