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Leslie Banks
Leslie James Banks Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (9 June 1890 – 21 April 1952) was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered for playing gruff, menacing characters in black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s, but also the Chorus in Laurence Olivier's wartime version of ''Henry V (1944 film), Henry V''. Early life and career Leslie Banks was born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, to George and Emily (''née'' Dalby) Banks. He attended school at Glenalmond College in Scotland, and later studied at Keble College, Oxford with the intention of becoming a parson, but decided against this. He joined Frank Benson (actor), Frank Benson's company, and made his acting debut in October 1911 at the town hall in Brechin, playing Old Gobbo in ''The Merchant of Venice''. He then toured the United States and Canada with Henry V. Esmond and Eva Moore in 1912 and 1913. Returning to London, he appeared for the first time on the Wes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom#Modern honours, knight if male or a dame (title), dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with the order, but are not members of it. The order was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V, who created the order to recognise 'such persons, male or female, as may have rendered or shall hereafter render important services to Our Empire'. Equal recognition was to be given for services rendered in the UK and overseas. Today, the majority of recipients are UK citizens, though a number of Commonwealth realms outside the UK continue to make appointments to the order. Honorary awards may be made to cit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. Opening in 1870, the theatre staged mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. The theatre was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous structure. The current building dates from 1926, and the capacity is now 690 seats. Early stage mechanisms, including rare thunder drums and lightning sheets, survive in the theatre. History Origins The theatre was designed by prolific architect C. J. Phipps, and decorated in a Romanesque style by George Gordon. It opened on 16 April 1870 with Andrew Halliday's comedy, ''For Love Or Money'' and a burlesque, ''Don Carlos or the Infante in Arms''. A notable innovation was the concealed footlights, which would shut off if the glass in front of them was broken. The owner, William Wybrow Robertson, had run a failing billiard hall on the site but saw more opportunity in theatre. He leased the new theatre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jamaica Inn (film)
''Jamaica Inn'' is a 1939 British adventure thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel of the same name. It is the first of three of du Maurier's works that Hitchcock adapted (the others were her novel ''Rebecca'' and short story " The Birds"). It stars Charles Laughton (who also produced the film through his Mayflower Pictures) and Maureen O'Hara in her first major screen role. It is the last film Hitchcock made in the United Kingdom before he moved to the United States. The film is a period piece set in Cornwall in 1820, in the real Jamaica Inn (which still exists) on the edge of Bodmin Moor. Plot The film is set in 1820 (at the start of the reign of King George IV). Jamaica Inn houses the clandestine rural headquarters of a gang of cut-throats and thieves, led by innkeeper Joss Merlyn. They have become wreckers who are responsible for shipwrecks in which they extinguish coastal warning beacons, causing ships to run agro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire Over England
''Fire Over England'' is a 1937 London Film Productions film drama, notable for providing the first pairing of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. It was directed by William K. Howard and written by Clemence Dane, nominally from the 1936 novel '' Fire Over England'' by AEW Mason. Leigh's performance in the film helped to convince David O. Selznick to cast her as Scarlett O'Hara in his 1939 production of '' Gone with the Wind''. The film is a historical drama set during the reign of Elizabeth I focusing on England's victory over the Spanish Armada. Plot During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, England is concerned by the impending arrival of the Spanish Armada. In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I ( Flora Robson), English privateers such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen bringing gold from the New World. Elizabeth's chief advisers are the Lord Treasurer, Lord Burleigh ( Morton Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erich Pommer
Erich Pommer (20 July 1889 – 8 May 1966) was a German-born film producer and executive. Pommer was perhaps the most powerful person in the German and European film industries in the 1920s and early 1930s. As producer, Erich Pommer was involved in the German expressionist cinema, German Expressionist film movement during the silent film, silent era. As the head of production at Decla Film, Decla-Bioskop, and, from 1924 to 1926, at Universum Film AG, UFA, Pommer was responsible for many of the best known movies of the Weimar Republic such as ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), ''Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler, Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler'' (1922), ''Die Nibelungen'' (1924), ''Michael (1924 film), Michael'' (1924), ''The Last Laugh (1924 film), Der Letzte Mann / The Last Laugh'' (1924), ''Varieté, Variety'' (1925), ''Herr Tartüff, Tartuffe'' (1926), ''Manon Lescaut (1926 film), Manon Lescaut'' (1926), ''Faust (1926 film), Faust'' (1926), ''Metropolis (1927 film), Metropolis'' (1927) and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 Film)
''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' is a 1934 British spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Leslie Banks and Peter Lorre, and released by Gaumont British. It was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock's British period. The film is Hitchcock's first film using this title and was followed later with his own 1956 film using the same name featuring a significantly different plot and script with some modifications. The second film featured James Stewart and Doris Day, and was made for Paramount Pictures. The two films are very similar in tone. In the book-length interview ''Hitchcock/Truffaut'' (1967), in response to filmmaker François Truffaut's assertion that aspects of the remake were by far superior, Hitchcock replied, "Let's say the first version is the work of a talented amateur and the second was made by a professional." However, some critics have concluded that Hitchcock's statement should not be taken at face value. The 1934 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 feature films, many of which are still widely watched and studied today. Known as the "Master of Suspense", Hitchcock became as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, List of cameo appearances by Alfred Hitchcock, his cameo appearances in most of his films, and his hosting and producing the television anthology ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' (1955–65). His films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins, although he never won the award for Academy Award for Best Director, Best Director, despite five nominations. Hitchcock initially trained as a technical clerk and copywriter before entering the film industry in 1919 as a title card designer. His directorial debut was the British–German silent film ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fay Wray
Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian-American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international recognition as an actress in horror films. She has been dubbed the first "scream queen". She had minor film roles, and gained media attention as one of the "WAMPAS Baby Stars" in 1926. This led to her contract with Paramount Pictures as a teenager, where she made more than a dozen feature films. After leaving Paramount, she signed deals with various film companies, got her first roles in horror films and many other types, including in '' The Bowery'' (1933) and '' Viva Villa!'' (1934), both of which star Wallace Beery. For RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., Wray starred in her most identifiable film, ''King Kong'' (1933). After its success, she had numerous roles in film and television, retiring in 1980. Life and career Early life Wray was born o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he became best known. He appeared in over one hundred films, starring in over eighty, among them Alfred Hitchcock's espionage thriller '' Foreign Correspondent'' (1940), Preston Sturges' comedy classics '' Sullivan's Travels'' (1941), and '' The Palm Beach Story'' (1942), the romance film '' Bird of Paradise'' (1932), the adventure classic '' The Most Dangerous Game'' (1932), Gregory La Cava's bawdy comedy ''Bed of Roses'' (1933), George Stevens' six-time Academy Award nominated romantic comedy '' The More the Merrier'' (1943), William Wyler's '' These Three'', '' Come and Get It'' (both 1936) and '' Dead End'' (1937), Howard Hawks' ''Barbary Coast'' (1935), and a number of Westerns, including '' Wichita'' (1955) as Wyatt Earp and Sam Peckinpah' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Most Dangerous Game Poster
Most or Möst may refer to: Places * Most, Kardzhali Province, a village in Bulgaria * Most (city), a city in the Czech Republic ** Most District, a district surrounding the city ** Most Basin, a lowland named after the city ** Autodrom Most, motorsport race track near Most * Möst, Khovd, a district in Khovd, Mongolia * Most, Mokronog-Trebelno, a settlement in Slovenia * Most, Istria County, a settlement in Croatia Other uses * Most (surname), including a list of people with the surname * Franz Welser-Möst (born 1960), Austrian conductor * ''Most'' (1969 film), a film about WWII Yugoslavian partisans * ''Most'' (2003 film), a Czech film * ''Most!'', 2018 Czech TV series * Most (grape) or Chasselas * most (Unix), a terminal pager on Unix and Unix-like systems * Most (wine) or Apfelwein * ''most'', an English degree determiner * Monolithic System Technology (MoST), a defunct American fabless semiconductor company * Most (Croatian political party), a party founded in 2012 * Mos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Most Dangerous Game (1932 Film)
''The Most Dangerous Game'' is a 1932 American pre-Code horror film, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel, starring Joel McCrea, Fay Wray and Leslie Banks. The movie is an adaptation of the 1924 short story of the same name by Richard Connell; it is the first film version of the story. In the United Kingdom, the film was released as ''The Hounds of Zaroff''. In the film, Bob Rainsford is stranded on a remote island after a yacht crash. He discovers a luxurious house owned by a big game hunter, Zaroff, who is hosting two other shipwreck survivors, siblings Eve and Martin Trowbridge. Zaroff hints that he has rediscovered the thrill of hunting after pursuing "the most dangerous game." That evening, Eve and Rainsford find a trophy room with human heads mounted on the wall and they realize that Zaroff has been hunting humans. Rainsford refuses to accompany Zaroff hunting, and Zaroff says that Rainsford must become the next prey. Zaroff gives Rainsford a hunting knife ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Macgowan
Kenneth Macgowan (November 30, 1888 – April 27, 1963) was an American film producer. He won an Academy Award for Best Color Short Film for ''La Cucaracha'' (1934), the first live-action short film made in the three-color Technicolor process. Biography Born on November 30, 1888, in Winthrop, Massachusetts, Macgowan began his career as a drama critic. He wrote many books on modern theater, including ''The Theatre of Tomorrow'' (1921), ''Continental Stagecraft'' (1922) with Robert Edmond Jones, ''Masks and Demons'' (1923) with Herman Rosse, and ''Footlights Across America'' (1929). In 1922, he ran the Provincetown Playhouse as its producer, with Eugene O'Neill and Robert Edmond Jones as business partners. His close relationship with O'Neill lasted their lifetimes. In 1928, he moved to Hollywood, California to become a story editor for the newly formed RKO Radio Pictures and quickly became an assistant producer. By 1932, Macgowan had become a film producer for RKO, including ''Lit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
