Friedrich Robert Donat was an English actor. He is best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), winning for the latter the Academy Award for Best Actor.
The following is an overview of 1930 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Edith Madeleine Carroll was an English actress, popular both in Britain and in America in the 1930s and 1940s. At the peak of her success in 1938, she was the world's highest-paid actress.
John William Van Druten was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observations of contemporary life and society.
Thomas Bentley was a British film director. He directed 68 films between 1912 and 1941. He directed three films in the early DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process, The Man in the Street (1926), The Antidote (1927), and Acci-Dental Treatment (1928).
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.
Escape! is a 1930 British crime film directed by Basil Dean and starring Gerald du Maurier, Edna Best and Gordon Harker. It was based on the 1926 play of the same title by John Galsworthy, which was adapted again as a film in 1948.
Frank Lawton Mokeley was an English actor.
Compromising Daphne is a 1930 British comedy film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Jean Colin, Phyllis Konstam, C. M. Hallard and Viola Compton. It was also released under the alternative title Compromised! and was based on a play by Edith Fitzgerald. The film was produced by the leading British company of the era British International Pictures at their Elstree Studios with sets designed by John Mead.
The Mill on the Floss is a 1936 British drama film directed by Tim Whelan and starring Frank Lawton, Victoria Hopper, Geraldine Fitzgerald and James Mason. It was based on the 1860 novel The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot.
Samuel Livesey was a Welsh stage and film actor.
The Great Defender is a 1934 British mystery film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Matheson Lang, Margaret Bannerman and Arthur Margetson. Its plot concerns a top barrister who conducts the defence of an artist facing the death penalty for allegedly murdering his model, while himself battling with serious illness.
After Office Hours is a 1932 British romantic drama film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Frank Lawton, Viola Lyel and Garry Marsh.
Paul Temple's Triumph is a 1950 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley, Dinah Sheridan and Jack Livesey. It was the third in the series of four Paul Temple films made at Nettlefold Studios and was an adaptation of the Francis Durbridge radio serial News of Paul Temple (1939). Temple is on the trail of a gang of international criminals trying to steal atomic secrets.
Gerald Rawlinson (1904–1975) was a British actor.
Young Woodley may refer to:
Young Woodley is a 1925 play by the British writer John Van Druten. It concerns a schoolboy at a top British public school who falls in love with his headmaster's wife and is eventually expelled. Because of its negative depiction of public school life, and its controversial subject matter, the play originally was banned in the United Kingdom and only staged in 1928. However, it was a major success in the United States, and Van Druten moved there to work. The ban in Britain was lifted, and the play ran for over 400 performances in the West End, making a star of its lead Frank Lawton. It was revived at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 2007. It was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1925-1926.
Victor Kendall was a British screenwriter notable for his work in the 1930s. Kendall wrote the screenplay for Atlantic the first sound portrayal of the Titanic Disaster. Kendall worked for several British studios and production companies but spent most of his screenwriting career with the large British International Pictures organisation where he wrote scripts for several of the companies leading directors such as Ewald André Dupont and Thomas Bentley. According to IMDb, this was the same person who proceeded to an acting career in the United States, commencing as one of the not-specifically named "Students" in the 1939 Laurel and Hardy film A Chump at Oxford. Other films through to 1943 in which an actor of this name appeared are listed in the same source. Against this background, it might be noted that there are no England and Wales birth records for any Victor Kendall in 1903, no sign of emigration to the United States in the 1930s, and no evidence of a person with such a name and approximate date of birth in the 1940 US Census. In that context, the lack of information on the death of this film-industry worker looks unsurprising.
Sleepless Nights is a 1932 British musical comedy film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Stanley Lupino, Polly Walker and Gerald Rawlinson. The film was made at Elstree Studios by British International Pictures. Unlike most of Lupino's other films it was based on an original screenplay rather than an existing stage work.
Young Woodley is a 1928 British silent drama film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Marjorie Hume, Sam Livesey and Robin Irvine. The film was never released, and was subsequently remade by Bentley as a sound film Young Woodley in 1930. It was made at Cricklewood Studios. It was based on the play Young Woodley by John Van Druten. This silent version was released to the home movie market running 8 x 200 ft reels, standard 8mm on Amber Stock.
