Angus MacPhail

Writer

No biography

08-04-1903

Birthday

Aries

Zodiac Sign

Genres

Total Films

Also known as (male)

London, England

Place of Birth

08-04-1903

Birthday

Aries

Zodiac Sign

Genres

Total Films

Also Known As (male)

London, England

Place of Birth

Popular works

Media

Creative career

actor

0 Works

producer

0 Works

director

71 Works

writer

70 Works

other

1 Works

Whisky Galore

The story of the inhabitants of the isolated Scottish island of Todday, in the Outer Hebrides, where gloom sets in as their wartime rationing of whisky runs out. When cargo ship the SS Cabinet Minister runs aground the shrewd islanders run rings around the buffoonish English Home Guard commander Captain Waggett and conspire to hide away cases of the precious amber nectar.

5.9

Year:

2016

The Wrong Man

In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.

7.1

Year:

1956

The Man Who Knew Too Much

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.

7.5

Year:

1956

Whisky Galore!

Based on a true story. The name of the real ship, that sunk Feb 5 1941 - during WWII - was S/S Politician. Having left Liverpool two days earlier, heading for Jamaica, it sank outside Eriskay, The Outer Hebrides, Scotland, in bad weather, containing 250,000 bottles of whisky. The locals gathered as many bottles as they could, before the proper authorities arrived, and even today, bottles are found in the sand or in the sea every other year.

6.8

Year:

1949

Train of Events

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.

6.2

Year:

1949

It Always Rains on Sunday

During a rainy Sunday afternoon, an escaped prisoner tries to hide out at the home of his ex-fiance.

6.6

Year:

1947

Frieda

An RAF pilot who was shot down during WWII returns home to his English village with his new bride. The trouble is that she is the German lady who helped him escape.

5.3

Year:

1947

The Loves of Joanna Godden

Joanna Godden falls heir to a farm when her father dies.

7.0

Year:

1947

The Captive Heart

A series of stories about the lives and loves of men in a Prisoner of War camp over five years. The main story is of Hasek (Redgrave) a Czech soldier who needs to keep his identity a secret from the Nazis. To do this, he poses as a dead English Officer and corresponds with the man's wife. Other inmates’ stories are also revealed. Location shooting in the British occupied part of Germany adds believability.

6.3

Year:

1946

Spellbound

When Dr. Anthony Edwardes arrives at a Vermont mental hospital to replace the outgoing hospital director, Dr. Constance Peterson, a psychoanalyst, discovers Edwardes is actually an impostor. The man confesses that the real Dr. Edwardes is dead and fears he may have killed him, but cannot recall anything. Dr. Peterson, however is convinced his impostor is innocent of the man's murder, and joins him on a quest to unravel his amnesia through psychoanalysis.

7.4

Year:

1945

Dead of Night

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.

7.2

Year:

1945

Dead of Night

7.2

Year:

1945

Fiddlers Three

Two British soldiers and a WREN take refuge at Stonehenge during a thunderstorm, they are struck by lightning and transported back to ancient Rome.

8.2

Year:

1944

Champagne Charlie

A man from the countryside becomes London’s newest music hall sensation, and competes with a rival music hall performer for the audience’s attention.

5.3

Year:

1944

The Halfway House

A group of travellers, each with a personal problem that they want to hide, arrive at a mysterious Welsh country inn. There is a certain strangeness in the air as they are greeted by the innkeeper and his daughter. Why are all the newspapers a year old? And why doesn't Gwyneth seem to cast a shadow?

6.4

Year:

1944

Madagascar Landing

A former leader of the French Resistance finds that one of his fellow actors looks like a detestable official he knew in Madagascar during the war. He tells about his time, operating an illegal radio station while evading the Nazis.

5.4

Year:

1944

Bon Voyage

A young, Scottish RAF gunner is debriefed by French officials about his escape from Nazi-occupied territory. They are particularly interested in one person who may or may not have been a German agent.

5.6

Year:

1944

My Learned Friend

An insane murderer is on the loose, and gunning for the men who put him away. Will Hay is on the list, and co-opts Claude Hulbert to try and stop him from meeting a grisly end.

6.0

Year:

1943

Went the Day Well?

The quiet village of Bramley End is taken over by German troops posing as Royal Engineers. Their task is to disrupt England's radar network in preparation for a full scale German invasion. Once the villagers discover the true identity of the troops, they do whatever they can to thwart the Nazis plans.

7.2

Year:

1942

Went the Day Well?

7.2

Year:

1942

The Goose Steps Out

Schoolteacher William Potts is the double of a captured German spy, so he is sent to Germany by British Intelligence to obtain the plans of a new secret weapon, causing chaos in a Hitler Youth school in the process.

6.4

Year:

1942

The Foreman Went to France

Based on the true story of Melbourne Johns, an aircraft factory foreman sent to France to prevent the Nazis getting hold of some vital equipment.

6.2

Year:

1942

The Next of Kin

Lots of slogans such as "Be like Dad, Keep Mum" and "Keep it under your Hat" are visible on the walls in various scenes to reinforce the plot of this British wartime movie illustrating how gossipy talk can result in unknowingly giving valuable information to Nazi spies.

5.0

Year:

1942

The Black Sheep of Whitehall

A professor teaching at a correspondence school discovers that a Nazi agent is trying to prevent a trade treaty being signed between England and South America.

7.2

Year:

1942

The Black Sheep of Whitehall

A professor teaching at a correspondence school discovers that a Nazi agent is trying to prevent a trade treaty being signed between England and South America.

7.2

Year:

1942

The Big Blockade

Wartime propaganda piece reporting on the success of the economic blockade of Germany in the early years of the war.

6.5

Year:

1942

Go to Blazes

Ministry of Information-sponsored comedy short showing wartime audiences how to deal with the threat of incendiary bombs.

10.0

Year:

1942

The Ghost of St. Michael's

Will Hay, back in his role as a hapless teacher, is hired by a grim school in remotest Scotland. The school soon starts to be haunted by a legendary ghost, whose spectral bagpipes signal the death of one of the staff. Hay, assisted by Claude Hulbert and Charles Hawtrey, has to unravel the mystery before he becomes the next victim.

6.6

Year:

1941

Sailors Three

Three sailors get drunk while on shore leave and end up on the wrong ship. When they realise their mistake they scramble off it and onto their warship, HMS Ferocious. However, they soon realise that the vessel they have boarded is not the Ferocious but a German battleship.

7.2

Year:

1940

Saloon Bar

A bookmaker with a fancy for detective work attempts to prevent the execution of a potentially innocent man.

6.5

Year:

1940

Busman's Honeymoon

When Lord Peter Wimsey marries Harriet Vane, a crime author, they both promise to give up crime for good. As a wedding present, Peter purchases the old house where Harriet grew up, but when they try to move in the previous owner is nowhere to be found, until they start to clean the house and find his body in the cellar...

5.5

Year:

1940

Let George Do It!

Shortly after the start of World War II, a ukelele player (George) takes the wrong boat and finds himself in (still uninvaded) Norway. He is mistaken for a fellow British intelligence agent by a woman (Mary), and becomes involved in trying to defeat Nazi agents.

5.8

Year:

1940

Return to Yesterday

Robert Maine is torn between returning to the glamour of Hollywood and working with a small theatre company in England.

6.2

Year:

1940

The Four Just Men

The Four Men of the title are British WWI veterans who decide to work secretly against enemies of the country. They aren't above a bit of murder or sabotage to serve their ends, but they consider themselves to be true patriots.

6.2

Year:

1939

Trouble Brewing

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.

6.2

Year:

1939

A Yank at Oxford

A brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win the heart of his antagonist's sister.

6.7

Year:

1938

The Good Companions

Film musical taken from JB Priestley's novel about three musicians joining together to save a failing concert party, the Dinky Doos.

5.8

Year:

1933

Marry Me

A British musical comedy film directed by Wilhelm Thiele

0.0

Year:

1932

Love on Wheels

A department store assistant becomes publicity conscious.

0.0

Year:

1932

The Faithful Heart

Herbert Marshall and Edna Best, husband and wife in 1933, star in the British drama Faithful Hearts. Best plays the daughter of Marshall, who years earlier had run out on his family. When Edna re-enters Marshall's life, it causes him to reassess his values-and to end his engagement to his judgmental fiancee. When Faithful Hearts was released in the US, all the voices were redubbed by American actors; even Herbert Marshall, a fixture in Hollywood films since the dawn of the talkie era, was submitted to this electronic augmentation. Original titled The Faithful Heart (Americans must have more of everything!), the film was based on a play by Monckton Hoffe.

5.5

Year:

1932

White Face

A doctor becomes a blackmailer and a jewel thief in order to raise funds for a hospital in East London but is uncovered by an ambitious reporter.

0.0

Year:

1932

The Frightened Lady

A young woman goes to stay at the house of Lord Lebanon, but two murders in quick succession lead to the arrival of detectives and cause the woman to fear for her life.

0.0

Year:

1932

Lord Babs

A steward inherits the estate of an earl. To repel the advances of an unwanted fiancee, he pretends that he has regressed to childhood behaviors.

6.0

Year:

1932

Who Killed Doc Robin?

A short comedy film directed by W.P. Kellino

0.0

Year:

1931

Sunshine Susie

Sunshine Susie was a remake of the German film Die Privatsekretärin, and retained many of the originals general characteristics. Renete Muller who starred in the original, was again cast as the country girl seeking fame and fortune in the big city. She takes a secretarial job at a bank, and sets about catching the heart of her boss, Herr Hasel.

6.3

Year:

1931

Michael and Mary

A young bride is deserted by her husband but finds happiness with another man. They contract a bigamous marriage for the sake of their child....

0.0

Year:

1931

The Calendar

Racehorse owner Anson is swindled by a woman named Wenda and goes up in front of the Jockey Club where he is disqualified on race fixing allegations. He decides to get his own back with the help of Hillcott, an ex-burglar. Jill is the love interest

0.0

Year:

1931

Hindle Wakes

A Lancashire mill girl has an illicit adventure with the owner's son while on holiday. Based on the once notorious Houghton play.

0.0

Year:

1931

The Ghost Train

The story, about the social interaction of a group of railway passengers who have been stranded at a remote rural station overnight who are increasingly threatened by a latent external force. Only five reels of picture and two reels of soundtrack survive.

0.0

Year:

1931

My Old China

'Newsreel cameramen wrest secret papers from Chinese bandit.' (British Film Catalogue)

0.0

Year:

1931

The Man They Couldn't Arrest

An amateur detective goes on the trail of a gang of violent criminals.

0.0

Year:

1931

A Night in Montmartre

A young couple live under a café in Paris that, unknown to them, is owned by a brutal blackmailer. When he is murdered, they fall under suspicion. However, the husband's father, an amateur detective, believes in their innocence and sets out to find who really killed the blackmailer.

5.0

Year:

1931

The Ringer

Scotland Yard detectives hunt for a dangerous criminal who has recently returned to England.

0.0

Year:

1931

The Sport of Kings

Algernon Sprigg, a horse-racing fanatic, is convinced that everyone is a gambler at heart. To prove his theory, he bets a friend that he can convert Amos Purdie, the puritanical head of an anti-betting association, into a punter within a week.

0.0

Year:

1931

Bull Rushes

'Spain. English tourist gets drunk and fights bull.' (British Film Catalogue)

0.0

Year:

1931

Hot Heir

A comedy short directed by W.P. Kellino.

0.0

Year:

1931

Aroma of the South Seas

'Shipwrecked valet saves affianced master from native girl.' (British Film Catalogue)

0.0

Year:

1931

Ashes

Futuristic story about a slow moving cricket match that begins in 1940 (ten years beyond the year when the film was produced) and finally finishes in 2000.

0.0

Year:

1930

A Warm Corner

This early Gainsborough film is truly a lost treasure and easily one of the most daring and risque films ever made. At least half a dozen different tales seem to be going on at once all finally meeting in the end. The story starts in the Lido hotel where our "Pickles" remarks upon the fact that everyone in the register is called Smith. Hes trying to chat up Mimi so shell split up with her boyfriend as her boyfriends uncle has other plans for his nephew - alas what no one knows is that he and Mimi have already been married for a few months on the sly!

4.5

Year:

1930

A Warm Corner

4.5

Year:

1930

Symphony in Two Flats

A young composer goes blind, and shortly afterward enters his most recent work in a competition. He believes he's won, but doesn't know that his wife couldn't bear to tell him that he didn't. Complications ensue.

0.0

Year:

1930

The Second Kiss

'Romantic story of a gallant adventurer at the Court of Maria Teresa.' (The Bioscope)

0.0

Year:

1930

The Crooked Billet

'International spy seeks documents hidden in old inn.' (British Film Catalogue)

0.0

Year:

1930

Sensation im Wintergarten

The son of a Countess runs away to join the circus and becomes a great trapeze artist. He returns years later and falls in love with a young woman.

0.0

Year:

1929

The Wrecker

The Wrecker is a British film that tells the story of a crook who organises train crashes to discredit the railway, in favour of a rival bus company. The stunts in this film were groundbreaking for 1920s British cinema A scene wich has been discribed as "the most spectacular rail crash in cinema history" was recorded by 22 cameras.

6.2

Year:

1929

The City of Play

A British drama film directed by Denison Clift

0.0

Year:

1929

The Return of the Rat

The rich, amoral Zelie is married to Pierre Boucheron, "The Rat" - but her interest in another man is an open secret. Forced to defend his honour, the Rat takes refuge in his old domain of the Paris underworld. But even here he has a rival - and when murder is afoot, the sinister Morel's ambition threatens to cost the Rat dear....

5.8

Year:

1929

A South Sea Bubble

'Girl reporter and insane fiancé join pirate's descendant in treasure hunt.' (British Film Catalogue)

0.0

Year:

1928

Balaclava

A British army officer is cashiered, and re-enlists as Private to take part in the Crimean War. He succeeds in capturing a top Russian spy which results in the famous Charge of the Light Brigade to take the Balaclava Heights.

0.0

Year:

1928

A Light Woman

Concerns a young woman who embarks on a series of love affairs. Originally around 100 minutes, only a 23 minute, 9.5mm cut-down version is known to survive today, held by the BFI.

0.0

Year:

1928

One of the Best

'1820. Officer frames colleague when gambler forces him to steal secrets.' (British Film Catalogue)

0.0

Year:

1927