Ralph Thomas

Directing

Ralph Thomas

Born — Died

1915-08-10 — 2001-03-17

Place of birth

Hull, Yorkshire, England, UK

Known for

Directing

Credits

41 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ralph Thomas (born Ralph Philip Thomas 10 August 1915 — 17 March 2001) was an English film director, born in Hull. He is perhaps best known for directing the Doctor series of films. His brother, Gerald Thomas, was also a film director. His son, Jeremy Thomas, is a film producer. He cast the actor James Robertson Justice in many of his films. He often worked with the producer Betty E. Box who was married to Carry On producer, Peter Rogers. He was a nephew of producer Victor Saville. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ralph Thomas, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​

Known for

Venetian Bird poster
6.2

Travelling to Venice to locate an ex-partisan on behalf of a French insurance company, a British private detective gets mixed-up in a political assassination conspiracy.

Venetian Bird

1952

Checkpoint poster
5.6

Stanley Baker's O'Donovan is sent to steal the plans of a rival company's racing car designs, to ensure his employers win the competition. However, when opening a safe containing the plans, he triggers an alarm leading to a gun battle where he kills a number of people. James Robertson Justice, alarmed by the scandal surrounding the killings, orders his agent be killed surreptitiously to hide his involvement with the plot. The film uses original footage from the Mille Miglia , an Italian open-road endurance race, featuring classic period racing cars.

Checkpoint

1956

Some Girls Do poster
5.8

A series of unexplainable accidents befall the people and companies responsible for developing the world's first supersonic airliner. A British agent is sent to investigate and with the help of another agent uncovers a plot masterminded by Carl Petersen who stands to gain eight million pounds if the aircraft is not ready by a certain date.

Some Girls Do

1969

Deadlier Than the Male poster
5.8

British agent Bulldog Drummond is assigned to stop a master criminal who uses beautiful women to do his killings.

Deadlier Than the Male

1967

Above Us the Waves poster
6.1

In World War II, the greatest threat to the British navy is the German battleship Tirpitz. While anchored in a Norwegian fjord, it is impossible to attack by conventional means, so a plan is hatched for a special commando unit to attack it, using midget submarines to plant underwater explosives.

Above Us the Waves

1955

Helter Skelter poster
6.4

A detective gets involved with a wealthy socialite who can't seem to stop hiccuping.

Helter Skelter

1949

Film credits

Behind the camera

Venetian Bird poster
6.2

Travelling to Venice to locate an ex-partisan on behalf of a French insurance company, a British private detective gets mixed-up in a political assassination conspiracy.

Venetian Bird

1952

Checkpoint poster
5.6

Stanley Baker's O'Donovan is sent to steal the plans of a rival company's racing car designs, to ensure his employers win the competition. However, when opening a safe containing the plans, he triggers an alarm leading to a gun battle where he kills a number of people. James Robertson Justice, alarmed by the scandal surrounding the killings, orders his agent be killed surreptitiously to hide his involvement with the plot. The film uses original footage from the Mille Miglia , an Italian open-road endurance race, featuring classic period racing cars.

Checkpoint

1956

Some Girls Do poster
5.8

A series of unexplainable accidents befall the people and companies responsible for developing the world's first supersonic airliner. A British agent is sent to investigate and with the help of another agent uncovers a plot masterminded by Carl Petersen who stands to gain eight million pounds if the aircraft is not ready by a certain date.

Some Girls Do

1969

Deadlier Than the Male poster
5.8

British agent Bulldog Drummond is assigned to stop a master criminal who uses beautiful women to do his killings.

Deadlier Than the Male

1967

Above Us the Waves poster
6.1

In World War II, the greatest threat to the British navy is the German battleship Tirpitz. While anchored in a Norwegian fjord, it is impossible to attack by conventional means, so a plan is hatched for a special commando unit to attack it, using midget submarines to plant underwater explosives.

Above Us the Waves

1955

Helter Skelter poster
6.4

A detective gets involved with a wealthy socialite who can't seem to stop hiccuping.

Helter Skelter

1949

A Tale of Two Cities poster
6.8

Set against the conditions leading up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, French doctor Alexandre Manette serves an 18-year imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, followed by his release to live in London with the daughter he has never met.

A Tale of Two Cities

1958

The 39 Steps poster
6.3

In London, a diplomat accidentally becomes involved in the death of a British agent who's after a spy ring that covets British military secrets.

The 39 Steps

1959

Hot Enough for June poster
5.7

A young man travels to Prague to join his new employer, unaware that he is being used as an espionage courier.

Hot Enough for June

1964

Doctor in the House poster
6.5

The first of the seven "Doctor" films, based on Richard Gordon's novels and released between 1954 and 1970. Simon Sparrow is a newly arrived medical student at St Swithin's hospital in London. Falling in with three longer-serving hopefuls he is soon immersed in the wooing, imbibing and fast sports-car driving that constitute 1950s medical training. There is, however, always the looming and formidable figure of chief surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt to remind them of their real purpose.

Doctor in the House

1954

The Iron Petticoat poster
5.7

Captain Vinka Kovalenko defects from Russia, but not for political reasons. She defects because she feels discriminated against as a woman. Captain Chuck Lockwood gets the order to show her the bright side of capitalism, while she tries to convince him of the superiority of communism. Naturally, they fall in love, but there's still the KGB, which doesn't like the idea of having a defected Russian officer running around in London.

The Iron Petticoat

1956

No Love for Johnnie poster
6.7

Johnnie Byrne is a member of the British Parliament. In his 40s, he's feeling frustrated with his life and his personal as well as professional problems tower up over him. His desires to win the next election are endangered by his constant looking for love and he is faced with the choice of giving up a career in politics or giving up the woman he loves.

No Love for Johnnie

1961

Doctor at Sea poster
5.8

A 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

Carry On Regardless poster
6.2

After a bunch of no-hopers approaches an employment agency, the anarchy mounts as they do a series of odd jobs, including a chimp's tea party, trying to stay sober at a wine tasting… and demolishing a house.

Carry On Regardless

1961

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square poster
6.0

An American ex-con who is trying to go straight is persuaded to be the inside man for an audacious bank job in central London.

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

1980

Carry On Cruising poster
6.1

Captain Crowther's lot is not a happy one! Five of his crew have to be replaced and at such short notice before the voyage begins there isn't much to choose from. Not only does he get the five most incompetent shipmates ever to sail the seven seas, but the passengers turn out to be a rather strange bunch too. The SS Happy Wanderer will never be the same.

Carry On Cruising

1962

Nobody Runs Forever poster
6.0

Detective Scobie Malone accepts a mission to fly to London to arrest Sir James Quentin, a high-level commissioner wanted down under for murder. But when Malone arrives, he finds that the amiable Quentin is not only the key in groundbreaking peace negotiations, but also the target of an assassin himself.

Nobody Runs Forever

1968

The High Bright Sun poster
5.8

This story of love and espionage focuses on political turmoil as a small nation struggles to free itself from colonial rule, and one man tries to serve both justice and his own heart.

The High Bright Sun

1964

Percy poster
4.4

Edwin Antony (Hywel Bennett) is emasculated in an accident which kills a young philanderer. Doctors successfully replace his member with that of the dead man, but refuse to tell him the full story of the organ's origin. So Edwin begins a search which takes him to the philanderer's wife - and also to his many, many girlfriends...

Percy

1971

A Day to Remember poster
7.4

A group of men from a London pub are going on a darts team outing to Boulogne. Various members of the party have different reasons for going and get involved in various adventures.

A Day to Remember

1953

Campbell's Kingdom poster
6.0

Given only six months to live, Englishman Bruce Campbell goes to Canada to claim "Campbell's Kingdom", the land he inherited from his grandfather. In order to clear his grandfather's name and prove there is oil on the land, Campbell must face up to a ruthless contractor and work against the clock to find oil before "Campbell's Kingdom" is flooded by a new power dam.

Campbell's Kingdom

1957

The Wild and the Willing poster
5.8

Harry Brown is a somewhat rough and wild university student, who has the ability to win friends, especially the underdogs like Phil who doesn't play 'rugger' and can't sink a whole pint of beer, and African student Reggie. He also has a way with the girls....

The Wild and the Willing

1962

Mad About Men poster
6.6

Flirtatious mermaid Miranda swaps places with a schoolteacher who has gone on holiday. All is well until she falls in love with a human.

Mad About Men

1954

Upstairs and Downstairs poster
5.8

On marrying the boss's daughter, Richard takes his father-in-law's advice to hire a live-in domestic. He soon finds good help is hard to come by. Run-ins follow with dipsomaniacs, bank robbers, a Welsh lass who takes one look at London and runs, and an Italian charmer who turns the place into a bawdy house. Then when Ingrid arrives from Sweden things actually start to get complicated.

Upstairs and Downstairs

1959

Doctor in Clover poster
5.8

Doctor in Clover is another 'Doctor' movie, but this time Leslie Phillips is the main doctor in the story, looking for love and romance from the hospital nurses, much to the annoyance of the main Administrator (James Robertson Justice) who wants his doctors to be 100% focussed on the job. Numerous antics follow, with Phillips getting Justice fixed up with the new prim-and-proper Matron (Joan Sims) and his attempted failures to lure the hospital's beauty, the physiotherapist.

Doctor in Clover

1966

The Wind Cannot Read poster
6.4

A British officer falls in love with his Japanese instructor at a military language school. They start a romance, but she is regarded as the enemy and is not accepted by his countrymen.

The Wind Cannot Read

1958

Quest for Love poster
6.7

After a scientific experiment goes horribly wrong during a demonstration, a scientist finds himself trapped in an alternate reality that bears some similarities to our own, but also has some striking differences. In this other reality the Second World War had never occurred, mankind had not yet traveled into Space and Mt. Everest had not yet been conquered, just to name a few things. Also in this other reality he is no longer a scientist but rather a well known author. After a personal tragedy in this alternate world, he finds himself back in his own world and desperately trying to locate the woman he fell in love with in the other world. Little does she know, however, that her life depends on him finding her.

Quest for Love

1971

Doctor at Large poster
5.7

Losing out to Dr. Bingham (Michael Medwin) in a competition for house surgeon when he offends a member of the board, young Dr. Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) finds himself going from post to post, filling in for other physicians. At one distant country post, he is taken aback when he works with a patient whose husband died after Simon treated the man years before. In another hospital, Simon examines a surprisingly mature teen and also tries courting devoted nurse Nan McPherson (Shirley Eaton).

Doctor at Large

1957

Doctor in Love poster
5.5

Doctors Burke and Hare leave the confines of St Swithins for the world of general practice, stopping off on the way as patients at the Foulness Anti-cold Unit. Hare then takes up a position as junior in a well-healed G.P.'s surgery while Burke continues to sow his doctorial wild oats.

Doctor in Love

1960

The Dog and the Diamonds poster
6.7

A group of children establish their own zoo in the garden of a disused house, which proves to be the headquarters of a gang of crooks.

The Dog and the Diamonds

1953

Doctor in Distress poster
6.3

"Doctor in Distress" is the fifth of the seven films in the "Doctor" series, and focuses on Sir Lancelot Spratt, Simon Sparrow's old teacher and sometimes nemesis. When the eternal bachelor Sir Lancelot injures his back and falls in love with his physiotherapist Iris Marchant, he becomes very distressed and turns to Simon for help. Simon, who now is a senior doctor at fictional Hampden Cross Hospital and hopelessly in love with aspiring actress Delia, sends him to a nature cure clinic in a vain attempt to help him lose weight, but Sir Lancelot can't get Iris off his mind and has her followed, first by a private investigator and eventually by himself. When he finally proposes, she rejects him and marries an old army major, which distresses Sir Lancelot even more.

Doctor in Distress

1963

The Clouded Yellow poster
6.3

After leaving the British Secret Service, David Somers finds work catalouging butterflies at the country house of Nicholas and Jess Fenton. After the murder of a local gamekeeper, suspicion falls on their niece, Sophie Malraux. Somers helps Sophie to escape arrest and they go on the run together.

The Clouded Yellow

1950

Doctor in Trouble poster
5.0

Dr. Burke is in love with Ophelia but doesn't have time to propose to her as she leaves for a cruise to the Mediterranean. Also on board the cruise ship is an old school chum of Burke's who plays 'Dr.Dare' in a very popular TV series and who women flock to. Burke decides to join the cruise, but is first apprehended as a stowaway, and then becomes the captain's steward. For Burke, trying to talk to Ophelia is a hard enough task, but he meets some funny characters on board, such as a pools winner and a very stubborn captain.

Doctor in Trouble

1970

Doctor in Trouble poster
5.0

Dr. Burke is in love with Ophelia but doesn't have time to propose to her as she leaves for a cruise to the Mediterranean. Also on board the cruise ship is an old school chum of Burke's who plays 'Dr.Dare' in a very popular TV series and who women flock to. Burke decides to join the cruise, but is first apprehended as a stowaway, and then becomes the captain's steward. For Burke, trying to talk to Ophelia is a hard enough task, but he meets some funny characters on board, such as a pools winner and a very stubborn captain.

Doctor in Trouble

1970

A Pair of Briefs poster
6.2

She's new in chambers, and he's a troublemaker. But what 'is' the true status of the old lady's wartime marriage, and can the two young legal minds find the answer?

A Pair of Briefs

1962

Percy's Progress poster
4.0

Percy, the man with the world's first penis transplant, discovers that there is a chemical in the world's water that makes men impotent.

Percy's Progress

1974

No, My Darling Daughter poster
7.2

A British business tycoon is surprised to discover his teenage daughter is being courted by a mysterious young man.

No, My Darling Daughter

1961

Conspiracy of Hearts poster
6.8

In wartime Italy nuns in a convent regularly smuggle Jewish children out of a nearby internment camp. The Italian army officer in charge suspects what may be going on but deliberately turns a blind eye. When the Germans take over the camp security the nuns' activities become far more dangerous.

Conspiracy of Hearts

1960

Appointment with Venus poster
5.7

At the outbreak of WWII the British realise they can't prevent the invasion of the Channel Islands. However, someone realises that a prize cow is on the islands and the Nazis mustn't get hold of her. This is the intrepid story of the cow-napping from under the noses of the Nazis.

Appointment with Venus

1951

Once Upon a Dream poster
6.8

An 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