''The Night Porter'' is a 1930 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 Sewell Collins and starring

Donald Calthrop Donald Esme Clayton Calthrop (11 April 1888 – 15 July 1940) was an English stage and film actor. Born in London, Calthrop was educated at St Paul's School and made his first stage appearance at eighteen years of age at the Comedy Theatr ...

, Trilby Clark and

Gerald Rawlinson Gerald Rawlinson (1904–1975) was a British actor. Selected filmography *''The Hellcat'' (1928) *''Life's a Stage'' (1928) *'' The Rising Generation'' (1928) *'' Young Woodley'' (1928) *'' The Silent House'' (1929) *''The Devil's Maze'' (192 ...

. The film was made by Gaumont British Picture Corporation, an affiliate of

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 com ...

, at the Lime Grove Studios with sets designed by

Andrew Mazzei Andrew Mazzei (1887–1975) was a French-born British art director who designed the sets for more than sixty films during his career. Mazzei began his career in the late 1920s during the silent era including on the futuristic ''High Treason''. ...

. It was produced 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 ...

for release as a

second feature A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

.Chibnall p.261 It was based on a popular music hall sketch by Fred Rome and Harry Wall depicting a honeymooning couple and the hotel

night porter A night porter is a porter who is on duty during the night. A hotel commonly has a night porter to attend to the needs of guests and other incidents during the night. Traditionally a night porter might also be required to perform sundry mainten ...

they encounter.

Cast

as The Porter * Trilby Clark as The Wife *

as The Husband *

Barbara Gott Barbara Gott (1872–1944) was a Scottish stage and film actress. In 1913 she made her West End debut in Stanley Houghton's '' Trust the People''. Partial filmography * ''Betta, the Gipsy'' (1918) * '' The Romance of Lady Hamilton'' (1919) - ...

* Tom Shale *

Anna Ludmilla Anna Ludmilla (January 12, 1903, Chicago – April 18, 1990, Houston), born Jean Marie Kaley, was a ballet dancer based in Chicago, New York City, and then France. She toured widely before injuring her leg in 1930 and after that focused on ballroom ...

References

Bibliography

* Chibnall, Steve. ''Quota Quickies: The Birth of the British 'B' Film''. British Film Institute, 2007. *Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927–1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

1930 films 1930 comedy films British comedy films Films set in England Gainsborough Pictures films Films shot at Lime Grove Studios Films directed by Sewell Collins British black-and-white films Quota quickies 1930s English-language films 1930s British films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub