
Production
Michael Balcon
Born — Died
1896-05-19 — 1977-10-17
Place of birth
Birmingham, England, UK
Known for
Production
Credits
43 titles
Sir Michael Elias Balcon (19 May 1896 – 17 October 1977) was an English film producer, known for his work with Ealing Studios. Balcon had earlier worked for Gainsborough Pictures, Gaumont British and MGM-British.
Known for
7.3Richard Hanney has a rude awakening when a glamorous female spy falls into his bed - with a knife in her back. Having a bit of trouble explaining it all to Scotland Yard, he heads for the hills of Scotland to try to clear his name by locating the spy ring known as The 39 Steps.
The 39 Steps
1935
7.6When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.
Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949
7.2London. A mysterious serial killer brutally murders young blond women by stalking them in the night fog. One foggy, sinister night, a young man who claims his name is Jonathan Drew arrives at the guest house run by the Bunting family and rents a room.
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
1927
7.2An architect, visiting an English country house, realizes the other guests are familiar from his recurring nightmare. When they share their tales of the supernatural, he is filled with a growing dread.
Dead of Night
1945
7.3Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.
The Ladykillers
1955
6.8An Englishman in France unwittingly is placed into the identity, and steps into the vacated life, of a look-alike French nobleman.
The Scapegoat
1959
Film credits
1970s · 2 titles
NRThe story of the men and women who produced a series of film comedies that were so original and funny that they put Ealing on the map.
The Ealing Comedies
1970
NRAmerican documentary film-maker George C. Stoney visits the Aran Islands to try and unravel some of the myths surrounding a film that had engrossed him as a youngster - Robert Flaherty's famous documentary "Man of Aran" released in 1934.
How the Myth Was Made: A Study of Robert Flaherty's Man of Aran
1978
Behind the camera
7.3Richard Hanney has a rude awakening when a glamorous female spy falls into his bed - with a knife in her back. Having a bit of trouble explaining it all to Scotland Yard, he heads for the hills of Scotland to try to clear his name by locating the spy ring known as The 39 Steps.
The 39 Steps
1935
7.6When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.
Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949
7.2London. A mysterious serial killer brutally murders young blond women by stalking them in the night fog. One foggy, sinister night, a young man who claims his name is Jonathan Drew arrives at the guest house run by the Bunting family and rents a room.
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
1927
7.2An architect, visiting an English country house, realizes the other guests are familiar from his recurring nightmare. When they share their tales of the supernatural, he is filled with a growing dread.
Dead of Night
1945
7.3Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.
The Ladykillers
1955
6.8An Englishman in France unwittingly is placed into the identity, and steps into the vacated life, of a look-alike French nobleman.
The Scapegoat
1959
6.5While 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
6.9The unassuming, nebbishy inventor Sidney Stratton creates a miraculous fabric that will never be dirty or worn out. Clearly he can make a fortune selling clothes made of the material, but may cause a crisis in the process. After all, once someone buys one of his suits they won't ever have to fix them or buy another one, and the clothing industry will collapse overnight. Nevertheless, Sidney is determined to put his invention on the market, forcing the clothing factory bigwigs to resort to more desperate measures...
The Man in the White Suit
1951
6.9A British Corporal in France finds himself responsible for the lives of his men when their officer is killed. He has to get them back to Britain somehow. Meanwhile, British civilians are being dragged into the war with Operation Dynamo, the scheme to get the French and British forces back from the Dunkirk beaches. Some come forward to help, others were less willing.
Dunkirk
1958
6.6Jewel thieves, murder, and a manhunt swirl around a sailor off a cargo ship in post-war London.
Pool of London
1951
6.7Karl Anton Verloc and his wife own a small cinema in a quiet London suburb where they live seemingly happily. But Mrs. Verloc does not know that her husband has a secret that will affect their relationship and threaten her teenage brother's life.
Sabotage
1936
6.8A family buy land set around a water hole in a remote location, that is occupied by native Australians. The two groups clash.
Bitter Springs
1950
6.6P.C. George Dixon is a long-serving traditional copper who is due to retire shortly. He takes a new recruit under his aegis and introduces him to the easy-going night beat. Dixon is a classic ordinary hero but also anachronistic, unprepared and unable to answer the violence of the 1950s.
The Blue Lamp
1950
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
5.6A tale of life on board a Royal Navy cruiser assigned to protect the vital convoys between America and England during WWII.
Convoy
1940
6.1Occupied Yugoslavia. With organised resistance shattered by the Nazi onslaught it is only the activity of small guerrilla bands that bring fresh hope to the people. But quislings and infiltrators are everywhere – and trusting the wrong person could easily get you killed...
Undercover
1943
6.3A train disaster is told in four short stories to give character studies of the people involved, how it will affect them and how they deal with it.
Train of Events
1949
6.0A fake psychic suddenly turns into the real thing when he meets a young beauty. (TCM)
The Clairvoyant
1935
5.3Unjustly accused of adultery in a scandalous divorce, Larita Filton flees to the French Riviera. She soon falls in love with a young Englishman, John Whittaker, and begins anew under an assumed name. But when John brings her home to his disapproving family, Larita’s past begins to resurface.
Easy Virtue
1928
7.2The true story of the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his ill-fated expedition to try to be the first man to discover the South Pole - only to find that the murderously cold weather and a rival team of Norwegian explorers conspire against him
Scott of the Antarctic
1948
6.6During a rainy Sunday afternoon, an escaped prisoner tries to hide out at the home of his ex-fiance.
It Always Rains on Sunday
1947
6.1During World War I, a novelist declared dead is recruited by British intelligence and sent to Switzerland under a new identity to assassinate a German spy. Teamed with a fellow agent posing as his wife and an eccentric assassin known as “the General,” the trio close in on their target — until two of them grow ambivalent when their duty to the mission clashes with their consciences.
Secret Agent
1936
10.0A Lancashire mill girl has an illicit adventure with the owner's son while on holiday. Based on the once notorious Houghton play.
Hindle Wakes
1931
5.7When school captain Roddy Berwick takes the blame for his friend’s scandal, he is expelled and disowned by his family. Cast out of his privileged world, Roddy drifts through a series of humiliations—from waiter to penniless actor to gigolo—descending ever further into ruin and self-disgust.
Downhill
1927
8.0Racehorse owner Anson is swindled by a woman named Wenda and goes up in front of the Jockey Club where he is disqualified on race fixing allegations. He decides to get his own back with the help of Hillcott, an ex-burglar. Jill is the love interest
The Calendar
1931
7.1The 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
6.1Dr. Laurence, a once-respectable scientist, begins to research the origin of the mind and the soul. The science community rejects him, and he risks losing everything for which he has worked. He begins to use his discoveries to save his research and further his own causes, thereby becoming ... a mad scientist, almost unstoppable.
The Man Who Changed His Mind
1936
6.9When an unexploded WWII bomb is accidentally detonated in Pimlico, it reveals a treasure trove and documents proving that the region is in fact part of Burgundy, France and thus foreign territory. The British government attempts to regain control by setting up border controls and cutting off services to the area.
Passport to Pimlico
1949
7.5The efforts of test pilot John Mitchell to make a better life for his wife Mary and their two children seem doomed to failure and he blames himself. At the Conway Aero-Manufacturing Company of Wolverhampton, Mitchell is to take the company's new rocket-propulsion transport plane up for tests, fully loaded and carrying two important passengers - Ministry official Crabtree and buyer's representative Ashmore. Mitchell learns from his boss, Reg Conway, that if Ashmore does not recommend the plane, the company will be out of business and Mitchell out of a job, since the plane is not even insured as the firm's entire capital is tied up in the plane. Aloft, an engine catches fire and the passengers and other crew bail out, but Mitchell refuses to obey orders to jettison the plane in the Irish Sea.
The Man in the Sky
1957
7.1London, the early 1950s. Born deaf, Mandy is mute for most of her childhood. As she reaches school age her family itself is in danger of breaking up. Christine, Mandy's mother, has heard of a residential school for the oral education of the deaf.
Mandy
1952
6.7Based on a play by Willis Hall. A troop of British soldiers are out in the jungle to record jungle noises and troop noises in the jungle so that the recordings can be played back by other troops to divert the enemy to their whereabouts. As they progress to what they think is closer to the base camp they find themselves farther and farther from radio range until the only channel they can get clearly is that of a Japanese broadcast. They now realize they are probably only 10 to 15 miles from a Japanese camp! The tension is added to by rowdy and openly admitted "non-hero" Private Bamforth who has nothing good to say about anyone and especially Corporal Johnstone (who holds an equal dislike for Bamforth). When a Japanese soldier is taken as their prisoner, the true colours of each man comes to the surface
The Long and the Short and the Tall
1961
6.0A young couple live under a café in Paris that, unknown to them, is owned by a brutal blackmailer. When he is murdered, they fall under suspicion. However, the husband's father, an amateur detective, believes in their innocence and sets out to find who really killed the blackmailer.
A Night in Montmartre
1931
4.8In this opera-oriented musical, Riccardo Gatti, an Italian young tenor in Venice, meets a young woman who sneaks into the opera house to try and get her fiancé hired as the orchestra's pianist.
My Song for You
1934
6.8Scottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship.
Whisky Galore!
1949
7.6Three 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
5.3Two chorus girls at the Pleasure Garden Theatre follow different paths in love and fortune.
The Pleasure Garden
1925
6.6Sophie Dorothea is a young woman forced into a loveless marriage with Prince George Louis of Hanover. George Louis is later crowned King George I of England. Despairing of ever experiencing true love, the depressed queen finds life at court no solace. Sophie then falls for a dashing Swedish soldier of fortune, Count Konigsmark.
Saraband for Dead Lovers
1948
7.0In this modest drama, set during World War II, two rival boat families battle it out for supremacy.
Painted Boats
1945
6.2Two Welsh coal-mining brothers win a trip to London to claim a monetary prize. They are supposed to meet a newspaper reporter who will be their escort. Instead, the brothers are launched into an adventure with some London riff-raff. It is up to the reporter to look out for the brothers, and what a job it turns out to be!
A Run for Your Money
1949
6.6A seasick sea captain commands an amusement pier despite local opposition. Released in the U.S. as 'All at Sea'
Barnacle Bill
1957

