Esma Cannon

Acting

Esma Cannon

Born — Died

1905-12-27 — 1972-10-18

Place of birth

Randwick, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Known for

Acting

Credits

63 titles

Esma Ellen Charlotte Littman, credited as Esme or Esma Cannon, was a diminutive (4 feet 7 inches) Australian-born character actress and comedian, who moved to Britain in the early 1930s. Although she frequently appeared on television in her latter years, Cannon is best known as a film actress, with a lengthy career in British productions from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Known for

Maigret poster
7.1

BBC series based on the novels by Georges Simenon which starred Rupert Davies as Inspector Maigret, a French police detective who preferred to watch and listen in order to solve crimes. The series ran from 1960-63 on British television.

Maigret

1960

A Canterbury Tale poster
6.9

Three modern-day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town while on their way to Canterbury.

A Canterbury Tale

1944

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Stryker of the Yard

1961

The Rag Trade poster
6.2

The Rag Trade is a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by LWT between 1977 and 1978. The scripts were by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, who later wrote Wild, Wild Women, Meet the Wife and On the Buses. Wild, Wild Women was a period variation of The Rag Trade. The action centred on a small clothing workshop, Fenner Fashions in London. Although run by Harold Fenner and Reg the foreman, the female workers are led by militant shop steward Paddy Fleming, ever ready to strike, with the catchphrase "Everybody out!" Other cast members included Sheila Hancock, Esma Reese Cannon, Wanda Ventham and Barbara Windsor. The Rag Trade was revived by ITV company LWT in 1977, with Jones and Karlin reprising their roles. The 1977 version ran for two series, most of the scripts being based on the BBC episodes from the 1960s, and featured Anna Karen and future EastEnders star Gillian Taylforth as factory workers. The theme tune for the LWT series was written and performed by Lynsey De Paul.

The Rag Trade

1961

I'm All Right Jack poster
6.6

Naive Stanley Windrush looks for a career in a family business. Much to his dismay, he finds work at a munitions factory where he has to start from the bottom, while both the management and the labor union use him as a tool in their fight for power.

I'm All Right Jack

1959

That's Carry On! poster
5.8

Celebrating twenty years of classic Carry On films, two of the films’ best-loved stars, Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor return to Pinewood film studios to unwrap some rib-tickling moments from the series. From the original, military mayhem of Carry On Sergeant, through to the really ancient archaeological gags of Carry On Behind, our saucy hosts get their titters out for this laugh-a-second gallop through the most successful series of British comedy films ever made.

That's Carry On!

1977

Film credits

1960s · 16 titles

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

The Flesh and the Fiends poster
6.7

Edinburgh surgeon Dr. Robert Knox requires cadavers for his research into the functioning of the human body; local ne'er-do-wells Burke and Hare find ways to provide him with fresh specimens...

The Flesh and the Fiends

1960

Carry On Constable poster
6.3

With a flu epidemic running rife, three new bumbling recruits are assigned to Inspector Mills police station. With help from Special Constable Gorse, they manage to totally wreck operations of the police force and let plenty of criminals get away, even before they arrive at the station. They all have to prove themselves or else they'll be out of a job and Sgt. Wilkins will be transferred.

Carry On Constable

1960

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

What a Carve Up! poster
7.0

Ernie's Uncle Gabriel has just died but to claim his inheritance he must spend the night in the ancestral family home with the rest of his rather eccentric relatives. Ernie's imagination has been affected by his constant immersion in cheap horror novels, but his wildest fears turn out to be justified when the guests begin to drop dead.

What a Carve Up!

1961

We Joined the Navy poster
6.0

Lt Commander Badger, RN: an exceptionally likeable fellow, the Artful Bodger has one besetting sin a shining honesty which compels him to say the right thing at entirely the wrong time! When untimely remarks to some new recruits are splashed across the tabloids, the rush is on to find him a new posting somewhere far away.

We Joined the Navy

1963

No Kidding poster
6.1

A young couple, David and Catherine Robinson, has to turn their large country house into a money-making proposition. Their solution is to invite the kids of the rich and famous to spend a summer enjoying all the loving care and attention they miss at home. After the youngsters arrive, David quickly realizes what the offensive little punks need is some real discipline, and so the summer begins.

No Kidding

1960

Carry On Cabby poster
6.4

Speedee Taxis is a great success, which means its workaholic owner Charlie starts neglecting Peggy, his wife. Suddenly a fleet of rival taxis appears from nowhere and start pinching all the fares. The rivals are Glamcabs, and they have a secret weapon. All their drivers are very attractive women! Who's behind Glamcabs? It's open warfare and only one fleet can survive!

Carry On Cabby

1963

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

On the Beat poster
7.6

Norman Pitkin wants to be a policeman like his father was, but he fails the height test (amongst others). One day he gets out his father's old uniform and "walks the beat". This leads to a level of chaos that only Pitkin could cause

On the Beat

1962

The Fast Lady poster
5.8

A naïve Scottish civil servant must learn how to drive a Bentley to impress his girlfriend's tycoon father.

The Fast Lady

1962

Nurse on Wheels poster
6.1

Quietly competent young Joanna moves with her scatterbrain mother to a country village to take up her first job as District Nurse. She soon overcomes the suspicion of her patients used to someone rather older, while becoming romantically involved with a local farmer - at least until he tries to evict a newly-arrived expectant couple who park their caravan on his land.

Nurse on Wheels

1963

Raising the Wind poster
6.3

'Carry On' director Gerald Thomas helms this comedy caper featuring early appearances by James Robertson Justice, Sid James, Leslie Phillips, Kenneth Williams, Liz Fraser and Eric Barker. The film follows the hi-jinks of a group of music students who move into a shared flat in order to cut costs and have somewhere to practice their instruments. Things get tricky when Mervyn Hughes (Phillips) accidentally sells one of his compositions to an advertising agency and risks losing his scholarship. Can he and his friends find a way to raise the money to buy back the song rights?

Raising the Wind

1961

In the Doghouse poster
6.4

After 10 years of failure a bumbling vet finally graduates and takes on his own practice.

In the Doghouse

1962

Hide and Seek poster
7.0

A professor of astronomy helping on a missile development program. An old friend of his is a Russian chess champion. The Russian is working with shady businessman Marek and they plan to kidnap the professor and make it look as though he has defected to the Soviet Union.

Hide and Seek

1964

Inn for Trouble poster
6.9

Peggy Mount and David Kossoff star as Ada and Alf Larkin in this big screen version of the hugely popular 1950s TV comedy. Alf Larkin has finally made good his dream to own a pub. The trouble is, it's got no customers. But leave it to the Larkins to find unorthodox ways to bring in the punters.

Inn for Trouble

1960

1950s · 18 titles

I'm All Right Jack poster
6.6

Naive Stanley Windrush looks for a career in a family business. Much to his dismay, he finds work at a munitions factory where he has to start from the bottom, while both the management and the labor union use him as a tool in their fight for power.

I'm All Right Jack

1959

Expresso Bongo poster
5.3

A seedy London promoter turns a naive, working-class teenager into a pop singing sensation.

Expresso Bongo

1959

Last Holiday poster
7.1

George Bird is a salesman of agricultural machinery who finds out that he hasn't long to live. On his doctor's advice, he goes to an exclusive seaside resort to spend his savings on one last holiday.

Last Holiday

1950

Trouble in Store poster
6.1

Norman is working in the stock room of a large London department store, but he has ambition (doesn't he always !!), he wants to be a window dresser making up the public displays. Whilst trying to fulfill his ambition, he falls in love (doesn't he always !!), with one of the shopgirls. Together they discover a plot to rob the store and, somehow, manage to foil the robbers.

Trouble in Store

1953

Three Men in a Boat poster
6.2

Three London gentlemen take a vacation rowing down the Thames, encountering various mishaps and misadventures along the way.

Three Men in a Boat

1956

Sailor Beware poster
7.5

Battle-axe Emma Hornett dominates her hen-pecked husband Henry, his meek sister Edie and daughter Shirley. Shirley is to marry young sailor Albert,raised in an orphanage,and he and best man Carnoustie stay with the Hornetts on the eve of the wedding.

Sailor Beware

1956

Out of the Clouds poster
6.1

Multiple stories unfold over the course of twenty-four hours in and around a bustling central airport.

Out of the Clouds

1955

Simon and Laura poster
5.9

A couple of bickering, married performers agree to star in a "Mr. and Mrs." TV show.

Simon and Laura

1955

The Sleeping Tiger poster
5.6

A petty thief breaks into the home of a psychiatrist and gets caught in a web of a doctor who wishes to experiment on him and a doctor's wife who wishes to seduce him.

The Sleeping Tiger

1954

The Steel Key poster
6.2

An adventurer investigates the theft of a formula for hardened steel, assisted by his girlfriend.

The Steel Key

1953

Noose for a Lady poster
6.0

A woman has been sentenced to death by hanging. Her cousin believes she is innocent and he works against time to prove it before she is executed.

Noose for a Lady

1953

Crow Hollow poster
6.1

In a spooky mansion, one of three sinister spinsters tries to poison her nephew's wife to steal a large inheritance.

Crow Hollow

1952

Jack the Ripper poster
6.2

A serial killer is murdering women in the Whitechapel district of London. An American policeman is brought in to help Scotland Yard solve the case.

Jack the Ripper

1959

Guilt Is My Shadow poster
5.7

A woman is haunted by her conscience after she murders a man and then hides the body. Based on the novel 'You're Best Alone' by Norah Lofts.

Guilt Is My Shadow

1950

A Touch of the Sun poster
6.0

A hotel porter is left a fortune but after living it up for a while he returns to his old place of work which is in financial difficulties.

A Touch of the Sun

1956

Further Up the Creek poster
6.6

The sequel to 'Up The Creek' sees David Tomlinson return as bumbling navy boffin Lieutenant Humphrey Fairweather. This time he is skipper of the ship Aristotle and, together with his second-in-command, Fairweather wreaks havoc when he is ordered to deliver the Aristotle to its new owners in a mythical Middle-Eastern country.

Further Up the Creek

1958

Double Confession poster
6.2

The hero discovers his estranged wife dead and tries to frame her lover for the murder. He becomes involved with the criminals who make various unsuccessful attempts on his life while the police clear up the mystery.

Double Confession

1950

The Large Rope poster
6.0

After being framed for a murder he didn't commit, Tom Penney (Donald Houston) serves his time and returns to his rural English home to establish a quiet life. When another victim is found, however, Tom is blamed for the crime and flees rather than returnng to prison. Hoping to find the real killer -- or killers -- Tom investigates while keeping a low profile to elude his pursuers, and a vital clue leads him on the path to possible redemption.

The Large Rope

1953

1940s · 16 titles

A Canterbury Tale poster
6.9

Three modern-day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town while on their way to Canterbury.

A Canterbury Tale

1944

Contraband poster
7.1

During early World War II, a Danish sea captain, delayed in a British port, tangles with German spies.

Contraband

1940

Fanny by Gaslight poster
5.5

Returning to 1870s London after finishing at boarding school, Fanny winesses the death of her father in a fight with Lord Manderstoke. She then finds that her family has for many years been running a bordello next door to their home. When her mother dies shortly after, she next discovers that her real father is in fact a well-respected politician. Meeting him and then falling in love with his young advisor Harry Somerford leads to a life of ups and downs and conflict between the classes. Periodically the scoundrel of a Lord crosses her path, always to tragic effect.

Fanny by Gaslight

1944

Helter Skelter poster
6.4

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

Helter Skelter

1949

Here Come the Huggetts poster
6.7

The Huggetts have their first telephone installed, sleep rough on The Mall whilst waiting for the Royal Wedding and deal with a fire at the 'Oatibix' factory.

Here Come the Huggetts

1948

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

The Way Ahead poster
6.5

A mismatched collection of conscripted civilians find training tough under Lieutenant Jim Perry and Sergeant Ned Fletcher when they are called up to replace an infantry battalion that had suffered casualties at Dunkirk.

The Way Ahead

1944

Holiday Camp poster
6.8

The Huggett family go to a holiday camp, and get involved in crooked card players, a murderer on the run, and a pregnant young girl and her boyfriend missing from home.

Holiday Camp

1947

English Without Tears poster
6.3

While Lady Christabel Beauclark, a bird fancier, is scurrying about demanding certain territorial rights for British birds from other countries, Her Ladyship's niece is falling in love with the family butler, Tom Gilbey. The birds are forgotten when war breaks out, and Gilbey now finds himself in love with the niece whose love was previously unrequited. Written by Les Adams

English Without Tears

1944

No artwork available
6.7

A London fishmonger helps a young woman evade her unwanted upcoming marriage by pretending to be her fiancé, a big game hunter from Africa. Comedy.

Asking for Trouble

1942

Marry Me poster
5.8

The stories of several individuals who consult a marriage bureau, including a peer of the realm, his butler, a lonely school teacher, a French girl on the run from a violent boyfriend, a country vicar, and a newspaper reporter, sent by his editor, to do an undercover story.

Marry Me

1949

Vote for Huggett poster
7.2

A firm of solicitors do battle with the head of the local council over a parcel of river front land, owned by the Huggett family, in order to build a lido/community center.

Vote for Huggett

1949

The Huggetts Abroad poster
6.8

Life is not going well for the Huggetts. Father has lost his job. Jimmy and his wife cannot get to South Africa where he has a new job. So the family decide that they should go to South Africa by truck. With their travelling companion they travel across the desert which includes a brush with the law.

The Huggetts Abroad

1949

The Years Between poster
6.7

After hearing news that her officer husband has been killed in battle, Diana Wentworth forges a new life for herself, becoming an MP and learning to love again. Then, out of the blue comes the shattering news that her husband is not dead after all.

The Years Between

1946

Quiet Wedding poster
5.3

A young couple become engaged, but enjoy a number of comedic aventures before their wedding day.

Quiet Wedding

1941

No artwork available
NR

Training film for officers of the ATS, encouraging compassion and understanding for the young woman in their charge.

We Serve

1942

1930s · 8 titles

Poison Pen poster
6.7

The inhabitants of a peaceful village begin receiving mysterious hate mail penned by someone with malicious thoughts.

Poison Pen

1939

The Spy in Black poster
6.4

A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.

The Spy in Black

1939

I See Ice poster
6.5

George Bright is a props man in an ice ballet company, and a keen amateur photographer who accidentally snaps crooks at work. Comic complications ensue....

I See Ice

1938

It's in the Air poster
5.9

George Brown is rejected as an Air Raid Warden and in doing so sees his potential to join the Royal Air Force. His dreams could soon come true as he realises that in fact his friend has left behind some very important papers, he dons a his Royal Air Force uniform and delivers the papers when he is mistaken for a dispatch driver from HQ. He soon becomes the butt of jokes from his sergeant which ends him staying indefinitely at the air base. George soon falls in love with the Sergeant Major's daughter and when he discovers his real identity he threatens to report him. On the day of an annual inspection George attempts to escape the base and ends up in a plane, while the inspecting officer watches on, George's plane display is mesmerizing and the inspecting officer insists he should be commended, in order to save their skins George manages to land the plane and is accepted as a flyer by the RAF.

It's in the Air

1938

The Man Behind the Mask poster
5.3

A young couple attend a masked ball before their planned (but secret) elopement. Suddenly everything goes wrong when the young woman is attacked and held hostage by a crazed attacker.

The Man Behind the Mask

1936

Trouble Brewing poster
6.9

Ealing comedy starring music hall star George Formby. An eager newspaper reporter (Formby) goes undercover to expose a gang of counterfeiters. Posing as a wrestler and waiter in his investigative efforts, George proves a greater menace to public order than the criminals he is chasing.

Trouble Brewing

1939

I Met a Murderer poster
5.5

An Englishwoman who writes novels meets a farmer who has just killed his nagging wife.

I Met a Murderer

1939

No artwork available
10.0

An overheard conversation leads to clues that a kidnapping plot is afoot.

The Nursemaid Who Disappeared

1939

Series credits