Road House | |
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Directed by | Maurice Elvey |
Written by | |
Based on | Road House by Walter C. Hackett |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Leslie Rowson |
Edited by | Paul Capon |
Music by | Bretton Byrd and Harry Woods |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Gaumont British Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 76 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Road House is a 1934 British comedy crime film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Violet Loraine, Gordon Harker and Aileen Marson.
The film is based on the 1932 play Road House by Walter C. Hackett. [1] It was made by British Gaumont at the Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush, with shooting beginning in July 1934. [2] The film's art direction is by Alfred Junge. British Gaumont's contract director Alfred Hitchcock was originally reported to be making the film, but instead directed The Man Who Knew Too Much . [3]
The song "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", written by Harry Woods, is sung in the film by Violet Lorraine.
Sir Michael Elias Balcon was an English film producer known for his leadership of Ealing Studios in West London from 1938 to 1955. Under his direction, the studio became one of the most important British film studios of the day. In an industry short of Hollywood-style moguls, Balcon emerged as a key figure, and an obdurately British one too, in his benevolent, somewhat headmasterly approach to the running of a creative organization. He is known for his leadership, and his guidance of young Alfred Hitchcock.
The Ring is a 1927 British silent romance film written and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Carl Brisson, Lillian Hall-Davis and Ian Hunter.
Charles Alfred Selwyn Bennett was an English playwright, screenwriter and director probably best known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock.
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a 1934 British spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Leslie Banks and Peter Lorre, and released by Gaumont British. It was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock's British period.
The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 British mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. Written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, based on the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, the film is about an English tourist travelling by train in continental Europe who discovers that her elderly travelling companion seems to have disappeared from the train. After her fellow passengers deny ever having seen the elderly lady, the young woman is helped by a young musicologist, the two proceeding to search the train for clues to the old lady's disappearance.
"What a Little Moonlight Can Do" is a popular song written by Harry M. Woods in 1934. In 1934, Woods moved to London for three years where he worked for the British film studio Gaumont British, contributing material to several films, one of which was Road House (1934). The song was sung in the film by Violet Lorraine and included an introductory verse, not heard in the version later recorded by Billie Holiday in 1935.
William Gordon Harker was an English stage and film actor.
John Longden was a British film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1926 and 1964, including six films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Edward Black was a British film producer, best known for being head of production at Gainsborough Studios in the late 1930s and early 1940s, during which time he oversaw production of the Gainsborough melodramas. He also produced such classic films as The Lady Vanishes (1938). Black has been called "one of the unsung heroes of the British film industry" and "one of the greatest figures in British film history, the maker of stars like Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, John Mills and Stewart Granger. He was also one of the very few producers whose films, over a considerable period, made money." In 1946 Mason called Black "the one good production executive" that J. Arthur Rank had. Frank Launder called Black "a great showman and yet he had a great feeling for scripts and spent more time on them than anyone I have ever known. His experimental films used to come off as successful as his others."
Louis Levy was an English film music director and conductor, who worked in particular on Alfred Hitchcock and Will Hay films. He was born in London and died in Slough, Berkshire.
Someone at the Door is a 1936 British drama film directed by Herbert Brenon and starring Aileen Marson, Billy Milton, Noah Beery, John Irwin and Edward Chapman. A journalist comes up with a scheme to boost his career by inventing a fake murder but soon becomes embroiled in trouble when a real killing takes place. It is based on a successful West End play by Campbell Christie and his wife Dorothy Christie.
Britannia of Billingsgate is a 1933 British musical comedy film directed by Sinclair Hill and starring Violet Loraine, Gordon Harker, Kay Hammond and John Mills. A family who work in the fish trade at Billingsgate Market encounter a film crew who are shooting there. It was based on the play Britannia of Billingsgate by Christine Jope-Slade and Sewell Stokes.
Hotel Splendide is a 1932 British comedy drama film directed by Michael Powell. It was made as a Quota quickie.
His Lordship is a 1936 British drama film directed by Herbert Mason and starring George Arliss, Romilly Lunge and Rene Ray. It was released with the alternative title Man of Affairs in the United States.
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.
Jack Beaver was a British film score composer and pianist. Beaver was born in Clapham, London. He studied at the Metropolitan Academy of Music, Forest Gate and then at the Royal Academy of Music under Frederick Corder. After graduating he worked for the BBC. In the early 1930s he played with the Michael Doré Trio and wrote some concert pieces, including the three movement Sonatina for piano. He also contributed music and arrangements for various BBC radio drama and music features, including most of the radio adaptions of films produced by Douglas Moodie, throughout the 1930s and 1940s.
Aileen Marson was a British stage and film actress. Born in Egypt where her father was a consular official with the diplomatic service, she travelled extensively due to her father's job and spoke five languages including Arabic. She came to England with her family when she was 13. Winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she appeared in regional and West End plays,, and also starred in a number of leading roles in British films. She toured South Africa with Seymour Hicks where she met her husband, Jack Scott, a Johannesburg businessman, who she married in 1937. She died at the age of 26 in a London nursing home less than a day after giving birth to twins - a boy and a girl.
Missing the Tide is a 1918 British silent drama film directed by Walter West and starring Violet Hopson, Basil Gill and Ivy Close. The film is based on a novel by Alfred Turner. The screenplay concerns a woman who leaves her cruel husband for another man, only to discover that he has recently got married.
Lucky Loser is a 1934 British comedy film directed by Reginald Denham and starring Richard Dolman, Aileen Marson and Anna Lee. It was made as a quota quickie at British and Dominion's Elstree Studios for release by the British subsidiary of Paramount Pictures.
Road House is a British play by Walter C. Hackett.