Lance Comfort

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Lance Comfort (born August 11, 1908 in London- Harrow as Lancelot Foster Comfort , † August 25, 1966 in Worthing , County Sussex ) was a British film director .

Life

Comfort began his career in 1926 as a trick cameraman for medical educational films. The following year, Die treue Nymphe (The Constant Nymph) had his first work as an animation cameraman for a feature film. In 1932 he was brought in by the Stoll Pictures company as a sound engineer, and in 1936 he switched to the field of "technical supervisor". Here he learned everything about directing from his colleague John Baxter.

After another five years he was allowed to direct for the first time at the beginning of 1941. Even his debut promised an interesting career. The 33-year-old Briton adapted two novels for the film in quick succession, CE Vulliamy's Quaker drama William Penn as The Governor of Pennsylvania and AJ Cronin's Hatter's Castle (in Germany: The Hatter and His Castle ). The very young Deborah Kerr took on two of her first leading roles in both dramatic stories with a historical plot background . However, while the debut Penn of Pennsylvania - a typical product of its time: the attempt to conjure up the close bond between England and the future allied USA in 1941 - rather disappointed and, despite a certain amount of effort, received poor reviews, the latter made for a film adaptation rather positive response.

Despite this ambitious career start, Comfort had to be content with directing orders for almost consistently simple and mostly cheaply produced routine entertainment. At most, his film adaptation of Bedelia , a novel by Vera Caspary , which was a big box-office hit in 1946, and the adaptation of a novel by Georges Simenon , The Crime Port of Temptation , made the following year , deserve a little attention. Comfort's other productions were mostly crime and horror films, but he also shot several dramatic and melodramatic materials and a few comedies.

Towards the end of his career, Lance Comfort had also worked several times for television. For example, he directed various episodes of the Douglas Fairbanks jr series. Presents , in the production of which he also participated. Another moderate success with Comfort as a series director was Ivanhoe in 1958, with the later James Bond actor Roger Moore as the title hero.

Filmography (cinema only)

  • 1941: The Governor of Pennsylvania (Penn of Pennsylvania)
  • 1941: The hatter and his castle (Hatter's Castle)
  • 1941: Those Kids From Town
  • 1942: Squadron Leader X
  • 1942: Old Mother Riley Detective
  • 1942: When We Are Married
  • 1943: Escape to Danger (co-director)
  • 1943: Hotel Reserve (co-director)
  • 1944: Great Day
  • 1945: Bedelia
  • 1946: Temptation Harbor
  • 1948: Daughter of Darkness (Daughter of Darkness)
  • 1948: The Silent Dust
  • 1950: Portrait of Clare
  • 1953: The Girl on the Pier (also co-production)
  • 1953: Eight O'Clock Walk
  • 1953: Bang! You're Dead (also production)
  • 1955: The Man who Lost Himself (The Man in the Road)
  • 1956: At the Stroke of Nine
  • 1956: Face in the Night
  • 1957: Then the pistols are silent (Man From Tangier)
  • 1958: Make Mine a Million
  • 1959: The Ugly Duckling
  • 1960: The Breaking Point
  • 1960: Rag Doll
  • 1961: The Man Who Forgot Murder (Pit of Darkness), also production
  • 1961: The Whore Jo (The Painted Smile)
  • 1961: The Break
  • 1962: Tomorrow at Ten
  • 1962: Touch of Death
  • 1963: Live it Up (also production)
  • 1963: Blind Corner
  • 1964: The Crypt of Dead Women (Devils of Darkness)
  • 1964: Be My Guest (also production)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lance Comfort in: screenonline
personal data
SURNAME Comfort, Lance
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Comfort, Lancelot Foster (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British film director
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1966
Place of death Worthing , Sussex