Archives: Production

The Long Arm (USA: The Third Key) is a 1956 British film noir police procedural crime film starring Jack Hawkins. The film, which is based on a screenplay by Robert Barr, was directed by Charles Frend and produced by Michael Balcon. It was shot on location in London and Snowdonia in North Wales.

The Man in the Sky (released in the U.S. as Decision Against Time) is a 1957 film starring Jack Hawkins and produced by Ealing Films, Michael Balcon’s new company, set up after Rank had sold Ealing Studios in Ealing Green, West London, to the BBC in 1955. Balcon, who had run the company on behalf of Rank since 1944, left Rank in 1956 and set up the new company, striking a distribution and production deal with MGM. This was the first Ealing production to be made at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, North London.

The Shiralee is a 1957 British film made by Ealing Studios, directed by Leslie Norman and based on the novel by D’Arcy Niland. Although all exterior scenes were filmed in Sydney, Scone (where the film had its Australasian premiere) and Binnaway, New South Wales and Australian actors Charles Tingwell, Bill Kerr and Ed Devereaux played in supporting roles, the film is really a British film made in Australia, rather than an Australian film.

Barnacle Bill (released in the US as All at Sea) is a 1957 Ealing Studios comedy film, starring Alec Guinness. He plays an unsuccessful Royal Navy officer, and six of his maritime ancestors. This was the penultimate Ealing comedy as well as the last film Guinness made for Ealing Studios. By coincidence, his first Ealing success was Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), in which he also played multiple roles. The film was written by the screenwriter of Passport to Pimlico.

Davy is a 1958 British comedy-drama film directed by Michael Relph and starring Harry Secombe, Alexander Knox and Ron Randell. It was the last comedy to be made by Ealing Studios and had the distinction of being the first British film in Technirama. Davy was intended to launch the solo career of Harry Secombe, who was already a popular British radio personality on The Goon Show, but it was only moderately successful.

Dunkirk is a 1958 British war film directed by Leslie Norman and starring John Mills, Richard Attenborough and Bernard Lee. The film is based on the novels The Big Pick-Up by Elleston Trevor and Dunkirk co-authored by Lt. Col. Ewan Hunter and Maj. J. S. Bradford.

Nowhere to Go is a 1958 British crime film directed by Seth Holt, his directorial debut. It stars George Nader, Maggie Smith (receiving her first screen credit), Bernard Lee, Harry H. Corbett and Lionel Jeffries. After a criminal escapes from jail, his attempts to recover his stashed loot end in failure, as he is shunned by the criminal community and hunted down by the police.

The Siege of Pinchgut (released in the US as Four Desperate Men) is a 1959 British thriller filmed on location in Sydney, Australia and directed by Harry Watt. It was the last film produced by Ealing Studios, and was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival where it was nominated for the Golden Bear Award.

The Ghost of St. Michael’s is a 1941 British comedy-thriller film, produced by Ealing Studios. Hay dropped work with Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott in his previous film, Where’s That Fire? and brought in Claude Hulbert as his sidekick in this film. Hay and Hulbert would act together again in My Learned Friend two years later.

Turned Out Nice Again is a 1941 British comedy film starring Lancashire-born George Formby.