Sidney Gilliat

Writing

Sidney Gilliat

Born 1908-02-15 · Edgeley, Stockport, Cheshire, England, UK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sidney Gilliat (15 February 1908 – 31 May 1994) was an English film director, producer and writer. He was born in the district of Edgeley in Stockport, Cheshire. In the 1930s he worked as a scriptwriter, most notably with Frank Launder on The Lady Vanishes (1938) for Alfred Hitchcock, and its sequel Night Train to Munich (1940), directed by Carol Reed. He and Launder made their directorial debut co-directing the home front drama Millions Like Us (1943). From 1945 he also worked as a producer, starting with The Rake's Progress, which he also wrote and directed. He and Launder made over 40 films together, founding their own production company Individual Pictures. While Launder concentrated on directing their comedies, most famously the four St Trinian's School films, Gilliat showed a preference for comedy-thrillers and dramas, including Green for Danger (1946), London Belongs to Me (1948) and State Secret (1950). He wrote the libretto for Malcolm Williamson's opera Our Man in Havana, based on the novel by Graham Greene. He had also worked on the film. He married Beryl Brewer in the early 30s. He had two children: Joanna Gilliat, who is a journalist and is married to Edward Russell, a pilot and Caroline Gilliat, who was an opera singer and teacher, who was married to Anthony Cave Brown (journalist). He had 3 grand children, Amanda Eliasch, Toby Brown and Camilla Horn. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sidney Gilliat, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Lady Vanishes poster
7.4

On a train headed for England a group of travelers is delayed by an avalanche. Holed up in a hotel in a fictional European country, young Iris befriends elderly Miss Froy. When the train resumes, Iris suffers a bout of unconsciousness and wakes to find the old woman has disappeared. The other passengers ominously deny Miss Froy ever existed, so Iris begins to investigate with another traveler and, as the pair sleuth, romantic sparks fly.

The Lady Vanishes

1938

Endless Night poster
6.1

Shiftless dreamer Michael Rogers fantasizes about a lifestyle above his means and marries a wealthy, young girl who just came of age. They hire a famous architect to build their dream home amidst a series of suspicious incidents. The spouse has dark intentions toward his naive, inexperienced bride. Secrets from his past and sinister ties to their house guest Greta lead to a terrible turn of unexpected events.

Endless Night

1972

Endless Night poster
6.1

Shiftless dreamer Michael Rogers fantasizes about a lifestyle above his means and marries a wealthy, young girl who just came of age. They hire a famous architect to build their dream home amidst a series of suspicious incidents. The spouse has dark intentions toward his naive, inexperienced bride. Secrets from his past and sinister ties to their house guest Greta lead to a terrible turn of unexpected events.

Endless Night

1972

Jamaica Inn poster
6.1

In early 19th-century Cornwall, young Mary Yellan travels to live with her aunt and uncle at the remote Jamaica Inn, where she discovers the inn is a front for a violent gang of wreckers who lure ships to their doom along the coast. As she becomes entangled in their crimes, Mary must fight to survive and uncover the truth behind the terror that haunts the moors.

Jamaica Inn

1939

Night Train to Munich poster
7.2

Czechoslovakia, March 1939, on the eve of World War II. As the German invaders occupy Prague, inventor Axel Bomasch manages to flee and reach England; but those who need to put his knowledge at the service of the Nazi war machine, in order to carry out their evil plans of destruction, will stop at nothing to capture him.

Night Train to Munich

1940

State Secret poster
6.9

While working in England, an American surgeon Dr. John Marlowe is invited to Vosnia (a fictitious East-European country) to receive an award and demonstrate his life-saving surgery. Unwittingly caught in the middle of a dangerous and corrupt series of political events, Marlowe then becomes the object of a shoot-to-kill, vicious pursuit. Fleeing, he seeks help from an English-speaking actress, Lisa Robinson, and the two attempt to escape across the treacherous mountains of Vosnia.

State Secret

1950

State Secret poster
6.9

While working in England, an American surgeon Dr. John Marlowe is invited to Vosnia (a fictitious East-European country) to receive an award and demonstrate his life-saving surgery. Unwittingly caught in the middle of a dangerous and corrupt series of political events, Marlowe then becomes the object of a shoot-to-kill, vicious pursuit. Fleeing, he seeks help from an English-speaking actress, Lisa Robinson, and the two attempt to escape across the treacherous mountains of Vosnia.

State Secret

1950

State Secret poster
6.9

While working in England, an American surgeon Dr. John Marlowe is invited to Vosnia (a fictitious East-European country) to receive an award and demonstrate his life-saving surgery. Unwittingly caught in the middle of a dangerous and corrupt series of political events, Marlowe then becomes the object of a shoot-to-kill, vicious pursuit. Fleeing, he seeks help from an English-speaking actress, Lisa Robinson, and the two attempt to escape across the treacherous mountains of Vosnia.

State Secret

1950

The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery poster
6.2

The all-girl school foil an attempt by train robbers to recover £2.5 million hidden in their school.

The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery

1966

The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery poster
6.2

The all-girl school foil an attempt by train robbers to recover £2.5 million hidden in their school.

The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery

1966

Green for Danger poster
6.7

In the midst of Nazi air raids, a postman dies on the operating table at a rural hospital. But was the death accidental?

Green for Danger

1946

Green for Danger poster
6.7

In the midst of Nazi air raids, a postman dies on the operating table at a rural hospital. But was the death accidental?

Green for Danger

1946

Green for Danger poster
6.7

In the midst of Nazi air raids, a postman dies on the operating table at a rural hospital. But was the death accidental?

Green for Danger

1946

The Happiest Days of Your Life poster
6.7

Nutbourne College, an old established, all-boys, boarding school is told that another school is to be billeted with due to wartime restrictions. The shock is that it's an all-girls school that has been sent. The two head teachers are soon battling for the upper hand with each other and the Ministry. But a crisis (or two) forces them to work together.

The Happiest Days of Your Life

1950

The Belles of St Trinian's poster
6.4

The unruly schoolgirls of St Trinian's are more interested in men and mischief than homework and hockey. But greater trouble than ever beckons when the arrival at the school of Princess Fatima of Makyad coincides with the return of recently expelled Arabella Fritton, who has the kidnap of a prize racehorse on her mind.

The Belles of St Trinian's

1954

The Belles of St Trinian's poster
6.4

The unruly schoolgirls of St Trinian's are more interested in men and mischief than homework and hockey. But greater trouble than ever beckons when the arrival at the school of Princess Fatima of Makyad coincides with the return of recently expelled Arabella Fritton, who has the kidnap of a prize racehorse on her mind.

The Belles of St Trinian's

1954

The Green Man poster
7.0

Unknown to everyone but his shady Middle Eastern bosses, watchmaker Hawkins is actually a professional hired assassin with a predilection for killing his targets with bombs. After disposing of a dictator and millionaire, Hawkins is assigned to kill a politician who is heading to a remote hotel, The Green Man, for a secret tryst with his secretary. There, however, Hawkins' plot is discovered by vacuum salesman William Blake, who determines to stop him.

The Green Man

1956

The Green Man poster
7.0

Unknown to everyone but his shady Middle Eastern bosses, watchmaker Hawkins is actually a professional hired assassin with a predilection for killing his targets with bombs. After disposing of a dictator and millionaire, Hawkins is assigned to kill a politician who is heading to a remote hotel, The Green Man, for a secret tryst with his secretary. There, however, Hawkins' plot is discovered by vacuum salesman William Blake, who determines to stop him.

The Green Man

1956

The Blue Lagoon poster
5.8

In the Victorian period, two British children survive a shipwreck in the South Pacific. After days afloat, they are marooned on a lush tropical island in the company of kindly old sailor. Together they survive solely on their resourcefulness and the bounty of their remote paradise.

The Blue Lagoon

1949

The Young Mr. Pitt poster
6.2

In 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

Rome Express poster
6.1

The theft of a famous painting leads to murder and many suspects on a plush train speeding from Paris to Rome.

Rome Express

1932

Seven Sinners poster
6.2

Ed Harwood, a wisecracking private investigator from New York, discovers a crime at a hotel in Nice during a carnival. The unraveling of the mystery which lies behind will lead him and Caryl Fenton, a female insurance agent, who will become his companion, first to Paris, then to London, later through the English countryside and finally to Southampton, in search of a criminal train wrecker.

Seven Sinners

1936

The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan poster
5.0

The career of W. S. Gilbert, a barrister turned comic librettist, and Arthur Sullivan, a composer turned against his will to light music, who together wrote fifteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, to great public acclaim.

The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan

1953

The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan poster
5.0

The career of W. S. Gilbert, a barrister turned comic librettist, and Arthur Sullivan, a composer turned against his will to light music, who together wrote fifteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, to great public acclaim.

The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan

1953