Walter Murton was a British

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

, who worked from the 1920s until the 1940s. During his early career in the 1920s Murton was the regular set designer on the

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

series '' The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' and '' The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu''. Along with

Clifford Pember Clifford Fanshawe Pember (1881–1955) was a British art director notable for his set designs in British cinema and theatre. Pember worked on films during the late silent and early sound eras. Pember originally trained as an architect. In 1928 h ...

, Murton was identified as part of an "old guard" resisting change in British set design sought by younger set designers and by German immigrants.Bergfelder & Cargnelli p.112 During his later career Murton worked for

Gainsborough Pictures Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, east London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The co ...

. His final film was the influential Gainsborough Melodrama ''

The Man in Grey ''The Man in Grey'' is a 1943 British melodrama film made by Gainsborough Pictures; it is considered to be the first of a series of period costume dramas now known as the " Gainsborough melodramas". It was directed by Leslie Arliss and produ ...

'' (1943). His son Peter Murton was also an art director.

Selected filmography

* ''

Open Country "Open Country" is a designation used for some access land in England and Wales. It was first defined under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 (and extended by the Countryside Act 1968), and was land over which an appropr ...

'' (1922) * '' The Truants'' (1922) * '' Petticoat Loose'' (1922) * '' The Glorious Adventure'' (1922) * '' The Indian Love Lyrics'' (1923) * '' The Kensington Mystery'' (1924) * ''

Becket ''Becket or The Honour of God'' (), often shortened to ''Becket'', is a 1959 stage play written in French by Jean Anouilh. It is a depiction of the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England leading to Becket's assassination in ...

'' (1924) * '' The Conspirators'' (1924) * '' Huntingtower'' (1928) * ''

A Warm Corner ''A Warm Corner'' is a 1930 British comedy film directed by Victor Saville and starring Leslie Henson, Heather Thatcher and Austin Melford. The film's sets were designed by Walter Murton. It was based on a successful play by Franz Arnold a ...

'' (1930) * '' The Sport of Kings'' (1931) * '' Third Time Lucky'' (1931) * '' The Ghost Train'' (1931) * '' The Great Barrier'' (1937) * ''

Second Best Bed ''Second Best Bed'' is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Tom Walls and starring Walls, Jane Baxter and Veronica Rose. The screenplay was by Ben Travers, based on an earlier story of his. The screenplay concerns a newly married couple who ...

'' (1938) * '' Strange Boarders'' (1938) * '' Climbing High'' (1938) * '' Hi Gang!'' (1941) * ''

We Dive at Dawn ''We Dive at Dawn'' is a 1943 war film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring John Mills and Eric Portman as Royal Navy submariners in the Second World War. It was written by Val Valentine and J. B. Williams with uncredited assistance from F ...

'' (1943) * ''

'' (1943)

References

Bibliography

* Bergfelder, Tim & Cargnelli, Christian. ''Destination London: German-speaking emigrés and British cinema, 1925-1950''. Berghahn Books, 2008.

External links

* 1892 births Year of death unknown British art directors People from Norwich {{UK-film-bio-stub