Two Cities Films is a British film production company. Formed in 1937, it was originally envisaged as operating both in London and in Rome, and this fact gave the company its name.
The driving forces behind the company were the flamboyant, Italian-born Filippo Del Giudice, [1] and his partner the multitalented Mario Zampi, [2] born in Sora, Italy, who often worked in the dual role of director and producer. Two Cities produced a number of quintessentially English [3] film classics including the most popular British film from the wartime period, In Which We Serve (1942). [4]
The Two Cities films This Happy Breed , The Way Ahead , Laurence Olivier's patriotic epic Henry V (all 1944), The Way to the Stars , and Blithe Spirit (both 1945) contributed significantly to the high critical reputation acquired by the British cinema of the time. [5] [3]
In the mid-1940s Two Cities Films became part of the Rank Organisation. Filippo Del Giudice had found himself forced to surrender the company's independence because of the strain on its finances produced by raising more than £470,000 for the production of Henry V. [1] Under Rank the company produced key films such as Odd Man Out (1947), Hamlet (1948), and Vice Versa (1948).
Two Cities Films is now owned by Gregory Motton. [6]
The company went back into production in 2017 with the shooting of The Four Gospels of Dracula the Messiah, a quartet of films: The Four Gospels of Dracula the Messiah, part one: A Voice Crying In The Wilderness, The Four Gospels of Dracula the Messiah part two; Conquering Death, The Four Gospels of Dracula the Messiah part three, The Seducer, The Four Gospels of Dracula the Messiah part four is to be released in January 2022, [7] [8] Lilith (2022), Dracula (2022)
In Which We Serve is a 1942 British patriotic war film directed by Noël Coward and David Lean, who made his debut as a director. It was made during the Second World War with the assistance of the Ministry of Information.
Sir Carol Reed was an English film director and producer, best known for Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948), The Third Man (1949), and Oliver! (1968), for which he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Director.
Anthony Asquith was an English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy (1948) and The Browning Version (1951), among other adaptations. His other notable films include Pygmalion (1938), French Without Tears (1940), The Way to the Stars (1945) and a 1952 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.
Ronald Neame CBE, BSC was an English film producer, director, cinematographer, and screenwriter. Beginning his career as a cinematographer, for his work on the British war film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1943) he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Special Effects. During a partnership with director David Lean, he produced Brief Encounter (1945), Great Expectations (1946), and Oliver Twist (1948), receiving two Academy Award nominations for writing.
Cecil Parker was an English actor with a distinctively husky voice, who usually played supporting roles, often characters with a supercilious demeanour, in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969.
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Wylie Watson was a Scottish actor. Among his best-known roles were those of "Mr Memory", an amazing man who commits "50 new facts to his memory every day" in Alfred Hitchcock's film The 39 Steps (1935), and wily storekeeper Joseph Macroon in the Ealing comedy Whisky Galore! (1949). He emigrated to Australia in 1952, and made his final film appearance there in The Sundowners (1960).
Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born film director and producer. He was often credited under the single name "Cavalcanti".
Filippo Del Giudice,, born in Trani, Italy, was an Italian film producer. Giudice was a lawyer, legal advisor and film producer. He worked with people that were already well known in their field of work.
Judy Campbell was an English film, television and stage actress, widely known to be Noël Coward's muse. Her daughter was the actress and singer Jane Birkin, her son the screenwriter and director Andrew Birkin, and among her grandchildren are the actresses Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, the late poet Anno Birkin, the artist David Birkin and the late photographer Kate Barry.
Lance Comfort was an English film director. In a career spanning over 25 years, he became one of the most prolific film directors in Britain, though he never gained critical attention and remained on the fringes of the film industry, creating mostly B movies.
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Guglielmo Barnabò was an Italian stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1926 and 1954.
Walter Forde was a British actor, screenwriter and director. Born in Lambeth, South London in 1898, he directed over fifty films between 1919 from the silent era through to 1949 in the sound era. He died in Los Angeles, California in 1984.
Mario Zampi was an Italian film producer and director. A co-founder of Two Cities Films, a British production company, he is most closely associated with British comedies of the 1950s. He later formed his own film production companies, Anglofilm and Mario Zampi Productions.
Stuart Legg was a pioneering English documentary filmmaker. At the 14th Academy Awards in 1941, Legg's National Film Board of Canada film Churchill's Island became the first-ever documentary to win an Oscar.
Melissa Stribling was a Scottish film and television actress. She began her professional career in a repertory company, presenting a different play each week at the Grand Theatre, Croydon in 1948. She remains best known for playing the role of Mina Holmwood in the horror film Dracula (1958).
Merle Tottenham was a British stage and film actress. Her stage work included the original West End production of Noël Coward's Cavalcade in 1931; and she reprised her role as Annie the servant in the subsequent Hollywood film, in 1933. She also appeared as Dora, the maid in Night Must Fall (1937) with Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell, and the film version of Coward's This Happy Breed (1944), as Edie, the maid.