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King Arthur Was A Gentleman
''King Arthur Was a Gentleman'' is a 1942 British black-and-white comedy musical film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Arthur Askey, Evelyn Dall, Peter Graves and Ronald Shiner. It was written by Marriott Edgar and Val Guest, and was produced by Edward Black and Maurice Ostrer for Gainsborough Pictures. Plot In the Second World War, the undersized Arthur joins the army to prove himself to his girlfriend Susan, who is in the same unit as him. Here, his idealistic notions about King Arthur prompt his messmates to trick him into believing that a sword they have dug up is the fabled Excalibur. Armed with this talisman, Arthur strides forth to deal with the Wehrmacht. Cast * Arthur Askey as Arthur King * Max Bacon as Maxie * Al Burnett as "Slim" * Evelyn Dall as Susan Ashley * Vera Frances as Vera * Peter Graves as Lance * Brefni O'Rorke as Colonel Duncannon * Anne Shelton as Gwen Duncannon * Ronald Shiner as Sergeant * Jack Train as Jack * Victor Feldman as young drummer W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcel Varnel
Marcel Varnel (16 October 1892 – 13 July 1947) was a French film director, notable for his career in the United States and England as a director of plays and films. Biography He was born Marcel Hyacinthe le Bozec in Paris, France. Varnel started his working life on the Paris stage, soon becoming a director of musical comedies. In 1925, he moved to New York City, working as director in several Broadway theatre, Broadway operettas, musicals and dramas for the Shubert family. This was followed by a move to Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, where he directed three low budget thrillers. In 1934, he moved to England and it was as a director of British comedies – initially working at Associated British Picture Corporation, British International Pictures, Elstree, then moving in 1936 to Gainsborough Pictures – where he produced his best films. Among the performers he worked with were Will Hay, Crazy Gang (comedy group), The Crazy Gang, Arthur Askey and George Formby. He died o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previously used term (''Reich Defence'') and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to German rearmament, rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. After the Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler's most overt and bellicose moves was to establish the ''Wehrmacht'', a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi regime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and Military budget, defence spending on the arms industry. The ''Wehrmacht'' formed the heart of Germany's politico-military po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manager of the British Broadcasting Company, it was the world's first broadcast listings magazine. In September 2023 it became the first broadcast listings magazine to reach and then pass its centenary. It was published entirely in-house by BBC Magazines from 8 January 1937 until 16 August 2011, when the division was merged into Immediate Media Company. On 12 January 2017, Immediate Media was bought by the German media group Hubert Burda. The magazine is published on Tuesdays and carries listings for the week from Saturday to Friday. Originally, listings ran from Sunday to Saturday: the changeover meant 8 October 1960 was listed twice, in successive issues. Since Christmas 1969, a 14-day double-duration issue has been published each December ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Halliwell
Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Filmgoer's Companion'' (1965), a single volume film-related encyclopaedia featuring biographies (with credits) and technical terms, and ''Halliwell's Film Guide'' (1977), which is dedicated to individual films. Anthony Quinton wrote in the '' Times Literary Supplement'': "Immersed in the enjoyment of these fine books, one should look up for a moment to admire the quite astonishing combination of industry and authority in one man which has brought them into existence." Halliwell's promotion of the cinema through his books and seasons of "golden oldies'"on Channel 4 won him awards from the London Film Critics' Circle, the British Film Institute and a posthumous BAFTA.''Broadcast'' magazine, 28 June 1985. Early life Born in Bolton, Lancashir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Batsford Books
Batsford Books is an independent British book publisher. Batsford was founded in 1843 by Bradley Thomas Batsford. For some time it was an imprint of Pavilion Books. Upon the purchase of Pavilion Books by HarperCollins, on 1 December 2021, B. T. Batsford Ltd once again became an independent publishing house, with Pitkin as an imprint. Polly Powell, former owner of Pavilion Books, became the owner of Batsford Books and John Stachiewicz was appointed chairman. Harry Batsford, nephew of the founder Bradley Thomas Batsford, was the chairman but also an author for the company writing at least 11 books on English architecture and countryside (some reprinted into the 21st century). Many were co-authored by Charles Fry, Chief Editor and a director of the company. During the Depression years after 1928 there was a period when the firm tried to rely just on their books, illustrated by Batsford's nephew Brian Cook. A prominent chairman of the firm from 1952 until 1974 was Brian Batsford, kno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Quinlan (film Critic)
David Quinlan is an English film critic, journalist, film historian and author. Quinlan was the film critic for the '' TVTimes'' from 1972 to 2006. Other contributions to film periodicals include ''Films Illustrated'', ''Photoplay'', '' Films and Filming'' and ''Film Review Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...''. He co-edits the film review website PicturesThatTalk.com with Alan Frank.Pictures That Talk - About us Retrieved on 2008-03-20. Books Publications include: * ''Quinlan's Illustrated Directory of Film Stars'' (five editions from 1981) * ''Quinlan's Illustrated Directory of Film Di ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Monthly Film Bulletin
The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a narrow arthouse release. History The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was edited in the mid-1950s by David Robinson, in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Peter John Dyer, and then by Tom Milne. By the end of the 1960s, when the character and tone of its reviews changed considerably with the arrival of a new generation of critics influenced by the student culture and intellectual tumult of the time (not least the overthrow of old ideas of "taste" and quality), David Wilson was the editor. It was then edited by Jan Dawson (1938 – 1980), for two years from 1971, and from 1973 until its demise by the New Zealand-born critic Richard Combs. In 1991, the ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was merged with '' Sight & Sound'', which had until then be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freddie Crump
Freddie Crump, also referred to as Freddy Crump, Fred Crump and Rastus Crump (died May 4, 1979 in Holland) was a drummer from the United States. He performed in various vaudeville productions including with Gonzelle White in Cuba, performed in Europe, and was featured in several films. He was African American. Career Crump's career started out in the 1920s. Vitaphone filmed his performance with the Norman Thomas Quintette in the short film ''Harlem-Mania''. He would get off his seat and move around doing stunts, tricks, and laughing audibly. He also performed on film with Victor Feldman in the 1942 comedy film '' King Arthur Was a Gentleman'' in an act where he drummed on glasses and his own teeth. Crump spent time in Britain and Europe performing with the Johnny Claes' Big Band. Claes was born in London, but his father was Belgian, and Claes and performed there with an octet that included Ronnie Scott and Crump. He appeared with Claes' band in the 1946 film '' George in Civv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Feldman
Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as an adult. Feldman emigrated to the United States in the mid-1950s, where he continued working in jazz and also as a session musician with a variety of pop and rock performers. Early life Feldman was born in Edgware on 7 April 1934. He caused a sensation as a musical prodigy when he was "discovered", aged seven. His family were all musical and his father founded the Feldman Swing Club in London in 1942 to showcase his talented sons. Feldman performed from a young age: "from 1941 to 1947 he played drums in a trio with his brothers; when he was nine he took up piano and when he was 14 started playing vibraphone". He featured in the films '' King Arthur Was a Gentleman'' (1942) and '' Theatre Royal'' (1943). In 1944, he was featured at a co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Train
Jack Train (28 November 1902 – 19 December 1966) was a British comic actor best known for his appearances as a variety of eccentric characters in the BBC radio series ''It's That Man Again'' (''ITMA''). Life and career Train was born in Plymouth, Devon, on 28 November 1902."Mr Jack Train", ''The Times'', 20 December 1966, p. 10 During his service in the Royal Navy in the First World War he began performing as an entertainer. Leslie Hore-Belisha, later Minister for War, saw his act when he was entertaining sailors at Devonport, advised him to turn professional and arranged an audition for him. In 1928 he made his first West End appearance, in a Herbert Farjeon revue called ''Many Happy Returns''. His only stage appearance in a serious play was in ''Journey's End'', after which he spent five years as the straight man to Nervo and Knox. He first broadcast in 1924 and was heard on the air frequently, mostly in light entertainment but from time to time in serious drama. In Oc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne Shelton (singer)
Anne Shelton (born Patricia Jacqueline Sibley, 10 November 1923 – 31 July 1994) was a popular English vocalist, who is remembered for providing Forces Sweetheart, inspirational songs for soldiers both on radio broadcasts, and in person, at British military bases during the Second World War. During the 1950s and 60s, Shelton had some success on the UK Singles Chart, topping it in 1956 with "Lay Down Your Arms (1956 song), Lay Down Your Arms". Early life Shelton was born on 10 November 1923 in Dulwich, South London. Singing career In May 1940 at age 16, she appeared on the BBC talent radio show "Monday Night at Eight" and sang 'Let the Curtain Come Down'. The dance-band leader Bert Ambrose heard her performance, and signed her to sing with his prestigious and popular 'Ambrose Orchestra'. She made her first broadcast with Ambrose in June 1940 and she soon made her first solo record for Rex Records "I Can't Love You Any More" backed with "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brefni O'Rorke
Brefni O'Rorke (26 June 1889 – 11 November 1946) was an Irish actor, both on the stage and in movies. Early life O'Rorke was born as William Francis Breffni O'Rorke at 2 Esplande Villas in Dollymount, Clontarf, Dublin on 26 June 1889, and baptised at Clontarf Parish Church on 1 August 1889. His father, Frederick O'Rorke, was a cork merchant, and his mother, Jane Caroline O'Rorke, née Morgan, was an actress. He had an older brother, Frederick, who was twelve years older than him. Career O'Rorke began studying acting with his mother and made his professional début in 1912 at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin in a production of Shaw's '' John Bull's Other Island''. While still living in Dublin, he met and married in 1916 Alice Cole, a chorus-girl turned actress, who had divorced her first husband and immigrated from South Africa with her young son. Thus O'Rorke became the stepfather of Cyril Cusack. Other theatre roles included the title role in '' Finn Varra Maa'' (1917), a musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
