Butcher's Film Service was a British film production and distribution company that specialised in low-budget productions. The company was founded by William Butcher, a chemist from Blackheath. The company survived through several production slumps in the British film industry and two World Wars.
In later years the company mainly released films made at the Nettlefold Studios in Walton-upon-Thames in Surrey. Amongst the films produced after the Second World War was a series of four Paul Temple films and The Story of Shirley Yorke which proved to be a surprise hit. [1] The company attempted to give its films a patriotic and populist appeal, and were particularly aimed at working-class audiences in industrial areas. In 1954 it was renamed Butcher's Film Distributors. [2]
Calling Paul Temple is a 1948 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley, Dinah Sheridan and Margaretta Scott. It was the second in a series of four Paul Temple films distributed by Butcher's Film Service. The first was Send for Paul Temple (1946), with Anthony Hulme as Paul Temple. John Bentley then took over the role in Calling Paul Temple, continuing for two further films: Paul Temple's Triumph (1950) and Paul Temple Returns (1952). It was produced by Ernest G. Roy at the Nettlefold Film Studios in Walton On Thames.
Hugh Pryse (1910–1955) was a British character actor. He was born on 11 November 1910 with the name John Hwfa Pryse, and was billed as Hwfa Pryse in the films Penn of Pennsylvania and "Pimpernel" Smith.
You Pay Your Money is a 1957 British crime drama film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Hugh McDermott, Jane Hylton and Honor Blackman. The thriller was one of the Butcher's Film Service's 1950s B film genre.
The Fall of the House of Usher is a 1950 British horror film directed by Ivan Barnett and starring Gwendoline Watford, Kaye Tendeter and Irving Steen. It is an adaptation of the 1839 short story of the same title by Edgar Allan Poe.
The Story of Shirley Yorke is a 1948 British drama film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Derek Farr, Dinah Sheridan and Margaretta Scott. The film was based on the play The Case of Lady Camber by Horace Annesley Vachell. It was made at the Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames. Art direction was by Charles Gilbert.
Kathleen Butler was a British screenwriter who worked on the scripts of over 40 films. She also worked as assistant director on four films. Butler was part of a group of women given increasing control over the writing of scripts in British cinema of the time, writing The Temptress (1949) alone. She worked for much of her career for the production company Butcher's Film Service.
Ernest G. Roy was a British film producer who was managing director of Kay Laboratories, Kay Carlton Hill Studios Ltd and Nettlefold Studios.
Take Me to Paris is a 1951 British comedy film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Albert Modley, Roberta Huby and Bruce Seton. It was made at Walton Studios.
Roger Proudlock (1920–2003) was a British film producer associated with Vandyke Productions, which specialised in making low-budget second features during the late 1940s and 1950s.
Vandyke Productions was a British film production company which operated between 1947 and 1956. It specialised in making B films which would be released on the bottom-half of a double bill.
Pack Up Your Troubles is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Reginald Purdell, Wylie Watson and Patricia Roc. It takes its name from the First World War marching song "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag".
Meet Simon Cherry is a 1949 British mystery film directed by Godfrey Grayson, and an adaptation of the popular BBC radio series Meet the Rev., featuring the crime solving cleric.
Brendan James Stafford BSC was an Irish cinematographer known for his work on British films and television. He also directed three films.
Life in Her Hands is a 1951 drama film sponsored by the British Ministry of Labour with the aim of recruiting women to the nursing profession. It was produced in response to addressing the short supply of qualified nurses in Britain after the Second World War, caused to some degree by the needs of the newly founded National Health Service (NHS). It was produced by the Crown Film Unit and distributed widely across all major cinemas by United Artists. The film was written by Anthony Steven and Monica Dickens, and directed by Philip Leacock. The cast included Bernadette O'Farrell, Jenny Laird, Jean Anderson and Kathleen Byron.
Act of Murder is a 1964 British crime drama film, directed by Alan Bridges. One of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series, it was Bridges' first film as director.
Night Comes Too Soon is a 1948 British horror film directed by Denis Kavanagh and starring Valentine Dyall, Anne Howard and Alec Faversham. It was based on the story The Haunters and the Haunted by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It was released in the United States under the alternative title of The Ghost of Rashmon Hall.
Night of the Prowler is a 1962 British crime thriller film directed by Francis Searle and starring Patrick Holt, Colette Wilde and John Horsley.
Undercover Girl is a 1958 British crime film directed by Francis Searle and starring Paul Carpenter, Kay Callard and Bruce Seton.
The Monarch Film Corporation was a British film distribution company active during the 1940s and 1950s. It specialised in supplying second features to British cinemas. The company handled a mixture of British and American films, as well as the Australian film Strong Is the Seed. It involved itself in production at times, and produced several more ambitious features including Hindle Wakes (1952) and A Yank in Ermine (1956). It had an arrangement with ACT Films under John Croydon to handle films made at Walton Studios. The 1952 adventure film Men Against the Sun (1952) was, unusually for the second feature market, a costume adventure film despite its running time.