London Films Productions is a British film and television production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and from 1936 based at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, near London. The company's productions included The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), Things to Come (1936), Rembrandt (1936), and The Four Feathers (1939). The facility at Denham was taken over in 1939 by Rank and merged with Pinewood to form D & P Studios. The outbreak of war necessitated that The Thief of Bagdad (1940) be completed in California, although Korda's handful of American-made films still displayed Big Ben as their opening corporate logo.
Nigel Marlin Balchin was an English psychologist and author, particularly known for his novels written during and immediately after World War II: Darkness Falls from the Air, The Small Back Room and Mine Own Executioner.
Anthony Martin Kimmins, OBE was an English director, playwright, screenwriter, producer and actor.
Smiley is a 1957 CinemaScope produced comedy film. It tells the story of a young Australian boy who is determined to buy a bicycle for four pounds. Along the way he gets into many misadventures. It was based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Moore Raymond who also co-wrote the film with Anthony Kimmins. Their screenplay received a Best British Screenplay nomination at the BAFTA awards.
A Kid For Two Farthings is a 1955 film, directed by Carol Reed. The screenplay was adapted by Wolf Mankowitz from his 1953 novel of the same name. The title is a reference to the traditional Passover song, "Chad Gadya", which begins "One little goat which my father bought for two zuzim". At the end of the film, Mr. Kandinsky softly sings fragments of an English translation of the song.
John Loder was established as a British film actor in Germany and Britain before migrating to the United States in 1928 for work in the new talkies. He worked in Hollywood for two periods, becoming an American citizen in 1947. After living also in Argentina, he became a naturalized British citizen in 1959.
British Lion Films is a film production and distribution company active under several forms since 1919. Originally known as British Lion Film Corporation Ltd, it entered receivership on 1 June 1954. From 29 January 1955 to 1976, the company was known as British Lion Films Ltd, and was a pure distribution company.
Anna Karenina is a 1948 British film based on the 1877 novel of the same title by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy.
An Ideal Husband, also known as Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, is a 1947 British comedy film adaptation of the 1895 play by Oscar Wilde. It was made by London Film Productions and distributed by British Lion Films (UK) and Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (USA). It was produced and directed by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Lajos Bíró from Wilde's play. The music score was by Arthur Benjamin, the cinematography by Georges Périnal, the editing by Oswald Hafenrichter and the costume design by Cecil Beaton. This was Korda's last completed film as a director, although he continued producing films into the next decade.
Kieron Moore was an Irish film and television actor whose career was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s. He may be best remembered for his role as Count Vronsky in the film adaptation of Anna Karenina (1948) with Vivien Leigh.
Leslie Arliss was an English screenwriter and director. He is best known for his work on the Gainsborough melodramas directing films such as The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady during the 1940s.
The 2nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 25 September 1947. The new building that was meant to host the festival, the Palais du Festival, was still not ready, and the festival was held amid many technical and financial problems. In 1947, the entire jury of the Festival were French. Six awards were given to films of different categories.
Bonnie Prince Charlie is a 1948 British historical film directed by Anthony Kimmins for London Films depicting the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion and the role of Bonnie Prince Charlie within it. Filmed in Technicolor, it stars David Niven, Jack Hawkins, and Margaret Leighton.
Obsession, released in the USA as The Hidden Room, is a 1949 British crime film directed by Edward Dmytryk, based on the 1947 novel A Man About a Dog by Alec Coppel, who also wrote the screenplay for the film. Obsession was entered into the 1949 Cannes Film Festival.
Mr. Denning Drives North is a 1951 British mystery film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring John Mills, Phyllis Calvert and Sam Wanamaker. The plot concerns an aircraft manufacturer (Mills) who accidentally kills the boyfriend of his daughter (Moore) and tries to dispose of the body. Alec Coppel wrote the script, adapted from his own 1950 novel of the same title.
Martin Miller, born Johann Rudolph Müller was a Czech-Austrian character actor who played many small roles in British films and television series from the early 1940s until his death. He was best known for playing eccentric doctors, scientists and professors, although he played a wide range of small, obscure roles—including photographers, waiters, a pet store dealer, rabbis, a Dutch sailor and a Swiss tailor. On stage he was noted in particular for his parodies of Adolf Hitler and roles as Dr. Einstein in Arsenic and Old Lace and Mr. Paravicini in The Mousetrap.
Walter Percy Day O.B.E. (1878–1965) was a British painter best remembered for his work as a matte artist and special effects technician in the film industry. Professional names include W. Percy Day; Percy Day; "Pop" or "Poppa" Day, owing to his collaboration with sons Arthur George Day (1909–1952) draughtsman, Thomas Sydney Day (1912–1985), stills photographer and cameraman, and stepson, Peter Ellenshaw, who also worked in this field.
Mine Own Executioner is a 1960 Australian television play based on Nigel Balchin's 1945 novel of the same name. It was shot in Melbourne, at a time when Australian drama was rare.
A Yank Comes Back is a 1949 documentary film directed by Colin Dean, starring and written by Burgess Meredith. Meredith produced it when filming Mine Own Executioner in Britain.
Mine Own Executioner is a 1945 psychological thriller by the English novelist Nigel Balchin, and is the novel most often associated with the author. It was the most popular of Balchin's three war-time novels, following earlier successes he had had with Darkness Falls from the Air (1942) and The Small Back Room (1943), both of which had already acquired status as contemporary social documents.
