The Smallest Show on Earth is a 1957 British comedy film, directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers and Margaret Rutherford. The screenplay was written by William Rose and John Eldridge from an original story by William Rose.
John Norman Hulbert was a British actor, director, screenwriter and singer, specializing primarily in comedy productions, and often working alongside his wife (Dame) Cicely Courtneidge.
British actress Vivien Leigh (1913–1967) was born in Darjeeling, India; her family returned to England when she was six years old. In addition to her British schooling, she was also educated in France, Italy and Germany, and became multilingual. Classically trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, her film debut was in an uncredited role in the 1935 comedy Things Are Looking Up.
The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of the Gaumont Film Company of France.
The Ship That Died of Shame, released in the United States as PT Raiders, is a black-and-white 1955 Ealing Studios crime film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Richard Attenborough, George Baker, Bill Owen and Virginia McKenna.
June Laverick is an English film, television and stage actress.
Look Up and Laugh is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Basil Dean and starring Gracie Fields, Alfred Drayton and Douglas Wakefield. The film is notable for featuring an appearance by Vivien Leigh in an early supporting role.
Me and Marlborough is a 1935 British comedy film, directed by Victor Saville, and starring Cicely Courtneidge, Tom Walls, Barry MacKay, Peter Gawthorne, Henry Oscar and Cecil Parker.
Manuela is a 1957 British drama film directed by Guy Hamilton, starring Trevor Howard and Elsa Martinelli. It was released as Stowaway Girl in the United States.
Home to Danger is a 1951 British second feature film noir crime film directed by Terence Fisher starring Guy Rolfe, Rona Anderson and Stanley Baker.
I Was a Spy is a 1933 British thriller film directed by Victor Saville and produced by Michael Balcon. It stars Madeleine Carroll as Marthe Cnockaert, Herbert Marshall, and Conrad Veidt. Based on the 1932 memoir I Was a Spy by Marthe Cnockaert, the film is about her experiences as a Belgian woman who nursed German soldiers during World War I while passing intelligence to the British. The film was produced by Gaumont British Picture Corporation with Woolf & Freedman Film Service and Fox Film Corporation distributing in the United Kingdom and the United States respectively.
Treasure Hunt is a 1952 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Martita Hunt, Jimmy Edwards, Naunton Wayne and Athene Seyler. It is based on the 1949 play Treasure Hunt by Molly Keane and John Perry.
Samuel George Herbert Mason was a British film director, producer, stage actor, army officer, presenter of some revues, stage manager, stage director, choreographer, production manager and playwright. He was a recipient of the Military Cross the prestigious award for "gallantry during active operations against the enemy." He received the gallantry award for his part in the Battle of Guillemont where British troops defeated the Germans to take the German stronghold of Guillemont.
Just My Luck is a 1957 British sports comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom, Margaret Rutherford, Jill Dixon and Leslie Phillips.
The Narrowing Circle is a 1956 British crime film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Paul Carpenter, Hazel Court and Russell Napier. It is based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Julian Symons. A crime writer finds himself framed for murder.
Betty Ann Davies was a British stage and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1950s. Davies made her first stage appearance at the Palladium in a revue in 1924. The following year she joined Cochran's Young Ladies in revues such as One Dam Thing After Another and This Year of Grace. Davies enjoyed a long and distinguished West End career which included The Good Companions (1934), Morning Star (1942), Blithe Spirit (1943) and Four Winds (1953). Her outstanding stage triumph was in the role of Blanche du Bois, which she took over from Vivien Leigh, in the original West End production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Davies appeared in 38 films, most notably as the future Mrs Polly in The History of Mr. Polly and in the first of the St Trinian's films The Belles of St. Trinian's, and was active in TV at the time of her death. She went into hospital on May 14, 1955, to have an operation for appendicitis, but suffered from complications following surgery and died the same day. She was 44. She left one son, Brook Blackford.
Too Young to Love is a 1959 British drama film set in New York. It was directed by Muriel Box and starring Pauline Hahn, Joan Miller, and Austin Willis. It was based on the play Pickup Girl by Elsa Shelley. An adaptation of the story was broadcast on British TV on 6 December 1957 in the ITV Television Playhouse series.
Child in the House is a 1956 British drama film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Phyllis Calvert, Eric Portman and Stanley Baker. It is based on the novel A Child in the House by Janet McNeill. A girl struggles to cope with her uncaring relatives.
Aunt Sally is a 1933 British musical comedy film directed by Tim Whelan and starring Cicely Courtneidge, Sam Hardy and Phyllis Clare. The film was made by Gainsborough Pictures at their Islington Studios, and released in the U.S. as Along Came Sally.
Blackout is a 1950 British crime drama film directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Maxwell Reed and Dinah Sheridan. It was made as a supporting feature.
