Basil Dean

Basil Herbert Dean (born September 27, 1888 in Croydon , † April 22, 1978 in London-Westminster ) was a British film director , film producer , writer , actor and screenwriter with a major cinematic career in the 1930s.

Life

Dean began his professional career in 1906 as an actor in the Bristol Theater and enjoyed his first minor successes in London West End plays. Then he tried his hand at writing as a playwright. Dean first came into contact with the film industry in 1927 when he wrote the screenplay for the first film version of his play ' The Constant Nymph' , a romance set in Tyrol.

With the beginning of the sound film age, Dean turned to film direction. Most of his productions of the following decade - comedies, adventure stories, crime novels and musical material - he produced himself. In 1932, Basil Dean founded his own production company, Associated Talking Pictures, or ATP for short. When the Second World War broke out , Dean largely ended his work in film.

In 1939 he founded the Entertainments National Service Association , an umbrella organization for touring artists, whose abbreviation ENSA " gave cause for corruption (e.g. Every Night Something Awful) in view of the sometimes amateur performances of its members ". Dean was also considered a pioneer of British television.

Filmography

Direction and production, unless otherwise stated

• 1927: The Constant Nymph (only co-script)
• 1929: The Return of Sherlock Holmes (director only)
• 1930: Escape (also screenplay)
• 1930: Birds of Prey (also co-script)
• 1931: Sally in Our Alley (production only)
• 1931: Nine Till Six
• 1932: The Impassive Footman
• 1932: Looking on the Bright Side (also co-script)
• 1933: Loyalties
• 1933: The Constant Nymph (only director and co-script)
• 1934: Autumn Crocus
• 1934: Sing as We Go
• 1935: Lorna Doone
• 1935: Look Up and Laugh
• 1936: Whom the Gods Love
• 1936: Queen of Hearts (production only)
• 1936: The Show Goes On
• 1937: The First and the Last
• 1938: Penny Paradise (production only)
• 1938: It's in the Air (production only)
• 1939: 21 Days (director only)
• 1952: I Belive in You (only co-production)
• 1952: The bomb in the subway shaft (The Gentle Gunman) (only unnamed co-production)

literature

• Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 2: C - F. John Paddy Carstairs - Peter Fritz. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 322.

Web links

• Basil Dean in the Internet Movie Database (English)