John Singer

Acting

John Singer

Born — Died

1923-12-04 — 1987-07-07

Place of birth

Hastings, East Sussex, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

41 titles

John Harold Singer was an English actor. He began as a child actor, popular in the 1930s, and known for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. In later years he continued to act in numerous films, including In Which We Serve and The Cruel Sea. He died on 7 July 1987 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. His son, Steven Singer, became a TV scriptwriter. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Known for

The Cruel Sea poster
6.9

At the start of World War II, Cmdr. Ericson is assigned to convoy escort HMS Compass Rose with inexperienced officers and men just out of training. The winter seas make life miserable enough, but the men must also harden themselves to rescuing survivors of U-Boat attacks, while seldom able to strike back. Traumatic events afloat and ashore create a warm bond between the skipper and his first officer.

The Cruel Sea

1953

In Which We Serve poster
6.7

The story of the HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II. The ship’s first and only commanding officer is Captain E.V. Kinross, who trains his men not only to be loyal to him and the country, but—most importantly—to themselves.

In Which We Serve

1942

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

Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard poster
6.2

In this contemporary update of Frank H. Spearman's Western hero, Whispering Smith is now a sleuth who arrives in London on holiday, but is soon called in to solve the case of a suicide which the father of the deceased woman thinks was murder.

Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard

1952

Tudor Rose poster
8.1

The tragic story of Lady Jane Grey, the young queen who reigned in England for nine days before she was executed.

Tudor Rose

1936

Emil and the Detectives poster
5.5

Erich Kästner’s beloved novel has been adapted for film or television six times since its publication in 1929; this 1935 British version was the first in English. Believed lost for decades, it was recently rediscovered by the BFI and has now been restored. The film moves the action from Berlin to London, where Emil goes to stay with his grandmother and cousin. Thereafter, the tale of Emil’s adventures with a gang of streetwise London children faithfully follows the original plot.

Emil and the Detectives

1935

Film credits

1950s · 7 titles

The Cruel Sea poster
6.9

At the start of World War II, Cmdr. Ericson is assigned to convoy escort HMS Compass Rose with inexperienced officers and men just out of training. The winter seas make life miserable enough, but the men must also harden themselves to rescuing survivors of U-Boat attacks, while seldom able to strike back. Traumatic events afloat and ashore create a warm bond between the skipper and his first officer.

The Cruel Sea

1953

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

Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard poster
6.2

In this contemporary update of Frank H. Spearman's Western hero, Whispering Smith is now a sleuth who arrives in London on holiday, but is soon called in to solve the case of a suicide which the father of the deceased woman thinks was murder.

Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard

1952

The Brave Don't Cry poster
6.0

At Balloch Moss mine in Scotland, water comes through a seam bringing a torrent of mud into the mine and flooding the pit shaft, resulting in 118 men being trapped, with nine missing. The only means by which the rescue team can bring the men out is through some old abandoned workings which are now full of gas and thus will cause delays in any rescue attempt.

The Brave Don't Cry

1952

No artwork available
NR

Part of BFI collection "Police and Thieves."

Four Men in Prison

1950

Forbidden Cargo poster
6.9

Kenyon is a narcotics agent who, with the aid of a titled bird-watcher attempts to trap a brother and sister drug smuggling team.

Forbidden Cargo

1954

Come Back Peter poster
8.0

There's pandemonium in a country house when various relatives come to stay.

Come Back Peter

1952

1940s · 4 titles

1930s · 29 titles

Tudor Rose poster
8.1

The tragic story of Lady Jane Grey, the young queen who reigned in England for nine days before she was executed.

Tudor Rose

1936

Emil and the Detectives poster
5.5

Erich Kästner’s beloved novel has been adapted for film or television six times since its publication in 1929; this 1935 British version was the first in English. Believed lost for decades, it was recently rediscovered by the BFI and has now been restored. The film moves the action from Berlin to London, where Emil goes to stay with his grandmother and cousin. Thereafter, the tale of Emil’s adventures with a gang of streetwise London children faithfully follows the original plot.

Emil and the Detectives

1935

My Heart Is Calling poster
7.5

Musical comedy. An opera singer falls for a stowaway on the way to Monte Carlo

My Heart Is Calling

1935

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street poster
5.7

It is England in the 1830s. London's dockside is teeming with ships and sailors who have made their fortune in foreign lands. Sweeney Todd, a Fleet Street barber, awaits the arrival of men whose first port of call is for a good, close shave. For most it will be the last time they are seen alive. Using a specially designed barber's chair, Sweeney Todd despatches his victims to the cellar below, where he robs them of their new found fortunes and chops their remains into small pieces. Meanwhile, Mrs Lovett is enjoying a roaring trade for her popular penny meat pies.

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

1936

It's Never Too Late to Mend poster
6.1

An evil prison administrator cruelly abuses the inmates at his prison, until one day the tables are turned.

It's Never Too Late to Mend

1937

King of the Ritz poster
9.0

While working at a top hotel, the head porter falls in love with a wealthy female guest.

King of the Ritz

1933

Waltzes from Vienna poster
5.4

In Vienna, aspiring composer Johann Strauss Jr. clashes with his domineering father, who wants him to abandon music for a steady job in a bakery. Torn between his love for the baker’s daughter, Resi, and the encouragement of a wealthy countess, Strauss finds inspiration that leads to the creation of "The Blue Danube."

Waltzes from Vienna

1934

Don't Get Me Wrong poster
10.0

Don't Get Me Wrong is a 1937 British comedy film co-directed by Arthur B. Woods and Reginald Purdell and starring Max Miller and George E. Stone. It was made at Teddington Studios with sets designed by Peter Proud. Unlike several of Miller's Teddington films which are now lost, this still survives. Miller plays a fairground performer who meets a professor who claims to have invented a cheap substitute for petrol. They team up and persuade a millionaire to finance them to develop and market the product, while unsavoury elements are keen to steal the formula and try all means to get their hands on it, involving slapstick chases and double-crosses. It then turns out that the miracle fluid is diluted coconut oil, and the genius professor is an escaped lunatic. The millionaire finds himself taking the brunt of the disappointment.

Don't Get Me Wrong

1937

Q Planes poster
6.0

In England, an eccentric police inspector, an earnest test pilot and a spunky female reporter team up to solve the mystery of a series of test aircraft which have disappeared without a trace while over the ocean on their maiden flights; unaware, as they are, that a spy ring has been shooting the planes down with a ray machine hidden aboard a salvage vessel which is on hand to haul the downed aircraft aboard, crews and all.

Q Planes

1939

Sleeping Car poster
6.5

A French sleeping-car attending with an eye for the ladies hooks up with a wealthy widow and they get married. What he doesn't know is that she married him because she wants to stay in France. Complications ensue.

Sleeping Car

1933

Looking on the Bright Side poster
7.0

Gracie Fields' second film Looking on the Bright Side was a smash hit film of 1932. It contains a lot of her biggest hit songs of the period.

Looking on the Bright Side

1932

No artwork available
7.0

It is love at first sight between Juliet and Allan as they catch sight of each other on passing trains. Allan has his song-writing friend Bill to write a song of the incident and he has it broadcast. Juliet, through the hints provided in the song, responds and comes to Allan's home, where he is working on a safety-match invention.

Love at Second Sight

1934

Jack's the Boy poster
5.7

With a title like Jack's the Boy, is it any surprise that the star of this breezy quota quickie is British music-hall favorite Jack Hulbert? The star plays the son of a celebrated Scotland Yard detective, who joins the force in hopes of following his father's footsteps. Unfortunately, Jack is something of a screw-up, and before long he has become the laughing stock of the force.

Jack's the Boy

1932

No artwork available
8.0

Two professors who hire a sailor to lead them on a treasure hunt, and they soon find themselves in a dangerous situation involving pirates. The sailor, Bill, initially struggles to remember the location of the ruins, but eventually discovers a lost city and civilization. The professors and sailor then find themselves fighting for their lives against pirates to escape the island alive.

The Live Wire

1938

No artwork available
10.0

Two criminals are reformed when they meet and fall in love.

Love on the Spot

1932

The Amateur Gentleman poster
6.0

A former boxing champion, now an innkeeper, is accused of stealing a watch from a party of guests at his inn, who happen to be members of English royalty. The old man is arrested and thrown in prison. His son, knowing that his father didn't steal the watch and suspecting a frame-up, follows the royal party to London, where he poses as a wealthy "gentleman" and insinuates himself into the English court in an effort to find out who framed his father and why.

The Amateur Gentleman

1936

Dandy Dick poster
6.9

The Very Reverend Richard Jedd has a problem: the church spire, now in a parlous state of repair, will cost nearly £1,000 to fix. When various money-raising schemes go awry, he is persuaded to waive his principles and bet what’s left of his savings on Dandy Dick, a 10-1 odds-on at the local races. A simple tonic to enhance the nag’s performance seems a good idea… but when the butler decides to intervene, the respectable clergyman finds himself in the middle of a doping scandal – and worse!

Dandy Dick

1935

No artwork available
10.0

Comedy of an incompetent photographer and scoutmaster who achieves his wife's ambition for him of office with the local council more by luck than judgement.

What a Man!

1939

The Pride of the Force poster
9.0

This lively comedy of 1933 provided an early film role for Leslie Fuller, and sees the wildly popular, rubber-faced actor and entertainer – once touted as Elstree's own Clark Gable – playing identical twins with very different ambitions: one is a policeman who longs to join a circus, the other a farm hand who wants to be a policeman!

The Pride of the Force

1933

No artwork available
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Marry the Girl

1935

The Black Hand Gang poster
7.5

Wee Georgie Wood and his gang have their sights set on a notorious villain.

The Black Hand Gang

1930

Facing the Music poster
10.0

A joyful medley of farce, romance, song and slapstick starring Stanley Lupino as an impressionable youth whose pursuit of an opera singer’s niece lands him in trouble!

Facing the Music

1933

Something Always Happens poster
6.5

Unemployed car salesman Peter is encouraged by his girlfriend Cynthia to approach the head of a petrol company with his plan for making petrol stations more attractive to customers. When the man rejects the idea Peter joins a rival company and becomes a great success.

Something Always Happens

1934

No artwork available
NR

A Cornish fishing village is struck by tragedy.

Against the Tide

1937

No artwork available
8.0

Steven Sims is a diamond merchant who bullies his kindly hard-working clerk and disappoints his expectations when he takes into partnership an aristocratic ne'er-do-well.

Darts Are Trumps

1938

Open All Night poster
6.2

Anton is an exiled Russian Grand-duke but works in a hotel as a night manager with tragic consequences.

Open All Night

1934

My Old Dutch poster
4.0

Moving family drama of the life of a working-class Hackney couple over 40 years, inspired by the famous music hall song This moving family drama - with time for some laughs - portrays the life and hardships of a working class Hackney couple over a span of 40 years. Our intrepid couple (wonderfully played by Betty Balfour and Michael Hogan) have to face everything life throws at them with fortitude, from the Great War (a son in the RAF and zeppelin raids) to a raging oil fire during the Great Strike. The inimitable Gordon Harker provides sterling support. The film the couple watch at the cinema is the 1915 version of My Old Dutch, starring Albert Chevalier (writer of the original music hall song) and Florence Turner. As the complete silent film is now believed to be lost, this 1934 version contains the only surviving footage.

My Old Dutch

1934

Royal Cavalcade poster
8.0

Made in commemoration and celebration of the Jubilee of King George V, this is the story of the first twenty-five years of his reign, told through the many travels of a penny that was minted in the year of his accession: 1910. Through a series of individual stories, Royal Cavalcade covers a period of striking change in every area of life – from the suffragette movement to the trenches of World War One, the effects of the Depression to single events such as the first ever Royal Command Performance, featuring Anna Pavlova and George Robey.

Royal Cavalcade

1935

No artwork available
6.7

Lucy and her brother are struggling to make a go of their Soho pet shop, until Lucy meets Tom, a street singer.

Street Song

1935