Jack Harris (film editor)

Jack Harris (born July 2, 1905 in Farnborough , United Kingdom , † 1971 in Yeovil , United Kingdom) was a British film editor who was considered by many of his contemporaries to be one of the most important editors of British film in the 1930s to 1950s.

Live and act

Jack Harris joined film straight from school when he joined Shepherd's Bush Gaumont Studios in 1921. The Briton, who comes from south London, got to know the industry from the bottom up and finally found film editing at the end of the silent film era through the job of an assistant to directors Maurice Elvey and Victor Saville . For the Twickenham Studios, he first edited the cheaply produced so-called “quota quickies” (including numerous comedies and thrillers) in the early sound film years. His fast and precise way of working made the young director David Lean , who, like Harris, came from film editing, aware of him towards the end of the Second World War . For Lean, starting with Wonderful Times , from the end of the war , Harris edited its central productions from the late 1940s ( ghost comedy , encounter , mysterious inheritance , Oliver Twist , the great passion ) . Jack Harris had soon made such an outstanding name for himself that he, who had meanwhile worked for Pinewood Studios, was entrusted with the management of the film editing (English job title: "supervising editor").

By the early 1950s, Jack Harris had finally established himself as a film editor. He produced the final version of the pirate film classics The King's Admiral with Gregory Peck and The Red Corsair with Burt Lancaster , edited the last great Ealing Studios laughing hit Ladykillers with Alec Guinness in the lead role and two other Guinness comedies with Captain Seasick and The Scapegoat . In between, in 1957 he was allowed to finish the final cut for the only collaboration between Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe , The Prince and the Dancer . In 1959/60 Harris' path also led to Hollywood for the first time (for the turbulent Yul Brynner fun game once again with feeling ) and he produced the cut version of Fred Zinnemann's epic sheep driver story The Endless Horizon . Harris' films in the last decade of his life since Peter Ustinov's seafaring drama The Damned of the Seas (1961) became mere routine. Harris brought his thoughts on film editing to Karel Reisz 'book publication "The Technique of Film Editing" (1953).

Filmography (small selection)

• 1927: Roses of Picardy
• 1928: Mademoiselle Parley Voo
• 1930: Lord Richard in the Pantry
• 1931: The Sleeping Cardinal
• 1931: Splinters in the Navy
• 1932: Frail Women
• 1932: The Missing Rembrandt
• 1932: The Lodger
• 1933: The Shadow
• 1933: Ahasuerus, the Wandering Jew ( The Wandering Jew )
• 1934: Lily of Killarney
• 1934: The Broken Melody
• 1935: Squibs
• 1935: The Morals of Marcus
• 1936: Spy of Napoleon
• 1936: Dusty Ermine
• 1937: The Angelus
• 1939: The Face at the Window
• 1939: Home From Home
• 1940: The Chinese Bungalow
• 1940: Sailors Don't Care
• 1941: Old Mother Riley's Circus
• 1941: The Common Touch
• 1942: Let the People Sing
• 1942: Asking for Trouble
• 1942: Salute John Citizen
• 1943: Old Mother Riley Detective (supervising editor)
• 1943: Theater Royal
• 1943: The Demi-Paradise
• 1944: Wonderful Times (This Happy Breed)
• 1945: Ghost Comedy (Blithe Spirit)
• 1945: Encounter (Brief Encounter)
• 1946: Great Expectations (Great Expectations)
• 1947: Restless Blood ( Blanche Fury )
• 1948: Oliver Twist
• 1948: Race against Death ( Once a Jolly Swagman )
• 1949: Drum check who binds forever ( Fools Rush In )
• 1949: The Golden Salamander ( The Golden Salamander )
• 1950: The King's Admiral ( Captain Horatio Hornblower RN )
• 1951: Black Ivory ( Where No Vultures Fly )
• 1952: The Crimson Pirate ( The Crimson Pirate )
• 1953: The Master of Ballantrae ( The Master of Ballantrae )
• 1954: Little jockey, really big ( The Rainbow Jacket )
• 1954: Out of the Clouds
• 1955: Ladykillers ( The Ladykillers )
• 1957: The Prince and the Showgirl (The Prince and the Showgirl)
• 1957: Captain Seasick ( Barnacle Bill / All at Sea )
• 1958: The Scapegoat ( The Scapegoat )
• 1959: That Old Feeling ( Once More With Feeling )
• 1960: The Endless Horizon ( The Sundowners )
• 1961: The Damned of the Seas ( Billy Budd )
• 1962: My Friend the Diamond Joe ( Sammy Going South )
• 1963: The Chalk Garden ( The Chalk Garden )
• 1965: Who rides a tiger ( He Who Rides a Tiger )
• 1966: Mr. 10 Percent ( Mister Ten Per Cent )
• 1967: Work can also be bad ( Work is a 4-Letter-Word )
• 1968: A Midsummer Night's Dream
• 1969: The man I like ( Un homme qui me plaît )
• 1970: Take a Girl Like You

Web links

• Jack Harris in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Biography on screenonline of the British Film Institute