Ivor Novello was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century.
Downhill is a 1927 British silent drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ivor Novello, Robin Irvine and Isabel Jeans, and based on the play Down Hill by Novello and Constance Collier. The film was produced by Gainsborough Pictures at their Islington studios. Downhill was Hitchcock's fourth film as director, but the fifth to be released. Its American alternative title was When Boys Leave Home.
Robert Tobias Andrews was a British stage and film actor. He is perhaps best known as the long-term companion of Ivor Novello.
Matheson Alexander Lang was a Canadian-born stage and film actor and playwright. He is best remembered for his theatrical performances in Great Britain in Shakespeare plays.
Maurice Elvey was one of the most prolific film directors in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year. He also produced more than fifty films – his own as well as films directed by others.
Bonnie Prince Charlie is a 1923 British silent historical film directed by Charles Calvert and starring Ivor Novello, Gladys Cooper, and Hugh Miller. It is now considered a lost film.
Royal Cavalcade, also known as Regal Cavalcade, is a 1935 British, black-and-white, drama film directed by six separate directors: Thomas Bentley, Herbert Brenon, Norman Lee, Walter Summers, W. P. Kellino and Marcel Varnel. The film features Marie Lohr, Hermione Baddeley, Owen Nares, Robert Hale, Austin Trevor, James Carew, Edward Chapman and Ronald Shiner as the Soldier in Trenches. The film was presented by Associated British Pictures Corporation.
Carnival is a 1931 British drama film in black and white with colour sequences directed by Herbert Wilcox and produced by his British & Dominions Film Corporation, starring Matheson Lang, Joseph Schildkraut, Kay Hammond and Chili Bouchier. During a performance of Othello a jealous actor attempts to strangle his wife who he believes has committed adultery. It was a remake of the 1921 film Carnival. The French musician Alfred Rode appears with his band.
Harold Huth was a British actor, film director and producer.
John Henry Graham Cutts, known as Graham Cutts, was a British film director, one of the leading British directors in the 1920s. His fellow director A. V. Bramble believed that Gainsborough Pictures had been built on the back of his work.
The Lodger is a 1930 British thriller film directed by Maurice Elvey, and starring Ivor Novello, Elizabeth Allan, and Jack Hawkins. It is based on the 1913 novel The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes, also filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1927 ; by John Brahm in 1944; by Hugo Fregonese, as Man in the Attic, in 1953; and by David Ondaatje in 2009.
The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel is a 1928 British silent costume drama film directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Matheson Lang, Juliette Compton and Nelson Keys. It was based on the 1922 novel The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emma Orczy. It was made at Cricklewood Studios, with art direction by Clifford Pember.
The Woman Who Obeyed is a 1923 British silent film directed by Sidney Morgan and starring Stewart Rome, Hilda Bayley, and Peter Dear.
The Vortex is a 1928 British drama film directed by Adrian Brunel and starring Ivor Novello, Willette Kershaw and Simeon Stuart. It was an adaptation of the Noël Coward play The Vortex and was made by Gainsborough Studios. The film's sets were designed by Clifford Pember.
I Lived With You is a 1933 British romantic comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Ivor Novello, Ursula Jeans and Ida Lupino. It is based on the West End hit play I Lived With You by Novello.
Autumn Crocus is a 1934 British romance film directed by Basil Dean and starring Ivor Novello, Fay Compton and Muriel Aked. The film follows a teacher who falls in love with the married owner of the guest house in which she is staying during a holiday to Austria. It was based on Dodie Smith's first play Autumn Crocus, previously a West End hit for director Basil Dean. The film was made by Associated Talking Pictures at Ealing Studios, with art direction by Edward Carrick. It was the final film appearance of its star, Ivor Novello. A contemporary reviewer wrote, "Novello's schoolboy knees under his Tyrolean shorts make the audience, if not the players, feel bashful".
Hilda Christabel Bailey was a British theatre and film actress. On stage from 1913, she was in both stage and film versions of Carnival in 1918 and 1921, respectively; and in the controversial crime film Cocaine in 1922.
The Gallant Hussar is a 1928 German-British romance film directed by Géza von Bolváry and starring Ivor Novello, Evelyn Holt, and Paul Hörbiger. It was based on a story by the Hungarian writer Arthur Bárdos and Margarete-Maria Langen.
The Secret Kingdom is a 1925 British silent fantasy, and science fiction film. It was directed by Sinclair Hill, and starred Matheson Lang, Stella Arbenina and Eric Bransby Williams. It is an adaptation of the novel The Hidden Fire by Bertram Atkey. The screenplay concerns a wealthy man who acquires a mind-reading machine, but is soon horrified to discover what people are really thinking. It was shot at Cricklewood Studios in London, it was re-issued in 1929 under the alternative title of Beyond the Veil.
The Qualified Adventurer is a 1925 British silent adventure film directed by Sinclair Hill and starring Matheson Lang, Genevieve Townsend, and Fred Raynham. It was based on the 1922 novel The Qualified Adventurer by Selwyn Jepson.
