Wally Patch
A British woman faces a downward social climb thanks to her country's rigid and problem-ridden welfare system.
The lives and loves of three young working class women, set in the pubs, terraced houses and factories of Battersea, South London.
Ken Loach production for The Wednesday Play, reflecting contemporary debates surrounding the abolishment of capital punishment.
A middle-aged stock actor goes to London to try the big time. After much frustration, he lands a job doing TV commercials, gaining wealth and recognition. He eventually gives it all up to return to stage work and keep his pride.
Charlie returns to the East End after two years at sea to find his house demolished and wife Maggie gone. Everyone else knows she is now shacked up with married bus driver Bert and a toddler, and they all watch with more than a little interest at the trail of mayhem Charlie leaves as he goes about sorting things out.
Penniless Lord Whitebait's plan to save his sinking fortunes is to open stately Whitebait Manor to the public. But the public ignores his gesture, and his fortunes fade even further, with a stream of debts threatening to run into a deluge when his daughter's fiancé demands a plush and costly wedding. Where is the cash to come from? Whitebait and his servant Spankforth's answer is a scam involving the theft of a valuable painting from the Manor. How could such a cunningly original ruse fail?
When her father dies, Epifania Parerga, an Italian in London, becomes the world's richest woman. She feels incomplete without a husband and falls in love with a humble, Indian physician, Ahmed el Kabir, much loved by his indigent English patients.
Nigel Dennis publishes a scandal magazine. But for each story he writes, he first approaches the person whose scandalous behavior is described (or rather implied, to avoid any libel suit) and says he will suppress the story in return for money. Several of his victims first decide individually to kill him instead of paying, but fail in amusing ways. Then they find that to protect their various secrets they must now join forces for a rather different purpose...
Two London rubbish collectors come into possession of a valuable book, and thwart the attempts of some criminals to con them out of it. Meanwhile one of the dustmen pursues a romance with a housemaid he has met on his round. Remake of a 1936 film of the same title which had also been directed by Maclean Rogers. Wally Patch who had written and starred in the earlier film, appears in a small role in the remake.
A detective proves that a Robin Hood-type crook did not steal a metal formula.
The Toff solves the mystery of a missing employer. One of the BFi's most wanted films.
The story evolves around a radio panel game show "Twenty Questions." The panel is challenged with an anonymous question. The answer leads to a series of murders in which the killer uses the program to name his victims in advance. Two reporters spot a link between them and enlist the aid of the panel in trapping the guilty party.
A detective gets involved with a wealthy socialite who can't seem to stop hiccuping.
Jane is given a bracelet by an elderly admirer. He is in league with Cleaver, a suave crook, and the two plan to use Jane and the bracelet to smuggle diamonds into England.
Four war-time performers known for their concert parties, have a reunion. They decide they are still good together and form a successful nightclub act.
A working-class boy wins a scholarship to a public school, as part of a post-World War Two experiment in bringing boys of different social classes together.
Paul Temple is called in to help Scotland Yard track down a serial killer who has murdered several wealthy women.
A fisherman begins studying to be an osteopath. Although he isn't finished with medical school, he begins treating his landlady's daughter who is believed to have a chronic illness. He seems to cure her, and the case draws a lot of attention, some of it negative because he was unlicensed when he treated her. He still does not have a degree when he marries the daughter and begins practising osteopathy.
The son of a notorious hangman is gradually becoming insane and he finds himself unable to resist the urge to strangle women to death.
George Formby plays George Harper, a tavern owner, who works to turn a waitress from her current employer, a rival tavern owner, when Formby falls in love with her.
Old Mother Riley and her daughter's true love, Dan, go in search of Kitty who has run off with her new boyfriend to a gambling den.
Gormless George Trotter (George Formby) move down from Manchester to the bright lights of London in search of fame and fortune on the stage - only to find himself the prime suspect in a bizarre murder mystery! Whilst staying at Ma Tubbs' theatrical boarding house, a man is murdered in the room right next door to George. When George tries to solve the mystery, he ends up presenting the police with a whole load of clues - all of which point to him as the culprit! Now George must uncover the real murderer himself, with the help of his showbiz friends, his little Ukulele and a fiendishly cunning song! This delightful comedy musical includes three full-length musical numbers - The Daring Young Man, She's Got Two of Everything and I'd Like a Dream Like That.
An account of the technique of reading the tabloid press in an intelligent manor via differing editorial techniques that leads to three styles of newspapers giving varying accounts of a strip-tease act.
Get Cracking is a 1943 British comedy war film, directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Dinah Sheridan, Ronald Shiner and George Formby. It was produced by Marcel Varnel, Ben Henry and Columbia (British) Productions. This comedy explores the wayward rivalry between mechanic and Home Guard Lance Corporal George Singleton (George Formby) and an adversary also in the Home Guard (Ronald Shiner). When the rival Home Guard units of Major Wallop and Minor Wallop are sent on battle manoeuvres, George Singleton (Formby) launches his own unique style of commando raid against neighbouring Major Wallop to steal a Vickers machine gun. The raid fails and Singleton loses his Lance Corporal's stripe, so he and a little evacuee girl named Irene (Vera Frances) decide to fall back on 'Plan B' - to build their very own tank.
Rodney Playfair is persuaded, by a promise to meet his gambling debts, to impersonate a manservant named Chapman at his fiancée's house...
Morale-boosting story released in the middle of World War II. A journalist uncovers a peace organisation at the centre of disreputable dealings.
A simple handyman, who also is an amateur artist, gets into trouble when the head and shoulders portraits of some prominent local females are sold without his knowledge to an advertising agency and are published with nude bodies added to them.
Home guardsman Albert is in love with Dolly, the daughter of commanding officer Diehard. In order to impress her, Albert tries to raise funds to buy a tank for the village.
Gert and Daisy accompany a crowd of Cockney children who are being evacuated to a stately home in the country.
The captain of a British cargo ship shanghais a group of sabateurs, unaware that the daughter of the ship’s owner is among them.
During the Second World War, a German spy goes on the run, carrying important news about a U-Boat campaign. The ship he is traveling aboard is hit by a torpedo. The spy winds up on a lifeboat with other survivors, one of whom is a counterintelligence agent who reveals the German spy's true identity.
An out-of-work comedian persuades a drunken nobleman to join a protest against the closing of a village hall.
Third and final film in the series of ‘Inspector Hornleigh’ comedy-thrillers. Inspector Hornleigh (Gordon Harker), disappointed at not being handed an important spy case, is assigned by Scotland Yard to an army barracks to investigate the mundane thefts of supplies from the stores. This accidentally leads Hornleigh and Sergeant Bingham (Alastair Sim) to a nest of fifth columnists when his dim-witted assistant carelessly talks to a girl in the cafeteria – and that night, news of Hornleigh and Bingham’s arrival is embarrassingly transmitted back to Germany.
Cottage to Let is a 1941 spy film starring Leslie Banks, Alastair Sim and John Mills. Set in World War II Scotland, its plot concerns Nazi spies trying to kidnap an inventor.
It's war time London and the Crazy Gang (Flanagan & Allen, Nervo & Knox, Naughton & Gold) are doing their bit for the war effort by running a fish and chip stall using their platoon's barrage balloon for advertising. Their Sgt Major is not happy about this and orders them to take the balloon down, but a freak heavy wind accidentally carries the gang away to Nazi Germany. They are captured and placed in a detention camp where they meet an elderly prisoner named Jerry, who possess a map for the location of a secret weapon which will win the war! Fortunately Teddy Knox's impersonation of Hitler lands him the spot of pretending to be the Fuhrer at a gala dinner and the gang are allowed out of the camp. However the Nazis have other ideas for their substitute leader.
Classic comedy starring Arthur Askey. The perils, humiliations and humour of trying to run a second-rate theatrical company are further compounded when financial aid, given by the former famous music-hall star Lady Randall (Lily Morris), is withdrawn. Not to be defeated, the stars decide the show must go on and devise a plan to persuade her to reinvest
A young couple become engaged, but enjoy a number of comedic aventures before their wedding day.
The Common Touch is a 1941 British drama film directed by John Baxter and starring Geoffrey Hibbert, Harry Welchman, Greta Gynt and Joyce Howard. On the death of his father, an eighteen-year old lad leaves school to take over the family firm in the City of London. Realising the other directors want to keep him in the dark he starts asking questions, and is soon undercover as a down-and-out in a hostel which will disappear if a company building project goes ahead.
A gang of spies held up in a haunted castle gives this team of celebrated British wireless comedians plenty of scope for laughs.
A British merchant ship is torpedoed by a German U-Boat and takes shelter in a neutral port. The Captain then strikes back at the German enemy.
Inspector Bradley of Scotland Yard is on the trail of the murderous ringleader of a smuggling organization in London.
Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde starring Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch as Oxford 'scholars'. The film is one of many to be made based on the farce Charley's Aunt. Taking inspiration from a well-known Victorian play, a modern-day prankster poses as a wealthy woman in a ploy to prevent him and his friends from being expelled from college.
A man is blackmailed into taking his brother's place in a gang for a jewellery heist.
On the outbreak of the Second World War an idler is forced to join the army by his domineering wife.
Czechoslovakia, March 1939, on the eve of World War II. As the German invaders occupy Prague, inventor Axel Bomasch manages to flee and reach England; but those who need to put his knowledge at the service of the Nazi war machine, in order to carry out their evil plans of destruction, will stop at nothing to capture him.
As WWII begins, vaudeville entertainer Tommy Towers is called up to serve. He arranges a job for his girlfriend at the local pub. To keep moral up, his commanding officer orders him to perform for the troops.
Robert Maine is torn between returning to the glamour of Hollywood and working with a small theatre company in England.
During a holiday by the British seaside, Inspector Hornleigh and Sergeant Bingham grow bored and turn their hand to investigating a local crime.
When a landlady finds one of her tenants murdered, Inspector Hornleigh is sent to investigate. Hornleigh's assistant, Sergeant Bingham, soon finds an attaché case that had been stolen from the murdered man. When Hornleigh examines the case, inside it he finds a bag that was used to carry important government documents. The documents have been taken, and to make things even more confusing, a duplicate of the stolen bag soon turns up.
The inhabitants of a peaceful village begin receiving mysterious hate mail penned by someone with malicious thoughts.
A 1930s British summer Bank Holiday starts at midday on Saturday with a rush for the trains to the seaside. Doreen and Milly are off to a beauty contest, Geoffrey and Catherine are having an illicit weekend in the Grand Hotel and May and the kids are set for a more straightforward holiday of sea, sand, and pub. Meanwhile, the manager and performers on the pier are praying for rain.
Charles and Barbara are a devoted couple who, in seven years' marriage, have never spent a night apart. When they come up to town for a family engagement, an urgent business appointment obliges Charles to let Barbara go on without him. Left alone and bored in the hotel, Charles agrees to accompany a man-about-town friend to a nightclub. He gets helplessly drunk among dubious company, and come the morning finds that a hangover is the least of his problems..!
Alf discovers that one of the buttons on his pyjamas is made from the metal of Aladdin's lamp and that when he cleans it a genie appears.
An aristocrat won't economize, then his rich brother in law is found murdered in the grounds of the aristocrat's house
Adam McAdam is an old, dour sheepherder whose life is devoted to his faithful dog, the whiskey bottle and his daughter, Jeannie. And a conflict that arises when the other sheep-men of the district try every means within their power to have his dog, accused of being a sheep-killer, destroyed.
A highly respected clergyman is actually a former pirate who exacts vigilante justice in this British production.
When Leonora Corbett phones Colin Keith-Johnson that she wants to give their marriage another chance, he tries to buy off his lover Judy Kelly. She wants to stick around for the wife, with a gun. There's a struggle, and Keith-Johnson sticks the inconvenient body in a trunk and begins to figure out how to get rid of it.
Farewell Again is a multiplotted British comedy/drama about soldiers on leave and the people they've left. Given a six-hour pass after a tour of duty in India, several British Tommies (among them Robert Newton, Sebastian Shaw and Anthony Bushell) try to unravel their domestic tribulations before having to ship out again. American expatriate Tim Whelan was the directorial hand who kept the various plot threads from entangling, while another Hollywood vet, James Wong Howe, manned the cameras. The film became instantly dated with the advent of World War II, but in its own time Farewell Again was a box-office smash. The film was issued in the US as Troopship.
Two truck drivers fired by the crooked trucking firm they worked for start their own company. Their former boss, worried about the competition, tries everything he can to drive them out of business, from sending his pretty daughter to seduce them to having his henchmen sabotage their trucks.
A forger returns to his family when he leaves jail vowing to go straight. Although approached by an international counterfeiting gang he keeps his word only to find his nephew is in the Swiss Alps helping the crooks. He sets off to try and put a stop to things, but with Scotland Yard also hot-footing it to the resort his problems are just beginning. Written by Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
An ordinary man, while vigorously asserting the impossibility of miracles, suddenly discovers that he can perform them.
A British secret service agent falls in love with the daughter of a leading London criminal, and soon after becoming involved with her father finds himself in prison facing a charge of manslaughter..
A young man, whose main interest in life is stained glass, accidentally accepts a challenge to fight in a fair boxing booth.
One of a series of murder mysteries featuring the character Philo Vance. A Lost Movie
Actor Edmund Davey becomes a star overnight when his wife and co-star teams up with the secretary of a noted stage critic to produce a glowing review of his 'Othello'.
A Smithfield porter becomes a butler, and later finds himself heir to a fortune.
The Very Reverend Richard Jedd has a problem: the church spire, now in a parlous state of repair, will cost nearly £1,000 to fix. When various money-raising schemes go awry, he is persuaded to waive his principles and bet what’s left of his savings on Dandy Dick, a 10-1 odds-on at the local races. A simple tonic to enhance the nag’s performance seems a good idea… but when the butler decides to intervene, the respectable clergyman finds himself in the middle of a doping scandal – and worse!
A British comedy about a blacksmith who in looking to get away from his wife discovers a talent for rugby league.
When a small English town is dragged out into space by the force of a 'dead star' passing Earth, the populace try to organise a local government based on equal rights for all, but conflicts arise between the local aristocracy and the villagers.
Without a job, a young man is given the opportunity to run his ill uncle's private-detective agency. He finds himself mixed up with everything from an unfaithful husband who is a secret nudist to a schoolteacher who believes his pupil's father is beating him.
A well-known film director has a gangster double, whom he ends up killing. Taking the gangsters place, he then causes an actress to be framed.
Henry, an unemployed London street entertainer, gets his big break when he is engaged to perform as the opening act of a cabaret in local pub. He proves a huge success and his popularity ensures his transition from pub entertainer to star performer.
Lucy and her brother are struggling to make a go of their Soho pet shop, until Lucy meets Tom, a street singer.
An elderly shop-keeper and his grand-daughter are threatened by the rich, mean-spirited dwarf Quilp, and decide to flee across England to escape him. They are pursued both by Quilp and by the shop-keeper's long-lost brother, who wants to find them for a different reason.
Jim Bronton is an insurance investigator, but he's unhappy with his work and gets involved with a gang of arsonists. His conscience is troubling him ...
A farce based on Arthur Wing Pinero's play 'The Magistrate' in which the son (John Mills) of a stern magistrate (Will Hay) visits a music hall against the wishes of his father. In true farcical style, the magistrate too ends up at the music hall, and before long all the characters are trying not to avoid each other... Mainly notable (a) because of its depiction of the music hall as seen by a generation which knew it intimately (b) because of its use of music hall acts of the time and (c) because it gave Will Hay his first film role.
A doctor uses his unique medical knowledge to mastermind a lucrative life-insurance scam; in a rare film role, legendary thespian Gerald du Maurier stars as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner who sets out to uncover the secret of five empty coffins and catch the villainous swine responsible for such depravities.
A clerk is planning to murder a stockbroker but is foiled in the attempt.
Stephen Sorrell, a decorated war hero, raises his son Kit alone after Kit's mother deserts husband and child in the boy's infancy. Sorrell loses a promising job offer and is forced to take work as a menial. Both his dignity and his health are damaged as he suffers under the exhausting labor and harsh treatment he receives as a hotel porter. But Sorrell thrives in the knowledge that his son will benefit from his labors. Sorrell has allowed the boy to believe his mother dead, but when the mother shows up, wanting to re-enter the young man's life, Sorrell must make hard decisions.
A rare film put out by Twickenham Film Studios which includes many original music hall acts.
The film stars Edmund Gwenn, who plays a chemist, whose son Lawrence (played by Barry MacKay) is attacked on a train. He appears to have shot the man.
In sixteenth century Spain, an elderly gentleman named Don Quixote has gone mad from reading too many books on chivalry...
After moving into a picturesque country cottage, a woman becomes increasingly concerned about the fate of the previous owner who she believes was murdered.
The owner of a fish-and-chips shop in the Billingsgate area of London harbors a secret ambition: to become a movie star. It turns out that she has a beautiful singing voice, and when that fact comes to the attention of a movie studio, it begins to turn her and her family's lives upside down.
A scientist seeks to transplant the brain of a young girl into his apeman.
An old, traditional family and a modern family battle over land in a small English village—and almost destroy each other.
Set in Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge football ground and featuring appearances from many real-life players from the day, this is the first film to feature football as its central theme and is recognisably modern and authentic. It deals with the day to day dramas, conflicts and love interests of players and managers in the run-up to the Cup Final.
The year is 1940 and tension is growing between the empires of United Europe and the Atlantic States. A bloody border incident puts both sides on high alert.
Lieutenant Commander John Byrne of the Naval Secret Service and his partner Pvt. Bill Riggers chase criminal Dr. Sin Fang, who is desperate to find a lost sacred seal. (The fifth and only surviving episode of a six-part serial about an evil mastermind inspired on Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu.)
Set against the backdrop of the shell crisis of 1915 at home and the Battle of Loos on the Western Front, two soldiers, one the manager of Grimlaw’s munitions factory are tested in their rivalry for Diana, a red cross nurse (Madeleine Carroll in her first film role).
The husband and wife acting team of Mae Feather and Julian Gordon is torn apart when he discovers she is having an affair with the screen comedian Andy Wilks.
