''The Big Splash'' is a 1935 British
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Leslie S. Hiscott
Leslie Stephenson Hiscott (25 July 18943 May 1968) was an English film director and screenwriter who made over sixty films between 1925 and 1956. He was born in London in 1894. He directed ''Alibi'' (1931), the first ever depiction of Hercule ...
and starring
Frank Pettingell
Frank Edmund George Pettingell (1 January 1891 – 17 February 1966) was an English actor.
Pettingell was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and educated at Manchester University. During the First World War he served with the King's Liverpool Re ...
,
Finlay Currie
William Finlay Currie (20 January 1878 – 9 May 1968) was a Scottish actor of stage, screen, and television.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 175-176; He re ...
and
Marguerite Allan
Helen Marguerite Allan (30 August 1905 – 29 January 1994) was a Russian-born British actress, who appeared in film roles between 1928 and 1942 Allan was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia before moving to the United Kingdom, where she married Ken ...
. A
millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...
hires a man to play his
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
. It was made as a
quota quickie
The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 ('' 17 & 18 Geo. V'') was an act of the United Kingdom Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry. It received Royal Assent on 20 December 1927 and came into force on 1 April 1928.
D ...
at
Beaconsfield Studios
Beaconsfield Film Studios is a British television and film studio in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. The studios were operational as a production site for films in 1922, and continued producing films - and, later, TV shows - until the 1960s. Bri ...
.
[Wood p.81]
Cast
*
Frank Pettingell
Frank Edmund George Pettingell (1 January 1891 – 17 February 1966) was an English actor.
Pettingell was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and educated at Manchester University. During the First World War he served with the King's Liverpool Re ...
as Bodkin
*
Finlay Currie
William Finlay Currie (20 January 1878 – 9 May 1968) was a Scottish actor of stage, screen, and television.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 175-176; He re ...
as Hartley Bassett
*
Marguerite Allan
Helen Marguerite Allan (30 August 1905 – 29 January 1994) was a Russian-born British actress, who appeared in film roles between 1928 and 1942 Allan was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia before moving to the United Kingdom, where she married Ken ...
as Germaine
*
Drusilla Wills
Drusilla Wills (14 November 18846 August 1951) was a British stage and film actress. After making her stage debut in 1902, she played character roles in many films, including as a jury member in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Murder!'' (1930).
Selected f ...
as Mrs Bodkin
*
Roy Royston
Roy Royston MC (born Roy Charles Crowden, 5 April 1899 – 7 October 1976) was an English actor who appeared in a large number of films between 1912 and 1966, beginning as a child actor. Most of his films were silents made before the First Wo ...
as Jack Trent
*
Ben Welden
Ben Welden (born Benjamin Weinblatt; June 12, 1901 – October 17, 1997) was an American character actor who played a wide variety of Damon Runyon-type gangsters in various movies and television shows.
Early years
Welden was born in Toledo, O ...
as Crook
*
Percy Parsons
Edward Percy Parsons (1878–1944) was an American actor and singer who worked largely in the British film industry.
Selected filmography
* ''Suspense (1930 film), Suspense'' (1930)
* ''Beyond the Cities'' (1930)
* ''Creeping Shadows'' (1931)
* ' ...
as Crook
References
Bibliography
* Chibnall, Steve. ''Quota Quickies: The Birth of the British 'B' Film''. British Film Institute, 2007.
* Low, Rachael. ''Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
* Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.
External links
*
1935 films
British comedy films
1935 comedy films
1930s English-language films
Films directed by Leslie S. Hiscott
Films shot at Beaconsfield Studios
Quota quickies
British black-and-white films
1930s British films
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