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Charters And Caldicott
Charters and Caldicott started out as two supporting characters in the 1938 Alfred Hitchcock film ''The Lady Vanishes''. The pair of cricket-obsessed characters were played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford. The characters were created by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat. The duo became very popular and were used as recurring characters in subsequent films and in BBC Radio productions. Charters and Caldicott have also been played by other actors including eventually their own BBC television series. Radford and Wayne's appearances In their first appearance, in the 1938 Alfred Hitchcock film ''The Lady Vanishes'', Charters and Caldicott are singleminded cricket enthusiasts, whose only initial concern is to get back to England to see the last days of a Test match. They proved so popular with audiences that they returned in the Gilliat-and-Launder film ''Night Train to Munich'' (1940, starring Margaret Lockwood). They also appeared in two BBC radio serials, ''Crook's Tour'' (1941, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil Radford
Arthur Basil RadfordAdam Greaves, "Radford, (Arthur) Basil (1897–1952)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, May 201available online Retrieved 3 August 2020. (25 June 189720 October 1952) was an English character actor who featured in many British films of the 1930s and 1940s. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his first stage appearance in July 1924. He is probably best remembered for his appearances alongside Naunton Wayne as two cricket-obsessed Englishmen in several films from 1938 to 1949. Early life Radford was born in Chester, England, on 25 June 1897. First World War He was a commissioned officer in the British South Staffordshire Regiment in the First World War, in 1918 transferring into the Royal Air Force, ending the war as a subaltern when he was demobilised in 1920. Radford had a crescent-shaped scar on his right cheek from a wound sustained during his time in the trenches. Depending on the lighting and cam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 1932, although the start of its regular service of television broadcasts is dated to 2 November 1936. The BBC's domestic television channels have no commercial advertising and collectively they accounted for more than 30% of all UK viewing in 2013. The services are funded by a television licence. As a result of the 2016 Licence Fee settlement, the BBC Television division was split, with in-house television production being separated into a new division called BBC Studios and the remaining parts of television (channels and genre commissioning, BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer) being renamed as BBC Content. History of BBC Television The BBC operates several television networks, television stations (although there is generally very little distincti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carol Reed
Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for ''Odd Man Out'' (1947), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), ''The Third Man'' (1949), and '' Oliver!'' (1968), for which he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Director. ''Odd Man Out'' was the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. ''The Fallen Idol'' won the second BAFTA Award for Best British Film. The British Film Institute voted ''The Third Man'' the greatest British film of the 20th century. Early life and career Carol Reed was born in Putney, southwest London.Philip Kem"Reed, Carol (1906-1976)" ''Reference Guide to British and Irish Film Director'', reprinted at BFI Screenonline. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' has Wandsworth, London as Reed's place of birth. He was the son of actor-producer Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress, Beatrice May Pinney, who later adopted the surname of Reed. He was educated at The King's School, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. He was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivien Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, at age 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery. Early years (1904–1922) Henry Graham Greene was born in 1904 in St John's House, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stop Press Girl
''Stop Press Girl'' is a 1949 British fantasy comedy film directed by Michael Barry and starring Sally Ann Howes, Gordon Jackson, Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne; the latter two appearing in several different roles in the film. The film was one of the four of David Rawnsley's films that used his "independent frame" technique, a form of back projection. Plot Roy Fairfax, junior partner for timepiece manufacturers Fairfax & Sons, arrives in the quiet village of Slipfold to visit his fiancée Jennfier Peters and ask her uncle for permission to marry. On his way through town in his new motorcar, Roy causes a commotion and spooks the horse of village dentist Arthur Peters. Arriving at her home, Roy encourages Jennifer to join him for a drive and gives her a new watch in lieu of an engagement ring, however Jennifer explains she never wears a watch as they always seem to stop. After only fifteen minutes Roy's car stops working as does the watch he gave to Jennifer and later his own wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helter Skelter (1949 Film)
''Helter Skelter'' is a 1949 British romantic comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Carol Marsh, David Tomlinson and Mervyn Johns. A radio star becomes involved with a wealthy heiress. The recurring English comic characters Charters and Caldicott also appeared in the film. Plot Susan Graham is a discontented heiress whose joint guardians are both trying to get her married to their odious nephews. On her nineteenth birthday, the five of them visit a nightclub called the Magnolia Club; also present happens to be radio star Nick Martin, whom Susan detests. When she is inadvertently seated at Martin's table directly in front of the floor show, she refuses to move, and Martin, despite his radio reputation as a fearless detective, is too intimidated by her hauteur to insist. This, however, proves to be a mixed blessing for Susan; when the evening's principal performer, a ventriloquist, comes out, she laughs so hard at his routine that she gets a bad case of the hiccups. Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
It's Not Cricket (1949 Film)
''It's Not Cricket'' is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Alfred Roome and starring Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Susan Shaw and Maurice Denham. It is the second (after 1941's ''Crook's Tour'') of two starring films for Radford and Wayne who appeared as supporting players in ten other films. It was also one of the final films made by Gainsborough Pictures before the studio was merged into the Rank Organisation. Plot Major Bright and Captain Early are intelligence officers in the British army of occupation in post-World War 2 Germany. They are sent home on leave, but fail to notice that their new batman is actually wanted war criminal Otto Fisch. He vanishes on arrival in England and the two officers are punished by early demobilisation. Uncertain what to do in civvy street, they decide to use the "skills" they learned in the army and set up a private detective agency, "Bright and Early". They engage a secretary, Primrose Brown, but she's not very busy as they have as yet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quartet (1948 Film)
''Quartet'' is a 1948 British anthology film with four segments, each based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham. The author appears at the start and end of the movie to introduce the stories and comment about his writing career. It was successful enough to produce two sequels, '' Trio'' (1950) and ''Encore'' (1951), and popularised the compendium film format, leading to films such as ''O. Henry's Full House'' in 1952. The screenplays for the stories were all written by R. C. Sherriff. The Facts of Life Based on "The Facts of Life", included in the 1940 collection of Maugham stories ''The Mixture as Before''. * Director: Ralph Smart * Cinematographer: Ray Elton Cast * Jack Watling as Nicky * Mai Zetterling as Jeanne * Basil Radford as Henry Garnet * Angela Baddeley as Mrs. Garnet * Naunton Wayne as Leslie * Ian Fleming as Ralph * Jack Raine as Thomas * James Robertson Justice as Branksome Plot Despite their reservations, Mr. and Mrs. Garnet allow their promising tennis player s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Girl In A Million
''A Girl in a Million'' is a 1946 British comedy film. It is notable for featuring Joan Greenwood in an early starring role; and Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne in their comedy double act as two cricket-obsessed Englishmen, this time called Fotheringham and Prendergast. Plot Tony is an inventor who divorces a shrewish, nagging wife, and desiring to avoid all women, finds employment in a remote all-male department of the War Office. However, a woman soon arrives in the form of U.S. colonel's daughter, Gay, who is shell-shocked, and has lost the power of speech. Charmed by her and by the contrast with his former talkative wife, Tony soon falls in love and marries her. However, once wed, Gay suffers a further shock and recovers her speech, proving quite the match for Tony's first wife. Cast * Hugh Williams as Tony * Joan Greenwood as Gay * Basil Radford as Prendergast * Naunton Wayne as Fotheringham * Wylie Watson as Peabody * Yvonne Owen as Molly * Hartley Power as Colonel Sultz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dead Of Night
''Dead of Night'' is a 1945 black and white British anthology horror film, made by Ealing Studios. The individual segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Sally Ann Howes and Michael Redgrave. The film is best remembered for the concluding story featuring Redgrave and an insane ventriloquist's malevolent dummy. ''Dead of Night'' is a rare British horror film of the 1940s; horror films were banned from production in Britain during the war. It had an influence on subsequent British films in the genre. Both of John Baines' stories were reused for later films and the ventriloquist dummy episode was adapted into the pilot episode of the long-running CBS radio series ''Escape''. While primarily in the horror genre, the film has shades of the comedy that would make the studio's name. Plot Walter Craig arrives at a country cottage in Kent, where he is greeted by his host Elliot Foley. Crai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I See A Dark Stranger
''I See a Dark Stranger'' – released as ''The Adventuress'' in the United States – is a 1946 British World War II spy film with touches of light comedy, by the team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, and starring Deborah Kerr and Trevor Howard. As the film was made during the war the final section of the film "Peace" is clearly either an additional or alternative ending. It is a strange movie to judge where the empathy of the British audience is meant to lie. Bridie herself, who is Irish and openly anti-British is willing to help the Germans at the outset and through most of the film. Plot In May 1944, during World War II, a young Irishwoman, Bridie Quilty, turns 21 and sets out to fulfil a lifelong dream born in listening to her late father's stories of the Irish Revolution. She leaves her rural village and goes to Dublin. On the way, she shares a train compartment with J. Miller, but believing him to be English, she is very brusque with him. On arrival, she se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Millions Like Us
''Millions Like Us'' is a 1943 British propaganda film, showing life in a wartime aircraft factory in documentary detail. It starred Patricia Roc, Gordon Jackson, Anne Crawford, Eric Portman and Megs Jenkins. It was co-written and co-directed by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder. According to the British Film Institute database, this film is the first in an "unofficial trilogy", along with '' Two Thousand Women'' (1944) and '' Waterloo Road'' (1945). Plot The opening credits show huge crowds of workers going into factories. The narrator begins the film with nostalgic views of crowded beaches and remembering what it was like to eat an orange (unavailable in the war). Celia Crowson and her family go on holiday to the south coast of England in the summer of 1939, staying in the guest house they visit every year. Soon afterwards, the Second World War breaks out and Celia's father joins what was to become the Home Guard. Her more confident sister Phyllis joins the Auxiliary Territo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
