Charles Bennett
Birth : 1899-08-02, Shoreham-by-Sea, England
Death : 1995-06-15
History
Born just before the century turned, Charles Bennett made his writing debut as a child in 1911, fought in France during World War I while still a teen and resumed his acting career after the war's end. In 1926 he dropped acting to concentrate on being a playwright, later turning one of his most famous plays, "Blackmail," into a screenplay for production under the direction of Alfred Hitchcock. The affiliation with "Hitch" continued into the early 1940s, by which time both Bennett and the director were working in Hollywood. He wrote for producers ranging from Cecil B. DeMille to Irwin Allen to the penny-pinching folks at AIP. "If I couldn't write, I wouldn't want to live," commented Bennett, who had projects (including a remake of "Blackmail") going right up to the time of his death.
Screenplay
A chance discovery leads American mining engineer Ben Harris and acquaintance Harold to discover a lost city under the sea while searching for their kidnapped friend Jill. Held captive in the underwater city by the tyrannical Captain (Vincent Price), and his crew of former smugglers, the three plot to escape...
Screenplay
Professor Fergusson plans to make aviation history by making his way across Africa by balloon. He plans to claim uncharted territories in West Africa as proof of his inventions worth.
Screenplay
The crew of an atomic submarine battle to save the world from global destruction.
Screenplay
Professor Challenger leads an expedition of scientists and adventurers to a remote plateau deep in the Amazonian jungle to verify his claim that dinosaurs still live there.
Screenplay
A circus owner tries to keep his financially troubled circus on the road, despite the efforts of a murderous saboteur who has decided that the show must not go on.
Screenplay
American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was killed in a freak accident the day before. It turns out that the deceased had been investigating a cult lead by Dr. Julian Karswell. Though a skeptic, Holden is suspicious of the devil-worshiping Karswell. Following a trail of mysterious manuscripts, Holden enters a world that makes him question his faith in science.
Writer
The devil and the spirit of mankind argue as to whether or not humanity is ultimately good or evil.
Story
A couple vacationing in Morocco with their young son accidentally stumble upon an assassination plot. When the child is kidnapped to ensure their silence, they have to take matters into their own hands to save him.
Teleplay
American spy James Bond must outsmart card wiz and crime boss LeChiffre while monitoring his actions.
Writer
A policeman tries to protect a young woman against a hit man, when she flees New York after witnessing a mob killing.
Writer
A woman and a songwriter suspected of murder join forces to crack the case.
Director
A woman and a songwriter suspected of murder join forces to crack the case.
Story
In World War II France, American soldier Michael Blake captures, then loses Nazi-collaborator art thief Paul Rona, who leaves behind a gem studded gauntlet (a stolen religious relic). Years later, financial reverses lead Mike to return in search of the object. In Paris, he must dodge mysterious followers and a corpse that's hard to explain; so he and attractive tour guide Christine decamp on a cross-country pursuit that becomes love on the run...then takes yet another turn.
Screenplay
In World War II France, American soldier Michael Blake captures, then loses Nazi-collaborator art thief Paul Rona, who leaves behind a gem studded gauntlet (a stolen religious relic). Years later, financial reverses lead Mike to return in search of the object. In Paris, he must dodge mysterious followers and a corpse that's hard to explain; so he and attractive tour guide Christine decamp on a cross-country pursuit that becomes love on the run...then takes yet another turn.
Screenplay
Mary Herries has a passion for art and fine furniture. Even though she is getting on in years, she enjoys being around these priceless articles. One day she meets a strange young painter named Elcott, who uses his painting skill to enter into her life. Little does she expect that his only interest in Mary is to covet everything she has.
Screenplay
A young doctor falls in love with a disturbed young woman and apparently becomes involved in the death of her husband. They head for Mexico trying to outrun the law.
Screenplay
A blind Englishwoman weds a French nobleman and moves into his family's chateau, but she quickly realizes someone there wants her out of the way.
Director
A blind Englishwoman weds a French nobleman and moves into his family's chateau, but she quickly realizes someone there wants her out of the way.
Screenplay
A hypnotist uses his powers for revenge against King Louis XV's court.
Screenplay
A wheelchair-bound woman manipulates her family to a point where they suspect she may be unhinged.
Screenplay
England, 1763. After being convicted of a crime, the young and beautiful Abigail Hale agrees, to escape the gallows, to serve fourteen years as a slave in the colony of Virginia, whose inhabitants begin to hear and fear the sinister song of the threatening drums of war that resound in the wild Ohio valley.
Screenplay
When Ivy, an Edwardian belle, begins to like Miles, a wealthy gentleman, she is unsure of what to do with her husband, Jervis, and her lover, Dr. Roger. She then hatches a plan to get rid of them both.
Screenplay
As the Japanese sweep through the East Indies during World War II, Dr. Wassell is determined to escape from Java with some crewmen of the cruiser Marblehead. Based on a true story of how Dr. Wassell saved a dozen or so wounded sailors who were left behind when able bodied men were evacuated to Australia.
Writer
In World War II, American Gates Trimble Pomfret is in London during the Blitz to sell the ancestral family house. The current tenant, Leslie Trimble, tries to dissuade him from selling by telling him the 140-year history of the place and the connections between the Trimble and Pomfret families.
Screenplay
The Florida Keys in 1840, where the implacable hurricanes of the Caribbean scream, where the salvagers of Key West, like the intrepid and beautiful Loxi Claiborne and her crew, reap, aboard frail schooners, the harvest of the wild wind, facing the shark teeth of the reefs to rescue the sailors and the cargo from the shipwrecks caused by the scavengers of the sea.
Screenplay
An RAF squadron is brought down over occupied France. The flyers get to Paris in spite of the fact that the youngest, Baby, is injured. He must be hidden and his wounds cared for. The Gestapo has already issued orders for their arrest.
Writer
An Austrian prince flees his homeland when the Nazis take over and settles in London. He meets a beautiful Austrian émigré who makes him realize his mistake in leaving. He makes a deal with the Nazis to return in exchange for some Austrian prisoners, but discovers that the Nazis are not to be trusted.
Screenplay
The European war was only beginning to erupt across national borders. Johnny Jones, an American crime reporter dispatched by his New York publisher to put a fresh spin on the drowsy dispatches emanating from overseas, has a nose for a good story—which promptly leads him to the crime of fascism and Nazi Germany's designs on European conquest. In attempting to learn more about a seemingly noble peace effort, Jones walks into the middle of an assassination, uncovers a spy ring and—not entirely coincidentally—falls in love.
Screenplay
A Russian prince disguised as a worker and a cafe singer secretly involved in revolutionary activities fall in love.
Adaptation
The Carletons make a living as card sharks and finding new suckers to mooch off of. When their latest scam backfires, they are asked to leave Monte Carlo. At the train station, they meet Miss Fortune, a very wealthy but lonely elderly lady. As a reward for saving her life after the train derails, Miss Fortune invites the Carletons to come live with her. The family hopes that by winning her affection, they can eventually be named sole beneficiaries in her will. But will a change of heart soften their mercenary feelings before that time comes?
Screenplay
Robert Tisdall finds on the beach the corpse of a woman he knew. Others wrongly conclude that he is the murderer. Fleeing, he desperately attempts to prove that he is not the killer. A young woman becomes embroiled in the effort.
Screenplay
Karl 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.
Screenplay
After three British agents are assigned to assassinate a mysterious German spy during World War I, two of them become ambivalent when their duty to the mission conflicts with their consciences.
Writer
When mild mannered Joe comes into an inheritance, he leaves his job as a clerk, and embarks on a sea cruise. Posing as a successful writer, Joe attracts various attractive women to him on the voyage, but his deceptions start to land him in trouble.
Screenplay
A fake psychic suddenly turns into the real thing when he meets a young beauty. (TCM)
Adaptation
A fake psychic suddenly turns into the real thing when he meets a young beauty. (TCM)
Second Passerby Near the Bus (uncredited)
Richard 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.
Writer
Richard 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.
Writer
While 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.
Writer
A batty Scottish professor attempts to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, but everyone thinks he's crazy. Meanwhile, a foolish young reporter attempts to get a scoop on the story.
Screenplay
'Boxer leaves true love for society lady, but returns.' (British Film Catalogue)
Writer
It follows a doctor who faces both a scandal and a moral dilemma when a patient of his dies while he is making love to a press magnate's daughter.
Writer
A butcher and a draper stand for election to the local council.
Writer
An aristocrat becomes a gigolo.
Story
A murder takes place in a film studio during the shooting of a new film.
Script
'Bird fancier's daughter loves nobleman whom her cockney fiancé robs of necklace.' (British Film Catalogue)
Theatre Play
A crooked prince uses a death ray to force down airships and steal their cargo.
Writer
An artist reforms weak friends by painting their portraits.
Director
An artist reforms weak friends by painting their portraits.
Theatre Play
London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.
Amos Divine
Mary Beth rents an attic room to Richard, a composer. Frustrated with the publishers demands for cheap, trashy songs, Richard, penniless, tries to asphyxiate himself, but Mary intervenes, encouraging him to go on. Mary finds his song, and secretly sells a song she finds of his, "The Rainbow Girl", to a publisher, later finding out that she, herself, is the Rainbow Girl he wrote about.
Hobbled Hearts comedy short
John as a Child
An apprentice inherits a master's mill, weds a disowned heiress, and remains true to his class.
