Anthony Frank Hinds (19 September 1922 – 30 September 2013
telegraph.co.uk, 3 October 2013), also known as Tony Hinds and John Elder, was an English screenwriter and producer.

Early life

The son of the founder of

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve clas ...

William Hinds William Hinds (21 November 1887 – 1 June 1957), stage name Will Hammer, was one of the founders of Hammer Film Productions. Jeweller Hinds was a jeweller from London who, with his brother Frank, owned and ran Hinds Jewellers. Hinds and h ...

, Anthony Hinds was born in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

and educated at St Paul's School. He briefly joined his father's business before his war service as a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Career

In 1946 Hinds returned to Hammer and initially produced a great many modest thrillers. One of these was ''The Dark Road'' (1947), one of the

quota quickies Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a trade restriction on the quantity of goods imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * Indi ...

, which featured a jewellery shop called 'Hinds', a reference to his father's original business. This business had been divided in the 1920s between William and his brother Frank Hinds. Frank's part is now the

F. Hinds F. Hinds is a jewellery retailing chain, operating in England and Wales. There are currently 116 F Hinds stores within the United Kingdom. History Beginnings (1856-1990) The chain is an independent retailer which was founded in 1856 by Georg ...

national jewellery chain. In the summer of 1953 Hinds was enthralled by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's ''

The Quatermass Experiment ''The Quatermass Experiment'' is a British science fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television during the summer of 1953 and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells th ...

'', a six-part

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

thriller written by

Nigel Kneale Thomas Nigel Kneale (28 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British S ...

. Hinds was so impressed by what he saw that he suggested Hammer buy the big screen rights. They approached the BBC and snapped up the rights. After requesting the new 'X' certificate from the

British Board of Film Censors The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of fi ...

, ''

The Quatermass Xperiment ''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (a.k.a. ''The Creeping Unknown'' in the United States) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial ''The Quatermass Experiment'' written by Ni ...

'' (1955) was a box-office success and was the first of the three

Quatermass Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the Brit ...

cinema films based on the television serials. Hinds came up with the idea of hiring country houses and shooting films in the rooms and grounds of the locations, which saved the cost of kitting out a full studio. The company acquired Down Place, renaming it

Bray Studios Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era, becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the ...

, and was based there until 1966. Under the pseudonym John Elder he was a prolific screenwriter and from the mid-1960s he concentrated on this activity, though he produced the TV series ''

Journey to the Unknown ''Journey to the Unknown'' is a British anthology television series, produced by Hammer Film Productions and 20th Century Fox Television. It aired on ABC from September 26, 1968, to January 30, 1969.LWT London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

(1968–69) and '' The Lost Continent'' (1968). The horror script ''The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula'', which he wrote in the 1970s for Hammer, was never filmed. In October 2015 it was presented as a live stage reading by the Mayhem Film Festival at the Broadway Cinema in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, featuring the actor and film historian

Jonathan Rigby Jonathan Rigby is an English actor and film historian who has written several books. ''Video Watchdog'' magazine described him as occupying "a proud place in the advance guard of film researchers, writers and critics," and in 2020 he was inducted ...

as narrator. In October 2017 a studio production of the script was broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, with narration by

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage role ...

Selected filmography

* ''

Meet Simon Cherry ''Meet Simon Cherry'' is a 1949 British mystery film directed by Godfrey Grayson, and an adaptation of the popular BBC radio series ''Meet the Rev.'', featuring the crime solving cleric. Plot When the Rev. Simon Cherry (Hugh Moxey) sets off for a ...

'' (1949) * '' Celia'' (1949) * ''

The Adventures of PC 49 ''The Adventures of PC 49'' is a 1949 British crime film directed by Godfrey Grayson, starring Hugh Latimer (actor), Hugh Latimer, John Penrose (actor), John Penrose and Annette D. Simmonds.Chibnall & McFarlane p.241 It is also known by the subt ...

'' (1949) * '' Room to Let'' (1950) * ''

A Case for PC 49 ''A Case for PC 49'' is a 1951 British mystery film directed by Francis Searle and starring Brian Reece, Joy Shelton and Christine Norden.Chibnall & MacFarlane p.79 It was made by Hammer Films at Bray Studios. The film was based on a popular ra ...

'' (1951) * '' The Dark Light'' (1951) * '' To Have and to Hold'' (1951) * ''

Wings of Danger ''Wings of Danger'', released in the United States as ''Dead on Course'', is a 1952 British crime film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Zachary Scott, Robert Beatty and Kay Kendall.Erickson, Ha"Overview: 'Wings of Danger' (1952)."''AllMov ...

'' (1952) * ''

Death of an Angel ''Death of an Angel'' is a 1952 British crime drama film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Patrick Barr, Jane Baxter and Jean Lodge.Chibnall & McFarlane p.79 It was filmed at Bray Studios as a second feature. Synopsis When a doctor's w ...

'' (1952)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinds, Anthony 1922 births 2013 deaths English film producers English male screenwriters Hammer Film Productions People educated at St Paul's School, London Royal Air Force personnel of World War II 20th-century English businesspeople