Private Information | |
---|---|
Directed by | Fergus McDonell |
Screenplay by | Gordon Glennon John Baines Ronald Kinnoch |
Based on | play Garden City by Gordon Glennon [1] |
Produced by | Ronald Kinnoch |
Starring | Jill Esmond Jack Watling Gerard Heinz Carol Marsh |
Cinematography | Eric Cross |
Edited by | Tom Simpson |
Music by | H.M. Farrar |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Monarch Film Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 65 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Private Information is a 1952 British drama film directed by Fergus McDonell and starring Jill Esmond, Jack Watling and Carol Marsh. It was made at Walton Studios as a second feature. [2]
A woman battles against corruption in her local council.
It was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane in The British 'B' Film, their survey of British B films, as among the most meritorious of the B films made in Britain between World War II and 1970. They noted that it "develops its issue with the venalities of local government and sub-standard housing in calm and sufficient detail to establish its seriousness of purpose", which was "skillfully interwoven with the elements of personal drama". They added that "the screenplay seems to have been worked on with rather more care than was routinely the case with B films". They also praised the "carefully observed performance" by Jill Esmond, "a fine, undervalued stage actress". [3]
Rona Anderson was a Scottish stage, film, and television actress. She appeared in TV series and on the stage and films throughout the 1950s. She appeared in the films Scrooge and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and on TV in Dr Finlay's Casebook and Dixon of Dock Green.
The Tell-Tale Heart is a 1960 British horror film directed by Ernest Morris produced by the Danzigers. The screenplay by Brian Clemens and Eldon Howard is a loose adaptation of the 1843 short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. The film was released in England in December 1960, and in the U.S. in February 1962 as The Hidden Room of 1,000 Horrors.
Smokescreen is a 1964 British comedy crime drama film, written and directed by Jim O'Connolly and starring Peter Vaughan.
Badger's Green is a 1949 British comedy film directed by John Irwin and starring Barbara Murray, Brian Nissen, Garry Marsh and Kynaston Reeves.
The Voice of Merrill is a 1952 British mystery film directed by John Gilling and starring Valerie Hobson, James Robertson Justice and Edward Underdown. The Voice of Merrill was made by Tempean Films, the company owned by the film's producers Monty Berman and Robert S. Baker, which between the late 1940s and the late 1950s specialised in turning out low-budget B-movies as unpublicised second-features for the UK cinema market. On its release however, The Voice of Merrill was recognised by its distributors, Eros Films, as unusually sophisticated and stylish for a B-movie, and was elevated to the status of co-feature in cinemas. It was released in the United States the following year under the title Murder Will Out.
Jane Hylton was an English actress who accumulated 30 film credits, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, before moving into television work in the latter half of her career in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Lost Hours is a 1952 British film noir directed by David MacDonald and starring Mark Stevens, Jean Kent and John Bentley. It was produced by Tempean Films which specialised in making second features at the time, and marked Kent's first descent into B films after her 1940s stardom. It was shot at Isleworth Studios and on location around London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Andrew Mazzei. It was released in the United States the following year by RKO Pictures as The Big Frame.
The Golden Link is a 1954 British police drama film directed by Charles Saunders, starring André Morell, Patrick Holt, Thea Gregory and Jack Watling. It was produced by Guido Coen under his Kenilworth Film Productions, featuring a screenplay by Allan MacKinnon and soundtrack by Eric Spear. The story concerns the death of a young woman, having fallen to her demise inside an apartment building. A policeman neighbour, Superintendent Blake, conducts an unofficial investigation, which initially seems to implicate his own daughter in a murder plot.
Trouble with Eve is a 1960 British second feature comedy film directed by Francis Searle and starring Hy Hazell, Sally Smith, Robert Urquhart and Garry Marsh. It was based on the play Widows are Dangerous by June Garland. It was shot at Walton Studios. The film was released in the U.S. in 1964 as In Trouble With Eve.
Fergus McDonell was an English film editor and director. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for Odd Man Out (1947), and his film The Hideout received a nomination for Best British Film at the 1949 BAFTA Awards.
Feet of Clay is a 1960 British crime film directed by Frank Marshall, written by Mark Grantham, and starring Vincent Ball, Wendy Williams and Hilda Fenemore.
Sentenced for Life is a low budget 1960 British second feature crime film directed by Max Varnel and starring Basil Dignam, Jack Gwillim, Francis Matthews, and Jill Williams.
Man Accused is a low budget 1959 British crime film directed by Mongomery Tully and starring Ronald Howard and Carol Marsh.
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.
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.
Hot Ice is a 1952 British comedy crime film directed by Kenneth Hume and starring John Justin, Barbara Murray and Ivor Barnard. It was released as a second feature. It is based on the 1934 novel Weekend at Thrackley by Alan Melville and its subsequent play version. An eccentric invites an assortment of guests to his country house, planning to rob them of their valuables.
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.
Gaolbreak is a 1962 British second feature crime film directed by Francis Searle and starring Peter Reynolds, Avice Landone and Carol White. The film was released as a supporting feature to Tiara Tahiti (1962).
Girdle of Gold is a 1952 British second feature comedy film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Esmond Knight, Maudie Edwards and Meredith Edwards.
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.