James Neville Mason was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films included The Seventh Veil (1945) and The Wicked Lady (1945). He starred in Odd Man Out (1947), the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the Profumo affair in 1963.
The Spy in Black is a 1939 British film, and the first collaboration between the British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They were brought together by Alexander Korda to make the World War I spy thriller novel of the same title by Joseph Storer Clouston into a film. Powell and Pressburger eventually made over 20 films during the course of their partnership.
George Zucco was a British character actor who appeared in plays and 96 films, mostly American-made, during a career spanning over two decades, from the 1920s to 1951. In his films, he often played a suave villain, a member of nobility, or a mad doctor.
The Drum is a 1938 British Technicolor film based on the 1937 novel The Drum by A. E. W. Mason. The film was directed by Zoltan Korda and produced by Alexander Korda. It stars Sabu, Raymond Massey, Valerie Hobson, Roger Livesey and David Tree.
Q Planes is a 1939 British comedy spy film starring Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier and Valerie Hobson. Olivier and Richardson were a decade into their fifty-year friendship and were in the process of staging a theatrical version of Othello, with Richardson in the title role and Olivier as Iago, when this film was made.
Hobson is an English patronymic surname. Originating in Scandinavian Denmark, the surname found its way to England and Iceland during the Anglo-Saxon (450-1066) and Viking (793-1066) eras, evolving from Son of Hrod (Hróður) to Hobson. The name reaches its highest concentrations in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.
Love from a Stranger is a 1936 play based on "Philomel Cottage", a 1924 short story by British mystery writer Agatha Christie.
Love from a Stranger is the name of two live BBC Television plays directed by George More O'Ferrall. The plays are based on the 1936 stage play of the same name by Frank Vosper. In turn, the play was based on the short story Philomel Cottage, written by Agatha Christie. The plays were only broadcast in the London area; television reception was geographically restricted.
Jew Süss is a 1934 British historical romantic drama film based on Lion Feuchtwanger's 1925 novel Jud Süß, about Joseph Süß Oppenheimer. Directed by Lothar Mendes, the film stars German actor Conrad Veidt in the role of Oppenheimer. The screenplay was written by Dorothy Farnum and Arthur Rawlinson.
The High Command is a 1937 British drama film directed by Thorold Dickinson and starring Lionel Atwill, Lucie Mannheim and James Mason.
Prison Breaker is a 1936 British crime drama film directed by Adrian Brunel and starring James Mason, Wally Patch, Marguerite Allan and George Merritt. The film was based on a novel by Edgar Wallace; its plot concerns a British secret service agent who falls in love with the daughter of a criminal.
Spy of Napoleon is a 1936 British historical drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Richard Barthelmess, Dolly Haas, Frank Vosper, Henry Oscar and James Carew. It is based on the 1934 novel A Spy of Napoleon by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, best known for writing The Scarlet Pimpernel. It was shot at Twickenham Studios in London and on location around Loch Lomond. The film's sets were designed by the art director Andrew Mazzei.
Open All Night is a 1934 British drama film directed by George Pearson and starring Frank Vosper, Margaret Vines, Gillian Lind, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Michael Shepley. It was made at Twickenham Studios in London. The film's sets were designed by the art director James Carter. The film was produced as a quota quickie by Julius Hagen for distribution by RKO Pictures. It was later released in the United States until the alternative title Murder by Appointment.
Hobson's Choice is a 1931 British comedy drama film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring James Harcourt, Viola Lyel, Frank Pettingell and Herbert Lomas. Based on the 1916 play Hobson's Choice by Harold Brighouse, it follows the tale of a coarse bootshop owner who becomes outraged when his eldest daughter decides to marry a meek cobbler. It was produced by the leading British company of the time, British International Pictures, at their studios in Elstree.
Who Goes There! is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Nigel Patrick, Valerie Hobson and George Cole. The film depicts the farcical activities of the various inhabitants of a grace and favour house near St James's Palace in Central London.
The Silent Battle is a 1939 British thriller film directed by Herbert Mason and produced by Anthony Havelock-Allan for Pinebrook Studios. The cast includes Rex Harrison, Valerie Hobson and John Loder. It marked the film debut of Megs Jenkins. It is also known by the alternative titles Continental Express and Peace in our Time. It was inspired by the novel Le Poisson Chinois by Jean Bommart. Secret agents try to defeat terrorists on the Orient Express. The film was distributed by Paramount British Pictures.
Jump for Glory is a 1937 British crime romantic drama film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Valerie Hobson and Alan Hale. It was based on a novel by Gordon McDonnell. The film was shot at Isleworth Studios by the independent company Criterion Film for distribution by United Artists. The film's sets were designed by the art director Edward Carrick.
Oh, What a Night is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Frank Richardson and starring Nina Boucicault, James Carew and Valerie Hobson. It was a quota quickie made at Wembley Studios.
The Eunuch of Stamboul is a 1935 spy thriller novel by the British writer Dennis Wheatley. A British army officer is forced to resign his commission to avoid a diplomatic incident. He is dispatched to Istanbul and uncovers a plot to overthrow the government of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and restore a traditionalist sultantate, led by a eunuch who serves as a senior secret policeman in the present government.
