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Folly To Be Wise
''Folly to Be Wise'' is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Frank Launder and starring Alastair Sim, Elizabeth Allan, Roland Culver, Colin Gordon, Martita Hunt and Edward Chapman. It was written by James Bridie, John Dighton and Launder based on Bridie's play ''It Depends What You Mean''. The film follows the efforts of a British Army chaplain attempting to recruit entertainment acts to perform for the troops and the complications that ensue when he does. The title is taken from the line by Thomas Gray "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise". Plot Having recently taken over the role of Entertainments Officer at an army camp, the army chaplain Captain William Paris is disheartened that so few of the troops turn out for an evening of classical music. He visits a local pub, "The Rose and Crown", and finds the place packed with soldiers, including his own driver. He resolves to try and secure something more entertaining for the troops and decides to copy the idea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Launder
Frank Launder (28 January 1906 – 23 February 1997) was a British writer, film director and producer, who made more than 40 films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat. Early life and career He was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England and worked briefly as a clerk before becoming an actor and then a playwright. He began working as a screenwriter on British films in the 1930s, contributing the original story for the classic Will Hay comedy '' Oh, Mr Porter!'' (1937). Sidney Gilliat Launder first collaborated with Gilliat in 1936 on the film '' Seven Sinners''. After writing a number of screenplays with Gilliat, including ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938) for Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ..., and '' Night Train to Munich'' for Caro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; ; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956) BFI Screenonline. was a Hungarian–born British film director, producer, and screenwriter, who founded his own film production studios and film distribution company. Born in , where he began his career, he worked briefly in the Austrian and German film industries during the era of silent films, before being based in Hollywood from 1926 to 1930 for the first of his two brief perio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westminster Theatre
The Westminster Theatre was a theatre in London, on Palace Street in Westminster. History The structure on the site was originally built as the Charlotte Chapel in 1766, by William Dodd with money from his wife Mary Perkins. Through Peter Richard Hoare it came into the hands of the family owning Hoare's Bank, and was called St Peter's Chapel. It was altered and given a new frontage, by John Stanley Coombe Beard for use as a cinema, St James's Picture Theatre, opened in 1924. The conversion was by a group with court connections including Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood. The film shown at the opening was '' Rob Roy''. The Picture Theatre then became a venue for live drama in 1931 after radical alterations, at the hands of Alderson Burrell Horne (1863–1953). Horne was known in the theatrical world as Anmer Hall, and also used the stage name Waldo Wright. In the mid 1930s Kathleen Mary Robinson came from Australia to study theatre production and she helped the produ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of Pinewood Group, the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused with the Californian recording studio of Sound City Studios, the same name). History 1930s–1960s Shepperton Studios was built on the grounds of Littleton Park, which was built in the 17th century by local nobleman Thomas Wood. The old mansion still stands on the site. Scottish businessman Norman Loudon purchased Littleton Park in 1931 for use by his new film company, Sound Film Producing & Recording Studios; the facility opened in 1932. The studios, which produced both short and feature films, expanded rapidly. Proximity to the Vickers-Armstrongs aircraft factory at Brooklands, which attracted German bombers, disrupted filming during the Second World War, as did the requisitioning of the studios in 1941 by the government ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Boddey
Albert Martin Boddey (16 April 1907 – 24 October 1975) was a British film and television actor. Boddey started acting when he was nearly 40, often portraying irritable authority figures such as police officers or magistrates. He was a founder member of the Lord's Taverners charity. Selected filmography * '' A Song for Tomorrow'' (1948) – Major * ''The Third Man'' (1949) – Russian Military Policeman (uncredited) * ''Landfall'' (1949) – Civilian (uncredited) * '' The Twenty Questions Murder Mystery'' (1950) – 2nd Plainclothesman (uncredited) * '' Cairo Road'' (1950) – Maj. Ahmed Mustafa * '' State Secret'' (1950) – Clubman * '' The Dancing Years'' (1950) – Minor Role (uncredited) * '' Seven Days to Noon'' (1950) – Gen. Willoughby * '' Cage of Gold'' (1950) – Adams * '' The Franchise Affair'' (1951) – Insp. Hallam * '' The Adventurers'' (1951) – Chief Engineer * ''Laughter in Paradise'' (1951) – Store Shopwalker * '' Cloudburst'' (1951) – Desk Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Charles
Maria Zena Schneider (22 September 1929 – 21 April 2023), known professionally as Maria Charles, was an English film, television and stage actress, director and comedienne. She was probably best known for her performance as the overbearing mother Bea Fisher in the ITV sitcom '' Agony''. Charles also appeared on the stage in original West End productions including musicals by Stephen Sondheim, Charles Strouse and Sandy Wilson. Early life Maria Zena Schneider was born in London on 22 September 1929.England and Wales Civil Registration Birth Index, 1929 Births. She was the daughter of David Schneider (1896–1980) and Celia Schneider (née Ashkenaza) (1906–1954). Her father was a hairdresser who used the soubriquet "Mr Charles". When she graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 1946 she took her father's working name as her stage surname. Career Charles had an exceptionally long acting career that spanned over seven decades. She made her stage debut as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Cole (actor)
George Edward Cole (22 April 1925 – 5 August 2015) was an English actor whose career spanned 75 years. He was best known for playing Arthur Daley in the long-running ITV comedy-drama show ''Minder (TV series), Minder'' and Flash Harry (St Trinian's), Flash Harry in the early ''St Trinian's'' films. Early life Cole was born in Tooting, south London. He was placed for adoption at ten days old and adopted by George and Florence Cole. They lived in Tooting, moving five miles away to a council flat in Morden when Cole was five years old. The senior George suffered from epilepsy, a double hernia, and the after-effects of gas poisoning during the First World War. He had several jobs which were curtailed by his ill-health, including pulling a heavy roller for Tooting council. In Cole's opinion, the exertion contributed to his father's death. Cole attended secondary school in nearby Morden. He left school at 14 to be a butcher's boy and had an ambition to join the Merchant Navy (Unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Bailey
William Henry Mettam "Robin" Bailey (5 October 1919 – 14 January 1999) was an English actor. He was born in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. Often cast in upper class and tradition-bound roles such as Mr Justice Graves in Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...'s ''Rumpole of the Bailey'', Bailey is also known for his portrayal of Uncle Mort in ''I Didn't Know You Cared'', the BBC's adaptation of Peter Tinniswood's stories about an extended Yorkshire family. The television series ran from 1975 to 1979. Bailey also collaborated with Tinniswood on the television and radio series ''Tales from a Long Room'', playing the Brigadier, an eccentric cricket-lover with a fund of extraordinary tales about the game and its players. Early life and education Bailey wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Ripper
Michael George Ripper (27 January 1913 – 28 June 2000) was an English character actor who appeared in many British horror and science fiction films. Career Ripper began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. Along with Michael Gough he played one of the two murderers in Laurence Olivier's film version of ''Richard III'' (1955). From the late 1940s Ripper became a mainstay in Hammer Film Productions playing supporting character roles: coachmen, peasants, tavern keepers, pirates, soldiers, and sidekicks. Appearing in more of the company's films than any other performer, these included '' There Is No Escape'' (1948), '' X the Unknown'' (1956), '' The Camp on Blood Island'' (1958), ''The Revenge of Frankenstein'' (1958), '' The Mummy'' (1959), '' The Brides of Dracula'' (1960), '' Captain Clegg'' (1962), '' The Scarlet Blade'' (1963), '' The Reptile'' (1966), '' The Plague of the Zombies'' (1966) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyril Chamberlain
Cyril Chamberlain (8 March 1909 – 30 April 1974) was an English film and television actor. He appeared in a number of the early '' Carry On'', '' Doctor'' and '' St. Trinian's'' films. Chamberlain's first film appearance was in the 1936 Michael Powell drama film '' The Man Behind the Mask'' his role was uncredited. He later appeared as the main villain in both the crime drama '' The Embezzler'' (1954) and the crime thriller '' Tiger by the Tail'' (1954). Personal life Chamberlain was born on 8 March 1909 in London and died in Builth Wells in Wales on 30 April 1974 aged 65. He spent his final five years in retirement restoring antique furniture. He was married to actress Lisa Lee and they had one child. Partial filmography *'' Crackerjack'' (1938) as Bit Role (uncredited) *'' Stolen Life'' (1939) (uncredited) *'' Dead Men are Dangerous'' (1939) as George Franklin (uncredited) *'' The Spy in Black'' (1939) as Bit Part (uncredited) *'' Ask a Policeman'' (1939) as Radio Anno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles Malleson
William Miles Malleson (25 May 1888 – 15 March 1969) was an English actor and dramatist, particularly remembered for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career, he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in '' The Brides of Dracula'' as the hypochondriac and fee-hungry local doctor. Malleson was also a writer on many films, including some of those in which he had small parts, such as ''Nell Gwyn'' (1934) and '' The Thief of Bagdad'' (1940). He also translated and adapted several of Molière's plays (''The Misanthrope'', which he titled ''The Slave of Truth'', '' Tartuffe'' and ''The Imaginary Invalid''). Biography Malleson was born in Avondale Road, South Croydon, Surrey, England, the son of Edmund Taylor Malleson (1859-1909), a manufacturing chemist, and Myrrha Bithynia Frances Borrell (1863-1931), a descendant of the numismatist Henry Perigal Borrell and the inventor Francis Mac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
