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Arthur Crabtree
Arthur Crabtree (29 October 1900 in Shipley, Yorkshire, England – 15 March 1975 in Worthing, Sussex, England) was a British cinematographer and film director. He directed films with comedians such as Will Hay, the Crazy Gang and Arthur Askey and several of the Gainsborough Melodramas. Cinematographer Crabtree earliest credits as a cinematographer were for British International Pictures. He shot '' Out of the Blue'' (1931) with Jessie Matthews; '' Verdict of the Sea'' (1932); and ''The Maid of the Mountains'' (1932). Crabtree did some films for Michael Powell, '' Lazybones'' (1935) and ''The Love Test'' (1935). He was a camera operator on ''First a Girl''. Gainsborough Pictures Crabtree joined Gainsborough Pictures. He worked on '' The First Offence'' (1936) with John Mills; '' Pot Luck'' (1936) with Tom Walls and Ralph Lynn; '' Everybody Dance'' (1936) with Cicely Courtneidge; and '' All In'' (1936) with Lynn for director Marcel Varnel. He went on to ''Good Mornin ...
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Shipley, West Yorkshire
Shipley is a historic market town and civil parish in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford. The population of the Shipley ward on Bradford City Council taken at the 2011 Census was 15,483. Before 1974 Shipley was an urban district in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The town forms a continuous urban area with Bradford. It has a population of approximately 28,162. History Toponymy The place-name ''Shipley'' derives from two words: the Old English ('sheep', a Northumbrian dialect form, contrasting with the Anglian dialect form which underlies modern English ''sheep'') and meaning either 'a forest, wood, glade, clearing' or, later, 'a pasture, meadow'. It has therefore been variously defined as 'forest clearing used for sheep' or 'sheep field'. Early history Shipley appears to have first been settled in the late Bronze Age and is mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'' of 1086, in the form . I ...
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Lazybones (1935 Film)
''Lazybones'' is a 1935 British film directed by Michael Powell. It was made as a Quota quickie. Plot Sir Reginald Ford ( Ian Hunter), known as "Lazybones", is an idle baronet. He hasn't a care in the world, although he doesn't have any money either. His brother and sister introduce him to Kitty McCarthy (Claire Luce), an American heiress, in the hope that he'll marry her and so gain access to her fortune which will help out his family. Kitty's cousin Mike (Bernard Nedell) brings Kitty the bad news that she's lost her fortune. Mike is hoping to grab the maps for some Arabian oil fields that are being kept in the house. They are being guarded by two detectives and everybody chasing everybody else whilst trying to get the plans makes an amusing sub-plot. Back in the main story line, Reginald has discovered that he loves Kitty for herself and doesn't care about her not having a fortune. So they get married, despite the warnings from a pessimistic passer-by who they call in as a wit ...
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Marcel Varnel
Marcel Varnel (16 October 1892 – 13 July 1947) was French film director, notably however for his career in the United States and England as a director of plays and films Biography He was born Marcel Hyacinthe le Bozec in Paris, France. Varnel started his working life on the Paris stage, soon becoming a director of musical comedies. In 1925 he moved to New York City working as director in several Broadway operettas, musicals and dramas for the Shubert family. This was followed by a move to Hollywood where he directed three low budget thrillers. In 1934, he moved to England and it was as a director of British comedies – initially working at British International Pictures, Elstree, then moving in 1936 to Gainsborough Pictures – where he produced his best films. Among the performers he worked with were Will Hay, The Crazy Gang, Arthur Askey and George Formby. He died in a car crash near Rake, West Sussex Rogate is a village and civil parish in the Chichester district ...
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All In (film)
''All In'' is a 1936 British sports comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Ralph Lynn, Gina Malo and Garry Marsh. The owner of a racing stables has high hopes of winning The Derby, but fate intervenes. It is also known by the alternative title ''Tattenham Corner'', from the play on which it is based. The film was made at Islington Studios by Gainsborough Pictures with sets designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. It was based on a play, ''Tattenham Corner'', by Philip Merivale and Brandon Fleming, which takes its name from a sharp bend on Epsom Racecourse, where the Derby is run. Cast * Ralph Lynn as Archie Slott * Gina Malo as Kay Slott * Jack Barty as Tingaling Tom * Claude Dampier as Toop * Sydney Fairbrother as Genesta Slott * Garry Marsh as Lilleywhite * Robert Nainby as Eustace Slott * O. B. Clarence as Hemingway * Gibb McLaughlin as Reverend Cuppleditch * Glennis Lorimer as Kitty * Fewlass Llewellyn Fewlass Llewellyn (5 March 1886 – 16 ...
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Cicely Courtneidge
Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge, (1 April 1893 – 26 April 1980) was an Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of the producer and playwright Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West End by the age of 16, and was quickly promoted from minor to major roles in his Edwardian musical comedies. After the outbreak of the First World War, her father had a series of failures and temporarily withdrew from production. No other producers offered the young Courtneidge leading roles in musical comedies, and she turned instead to the music hall, learning her craft as a comedian. In 1916 she married the actor and dancer Jack Hulbert, with whom she formed a professional as well as a matrimonial partnership that lasted until his death 62 years later. They acted together on stage and screen, initially in a series of revues, with Hulbert frequently producing as well as performing. Courtneidge appeared in 12 British films in the 1930s, a ...
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Everybody Dance (film)
''Everybody Dance'' is a 1936 British musical film directed by Charles Reisner and starring Cicely Courtneidge, Ernest Truex, Percy Parsons and Alma Taylor. The film's sets were designed by Alex Vetchinsky. It was made at Islington Studios. Plot When a successful nightclub singer (Cicely Courtneidge) finds herself guardian to her late sisters children, she ditches her singing career and takes the kids to live on a farm. Her manager is less than happy and resorts to legal means to try and stop her. Cast * Cicely Courtneidge as Katharine 'Lady Kate' Levering * Ernest Truex as Wilbur Spurgeon * Percy Parsons as Josiah Spurgeon * Alma Taylor as Rosemary Spurgeon * Chuck Reisner Jr. as Tony Spurgeon * Billie De la Volta as Shirley Spurgeon * Kathleen Harrison as Lucy * Bruce Winston as Pierre * C. Denier Warren as Dan Fleming * Peter Gawthorne as Sir Rowland Morton * Helen Haye Helen Haye (born Helen Hay, 28 August 1874 – 1 September 1957) was a British stage and film actress. ...
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Ralph Lynn
Ralph Clifford Lynn (8 March 1882 – 8 August 1962) was an English actor who had a 60-year career, and is best remembered for playing comedy parts in the Aldwych farces first on stage and then in film. Lynn became an actor at the age of 18 and very soon began to be cast in knut or "silly ass" roles. He played such parts as a supporting actor for more than two decades until 1922, when he was cast in the lead of a new West End farce, '' Tons of Money'', in which he achieved immediate stardom. After the success of this play, its co-producer, the actor-manager Tom Walls, leased the Aldwych Theatre in London, where for the next ten years he and Lynn co-starred in a series of successful farces, most of which were written for them by Ben Travers. Many of the Aldwych farces were made into films starring Lynn and Walls, and the two were ranked among the most popular British film actors of the 1930s. He continued his stage career during and after the Second World War, scoring anothe ...
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Tom Walls
Thomas Kirby Walls (18 February 1883 – 27 November 1949) was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adaptations of those plays in the 1930s. Walls spent his early years as an actor, from 1905, mostly in musical comedy, touring the British provinces, North America and Australia and in the West End. He specialised in comic character roles, typically flirtatious middle aged men. In 1922 he went into management in partnership with the comic actor Leslie Henson. They had an early success in the West End with a long-running farce, '' Tons of Money'', after which Walls commissioned and staged a series of farces at the Aldwych Theatre that ran almost continuously over the next decade. He and his co-star Ralph Lynn were among the most popular British actors of their time. In addition to his work in the theatre, Walls directed and acted in more than ...
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Pot Luck (1936 Film)
''Pot Luck'' is a 1936 British comedy film directed by and starring Tom Walls. The screenplay is by Ben Travers based loosely on his 1930 stage play '' A Night Like This''. It also featured Ralph Lynn, Robertson Hare, Diana Churchill and Martita Hunt. The cast included members of the regular Aldwych Farce company. Plot A retired Scotland Yard detective, Patrick Fitzpatrick (Tom Walls) comes back to take one final case, tracking down a missing vase which has been stolen by a gang of thieves specialising in taking art treasures. His investigation takes him to the home of the innocent Mr Pye (Robertson Hare), whose house has been used by the crooks to hide their proceeds. Cast * Tom Walls as Inspector Patrick Fitzpatrick * Ralph Lynn as Reggie Bathbrick * Diana Churchill as Jane Bathbrick * Robertson Hare as Mr Pye * Peter Gawthorne as Chief Constable * Gordon James as Cream (the butler) * Martita Hunt as Mrs Cream (the cook) * J.A. O'Rourke as Kelly * Cyril Smith as Miller Critic ...
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John Mills
Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portrayed guileless, wounded war heroes. In 1971, he received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ''Ryan's Daughter''. For his work in film Mills was knighted by Elizabeth II in 1976. In 2002, he received a BAFTA Fellowship from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was named a Disney Legend by The Walt Disney Company. Early life John Mills was born on 22 February 1908 in North Elmham, Norfolk, the son of Edith Mills (née Baker), a theatre box office manager, and Lewis Mills, a mathematics teacher. Mills was born at Watts Naval School, where his father was a master. He spent his early years in the village of Belton where his father was the headmaster of the village school. He first felt the thrill o ...
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The First Offence
''The First Offence'' is a 1936 British low-budget "quota quickie" drama film directed by Herbert Mason, produced by Michael Balcon for Gainsborough Pictures and distributed by Gaumont-British Distributors. The cast includes John Mills, Lilli Palmer and Bernard Nedell. The story was written by Stafford Dickens and Austin Melford. It is a remake of the 1934 French film ''Mauvaise Graine'', directed by Billy Wilder. Plot A wealthy doctor's rich and spoiled son, Johnnie Penrose joins a gang of car thieves in France after being denied a car by his father. Cast * John Mills as Johnnie Penrose * Lilli Palmer as Jeanette * Bernard Nedell as The Boss * Michel André as Michel * H. G. Stoker as Doctor Penrose * Jean Wall as The Zebra * Paul Velsa as Peanuts * Marcel Maupi as Man in Panama Hat * Judy Kelly as Girl in Garage * Marcel André as Michel Production The film was originally called ''Bad Blood'' and was going to star Paul Robeson. Filming took place in London.Neale, 2012, p. ...
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Gainsborough Pictures
Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The company was initially based at Islington Studios, which were built as a power station for the Northern City Line, Great Northern & City Railway and later converted to studios. Other films were made at Lime Grove Studios, Lime Grove and Pinewood Studios. The former Islington studio was converted to flats in 2004 and a London Borough of Hackney historical plaque is attached to the building. The studio is best remembered for the Gainsborough melodramas it produced in the 1940s. Gainsborough Pictures is now owned by Gregory Motton. History Gainsborough was founded in 1924 by Michael Balcon and, from 1927, was a sister company to the Gaumont British, with Balcon as Director of Production for both studios. Whilst Gaumont-British, based at Lime ...
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