The Beggar's Opera

Based on John Gray's ballad opera, this film finds philandering highwayman Captain MacHeath (Laurence Olivier) precariously balancing the affections of two young maids (Dorothy Tutin, Daphne Anderson). This earns MacHeath a pair of powerful enemies in the girls' fathers: the vengeful Peachum (George Devine) and the dishonorable constable Lockit (Stanley Holloway). They plot to imprison MacHeath. But even as his death sentence nears, the dashing cad discovers an unexpected key to salvation.