
Acting
Gibb McLaughlin
Born — Died
1884-07-18 — 1961-06-30
Place of birth
Sunderland, Tyne-and-Wear, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
61 titles
Known for
7.4Hancock's Half Hour is a BBC television comedy series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock with Sid James. The final series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone. Comedian Tony Hancock starred in the show, playing an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a down-at-heel comedian living at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam. The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character development.
Hancock's Half Hour
1956
7.0An impoverished American sailor is fortunate enough to be passing the house of two rich gentlemen who have conceived the crazy idea of distributing a note worth one million pounds. The sailor finds that whenever he tries to use the note to buy something, people treat him like a king and let him have whatever he likes for free. Ultimately, the money proves to be more troublesome than it is worth when it almost costs him his dignity and the woman he loves.
The Million Pound Note
1954
7.5Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan.
Night and the City
1950
7.6When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.
Oliver Twist
1948
7.4A widower refuses to let his three daughters marry in order to avoid paying settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.
Hobson's Choice
1954
7.0The true story of a British effort to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a British officer and outfitted with faked papers showing that the Allies were intending to invade occupied Greece. His body is put into the sea where it will ultimately drift ashore and the papers be passed along to German Intelligence.
The Man Who Never Was
1956
Film credits
1950s · 15 titles
7.0An impoverished American sailor is fortunate enough to be passing the house of two rich gentlemen who have conceived the crazy idea of distributing a note worth one million pounds. The sailor finds that whenever he tries to use the note to buy something, people treat him like a king and let him have whatever he likes for free. Ultimately, the money proves to be more troublesome than it is worth when it almost costs him his dignity and the woman he loves.
The Million Pound Note
1954
7.5Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan.
Night and the City
1950
7.4A widower refuses to let his three daughters marry in order to avoid paying settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.
Hobson's Choice
1954
7.0The true story of a British effort to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a British officer and outfitted with faked papers showing that the Allies were intending to invade occupied Greece. His body is put into the sea where it will ultimately drift ashore and the papers be passed along to German Intelligence.
The Man Who Never Was
1956
7.2A meek bank clerk who oversees the shipments of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country.
The Lavender Hill Mob
1951
6.5In the 13th century, Walter of Gurnie, a disinherited Saxon youth, is forced to flee England. With his friend, Tristram, he falls in with the army of the fierce but avuncular General Bayan, and journeys all the way to China, where both men become involved in intrigues in the court of Kublai Khan.
The Black Rose
1950
5.8A youthful doctor tires of general practice and signs up to be a ship's doctor in an effort to bring some excitement into his life. Unfortunately, the cargo boat he joins is skippered by a formidable martinet captain and, worse still, there are only two women on board. Luckily for the fun-loving medic, one of them, a beautiful French girl, is more than impressed with his bedside manner.
Doctor at Sea
1955
5.9A Dutch company's owner bankrupts his own company, burns the incriminating ledgers and plans to run to Paris with the company funds but he is caught in the act by his accountant who challenges his actions, leading to a reversal of roles.
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
1952
7.0A charming and ambitious young man finds many ways to raise himself through the ranks in business and social standing - some honest, some not quite so. If he can just manage to avoid a certain very predatory woman.
The Card
1952
8.0A British Sanitary Engineer, goes on holiday with a set of plans for a new secret weapon which he has mistaken for his new plumbing invention. Everyone is hunting for him, including the Russians. The Russians find him and offer him a job in the Kremlin doing research (on plumbing he believes). He accepts, arrives in Russia and falls in love with Tania, a secret agent. And then discovers the true nature of the plans he is carrying...
Top Secret
1952
6.8Nigel Dennis publishes a scandal magazine. But for each story he writes, he first approaches the person whose scandalous behavior is described (or rather implied, to avoid any libel suit) and says he will suppress the story in return for money. Several of his victims first decide individually to kill him instead of paying, but fail in amusing ways. Then they find that to protect their various secrets they must now join forces for a rather different purpose...
The Naked Truth
1957
7.0The Pickwick Club sends Mr. Pickwick and a group of friends to travel across England and to report back on the interesting things they find...
The Pickwick Papers
1952
5.5This movie debut for saucy British TV comic Benny Hill has Benny leaving his job as a sweeper after winning some money. He becomes a private detective and investigates a plot to assassinate British scientists.
Who Done It?
1956
5.6In 1942, a cargo ship jammed with British evacuees from Singapore is sunk by a Japanese sub. A small lifeboat carries a beautiful woman, an army officer, a bigoted administrator, and a black seaman. Only the seaman knows the woman is a nun. The men reveal their true selves under the hardships of survival. Told in a too-long flashback frame.
Sea Wife
1957
5.7A British psychiatrist reads an amnesiac's (Maxwell Reed) brain waves and sees the mind of a killer.
The Brain Machine
1955
1940s · 13 titles
7.6When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.
Oliver Twist
1948
6.5A czarist captain stops at nothing to learn the secrets of a countess rumored to have sold her soul to the devil in order to always win at cards.
The Queen of Spades
1949
6.2At the height of the Roman Civil War, an aging Julius Caesar finds himself intrigued by the young Egyptian queen Cleopatra, whom he teaches how to rule Egypt.
Caesar and Cleopatra
1945
6.1A sheltered heiress is abducted on her wedding night by a trio of cheap hoods.
No Orchids for Miss Blandish
1948
6.2In 1783 England, King George III appoints William Pitt only 24 years old, as PM. When members of Parliament refuse to take Pitt seriously, he calls for a general election and wins. Pitt works to reform England, focusing on rebuilding the navy while across the sea in France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his conquest of Europe.
The Young Mr. Pitt
1942
6.9Set just after the end of WWII (but filmed in the middle of it) in a time of general euphoria at having won the war, with full employment and general happiness for all (or nearly all). Peter, the young wastrel son of a hard working hotel owner doesn't like the idea of having to work for a living. He discovers a society of "White Elephants" who are quite willing to be poor as long as they don't have to work. They are protected and guided by Nina (Margaret Lockwood) and her precocious sister Heidi (Jean Simmons).
Give Us the Moon
1944
6.6British World War II film set in occupied France, portraying the activities of members of the French Resistance and the Nazi tactic of taking and shooting innocent hostages in reprisal for acts of sabotage. The opening credits acknowledge "the official co-operation of General de Gaulle and the French National Committee". It was released as "At Dawn We Die" in the US.
Tomorrow We Live
1943
6.8An officer's wife has a romantic dream about her husband's man (servant) and comes to believe it is true. Meanwhile the husband has asked his servant to help him, after the war, to suggest ways to ignite the romance he and his wife had before the war, as well as find a way to make money in a post-war economy.
Once Upon a Dream
1949
6.2An insane murderer is on the loose, and gunning for the men who put him away. William Fitch is on the list, and co-opts his buddy Claude Babbington to try and prevent a grisly end.
My Learned Friend
1943
NRDuring World War I, a British farmer is abducted by the Germans to take the place of a spy about to be executed whom he closely resembles.
Spy for a Day
1940
6.5Penn of Pennsylvania is a 1941 British historical drama film directed by Lance Comfort and starring Deborah Kerr, Clifford Evans, Dennis Arundell, Henry Oscar, Herbet Lomas and Edward Rigby. The film depicts the life of the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn. It portrays his struggle to be granted a colonial charter in London and attracting settlers to his new colony as well as his adoption a radical new approach with regard to the treatment of the Native Americans. It is also known by the alternative title Courageous Mr. Penn.
Penn of Pennsylvania
1942
Two nightclub cloakroom attendants become entangled with an enemy spy ring in an adventure that takes them to Paris.
That’s The Ticket
1940
7.0Hitler's doctor is gradually realising that the Nazi regime isn't as good as it pretends to be when his friends start to "disappear" into the camps. His wife is courted by the party and accepts a political post in Berlin. Meanwhile Dr Karl decides to try to do something to counteract the Nazi propaganda and with the help of an engineer and a few friends he sets up the Freedom Radio to counteract the Nazi propaganda.
Freedom Radio
1941
1930s · 28 titles
7.018th century English aristocrat Sir Percy Blakeney leads a double life. He appears to be merely the effete aristocrat, but in reality is part of an underground effort to free French nobles from Robespierre's Reign of Terror.
The Scarlet Pimpernel
1934
6.4Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second betrothed, executed on charges of treason, Henry weds maid Jane Seymour, but that wedded bliss also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the tyrannical king chooses German-born Anne of Cleves, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and so Henry's reign of spousal terror continues.
The Private Life of Henry VIII
1933
5.8The woman who will become Catherine the Great marries into the Russian royal family when she weds Grand Duke Peter, the nephew of Empress Elizabeth. Although the couple has moments of contentment, Peter's cruel and erratic behavior causes a rift between him and Catherine. Mere months after Peter succeeds his aunt as the ruler of Russia, a revolt is brewing, and Catherine is poised to ascend to the throne as the country's new empress.
The Rise of Catherine the Great
1934
9.0The adventures of the eighteenth century highwayman Dick Turpin and his legendary ride to York.
Dick Turpin
1933
5.0A woman believes her boyfriend died in the First World War, but he is now looking for her
Sally in Our Alley
1931
6.1A Chinese missionary comes to England and helps a young girl ill-treated by her father. A remake of D. W. Griffith's masterpiece.
Broken Blossoms
1936
6.2A kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his debts, he and his granddaughter flee.
The Old Curiosity Shop
1934
7.0The owner of a fish-and-chips shop in the Billingsgate area of London harbors a secret ambition: to become a movie star. It turns out that she has a beautiful singing voice, and when that fact comes to the attention of a movie studio, it begins to turn her and her family's lives upside down.
Britannia of Billingsgate
1933
9.0A British musical film directed by Victor Hanbury and Ladislao Vajda
Where Is This Lady?
1932
6.4It is pouring with rain at one minute to midnight on Friday the thirteenth, and the driver of a London bus is peering through his blurred windscreen as his vehicle sails down an empty road. Suddenly, lightning strikes, and a vast crane above topples into the path of the oncoming bus... Then Big Ben begins to wind backwards. Time recedes. And we discover the lives of all the passengers and the events that brought them to that late-night bus journey, from the con-man with a hundred-pound cheque to the businessman's distraught and elderly wife. Time flows on, inevitably, to the crash -- and past it, as some live and some die.
Friday the Thirteenth
1933
5.0A girl becomes an unwilling witness in her parents' scandalous divorce case.
Little Friend
1934
8.0A producer makes a star of the cockney waif who tried to rob him.
The Nipper
1930
9.0While working at a top hotel, the head porter falls in love with a wealthy female guest.
King of the Ritz
1933
8.0No synopsis available yet.
There Goes Susie
1935
8.0Charles, Joseph and Sir Benjamin are in love with Maria and Lady Sneerwell is in love with Charles.
The School for Scandal
1930
7.1Will Hay plays the pennyless, bungling solicitor Benjamin Stubbins, who arrives at his office to find his insolent office boy (Graham Moffatt) with his feet up on the desk, reading a wild west magazine, which Hay confiscates so that he can read it later. Stubbins later takes a job from a group of Americans who claim they want him to track down some ancestors of theirs in Scotland. In reality however they want to use his office so they can rob a safe in the room immediately below his office. Stubbins takes the job (which is designed to keep him out of the office). In the end Stubbins realises his mistake and at a Christmas Eve fancy dress party he informs a group of carol singing policeman about the Americans nefarious activities
Where There's a Will
1936
10.0Poor New York shop girl Nadina receives the unexpected news that she is next in line to be queen of an Eastern European country. On her arrival in Ruritania, a revolution is in progress, and only minutes before her coronation, Nadina is forced into exile. She flees to Paris with her nurse, and then travels on to Switzerland. There Nadina encounters the Ruritanian revolutionary leader Carl, recuperating from the trials of revolution, and the couple unexpectedly fall in love. When the revolution collapses in Ruritania, they return and marry, thus forming a constitutional monarchy supported by all the people.
The Queen's Affair
1934
9.0The son of a stodgy British earl falls in love with the daughter of an American millionaire businessman. The fathers oppose the relationship.
Two's Company
1936
5.3In this mythical fantasy, the evil queen of Atlantis lives in a magnificent palace, the halls of which are filled with the mummified remains of former lovers.
The Mistress of Atlantis
1932
6.8Imposing Canadian-born stage actor and playwright Matherson Lang was one of the twentieth century's great Shakespearean players, and became Britain's foremost screen actor during the 1920s; in Drake of England, one of his final films, he takes the title role in Arthur Woods' portrayal of the life and times of the flamboyant piratical adventurer who founded Britain's sea fortunes. From clandestine romance at the court of Elizabeth I to conquests in the newly discovered lands of South America and spectacular victory over the Armada, Drake of England offers a panoramic overview of Drake's life.
Drake of England
1935
6.2A dead man's curse on a London party house seems to echo from 1780 to 1936.
Hyde Park Corner
1935
American chorus-girl Mamie Wallace (Farrell) travels to Paris with a ramshackle touring musical revue. The company runs out of money, and it looks as though Mamie and her dancing colleagues are going to be stranded in Europe with no way home. Luckily, she meets a handsome, well-spoken Englishman Peter Millett (Hulbert), who falls in love with her and proposes marriage. Under the impression that he is a man of means, she readily accepts, imagining an entrée to English high society. The couple return to England and Mamie discovers to her horror that not only is her new home a decrepit farmhouse out in the sticks, but that Peter is a widower and his three children also come as part of the package.
You Live and Learn
1937
9.0An impoverished Irish Duchess tries to survive on her small income.
Irish for Luck
1936
'Newsreel cameramen wrest secret papers from Chinese bandit.' (British Film Catalogue)
My Old China
1931
6.7While filling in for injured supersleuth Bulldog Drummond (Atholl Fleming), world-class cricket player Jack Pennington (Jack Hulbert) attempts to foil a criminal mastermind's (Ralph Richardson) impending heist that's targeting a valuable jewel necklace held within the British Museum. This comedic 1930s mystery features daring rescues, intense fistfights and an exciting edge-of-your seat finale aboard a runaway train.
Bulldog Jack
1935
4.5An evil doctor and the greedy wife of a rich man plot to poison him so they can get their hands on his money.
Juggernaut
1936
8.0The Duke of Wellington’s attempt to restore peace to France is threatened by a French Duchess.
The Iron Duke
1934
5.8When a meek secretary goes to work for her new boss, she becomes a sophisticated lady.
The Church Mouse
1934
1920s · 4 titles
5.6Successful middle-aged farmer Samuel Sweetland becomes widowed, then his daughter marries and leaves home. Deciding he wishes to remarry, Sweetland pursues some local women he considers prospects.
The Farmer's Wife
1928
8.0A Lady adopts a runaway slum girl who resembles her own dead daughter.
London
1927
6.8A Polish officer posing as a gypsy loves a gypsy girl who is really the count's daughter.
The Bohemian Girl
1922
An Essec sailor helps a girl save an heir from his crooked uncle.
The House of Marney
1927
