Leslie Banks

Acting

Leslie Banks

Born 1890-06-09 · West Derby, Liverpool, England, UK

Leslie Banks, CBE (9 June 1890 – 21 April 1952) was an English theatre and cinema actor, director and producer, now best remembered playing gruff, menacing characters in black and white movies of the 1930s and 1940s. Description above from the Wikipedia article Leslie Banks, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

The Man Who Knew Too Much poster
6.5

While vacationing in St. Moritz, a British couple receive a clue to an imminent assassination attempt, only to learn that their daughter has been kidnapped to keep them quiet.

The Man Who Knew Too Much

1934

The Most Dangerous Game poster
6.9

When legendary hunter Bob Rainsford is shipwrecked on the perilous reefs surrounding a mysterious island, he finds himself the guest of the reclusive and eccentric Count Zaroff. While he is very gracious at first, Zaroff eventually forces Rainsford and two other shipwreck survivors, brother and sister Eve and Martin Towbridge, to participate in a sadistic game of cat and mouse in which they are the prey and he is the hunter.

The Most Dangerous Game

1932

The Small Back Room poster
6.7

As the Germans drop explosive booby-traps on 1943 Britain, the embittered expert who'll have to disarm them fights a private battle with alcohol.

The Small Back Room

1949

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

Henry V poster
6.7

In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.

Henry V

1944

21 Days poster
6.1

After Larry Darrent accidentally kills his lover's blackmailing husband, someone else is arrested for the crime. When he is found guilty, Larry and Wanda have just three weeks together before he must give himself up— or let an innocent man go to the gallows.

21 Days

1940

Fire Over England poster
6.2

In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at the breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I, British sea raiders such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen, bringing gold from the New World.

Fire Over England

1937

The Fire Raisers poster
5.6

Jim Bronton is an insurance investigator, but he's unhappy with his work and gets involved with a gang of arsonists. His conscience is troubling him ...

The Fire Raisers

1934

The Door with Seven Locks poster
6.3

A wealthy lord dies and is entombed with a valuable deposit of jewels. Seven keys are required to unlock the tomb and get hold of the treasure. A mad doctor uses an iron maiden to systematically eliminate the heirs to the fortune.

The Door with Seven Locks

1940

Cottage to Let poster
6.7

Allied spies and Nazi Agents insinuate themselves at a Scottish cottage (converted to a wartime hospital) with interests on an inventor's nearly perfected bomb sight.

Cottage to Let

1941

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

Went the Day Well? poster
7.1

The quiet village of Bramley End is taken over by German troops posing as Royal Engineers. Their task is to disrupt England's radar network in preparation for a full scale German invasion. Once the villagers discover the true identity of the troops, they do whatever they can to thwart the Nazis plans.

Went the Day Well?

1942

Sanders of the River poster
5.6

A British District Officer in Nigeria in the 1930s rules his area strictly but justly. He struggles with gun-runners and slavers with the aid of a loyal native chief.

Sanders of the River

1935

The True Glory poster
6.5

A documentary account of the allied invasion of Europe during World War II compiled from the footage shot by nearly 1400 cameramen. It opens as the assembled allied forces plan and train for the D-Day invasion at bases in Great Britain and covers all the major events of the war in Europe from the Normandy landings to the fall of Berlin.

The True Glory

1945

Madeleine poster
6.8

Madeleine's middle-class family cannot understand why she puts off marrying a respectable young man, as they know nothing about her long-term affair with a Frenchman.

Madeleine

1950

The Three Maxims poster
9.0

The Three Maxims are trapeze artists Pat (Anna Neagle), Toni (Tuilio Carminati) and Mac (Leslie Banks). After spending most of their careers in the small time, the threesome finally get their big chance in Paris, at which point Mac realizes he's in love with Pat.

The Three Maxims

1936

The Big Blockade poster
6.7

Wartime propaganda piece reporting on the success of the economic blockade of Germany in the early years of the war.

The Big Blockade

1942

Your Witness poster
6.2

Adam Hayward is a successful New York City defense lawyer. One day he receives a cable that the British war buddy who saved his life at Anzio Beach is now in trouble with the law in England. Taking the advice of his secretary to go to England rather than wire money, Adam arrives in his friend's village to find him about to stand trial for the murder of the hired stable-hand, Lawrence.

Your Witness

1950

Sons of the Sea poster
7.0

The head of Dartmouth Training College has been murdered, and his successor, Captain Hyde, suspects that he himself may have been the intended target. He enlists the help of his own son Philip, a reluctant cadet at the college, to help him confirm his suspicions about planned enemy action... but meanwhile, there is a Secret Service agent staying at the college observatory, the foreign-born professor of astronomy is behaving strangely, and Naval Intelligence disclaim any knowledge of what is going on...

Sons of the Sea

1939

Dead Man's Shoes poster
7.0

An amnesia victim is a well liked and respected member of his community--until one day someone from his past shows up with evidence that in "the old days" he had been a notorious criminal, and threatens to expose him unless he pays off.

Dead Man's Shoes

1940

Red Ensign poster
6.0

David Barr is the manager and chief designer of a British shipyard in decline. The shipyard is in financial trouble but Barr has a design for a new ship that will save them all. Can he get the ship built in spite of the opposition from his own bankers as well as the rival shipbuilders and their infiltrated militants.

Red Ensign

1934

The Night of the Party poster
5.7

A major newspaper publisher dies in suspicious circumstances during a parlour game at a dinner party. The publishers secretary is the obvious suspect, but the inspector isn't so sure ...

The Night of the Party

1934

The Tunnel poster
5.5

An engineer leads the building of a trans-Atlantic tunnel linking Britain and the United States.

The Tunnel

1935

Wings of the Morning poster
6.2

A beautiful Gypsy girl falls in love with a horse trainer.

Wings of the Morning

1937