Writing

Austin Melford

Born — Died

1884-08-21 — 1971-08-19

Known for

Writing

Credits

40 titles

Known for

Film credits

Behind the camera

Sailors Three poster
7.6

Three sailors get drunk while on shore leave and end up on the wrong ship. When they realise their mistake they scramble off it and onto their warship, HMS Ferocious. However, they soon realise that the vessel they have boarded is not the Ferocious but a German battleship.

Sailors Three

1940

Let George Do It! poster
6.2

Shortly after the start of World War II, a ukelele player (George) takes the wrong boat and finds himself in (still uninvaded) Norway. He is mistaken for a fellow British intelligence agent by a woman (Mary), and becomes involved in trying to defeat Nazi agents.

Let George Do It!

1940

Happy poster
6.0

A young musician invents an anti-theft device for cars, but works as a jazz conductor while waiting for his invention to be successful.

Happy

1933

The Show Goes On poster
6.5

A mill worker with show biz dreams catches a big break when she's discovered by an ailing composer who's seeking the right singer for his songs.

The Show Goes On

1937

A Girl Must Live poster
4.8

A run-away school-girl falls among chorus girls planning to marry into the nobility.

A Girl Must Live

1939

Everything Happens to Me poster
9.0

A cleaner salesman finds himself campaigning for both sides in an election.

Everything Happens to Me

1938

Feather Your Nest poster
8.0

A worker at a gramophone record factory surprisingly creates a hit song.

Feather Your Nest

1937

Oh, Daddy! poster
6.0

Member of a village Purity League branch find things much livelier on a trip to London.

Oh, Daddy!

1935

Oh, Daddy! poster
6.0

Member of a village Purity League branch find things much livelier on a trip to London.

Oh, Daddy!

1935

South American George poster
6.7

To help out his exact double, George Formby (in a dual role) takes the place of a noted South American tenor. This way he can help the opera star fulfill contract obligations and also win the heart of the man's lovely press agent, Linden Travers.

South American George

1941

When We Are Married poster
7.0

The Helliwells, the Soppitts, and the Parkers, old friends gathered to celebrate their common silver anniversaries. To their dismay they learn that their marriages may not be valid. On hand are an outrageous housekeeper and a photographer.

When We Are Married

1943

No artwork available
7.7

Old Mother Riley does the laundry for the dancers in the pantomime "Aladdin", where her daughter Kitty works as a chorus girl. Sneaking a peek at the show one day, Mother Riley accidentally pops up through a trap door onto the stage. Accosted by the angry star, Mother Riley’s belligerent responses have the audience in stitches. Outraged, the star walks out, leaving Kitty to take over the leading role, to great success.

Old Mother Riley in Society

1940

No artwork available
10.0

"It's a Boy" stars Horton as Dudley Leake, who is betrothed to Mary Bogle (the very pretty Wendy Barrie). Shortly before the wedding, Dudley blurts a confession to his friend and best man, Jim Skippett: 20 years ago, Dudley had a brief affair with a certain Miss Piper, but he's never heard from her since then. Next day, who should suddenly appear? A youth about 19 or 20 years old, claiming to be named Joe Piper. Is he Horton's son, or is Skippett playing a practical joke?

It's a Boy

1934

Ships with Wings poster
6.0

Before the war, a Fleet Air Arm pilot is dismissed for causing the death of a colleague. Working for a small Greek airline when the Germans invade Greece, he gets a chance to redeem himself and rejoin his old unit on a British carrier. This is regarded the last of the conventional, rather stiff 1930's style Ealing war films, to be succeeded by much more realism and better storytelling.

Ships with Wings

1941

Turned Out Nice Again poster
6.8

George Pearson, an employee at an underwear factory, is caught between his modern wife and his meddling mother. After buying a special yarn and getting his wife to promote it, he has an argument with his boss, Mr Dawson who insults Pearson's wife and refuses to apologise. Pearson then resigns. After finding out that the yarn is actually worth a fair amount, Mr Dawson tries to buy it from Pearson but he has some competition.

Turned Out Nice Again

1941

The Girl in the Taxi poster
6.8

In this British musical, set in Paris, an apparently upstanding husband and father spends his nights fooling around with wild women. His son, wanting to be just like his dad, begins dating a seductive widow--the same widow his father has been seeing. Trouble ensues when the father refuses to let his daughter marry her true love. When the fiancée learns of the father-son shenanigans, he begins blackmailing them into letting him marry the daughter.

The Girl in the Taxi

1937

Champagne Charlie poster
5.9

A man from the countryside becomes London’s newest music hall sensation, and competes with a rival music hall performer for the audience’s attention.

Champagne Charlie

1944

No artwork available
9.0

A country girl goes to Paris to sing professionally, where she falls in love with a member of the British Embassy. They are parted by the outbreak of the Second World War, but subsequently reunited again...

Heaven Is Round the Corner

1944

Old Mother Riley Detective poster
7.0

A night watchman is being bludgeoned, as a safe is cracked open in the offices of the District Food Controller. A list of wartime foods to be rationed is stolen, and the police fear gangsters are planning to sell the foods on the black market. As the office charwoman, Old Mother Riley's fingerprints are all over the safe, and she becomes the police's number one suspect. To prove her innocence, Mother Riley turns detective, adopting various methods and disguises to track down the villains.

Old Mother Riley Detective

1943

No artwork available
8.0

Nazi spies infiltrate a British film studio with the intention of sending coded messages in the films they produce.

We’ll Smile Again

1942

First Offence poster
8.0

After his father sells his car, an immature playboy steals it back, and gets involved with a gang of professional car thieves. British remake of "Mauvaise graine" (1934).

First Offence

1936

No artwork available
8.0

1840 - Max Miller and a troupe of artistes come to perform at a tavern, which is not licensed for such performances. A rival tavern informs the police and they have to pay a heavy fine. However, they find the money by rescuing a boy and getting the reward.

The Good Old Days

1939

Laugh It Off poster
6.5

As WWII begins, vaudeville entertainer Tommy Towers is called up to serve. He arranges a job for his girlfriend at the local pub. To keep moral up, his commanding officer orders him to perform for the troops.

Laugh It Off

1940

Dr. O'Dowd poster
10.0

Marius O'Dowd is an Irish doctor who is often drunk. His daughter-in-law Moira dies during a serious operation which O'Dowd is performing. Although O'Dowd is not to blame, his son Stephen suspects that Moira died due to O'Dowd operating while under the influence of alcohol, and accuses him of criminal neglect.

Dr. O'Dowd

1940

A Southern Maid poster
NR

A young Spanish woman marries a lowly Englishman, rather than the aristocrat her father had intended, much to his displeasure.

A Southern Maid

1934

A Gentleman's Gentleman poster
10.0

A valet thinks his master is a murder, and tries a little blackmail.

A Gentleman's Gentleman

1939

No artwork available
10.0

An American girl takes charge of her scottish grandfather.

Give Me the Stars

1945

No artwork available
6.3

Road House is a 1934 British comedy crime film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Violet Loraine, Gordon Harker and Aileen Marson.

Road House

1934

Spare a Copper poster
7.0

George is an inept reserve policeman working in wartime Liverpool, who is chosen by a gang of Nazi saboteurs as the stooge for their planned destruction of the British battleship HMS Hercules. Framed by the villains and forced to go on the run, George sets out to clear his name with the aid of new girlfriend, Jane.

Spare a Copper

1940

No artwork available
8.0

'Newlywed tries to get back gift garter from honeymoon bride.' (British Film Catalogue)

Night of the Garter

1933

No artwork available
9.0

An impoverished racetrack tout discovers that a crooked trainer is about to throw a race involving a nobleman's horse.

Thank Evans

1938

No artwork available
6.5

Timid Don Chicago yearns to follow in the footsteps of his gangster mother, but is forced by the Mulligan Gang to leave America. In England, he tangles with a British police officer and high society.

Don Chicago

1945

Car of Dreams poster
6.1

Produced by the highly acclaimed Michael Balcon, the story revolves around Robert, the son of the owner of a musical instrument factory. He is in love with Vera, one of the factory workers, who is unaware of his position. So when she jokes one day that she would love a Rolls-Royce, Robert makes sure that she gets one. Then he decides to raise her salary out of all proportion to hint at who he is...

Car of Dreams

1935

Car of Dreams poster
6.1

Produced by the highly acclaimed Michael Balcon, the story revolves around Robert, the son of the owner of a musical instrument factory. He is in love with Vera, one of the factory workers, who is unaware of his position. So when she jokes one day that she would love a Rolls-Royce, Robert makes sure that she gets one. Then he decides to raise her salary out of all proportion to hint at who he is...

Car of Dreams

1935

No artwork available
NR

Paul and Pamela Raymond become immersed in intrigue after receiving a costly jade. As they look for assistance in saving their skins, all their leads disappear, including the man who had given them the jade.

Murder Will Out

1939

Theatre Royal poster
4.7

The Theatre Royal is a struggling London venue battling to keep its doors open. When the bank threatens to close it, the workers fear that they will soon be forced out of their jobs. The Royal's property master, Bob Parker (Bud Flanagan), recruits the rest of the staff to stage a benefit gala. They hope their show, featuring songs and dances, can raise enough cash to stave off the end. Meanwhile, they seek investors who can keep the Theatre Royal and its staff in business permanently.

Theatre Royal

1943

Heat Wave poster
10.0

Musical comedy telling the hilarious story of greengrocer Albert Speed’s (Albert Burdon) adventures with would-be revolutionaries in a mythical South American banana republic. He becomes mistaken for a gun-runner, and problems arise when Albert begins using the names of vegetables as code words for weapons and ammunition that they are smuggling! Albert saves not only his own skin, but also those of the Presidente and his attractive daughter.

Heat Wave

1935

Radio Lover poster
7.0

A penniless young charmer hits upon an ingenious route to fame and fortune.

Radio Lover

1936