John Eldridge

John Eldridge

Profile

John Eldridge

Movies

Some People
Writer
Four teen-aged Teds are persuaded to form a rock group and undertake the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme to keep them out of trouble.
The Boy Who Stole a Million
Scenario Writer
A boy gets involved in a bank robbery
The Cat Gang
Writer
The Cat Gang is a group of precocious British kids. They have a habit of hanging around a grown-up customs official who wishes that they'd beat it. But the Gang comes in handy when a smuggling gang arrives on the scene.
Operation Amsterdam
Screenplay
When Germany invades Holland in 1940, a British intelligence officer and two Dutch diamond merchants go to Amsterdam to persuade the Dutch diamond merchants to evacuate their diamond supplies to England.
The Smallest Show on Earth
Screenplay
Jean and Bill are a married couple trying to scrape a living. Out of the blue they receive a telegram informing them Bill's long-lost uncle has died and left them his business—a cinema in the town of Sloughborough. Unfortunately they can't sell it for the fortune they hoped as they discover it is falling down and almost worthless.
The Man in the Sky
Screenplay
The 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 Kid from Canada
Script
A Canadian boy visits cousins in Scotland; his attitude first causes antagonism with Scottish youngsters, but disappears when the lad proves himself by riding a horse over dangerous country to bring aid to an injured shepherd.
Conflict of Wings
Director
In rural Norfolk, villagers are spurred to action when it is announced that the nearby RAF station is taking over the Island of Children, a much-loved and untouched bird sanctuary, for rocket practice.
Laxdale Hall
Writer
A starchy parliamentary delegation is sent to a remote Scottish Highlands community, where the residents are protesting the poor condition of their road by withholding their taxes, and spend a few days among the locals.
Laxdale Hall
Director
A starchy parliamentary delegation is sent to a remote Scottish Highlands community, where the residents are protesting the poor condition of their road by withholding their taxes, and spend a few days among the locals.
Brandy for the Parson
Director
A young couple get involved with a smuggler
Pool of London
Screenplay
Jewel thieves, murder and a manhunt swirl around a sailor (Bonar Colleano) off a cargo ship in London.
Three Dawns to Sydney
Script
A documentary that follows the flight of a BOAC Lancastrian airliner travelling from London to Sydney that offers some observations from the passengers and of the places en route (Sicily, Lydda, Karachi, Singapore and Darwin).
Three Dawns to Sydney
Director
A documentary that follows the flight of a BOAC Lancastrian airliner travelling from London to Sydney that offers some observations from the passengers and of the places en route (Sicily, Lydda, Karachi, Singapore and Darwin).
Waverley Steps: A Visit to Edinburgh
Director
Waverley Steps - subtitled ‘a visit to Edinburgh’ - is an evocative minor classic. John Eldridge’s film takes the semi-documentary form of a collage of scripted vignettes, at first disconnected but gradually overlapping. With visual grace, and a certain wit, the film entwines a coalman’s working day with students’ revels by night, the proceedings of a court with the rituals of a courtship.
A City Reborn
Director
Scripted by poet Dylan Thomas, this affecting docu-drama recalls the incendiary bombing of Coventry on 14 November 1940. The film focusses on reconstruction and morale: we see the city's rebirth through the eyes of a young local couple planning for their future, and an engineer interested in the new housing drive. This is one of several 1940s films introducing cinemagoers to the good old 'prefab'.
Our Country
Director
A romantic tour of Britain set to Dylan Thomas's poetry.
Wales: Green Mountain, Black Mountain
Director
A documentary look at Wales's turbulent relationship with England, and its commitment to the defence of Britain during World War II through its industries, social rituals, rural life and future prospects
New Towns for Old
Director
This wartime public information film combines impressive shots of industrial poverty with inspiring words scripted by Dylan Thomas, proffering new housing and better lives after the war.
Tank Patrol
Director
Made in 1941, this stirring Ministry of Information dramatisation tells the story of a Crusader tank crew trapped behind enemy lines in the Desert. With no intercom, a wounded crewman and little fuel, they must fight their way through an Italian column to freedom.
Architects of England
Director
From Stonehenge to the reinforced concrete constructions of the 20th Century, 'Architects of England' takes us on a tour of Britain's architecture throughout the ages.
Village School
Director
A real Buckinghamshire schoolteacher - the kindly Mrs James - is the star of this persuasive WWII propaganda film. Shot on location in Ashley Green, it shows how evacuees from surrounding towns adapt to village life and wartime conditions. With its images of happy, healthy children, the film was clearly designed to give reassurance to city-dwelling mothers separated from their offspring.