Archives: Production

Secret People is a 1952 British drama film, directed by Thorold Dickinson and produced by Sidney Cole for Ealing Studios, with a screenplay from Thorold Dickinson, Wolfgang Wilhelm, Joyce Carey and Christianna Brand. Secret People stars Valentina Cortese, Serge Reggiani and Audrey Hepburn and premiered in the U.K. on 8 February 1952. The film provided Audrey Hepburn with her first significant film role, leading to her big breakthrough.

I Believe in You is a 1952 film directed by Michael Relph and Basil Dearden. It stars Celia Johnson and Cecil Parker and is based on the book Court Circular by Sewell Stokes. Inspired by the recently successful The Blue Lamp, Relph and Dearden used a semi-documentary approach in telling the story of the lives of parole officers and their charges.

Mandy is a 1952 British film about a family’s struggle to give their deaf daughter a better life. It was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and is based on the novel The Day Is Ours by Hilda Lewis. It stars Phyllis Calvert, Jack Hawkins and Terence Morgan, and features the first film appearance by Jane Asher. In the US the film was released as The Story of Mandy, later also distributed as Crash of Silence.

The Gentle Gunman is a black-and-white 1952 Ealing Studios drama film, directed by Basil Dearden and starring John Mills and Dirk Bogarde.

The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953 British comedy film about a group of villagers trying to keep their branch line operating after British Railways decided to close it. The film was written by T.E.B. Clarke and was inspired by the restoration of the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway in Wales, the world’s first heritage railway run by volunteers.

The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British war film starring Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister. The film, which was made by Ealing Studios seven years after the end of the Second World War, was directed by Charles Frend and produced by Leslie Norman. It is based on the best selling novel of the same name by former naval officer Nicholas Monsarrat, though the screenplay by Eric Ambler omits some of Monsarrat’s grimmest moments.

The Square Ring is a 1953 British film produced by Michael Relph, directed by Basil Dearden and made at Ealing Studios. It stars Jack Warner, Robert Beatty and Bill Owen. The film, based on a stage play by Ralph Peterson, centres on one night at a fairly seedy boxing venue and tells the different stories of the various fighters and spectators.

Meet Mr. Lucifer is a black and white British comedy satire film released in 1953 starring Stanley Holloway. It was filmed at Ealing Studios, London, and is one of the Ealing Comedies. The film is based on the play Beggar My Neighbour by Arnold Ridley (who later played Private Godfrey in the BBC television comedy series Dad’s Army).

The Love Lottery is a 1954 Ealing Studios comedy film, directed by Charles Crichton and starring David Niven. The film examines celebrity and fan worship with an international setting including Lake Como, ambitious dream sequences, and an uncredited cameo appearance at the end by Humphrey Bogart as himself.

The Maggie (released in the U.S. as High and Dry) is a 1954 British comedy film produced by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick and written by William Rose, it is a story of a clash of cultures between a hard-driving American businessman and a wily Scottish captain.