A global byword for cinematic quality of a quintessentially British nature Ealing Studios made more than 150 films over a three decade period. A cherished and significant part of British film history only selected films from both the Ealing and Associated Talking Pictures strands have previously been made available on home video format - with some remaining unseen since their original theatrical release. The Ealing Rarities Collection redresses this imbalance - featuring new transfers from the best available elements in their correct aspect ratio this multi-volume collection showcases a range of scarce films from both Basil Dean's and Michael Balcon's tenure as studio head making them available once more to the general public. LONELY ROAD (1936) On a drunken drive to the coast an ex-naval officer interrupts what he believes to be a smuggling operation and informs Scotland Yard... Black and White / 70 mins / 1.33:1 / Mono / English THE WATER GIPSIES (1932) A.P. Herbert's famous tale about a girl living on a Thames barge and her love for a local artist. Black and White / 74 mins / 1.33:1 / Mono / English THE SIGN OF FOUR (1932) Arthur Wontner stars in the classic Sherlock Holmes mystery in which an ex-convict seeks revenge on a man who failed to honour his word. Black and White / 74 mins / 1.33:1 / Mono / English FEATHER YOUR NEST (1937) Unseen since its original theatrical release this George Formby vehicle stars George as a gramophone record factory worker who creates a hit song. Black and White / 78 mins / 1.33:1 / Mono / English
A global byword for cinematic quality of a quintessentially British nature, Ealing Studios made more than 150 films over a three decade period. A cherished and significant part of British film history, only selected films from both the Ealing and Associated Talking Pictures strands have previously been made available on home video format - with some remaining unseen since their original theatrical release. The Ealing Rarities Collection redresses this imbalance - featuring new transfers from...
Maurice Elvey the most prolific British director of all time, directed this 1933 Twickenham Studios production. The director is a story himself, having run away from his home in Stockton to work on the streets of London aged....nine. Co Written and starring Ivor Novello writer of over three hundred songs including, Keep the home fires burning. It's a story of a pennyless russian prince in London befriended by Ada (Ida Lupino). Ada takes the prince home to live with her middle class family.
This box set features the following films: Love Life and Laughter (Dir. Maurice Elvey) (1934): An impoverished author and a cabaret girl each have their dream of success but are happy to wake to each other and reality. Sing As We Go (Dir. Basil Dean) (1934): When the textile mill closes putting her out of work Gracie finds herself experiencing all of the amusements of Blackpool. Sally In Our Alley (Dir. Maurice Elvey) (1931): A working class girl who waits on tables in a London coffee house sings to the customers to keep them entertained. Looking on The Bright Side (Dir. Graham Cutts / Basil Dean) (1932): Manicurist Fields falls for songwriting hairdresser Dolman whose heart belongs to a gorgeous singer. Queen of Hearts (Dir. Monty Banks) (1936): Gracie Perkins is a seamstress who is mistaken for a wealthy patroness of the arts! Look Up And Laugh (Dir. Basil Dean) (1935): Gracie rallies fellow stall-holders when a department store chain threatens to takeover and demolish their business. The Show Goes On (Dir. Basil Dean) (1937): The rise of British entertainer Graci Fields from humble mill girl to the most popular and highest paid performer in Great Britain during the Depression era is chronicled in this biographical drama.
The Gracie Fields Collection Includes 8 Films: Love Life And Laughter Sing As We Go Sally In Our Alley Looking On The Bright Side Queen Of Hearts Look Up And Laugh The Show Goes On
Jim Gay loves his racing greyhound but out of town he finds a dog with a better chance to win. His friends bet on his dog while he bets against.
The documentary-drama follows seven women from different backgrounds who meet at an Auxiliary Territorial Service training camp. 'Gentle' British girls, now doing their bit to help out in WWII: drilling, driving lorries, and manning ack-ack batteries. Narrated by Leslie Howard.
Too Young To Love: Based on the American play Pickup Girl by Elsa Shelley and Filmed at Beaconsfield Studios this highly moral and controversial film tells the story of a young girls slide into the world of prostitution disease and abortion and her fight to redeem her life. Originally X rated it caused an outcry for support of teenage children in Britain at the time. Frail Women: Maurice Elvey directed this 1931 Twickenham production produced by the prolific Jules Hagen. Lillian (Mary Newcomb) has an illegitimate war baby. The father a soldier unaware of the situation goes off to war. Years later the soldier now a Colonel learns of his child and offers to marry Lillian to give his daughter a name and avoid the social stigma’s of that time. Stars: Mary Newcomb Owen Nares Edmund Gwenn.
A delicious double-dose of effervescent vintage comedy-drama starring Britain's blondest bombshell, the one-and-only Diana Dors, at her saucy best. Miss Tulip Stays the Night: Laughter and thrills mingle in as gorgeous Kate Dax (Dors) and her crime-writer husband, Andrew (Patrick Holt), investigate the murder of eccentric spinster Miss Tulip (Cicely Courtneidge) at a remote country cottage. With the help - or hindrance - of bumbling P.C. Feathers (deftly played by British comedy legend Jack Hulbert), will they ever crack their crazy case and finally figure out whodunit? The Great Game: Goals and glamour go together in a high-scoring drama of football league corruption, shot on location at Griffin Park, historic home of Brentford F.C. With fine performances from James Hayter as Burnville United's unscrupulous team chairman, Thora Hird as his long-suffering assistant, and Dors enjoying herself as man-eating secretary Lulu - not to mention a splendid eyeball-rolling turn from John Laurie - the final result is a nostalgic Saturday afternoon treat for movie buffs and football fans alike.
The Six Men: A dramatic story tracing the activities of a gang of crooks whose long run of successful coups has the police in a panic. A Matter Of Murder: Melodrama of an embezzler implicated in his girlfriend’s murder. The House Of Black Mail: In a remote mansion Army Officer (William Sylvester) and Carol (Mary Germaine)
Beloved by the British public for her string of hit pre-war films, Gracie Fields' Lancastrian earthiness, impish humour and memorable songs have endeared her to many generations of fans. Love, Life & Laughter sees Gracie starring opposite '30s leading man John Loder in this decidedly working class spin on a Ruritanian romance. It is presented here as a brand-new High Definition remaster from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio. Publican's daughter Nellie catches a handsome stranger's eye whilst impersonating Nell Gwyn at a charity pageant. This is no ordinary admirer, however, but the Crown Prince of Granau - who is so enamoured with Nellie's charms that he's compelled to break off his engagement and desert his fiancée. Special Feature: Image gallery
The Great Maximus (Claude Rains - Casablanca Lawrence of Arabia) has got a new act for the music halls where he makes his living. Working with his beautiful wife Rene (Fay Wray - King Kong) he poses as a mind reader. It's all a trick of course: he certainly doesn't have the gift for real. Or so he thinks... When he correctly predicts a terrible train crash Maximus becomes an instant celebrity. But his new-found fame and his friendship with sultry Christine Shawn (Jane Baxter) threatens his marriage. Worse is to come: he is accused not of foreseeing accidents but actually causing them...
This second release the BFI's pioneering Adelphi Collection brings together two films directed by Maurice Elvey both featuring sizzling performances from a young sassy Diana Dors. Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? (1953): American Army pilot Laurie Vining (Bonar Colleano) - on leave in London - is hoping for a little rest. But his idyllic bliss is shattered abruptly when his stunning ex Candy - saucily played by Dors - unexpectedly arrives at his hotel insisting that they're still married. Laurie enlists the assistance of wisecracking co-pilot Hank Hanlon (Sid James) and girl-shy lawyer Frank Betterton (David Tomlinson). But his troubles have only just begun... My Wife's Lodger (1952): is the farcical tale of a soldier who returns home after six years to find that his house has become a boarding house...
The Harassed Hero (1954)Poor Mr. Murray Selwyn (Guy Middleton)! He's suffering from 'Acute Apprehension Complex' and his doctors have strongly recommended that he avoid any stress or excitement in his life. Unfortunately - thanks to a chance encounter in a London taxi cab - he now finds himself at the very centre of an explosive international criminal caper and his life is filled with suitcases full of hot money desperate gunmen and vanishing bodies! More dangerous still he's been cared for by the rather ravishing Nurse Brook (Joan Winmill Brown) - a girl guaranteed to stimulate any red-blooded English gentleman! How much excitement can one man take? The Night Won't Talk (1952)When a beautiful young artist's model is strangled in her bed Scotland Yard find themselves with three suspects - her sinister ex-husband (Elwyn Brook-Jones) a sexually disturbed artist (Ballard Berkeley) and her violent new boyfriend (John Bailey) who is prone to unexplained blackouts. To catch the killer the police must set a dangerous trap with the aid of a famous sculptress (Hy Hazell).
Tribulations of inept reservists who find a fortnight's training an unwelcome interruption.
Schoolboy howlers abound in this unforgettably odd vintage classroom comedy caper, starring radio favourite Cardew The Cad Robinson and a host of familiar British film and television faces. Gormless 25 year-old Cardew, wealthy beneficiary of the Robinson Will, should have left St. Fanny's School many years ago. However, seedy headmaster Dr. Jankers (music hall favourite Fred Emney) is in the toils of shady bookmaker Harry the Scar (boxer Freddie Mills) and has so-far kept his golden goose perched firmly at the bottom of the class. Blissfully unaware of nefarious intrigue around him, Cardew continues to flirt coyly with the French mistress and gamble for school dinners on the form room roulette wheel. But canny Scots solicitor McTavish has been sent to investigate...Featuring television's Billy Bunter, Gerald Campion, gorgeous Vera Day, Will Hay cohort Claude Hulbert, muddle-mouthed Stanley Unwin, a young Ronnie Corbett, and enough old jokes to fill a Christmas Cracker factory.
Sons Of The Sea
The final film by veteran director Maurice Elvey takes a wry look at gender politics in the 1950s workplace casting Adrienne Corri as a high-flying advertising executive whose career is in jeopardy after the announcement of her forthcoming marriage. A sharply intelligent long sought-after comedy that was thought lost for many years Second Fiddle is featured here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements. Deborah and Charles young executives at the thriving Pontifex Advertising Agency are very much in love. Deborah is recognised by her employers as the most brilliant TV executive in the country while Charles is regarded as 'thoroughly reliable'. But there is one hard-and-fast rule at the agency: the board of directors will not allow any married women on their staff; as soon as a girl marries she must resign!
LOVE, LIFE AND LAUGHTER: Set in the mythical kingdom of Ruritania, this romantic comedy centers on an enamored prince who abdicates his position to pursue a sexy showgirl across Europe. The two fall deeply in love and things look great until the Ruritanian king dies and the prince realizes that he is duty-bound to rule his country. The chorine, respects this choice and lets him go.In SING AS WE GO, a plucky Lancashire millworker is out of a job when her mill is forced to close for the summer. She decides to make the best of it by taking a series of summer jobs in Blackpool that eventually lead her to meet a business magnate. With all her charm, the girl convinces him to invest in the financially strapped mill and the jobs of her colleagues are saved.
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