Maurice Elvey

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Maurice Elvey ; actually William Seward Folkard ; (Born November 11, 1887 in Stockton-on-Tees , † August 28, 1967 in Brighton ) was a British film director , screenwriter and film producer .

Life

As a child, he left his parents' home and worked in London as a kitchen assistant, bellhop, stage worker and actor. Soon he was producing his own plays for the theater. In 1912 he started working on film. He directed comedies and dramas for the Motograph film company, often adapting well-known theater material.

Towards the end of the First World War he was known as the director of popular, hagiographic biography adaptations ( Florence Nightingale , Lord Nelson and David Lloyd George ). In 1920 Elvey became Chief Director of Stoll Studios, known for their unimaginative literary adaptations and national themed films. He made crime films there such as At the Villa Rose (1920) and Sherlock Holmes films. In 1924 Elvey went to the USA and made five films for Fox Film Corporation , and returned the following year. During the wedding of German-British co-productions in the mid-1920s, he was the director of the melodrama Tragödie einer Ehe / Human Law (1926). His most important productions of this time in Great Britain include The Flag Lieutenant with former star Henry Edwards and Hindle Wakes from 1927. His Balaclava (1928) portrays British successes in the Crimean War . Gaumont's first sound film was Elvey's High Treason (1929), a science fiction film in which there is already a train connection across the English Channel - the train is bombed.

In the 1930s, Elvey directed a number of cheap quota productions as well as the ambitious work The Tunnel for Gaumont-British. He filmed the first Gracie Fields film Sally in Our Alley (1931) at Ealing Studios . In 1939 he created Sons of the Sea, the first British color film. During the Second World War he worked with Leslie Howard , including on the critically acclaimed film The Gentle Sex (1943) and The Lamp Still Burns (1943). Medal for the General , a British National production, and Beware of Pity are important films in his late work. Decreasing eyesight forced Maurice Elvey to retire in 1957.

With around 300 films, Maurice Elvey was one of the most prolific British directors.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1917: The Gay Lord Quex
  • 1921: The Hound of the Baskervilles and others in the film series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
  • 1923: The Sign of Four
  • 1927: Love Fair (Hindle Wakes)
  • 1928: You know what sailors are ... (You Know What Sailors Are)
  • 1929: High Treason
  • 1933: Ahasver, The Wandering Jew
  • 1935: The Tunnel
  • 1938: The Return of the Frog (after Edgar Wallace )
  • 1939: The Sword of Honor
  • 1943: The Sacred Fire (The Lamp Still Burns)
  • 1946: Impatience of the Heart (Beware of Pity)
  • 1952: The Late Edwina Black
  • 1953: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?
  • 1954: What Every Woman Wants
  • 1956: House of Blackmail

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biographical data of Maurice Elvey in: Larry Langman: Destination Hollywood. The Influence of Europeans on American Filmmaking. McFarland, Jefferson NC et al. 2000, ISBN 0-7864-0681-X , p. 132 .
personal data
SURNAME Elvey, Maurice
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Folkard, William Seward (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British film director, screenwriter and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockton-on-teas
DATE OF DEATH August 28, 1967
Place of death Brighton