Basil Dearden

English film director (1911–1971)

Basil Dearden

Born|

Basil Clive Dear

(1911-01-01)1 January 1911

Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England

Died| 23 March 1971(1971-03-23) (aged 60)

Hillingdon, London, England

Occupation| Film director
Years active| 1938–1970
Spouse(s)| Margaret Ward (divorced)
Melissa Stribling
Children| James Dearden, Torquil Dearden

Basil Dearden (born Basil Clive Dear; 1 January 1911 – 23 March 1971) was an English film director.

## Early life

[edit]

Dearden was born as Basil Clive Dear[1] at 5 Woodfield Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex to Charles James Dear, a steel manufacturer, and the former Florence Tripp.[2]

## Career

[edit]

Dearden graduated from theatre direction to film,[3] working as an assistant to Basil Dean. He later changed his own name to Dearden to avoid confusion with his mentor.[1]

He wrote This Man Is News (1938), a hugely popular quota quickie[4] and wrote and directed a film for TV Under Suspicion (1939).

He was assistant director on Penny Paradise (1938), produced by Dean and directed by Carol Reed, and two George Formby comedies directed by Anthony Kimmins: George Takes the Air (1938), produced by Dean, and Come on George! (1939).[citation needed]

Dearden was promoted to associate producer on two more George Formby films, which he also co-wrote: To Hell with Hitler (1940) aka Let George Do It and Spare a Copper (1940).[citation needed]

Dearden went over to Ealing Studios where he produced The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941) with Will Hay, then he produced Turned Out Nice Again (1941) with George Formby.[citation needed]

### Ealing Studios

[edit]

He first began working as a director at Ealing Studios, co-directing comedy films with Will Hay, starting with Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942). This was followed by The Goose Steps Out (1942) and My Learned Friend (1943), which was Hay's last movie.[citation needed]

Dearden's first solo director credit was The Bells Go Down (1943), a wartime movie with Tommy Trinder. It was produced by Michael Relph who would form a notable collaboration with Dearden.[citation needed]

Dearden also directed The Halfway House (1944), a drama set in Wales, and wrote and directed They Came to a City (1944), based on a play by J.B Priestley.[citation needed]

Dearden worked on the influential chiller compendium Dead of Night (1945) and directed the linking narrative and the "Hearse Driver" segment.

He also directed The Captive Heart (1946) starring Michael Redgrave, which was a big hit. The film was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. He directed Frieda (1947) with Mai Zetterling and produced by Relph, which was also popular.

Dearden directed Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) an expensive costume picture that was not a large success.[5] He wrote and directed a segment of Train of Events (1949).

The Blue Lamp (1950), probably the most frequently shown of Dearden's Ealing films, is a police drama which first introduced audiences to PC George Dixon, later resurrected for the long-running Dixon of Dock Green television series. It was hugely popular.[6]

Less so were Cage of Gold (1950), a drama with Jean Simmons; Pool of London (1951), a crime film with a black lead, very rare for the time; and I Believe in You (1952), a drama which he also wrote and produced.

Dearden made The Gentle Gunman (1952), an IRA thriller with Dirk Bogarde; The Square Ring (1953), a boxing film with Jack Warner; The Rainbow Jacket (1954), a horse racing drama; and Out of the Clouds (1955), set at an airport.

He did a war film which he also wrote, The Ship That Died of Shame (1955) then a comedy with Benny Hill, Who Done It? (1956).

Dearden did some uncredited directing on The Green Man (1956) then made an Ealing style comedy for British Lion The Smallest Show on Earth (1957).

For Rank he made Violent Playground (1958) with Stanley Baker. He did some uncredited directing on one of Ealing's last films, Nowhere to Go (1958). He also produced Davy (1958), with Harry Secombe, for Ealing.

### Social awareness films

[edit]

Dearden and Michael Relph made a series of films on subjects generally not tackled by British cinema in this era starting with Sapphire (1959), a thriller about race relations that proved popular.[7]

Dearden and Relph helped set up Allied Film Makers, for whom they made The League of Gentlemen (1960), a bank heist comedy that was very popular.[8]

Dearden directed episodes of The Four Just Men on TV and produced two films directed by Michael Relph: Mad Little Island (1958) and Desert Mice (1959).[9]

For Allied, Dearden directed Man in the Moon (1960), a science fiction comedy with Kenneth More that lost money. The Secret Partner (1961) was a thriller for MGM starring Stewart Granger.[10]

Dearden directed Victim (1961) with Dirk Bogarde for Allied; a thriller about homosexuality, it was a huge success.[11]

However, his next few movies were not popular: All Night Long (1961), an adaptation of Othello; Life for Ruth (1962), for Allied, which dealt with religious objections to operations[12]; A Place to Go (1964), for Bryanston Films, a thriller not released for two years; and The Mind Benders (1963) a science fiction with Dirk Bogarde.

### Later films

[edit]

Dearden and Relph then made two films for release by United Artists: Woman of Straw (1964) starring Sean Connery; and Masquerade (1965) with Cliff Robertson. He was then hired to replace Lewis Gilbert as director of Khartoum (1966), with Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier.[13]

Two films were then made for release by Paramount: Only When I Larf (1968) and the Edwardian era black comedy The Assassination Bureau (1969), again with Michael Relph; it was the 25th film they had made together.[14]

His last film was The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970), which he wrote and directed, starring Roger Moore, made for EMI Films. With Moore, Dearden made three episodes of the television series The Persuaders!: Overture, Powerswitch and To the Death, Baby.

He had two sons, Torquil Dearden and the screenwriter and director James Dearden.[15]

## Death

[edit]

Dearden died on 23 March 1971 at Hillingdon Hospital, London after being involved in a road accident on the M4 motorway near Heathrow Airport, in which he suffered multiple injuries.[16]

An inquest heard that he had a very high amount of alcohol in his blood and that he was decapitated after his car crashed into a road sign and caught fire.[17]

## Reputation

[edit]

The film critic David Thomson does not hold Dearden in high regard. He writes: "Dearden's films are decent, empty and plodding and his association with Michael Relph is a fair representative of the British preference for bureaucratic cinema. It stands for the underlining of obvious meaning".[18]

More positively, for Brian McFarlane, the Australian writer on film: "Dearden's films offer, among other rewards, a fascinating barometer of public taste at its most nearly consensual over three decades".[19]

Regular Ealing cinematographer Douglas Slocombe enjoyed working with Dearden personally, describing him as the 'most competent' of the directors he worked with at Ealing.[20]

## Filmography

[edit]

Film

Year  | Title  | Director  | Writer  | Producer  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|

1938  | This Man Is News | No  | Yes  | No  |
1940  | Let George Do It! | No  | Yes  | Associate  |
Spare a Copper | No  | Yes  | Associate  |
1941  | The Ghost of St. Michael's | No  | No  | Associate  |
Turned Out Nice Again | No  | Uncredited  | Associate  |
1942  | The Black Sheep of Whitehall | Yes  | No  | No  | Co-directed with Will Hay
The Goose Steps Out | Yes  | No  | No
1943  | The Bells Go Down | Yes  | No  | No  |
My Learned Friend | Yes  | No  | No  | Co-directed with Will Hay
1944  | The Halfway House | Yes  | No  | No  |
They Came to a City | Yes  | Yes  | No  |
1945  | Dead of Night | Yes  | No  | No  | Segments "Hearse Driver" and "Linking Narrative
1946  | The Captive Heart | Yes  | No  | No  | Nominated - Palme d'Or
1947  | Frieda | Yes  | No  | No  |
1948  | Saraband for Dead Lovers | Yes  | No  | No  |
1949  | Train of Events | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Segments "The Prisoner-of-War" and "The Actor"
1950  | The Blue Lamp | Yes  | No  | No  | Nominated - Golden Lion
Cage of Gold | Yes  | No  | No  |
1951  | Pool of London | Yes  | No  | No  |
1952  | I Believe in You | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
The Gentle Gunman | Yes  | No  | No  |
1953  | The Square Ring | Yes  | No  | Uncredited  |
1954  | The Rainbow Jacket | Yes  | No  | No  | Nominated - Golden Shell
1955  | The Ship That Died of Shame | Yes  | Yes  | Uncredited  |
Out of the Clouds | Yes  | No  | No  |
1956  | Who Done It? | Yes  | No  | Uncredited  |
The Green Man | Uncredited  | No  | No  | Robert Day credited as Sole Director
1957  | The Smallest Show on Earth | Yes  | No  | No  |
Rockets Galore! | No  | No  | Yes  |
Davy | No  | No  | Yes  |
1958  | Violent Playground | Yes  | No  | No  |
1959  | Sapphire | Yes  | No  | No  | BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film
Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Film
Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director
Desert Mice | No  | No  | Yes  |
1960  | The League of Gentlemen | Yes  | No  | No  |
Man in the Moon | Yes  | Uncredited  | No  |
1961  | Victim | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Nominated - Golden Lion
The Secret Partner | Yes  | No  | No  |
1962  | All Night Long | Yes  | No  | Uncredited  |
Life for Ruth | Yes  | No  | Yes  |
1963  | A Place to Go | Yes  | No  | No  |
The Mind Benders | Yes  | No  | No  |
1964  | Woman of Straw | Yes  | No  | No  |
1965  | Masquerade | Yes  | No  | No  |
1966  | Khartoum | Yes  | No  | No  |
1968  | Only When I Larf | Yes  | No  | No  |
1969  | The Assassination Bureau | Yes  | No  | No  |
1970  | The Man Who Haunted Himself | Yes  | Yes  | No  |

Television

Year  | Title  | Notes

|
|

1959–60  | The Four Just Men | 13 Episodes
1971  | The Persuaders! | 3 Episodes

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Dearden [formerly Dear], Basil Clive (1911–1971)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/57353. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
2. ^ Class: RG14; Piece: 10121; Schedule Number: 79, Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. The National Archives of the UK.
3. ^ "Only When I Larf". Variety. 31 December 1967. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
4. ^ Matthew Sweet (2 January 2007). "Fancy a quickie?". The Guardian.
5. ^ "Britain To Double Film Production". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 89, no. 27526\. South Australia. 26 December 1946. p. 4. Retrieved 2 June 2018 - via National Library of Australia.
6. ^ "Critics Praise Drama: Comedians Win Profits". The Sydney Morning Herald. NSW. 29 December 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 7 January 2015. at Trove
7. ^ Hill, William John (1985). CLASS, SEXUALITY AND THE*BRITISH CINEMA 1956-63 (PDF) (Thesis). University of York. p. 375.
8. ^ Sally Dux, 'Allied Film Makers: Crime, Comedy and Social Concern', Journal of British Cinema and Television 2012 9:2, 198-213
9. ^ Vagg, Stephen (27 June 2025). "Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation, 1959". Filmink. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
10. ^ Vagg, Stephen (4 July 2025). "Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation, 1960". Filmink. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
11. ^ Vagg, Stephen (11 July 2025). "Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation, 1961". Filmink. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
12. ^ Vagg, Stephen (20 July 2025). "Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation, 1962". Filmink. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
13. ^ Malcom, Derek (25 March 1971). "Basil Dearden". Obituary. The Guardian. p. 5. Retrieved 6 August 2025 - via Newspapers.com.
14. ^ Malcolm, Derek (19 March 1969). "The survival bureau". The Guardian. p. 8.
15. ^ British Film Director, Crash Victim: Basil Dearden. The Washington Post and Times-Herald (1959-1973); Washington, D.C. [Washington, D.C]25 Mar 1971: B7.
16. ^ Burton, Alan; O'Sullivan, Tim (2009). The Cinema of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. p. xvii. ISBN 978-0-7486-3289-3. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
17. ^ "Film man verdict". Western Daily Press. 17 April 1971. Retrieved 6 October 2024 - via British Newspaper Archive.
18. ^ David Thomson The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, London: Little, Brown, 2002, p.213
19. ^ Brian McFarlane (ed.) The Encyclopedia of British Film, 2003, London: Methuen/BFI, p.168
20. ^ Alan Burton; Tim O'Sullivan (2009). The Cinema of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph. Edinburgh University Press. p. 9\. ISBN 978-0-7486-3289-3.

## External links

[edit]

* Basil Dearden at IMDb
* Criterion Collection Essay
* Film Reference biography
* Screenonline biography
* Fandango filmography

* v
* t
* e

Films produced and directed by Basil Dearden

Director|

* The Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942)
* The Goose Steps Out (1942)
* The Bells Go Down (1943)
* My Learned Friend (1943)
* The Halfway House (1944)
* They Came to a City (1944)
* Dead of Night (1945)
* The Captive Heart (1946)
* Frieda (1947)
* Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948)
* Train of Events (1949)
* The Blue Lamp (1950)
* Cage of Gold (1950)
* Pool of London (1951)
* I Believe in You (1952)
* The Gentle Gunman (1952)
* The Square Ring (1953)
* The Rainbow Jacket (1954)
* Out of the Clouds (1955)
* The Ship That Died of Shame (1955)
* Who Done It? (1956)
* The Green Man (1956)
* The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
* Violent Playground (1958)
* Sapphire (1959)
* The League of Gentlemen (1960)
* Man in the Moon (1960)
* The Secret Partner (1961)
* Victim (1961)
* All Night Long (1962)
* Life for Ruth (1962)
* The Mind Benders (1963)
* A Place to Go (1963)
* Woman of Straw (1964)
* Masquerade (1965)
* Khartoum (1966)
* Only When I Larf (1968)
* The Assassination Bureau (1969)
* The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970)

Producer|

* Let George Do It! (1940)
* Spare a Copper (1940)
* The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941)
* Turned Out Nice Again (1941)
* Davy (1958)
* Rockets Galore (1958)
* Desert Mice (1959)

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