Lightning Conductor | |
---|---|
Directed by | Maurice Elvey |
Written by | Joseph Jefferson Farjeon Lawrence Green Ivor McLaren Evadne Price |
Produced by | Anthony Havelock-Allan |
Starring | Gordon Harker John Lodge Sally Gray Ernest Thesiger |
Cinematography | Francis Carver |
Music by | Percival Mackey |
Production company | Pinebrook Studios |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 79 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Lightning Conductor is a 1938 British comedy thriller film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Gordon Harker, John Lodge and Sally Gray. [1] It was made at Pinewood Studios.
A London bus driver becomes embroiled in a plot by foreign agents to steal secret documents.
Allmovie noted a "breezy British action comedy...No mere programmer, The Lightning Conductor is exceptionally well cast, with such reliables as John Lodge, Sally Gray, Ernst Thesiger and Steven Geray going through their usual expert paces." [2] and TV Guide called it "a suspenseful comedy with some good characterizations." [3]
Dead of Night is a 1945 black and white British anthology supernatural horror film, made by Ealing Studios. The individual segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Sally Ann Howes and Michael Redgrave. The film is best remembered for the concluding story featuring Redgrave and an insane ventriloquist's malevolent dummy.
Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger, CBE was an English stage and film actor. He is noted for his performance as Doctor Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's film Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
Constance Vera Browne, Baroness Oranmore and Browne, commonly known as Sally Gray, was an English film actress of the 1930s and 1940s. Her obituary in The Irish Times described her as "once seen as a British rival to Ginger Rogers."
Steven Geray was a Hungarian-born American film actor who appeared in over 100 films and dozens of television programs. Geray appeared in numerous famed A-pictures, including Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) and To Catch a Thief (1955), Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950), and Howard Hawks' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). However, it was in film noir that be became a fixture, being cast in over a dozen pictures in the genre. Among them were The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), Gilda (1946), The Unfaithful (1947), In a Lonely Place (1950), and The House on Telegraph Hill (1951).
Count Your Blessings is a 1959 American romantic comedy drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Jean Negulesco, written and produced by Karl Tunberg, based on the 1951 novel The Blessing by Nancy Mitford. The music score was by Franz Waxman and the cinematography by George J. Folsey and Milton R. Krasner. The costume design was by Helen Rose.
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.
Room for Two is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Frances Day, Vic Oliver and Greta Gynt. The film was written by Gilbert Wakefield, based on his 1938 stage farce. The film's Italian setting was overtaken by events, as by the time of its release Fascist Italy had entered the Second World War against Britain.
William Gordon Harker was an English stage and film actor.
They Drive by Night is a 1938 British black-and-white crime thriller film directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring Emlyn Williams as Shorty, an ex-con, and Ernest Thesiger as Walter Hoover, an ex-schoolmaster. It was produced by Warner Bros. - First National Productions and based on the 1938 novel They Drive by Night by James Curtis.
Honeymoon for Three is a 1915 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey.
Call Me Madam is a 1953 American Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang, with songs by Irving Berlin, based on the 1950 stage musical of the same name.
Inspector Hornleigh is a 1938 British detective film directed by Eugene Forde, starring Gordon Harker and Alastair Sim, with Miki Hood, Wally Patch, Steven Geray and Edward Underdown. The film was shot at Pinewood Studios in England. The screenplay was co-written by Bryan Edgar Wallace.
Sword of Honour is a 1939 British drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Geoffrey Toone, Sally Gray, Dorothy Dickson. Location shooting took place at Sandhurst, while interiors were shot at Walton Studios. Shortly afterwards, Elvey shot another military-themed film Sons of the Sea at Dartmouth Naval College.
The Return of the Frog is a 1938 British crime film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Gordon Harker, Hartley Power and Rene Ray. It is a sequel to the 1937 film The Frog, and was based on the 1929 novel The India-Rubber Men by Edgar Wallace. It was shot at Beaconsfield Studios. The film's plot concerns a police hunt for the criminal known as The Frog.
The School for Scandal is a 1930 British historical comedy film directed by Thorold Dickinson and Maurice Elvey and starring Basil Gill, Madeleine Carroll and Ian Fleming. It is the first sound film adaptation of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The School for Scandal. It is also the only feature-length film shot using the unsuccessful Raycol colour process, and marked the screen debut of Sally Gray. The film was shot at the Elstree Studios of British International Pictures with sets designed by the art director Lawrence P. Williams. It ended up being released as a second feature and is classified as a quota quickie.
Beware of Pity is a 1946 British romantic drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Lilli Palmer, Albert Lieven and Cedric Hardwicke. It is based on the novel of the same name by Stefan Zweig. A paraplegic young baroness mistakes compassion for love. The film's costumes were designed by Cecil Beaton. It was made by Two Cities Films at Islington Studios. The film was not a great popular success outside the Soviet Union.
The Life Story of David Lloyd George is a 1918 British silent biopic film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Norman Page, Alma Reville and Ernest Thesiger. The film "is thought to be the first feature length biopic of a contemporary living politician". Finished in 1918, it was not shown publicly until 1996.
Road House is a 1934 British comedy crime film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Violet Loraine, Gordon Harker and Aileen Marson.
No Parking is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Jack Raymond. The film features Charles Carson, Geraldo, Fred Groves, Gordon Harker and Leslie Perrins in the lead roles.
Charles Eaton is an English actor known for his stiff upper lip roles in British films of the 1930s and 40s. He appeared in a number of films by the director Maurice Elvey, his most prominent role being that of Captain Royde in Elvey's Who Goes Next? (1938).