Champagne is a 1928 British silent comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Betty Balfour, Gordon Harker and Jean Bradin. The screenplay was based on an original story by writer and critic Walter C. Mycroft. The plot concerns a young woman forced to take a job after her father loses his fortune.
Betty Balfour was an English screen actress, popular during the silent era, and known as the "British Mary Pickford" and "Britain's Queen of Happiness". She was best known to audiences for her Squibs series of films.
Love, Life and Laughter is a 1923 British silent film, written and directed by George Pearson. For many years the film was thought lost, and was listed as one of the British Film Institute's "75 Most Wanted" lost films. On 2 April 2014, Dutch film institute Eye announced it had discovered a copy.
The Dolly Sisters is a 1945 American Technicolor biographical film about the Dolly Sisters, identical twins who became famous as entertainers on Broadway and in Europe in the early years of the 20th century as Jennie and Rosie Dolly, Hungarian-born entertainers. It starred Betty Grable as Jenny, June Haver as Rosie and John Payne as Harry Fox.
The Old Fashioned Way is a 1934 American comedy film produced by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by William Beaudine and stars W. C. Fields. The script was written by Jack Cunningham based on a story by "Charles Bogle".
To Catch a Spy is a 1971 comedy spy film directed by Dick Clement and starring Kirk Douglas, Marlène Jobert, Trevor Howard, Richard Pearson, Garfield Morgan, Angharad Rees and Robert Raglan. It was written by Clement and Ian La Frenais. The story is based on the 1969 novel Catch Me a Spy by George Marton and Tibor Méray.
My Old Dutch is a 1934 British drama film directed by Sinclair Hill and starring Betty Balfour, Gordon Harker, Michael Hogan and Florrie Forde. The film portrays the lives of Londoners during the First World War. The film was made at Islington Studios by Gainsborough Pictures. The film's sets were designed by Peter Proud. Bryan Edgar Wallace contributed to the screenplay, adapted from the stage play written by Arthur Shirley and also based on Albert Chevalier's famous song.
Reveille is a 1924 British silent drama film directed by George Pearson. It follows some British soldiers during and after the First World War, though Pearson wrote in a January 1924 letter to his cast and crew:
There is no story, as such. I hate the well-made Story with its Exposition, Denouement, Crisis, etc., as material for my elusive Screen. I confess I cannot write one.
The Love Wager is a 1933 British comedy film directed by A. Cyran and starring Pat Paterson, Frank Stanmore and Wallace Douglas. It was released by Paramount Pictures as a quota quickie.
Squibs is a 1921 British silent comedy film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Hugh E. Wright and Fred Groves. It was followed by three sequels starting with Squibs Wins the Calcutta Sweep and a 1935 remake.
Somebody's Darling is a 1925 British silent comedy film directed by George A. Cooper and starring Betty Balfour, Rex O'Malley and Fred Raynham.
Squibs Wins the Calcutta Sweep is a 1922 British silent comedy film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Fred Groves and Hugh E. Wright. It was the sequel to the 1921 film Squibs.
What Next? is a 1928 British silent comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Forde, Pauline Johnson and Frank Stanmore. It was made at Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames. There is a copy held at the BFI archive.
She Always Gets Their Man is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Godfrey Grayson and starring Sally Smith and William Fox.
The Welsh-Pearson Company was a British film production and distribution company active during the silent and early sound eras. It was founded in 1918 by two pioneering film figures, George Pearson and Thomas Welsh, with the single-stage Craven Park Studios as their base. Because of the cramped conditions there, Welsh-Pearson had to use other studios such as Islington for larger scenes.
Mary-Find-the-Gold is a 1921 British silent drama film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Tom Coventry and Hugh E. Wright.
Satan's Sister is a 1925 British silent adventure film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Guy Phillips and Philip Stevens. It is an adaptation of the 1921 novel Satan: A Romance of the Bahamas by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The novel was later adapted again as the 1965 film The Truth About Spring.
Wee MacGregor's Sweetheart is a 1922 British silent romance film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Donald Macardle and Nora Swinburne. The plot is based on two of the "Wee Macgreegor" books by John Joy Bell; Oh Christina and Courting Christina.
Squibs M.P. is a 1923 British silent comedy film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Hugh E. Wright and Fred Groves.
Squibs' Honeymoon is a 1923 British silent comedy film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Hugh E. Wright and Fred Groves. It was the last of the silent film series featuring the character, although Balfour returned to play her in the 1935 sound film Squibs. Both Pearson and Balfour were particular favourites of the British film critic, and later leading screenwriter, Roger Burford. In his first article for the magazine Close Up Burford would write "Not long ago a film of the Squibbs series was reported to be on at a small cinema in a slum district. It was a rare chance, and we went at once. We were not disappointed: the film was English, with proper tang; the tang of Fielding or Sterne.' Burford's comments help place the Squibbs films perfectly in British culture between the wars. They were very much working-class comedy, drawing on a vernacular, performative tradition, but at the same time their "Englishness" is characteristic of the kinds of satirical comedies found in the novels of Henry Fielding and Laurence Sterne. That earthy satire, based on everyday life, made these comedies unpalatable to middle class audiences but the Squibbs films were amongst the most interesting, and well shot, films in Britain in the 1920s.
