Charles Crichton

Charles Crichton

Birth : 1910-08-06, Merseyside, England, UK

Death : 1999-09-14

History

Charles Ainslie Crichton was an English film director and film editor. He became best known for directing comedies produced at Ealing Studios. Crichton enjoyed an extremely long career, editing and directing many films and television programmes over a period exceeding forty years.

Profile

Charles Crichton

Movies

A Fish Called Wanda
Story
A diamond advocate is attempting to steal a collection of diamonds, yet troubles arise when he realizes that he is not the only one after the diamonds.
A Fish Called Wanda
Director
A diamond advocate is attempting to steal a collection of diamonds, yet troubles arise when he realizes that he is not the only one after the diamonds.
John Cleese's First Farewell Performance
Self
A feature length documentary on the making of A Fish Called Wanda
Made In Ealing: The Story of Ealing Studios
Interviewee
Documentary about the British film studio. First appeared on the BBC television programme Omnibus.
Mackendrick: The Man Who Walked Away
Self
This 1986 documentary features interviews with director Alexander Mackendrick, actor Burt Lancaster, producer James Hill, and others.
Cosmic Princess
Director
An alien princess aids people stranded on out-of-orbit Moonbase Alpha.
Alien Attack
Director
Earth's Moon is the site of Moonbase Alpha, a scientific research colony nestled in the crater Plato. Staffed by over 300 men and women from Earth, it is the operations center for several space expeditions. It is also a watchdog for vast amounts of atomic waste from Earth stored in silos on the Moon's far side. Magnetic radiation builds up and causes the wastes to explode with such force that the Earth's centripetal pull on the Moon is overcome, and the Moon is broken free of Earth's orbit to drift at incredible speed out of the Solar System off the plane of the ecliptic. The survivors on Moonbase Alpha are unable to return to Earth and must survive in unknown space on their wandering Moon. They encounter a planet whose advanced people project an illusion of a devastating attack on Moonbase. This TV movie was edited from scenes of two episodes ("Breakaway" and "War Games") of "Space: 1999" (1975).
Into Infinity
Director
The spaceship Altares, with a photon drive capable of accelerating it to the speed of light, leaves an Earth-orbiting space station. The Altares crew, two families of scientific specialists, journey at light speed with time-dilation to Alpha Centauri, where they launch several satellites to transmit information on the Centauri star system back to Earth and guide future manned vessels in exploring. The Day after Tomorrow (also known as Into Infinity in the United Kingdom) is a 1975 British science-fiction television special produced by Gerry Anderson between the two seasons of Space: 1999. It stars Brian Blessed, Nick Tate, Joanna Dunham, Katherine Levy and Martin Lev. It aired in the United States on NBC as part of the network's Special Treat childrens series in December 1975, and in the UK on BBC1 in December 1976.
He Who Rides a Tiger
Director
Peter Rayston, has been in and out of prison most of his life. At 30, he is released for the eighth time, after serving a sentence for housebreaking. Immediately, he goes back to his old life, providing for his expensive tastes by executing a series of daring burglaries
The Third Secret
Director
A prominent London psychologist seems to have taken his own life, causing stunned disbelief amongst his colleagues and patients. His teenage daughter refuses to believe it was suicide as this would go against all of the principles her father stood for, therefore she is convinced it was murder. She enlists the help of a former patient to try to get to the truth. However, the truth turns out to be both surprising and disturbing.
The Boy Who Stole a Million
Writer
A boy gets involved in a bank robbery
The Boy Who Stole a Million
Director
A boy gets involved in a bank robbery
The Battle of the Sexes
Director
Angela Barrows is a man-eating business woman sent by her American employer to investigate their export opportunities in Edinburgh. En route she meets Robert MacPherson, a businessman who asks for her help to bring his company into the 20th Century. The staff, led by Mr Martin, has other ideas—and a battle between the old and new business methods soon breaks out.
Floods of Fear
Screenplay
A man framed for murder escapes from prison during a flood and helps a young woman in distress.
Floods of Fear
Director
A man framed for murder escapes from prison during a flood and helps a young woman in distress.
Law and Disorder
Director
When Percy Brand, a habitual confidence trickster, keeps being sent down, he goes to great lengths to ensure that his son Colin, does not find out about his criminal past. But when Colin becomes an assistant to the Judge, who is about to try Percy for his latest escapade, Percy and his gang have to come up with a plan, to stop them meeting in court.
The Man in the Sky
Director
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 Divided Heart
Director
During World War II, a German woman, Inga, goes missing and is presumed dead. Her infant son is placed in an orphanage where, years later, he's adopted by a childless couple. The adoptive parents' happiness is shattered when Inga reappears and insists on custody of her son.
The Love Lottery
Director
Rex Allerton is a top Hollywood star and an idol of the female population. To get away from the pressure of the fans who won't leave him alone, he relocates to a remote Italian village where unanticipated trouble arises when unwittingly he becomes the prize for an international lottery.
The Titfield Thunderbolt
Director
When British Railways announce the closure of the Titfield to Mallingford branch line a group of local residents make a bid to run it themselves, backed by a monied member of the community who is attracted by the complete lack of licensing hours on trains. Unfortunately the local bus company starts to use methods that can hardly be seen as fair competition.
Hunted
Director
An unexpected bond develops between a fugitive killer and a runaway orphan on an odyssey across England.
The Lavender Hill Mob
Director
A 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.
Dance Hall
Director
Episodic tale of four factory girls and their various romances at the local dance hall in Chiswick, London. Unusual at the time, the film tells its story from a feminine perspective. Today, it is mainly recognised for its post-war London atmosphere, with bomb sites, trolleybuses and rationing.
Train of Events
Director
A 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.
Another Shore
Director
A young Irishman comes up with an unusual plan to get the money to emigrate to Tahiti. One of the Ealing comedies.
Against the Wind
Director
A disparate group of volunteers are trained as saboteurs and parachuted into Belgium to blow up an office containing important Nazi records and to rescue a prominent S.O.E. agent, who is being interrogated by the Germans for vital information.
Hue and Cry
Director
A gang of street boys foil a master crook who sends commands for robberies by cunningly altering a comic strip's wording each week, unknown to writer and printer. The first of the Ealing comedies.
Dead of Night
Director
Architect Walter Craig, seeking the possibility of some work at a country farmhouse, soon finds himself once again stuck in his recurring nightmare. Dreading the end of the dream that he knows is coming, he must first listen to all the assembled guests' own bizarre tales.
Painted Boats
Director
In this modest drama, set during World War II, two rival boat families battle it out for supremacy.
For Those in Peril
Director
A WWII flyer fails to join the RAF so he joins the Air - Sea Rescue instead. His boat is out in all conditions picking up downed pilots and taking them to safety.
Greek Testament
Associate Producer
British war documentary
The Big Blockade
Editor
Wartime propaganda piece reporting on the success of the economic blockade of Germany in the early years of the war.
Find, Fix and Strike
Producer
Deals with the training of Fleet Air Arm pilots and crew during World War II.
Old Bill and Son
Editor
Old Bill has grumbled his way through the trenches of the First World War. Now it is the Second and, envious of his son, Young Bill, he decides to enlist. He finally enters the Pioneer Corps, which is based near his son. When Young Bill goes missing during a raid, Old Bill shows that there's still life in the old dog yet!
Guests of Honour
Editor
Ealing Studios short war documentary
The Thief of Bagdad
Editor
When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.
Young Veteran
Editor
The first months of WWII as experienced by the new young recruits - the 'young Berts' - of the British Army.
21 Days
Editor
After Larry Darrent accidentally kills his lover's blackmailing husband, someone else is arrested for the crime. When he is found guilty, Larry and Wanda have just three weeks together before he must give himself up or let an innocent man go to the gallows.
Elephant Boy
Editor
Robert Flaherty and Zoltán Korda shared best director honors at the Venice Film Festival for collaborating on this charming translation of Rudyard Kipling’s “Jungle Book” story “Toomai of the Elephants.” A harmonious mix of the two filmmakers’ styles, Flaherty's adeptness at ethnographic documentary meeting Korda's taste for grand adventure, ELEPHANT BOY also served as the breakthrough showcase for the thirteen-year-old Sabu, whose beaming performance as a young mahout leading the British on an expedition made him a major international star.
Things to Come
Editor
The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.
Sanders of the River
Editor
A British District Officer in Nigeria in the 1930s rules his area strictly but justly. He struggles with gun-runners and slavers with the aid of a loyal native chief.