John Paddy Carstairs (born John Keys; 11 May 1910, in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
– 12 December 1970, in London) was a British
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
(1933–62) and television director (1962–64), usually of light-hearted subject matter. He was also a
comic novel
A comic novel is a Novel, novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's liter ...
ist and
painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
.
Biography
The son of actor Nelson Keys, Carstairs changed his name in order to avoid the appearance of
nepotism
Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...
. He directed 37 films in total. He had a long association with the character of
Simon Templar
The Saint is the nickname of the fictional character Simon Templar, featured in a List of works by Leslie Charteris, series of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date other authors collaborat ...
(the character's creator,
Leslie Charteris
Leslie Charteris (; born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin; 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.The Saint in the Sun'' to Carstairs). Aside from directing the 1939 ''Saint'' film, '' The Saint in London'', he also directed two episodes of '' The Saint'' in the 1960s, making him the only individual (other than Charteris himself) to be connected to both the Hollywood film and British series of ''The Saint''.
Carstairs directed many British comedies including
Norman Wisdom
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, (4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010), was an English actor, comedian, musician, and singer, best known for his series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966, in which he portrayed the endearingly inept charact ...
's first six films.
''Filmink'' magazine argued Carstairs had "a style as recogniseable as any British auteur – we’re surprised more academics don’t discuss him."
Death
Carstairs died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
on 12 December 1970, aged 60.
Select bibliography
*''Honest Injun'' (1942)
*''Gremlins in the Cabbage Patch'' (1944)
*''Hadn't We the Gaiety'' (1945)
*''Kaleidoscope and a Jaundiced Eye'' (1946)
* '' Solid! Said the Earl'' (1948)
Selected filmography
* ''
A Honeymoon Adventure
''A Honeymoon Adventure'' is a 1931 British thriller film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Benita Hume, Peter Hannen and Harold Huth. Written in collaboration by Rupert Downing and Basil Dean, it The film was shot at Beaconsfield Studi ...
Love on the Spot
''Love on the Spot'' is a 1932 British musical film directed by Graham Cutts and starring Rosemary Ames, Richard Dolman and Aubrey Mather.
Plot
Two criminals are reformed when they meet and fall in love.
Cast
* Rosemary Ames as Joan Prior
* ...
'' (1932, screenwriter)
* '' It's a Boy'' (1933, screenwriter)
* '' Paris Plane'' (1933)
* ''
Boomerang
A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...
It's a Cop
''It's a Cop'' is a 1934 Cinema of the United Kingdom, British police-themed comedy film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Sydney Howard, Chili Bouchier and Garry Marsh. It was made at British and Dominions Imperial Studios, British and Do ...
'' (1934, screenwriter)
* '' Lost in the Legion'' (1934, screenwriter)
* ''
Falling in Love
Falling in love is the development of strong feelings of attachment and love, usually towards another person.
The term is metaphorical, emphasizing that the process, like the physical act of falling, is sudden, uncontrollable and leaves the ...
Incident in Shanghai
''Incident in Shanghai'' is a 1938 British drama film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Margaret Vyner, Patrick Barr, Ralph Roberts and Derek Gorst. It was made at Pinewood Studios as a quota quickie for release by Paramount Pict ...
A Yank at Oxford
''A Yank at Oxford'' is a 1938 comedy-drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Vivien Leigh and Edmund Gwenn. The screenplay was written by John Monk Saunders and Leon Gordon. ...
The Lambeth Walk
"The Lambeth Walk" is a song from the 1937 musical theater, musical ''Me and My Girl'' (with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay). The song takes its name from a local street, Lambeth Walk, once notable for i ...
Up in the World
''Up in the World'' is a 1956 black and white comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom, Maureen Swanson and Jerry Desmonde. It was written by Jack Davies, Henty Blyth and Peter Blackmore, and produced by Rank ...