Screwball comedy is a film subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1950s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristics similar to film noir, distinguished by a female character who dominates the relationship with the male central character, whose masculinity is challenged, and the two engage in a humorous battle of the sexes.
David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson was an English stage, film, and television actor, singer and comedian. Having been described as both a leading man and a character actor, he is primarily remembered for his roles as authority figure George Banks in Mary Poppins, fraudulent magician Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and as hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug. Tomlinson was posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend in 2002.
Herbert Pope Stothart was an American songwriter, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz. Stothart was widely acknowledged as a prominent member of the top tier of Hollywood composers during the 1930s and 1940s.
All for Mary is a 1955 British comedy film brought to the screen by Paul Soskin Productions for the Rank Organisation. It was based on a successful West End play by the English husband and wife team of Kay Bannerman and Harold Brooke. It was directed by Wendy Toye, produced by Paul Soskin with the screenplay by Paul Soskin and Peter Blackmore. It starred Nigel Patrick, David Tomlinson, Jill Day and Kathleen Harrison. Eastmancolor Cinematography was by Reginald H. Wyer. The film had an original copyright notice with a renewal in 1983.
Georgiana Caine was an American actress who performed both on Broadway and in more than 80 films in her 51-year career.
Anne Vernon is a French retired film and television actress who appeared in 40 films between 1948 and 1970, including three films that were entered into the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
A gigolo is a male escort or social companion who is supported by a person in a continuing relationship.
Jeannie is a 1941 British romantic comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Barbara Mullen, Michael Redgrave, and Albert Lieven.
Three Men in a Boat is a 1956 British CinemaScope colour comedy film directed by Ken Annakin, starring Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards, David Tomlinson and Shirley Eaton. It was written by Hubert Gregg and Vernon Harris based on the 1889 novel of the same name by Jerome K. Jerome.
Sarah Ann Padden was an English-born American theatre and film character actress. She performed on stage in the early 20th century. Her best-known single-act performance was in The Clod, a stage production in which she played an uneducated woman who lived on a farm during the American Civil War.
Jack of All Trades is a 1936 British comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and Jack Hulbert and starring Hulbert, Gina Malo and Robertson Hare. It is based on the 1934 play Youth at the Helm. The film was made at Islington Studios, with sets designed by Alex Vetchinsky.
Julie Aileen Kelly, known professionally as Judy Kelly, was an Australian-born British actress. She arrived in Britain in 1932 after winning a competition organised by the Australian British Empire Films, which included 3 months tuition at the British International Studios at Elstree. She appeared in a number of films for British International Pictures during the 1930s. She was sometimes cast as a love interest for the comedian Leslie Fuller, and also appeared alongside the musical stars Gene Gerrard and Stanley Lupino.
Woman Hater is a 1948 British romantic comedy film directed by Terence Young and starring Stewart Granger, Edwige Feuillère and Ronald Squire. The screenplay concerns Lord Datchett, who, as a consequence of a bet with his friends, invites a French film star to stay at his house but pretends to be one of his employees while he tries to romance her with the help of his butler. When she discovers his subterfuge, she decides to turn the tables on him.
A South Sea Bubble is a 1928 British silent comedy adventure film directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Ivor Novello, Benita Hume and Alma Taylor. The screenplay concerns a group of adventurers who head to the Pacific Ocean to hunt for buried treasure. It was made at Islington Studios.
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.
Lady in Danger is a 1934 British comedy thriller film directed by Tom Walls and starring Walls, Yvonne Arnaud and Anne Grey. The screenplay was by Ben Travers.
Government Girl is a 1943 American romantic-comedy film, produced and directed by Dudley Nichols and starring Olivia de Havilland and Sonny Tufts. Based on a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns, and written by Dudley Nichols and Budd Schulberg, the film is about a secretary working in Washington for the war administration during World War II who helps her boss navigate the complex political machinations of government in an effort to build bomber aircraft for the war effort.
Little Orphan Annie is a 1938 American comedy film directed by Ben Holmes, and written by Budd Schulberg and Samuel Ornitz. It is based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray. The film stars Ann Gillis, Robert Kent, June Travis, J. Farrell MacDonald, and J.M. Kerrigan. The film was released on December 2, 1938, by Paramount Pictures.
Under the Frozen Falls is a 1948 British children's film directed by Darrell Catling and starring Harold Warrender, Jacques Brown and Ray Jackson.
This is a list of events from British radio in 1953.
