Dusty Ermine | |
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Directed by | Bernard Vorhaus |
Written by |
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Produced by | Julius Hagen |
Starring | |
Cinematography |
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Edited by | Ralph Kemplen |
Music by | W.L. Trytel |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Twickenham Film Distributors Grand National Pictures (US) |
Release date |
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Running time | 84 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Dusty Ermine is a 1936 British crime film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring Anthony Bushell, Jane Baxter and Ronald Squire. In the United States it was released under the alternative title Hideout in the Alps. It was based on the play of the same title by Neil Grant.
After being released from prison Jim Kent, a leading forger, is approached by an international counterfeiting organisation. He rejects their offer of employment as he intends to go straight, but when he discovers that his nephew is now working for the outfit he travels to Switzerland to try to help him out. An ambitious young detective from Scotland Yard is also on the trail of the forgery ring, and mistakenly comes to the conclusion that Jim Kent is still working as a master counterfeiter.
The film was produced by Julius Hagen, the owner of a film production company based around Twickenham Studios. The film was shot at one of his other studios, J.H. Studios at Elstree, and also included extensive location filming in the Alps. [1] It was directed by Vorhaus who had worked on earlier films for the company. Vorhaus was so impressed by the performance of Margaret Rutherford in a theatre production he saw her in, that he insisted on casting her in the film. He added a new comic relief role to the original play especially for her. [2] The film's art direction was by Andrew Mazzei.
Hagen had an ambitious programme of films for 1936, but his failure to secure effective distribution led to financial problems and the collapse of his company the following year during the Slump of 1937. [3] Vorhaus directed one further British film, Cotton Queen , before returning to America.
In the forgers' lair the printing presses shown are all made by the Adana company of Twickenham and completely unsuitable for the production of currency notes. Adana was based in Twickenham and the film was released through Twickenham Film Distributors, so there would appear to be a local link.
Twickenham Film Studios is a film studio in St Margarets, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, that is used by various motion picture and television companies. It was established in 1913 by Ralph Jupp on the site of a former ice rink. At the time of its original construction, it was the largest film studio in the United Kingdom.
Bernard Vorhaus was an American film director of Austrian descent, born in New York City. His father was born in Kraków, then part of Austria-Hungary. Vorhaus spent many decades living in the UK. Early in his career, he worked as a screenwriter, and co-produced the film The Singing City. He was blacklisted in Hollywood for his communist sympathies, and returned to England, where he resumed his career. Known, alongside Michael Powell, for his quota quickies, Vorhaus also worked in Europe.
Gate Studios was one of the many studios known collectively as Elstree Studios in the town of Borehamwood, England. Opened in 1928, the studios were in use until the early 1950s. The studios had previously been known as Whitehall Studios, Consolidated Studios, J.H. Studios and M.P. Studios.
Ronald Launcelot Squire was an English character actor.
Jane Baxter was a British actress. Her stage career spanned half a century, and she appeared in a number of films and in television.
Money for Speed is a 1933 British sports drama film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring John Loder, Ida Lupino, Cyril McLaglen and Moore Marriott. It is centered on the sport of speedway racing, which was at its peak of popularity at the time.
Cotton Queen, also known as Crying Out Loud, is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Bernard Vorhaus, and starring Stanley Holloway, Will Fyffe, and Mary Lawson.
The Sleeping Cardinal, also known as Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour in the United States, is a 1931 British mystery film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Arthur Wontner and Ian Fleming. The film is an adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Although it is not based on any one particular story, the film draws inspiration from "The Empty House" and "The Final Problem". The film is the first in the 1931–1937 film series starring Wontner as Sherlock Holmes. It is unrelated to the Basil Rathbone series of Sherlock Holmes films that began in the late 1930s.
Ralph Kemplen was a British film editor with more than fifty film credits between 1933 and 1982. He had a long collaboration with director John Huston on six films between 1951 and 1966. He also directed one feature film, The Spaniard's Curse (1958).
Underneath the Arches is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Redd Davis and starring Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen, Stella Moya, Lyn Harding and Edmund Willard. Flanagan and Allen formed part of the comedy ensemble known as the Crazy Gang. It was made by Julius Hagen's Twickenham Studios as part of its ambitious production schedule following its abandonment of quota quickies.
Julius Hagen (1884–1940) was a German-born British film producer who produced more than a hundred films in Britain.
Beauty and the Barge is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Gordon Harker, Judy Gunn and Jack Hawkins. It was produced by Julius Hagen's production company Twickenham Film Studios, but made at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith rather than at Twickenham. It was based on the 1905 play Beauty and the Barge by W. W. Jacobs.
The Counterfeit Constable is a 1964 French comedy film directed by Robert Dhéry and Pierre Tchernia and starring Ronald Fraser, Diana Dors and Arthur Mullard.
The Ghost Camera is a 1933 British mystery film directed by Bernard Vorhaus, starring Henry Kendall, Ida Lupino and John Mills, and based on "A Mystery Narrative", a short story by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon.
The Morals of Marcus is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Miles Mander and starring Lupe Vélez, Ian Hunter and Adrianne Allen. The screenplay concerns an archaeologist who finds a woman hiding in his luggage who has escaped from a harem and they eventually fall in love and marry. The Morals of Marcus was previously filmed twice as silents in 1915 and in 1921.
Sherlock Holmes is a film series running from 1931 to 1937. Arthur Wontner portrayed Sherlock Holmes in five films.
Crime on the Hill is a 1933 British mystery film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring Sally Blane, Nigel Playfair and Lewis Casson. The plot was based on a successful play by Jack de Leon and Jack Celestin. It was made by British International Pictures at Welwyn Studios in autumn 1933.
Harry Fowler Mear was a British screenwriter. He spent a number of years at Twickenham Film Studios where his work has been described as "competent but uninspired".
Ruffels Pictures was a British film distribution outfit during the silent era. The company often handled films produced at Kew Bridge Studios. Julius Hagen, later the owner of Twickenham Studios, was employed as a salesman for Ruffels in his earlier career.
The London Film Company was a British film production company active during the silent era. Founded in 1913, the company emerged as one of the dominant forces in production during the First World War. With strong financial backing the company constructed the Twickenham Studios, then the largest in Britain, and began production of features, which were then displacing short films as the dominant form. Two of the company's key early directors were Americans: Harold Shaw and George Loane Tucker. Later, British director Maurice Elvey made a number of films for the studio.