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Marcel Varnel is a Director and Producer French born on 16 october 1894 at Paris (France)
Marcel Hyacinth Le Bozec, dit Marcel Varnel, né le 16 octobre 1894 à Paris, et mort le 13 juillet 1947 à Rogate (Royaume-Uni), est un réalisateur et producteur de cinéma français.
En 1934, il part pour l'Angleterre et c'est en tant que metteur en scène de comédies britanniques, d'abord pour British International Pictures, à Elstree, ensuite, en 1936, pour Gainsborough Pictures, qu'il produit ses meilleurs films, en particulier ceux dans lesquels on retrouve Will Hay, Graham Moffatt, Moore Marriott, The Crazy Gang, Arthur Askey et George Formby.
Marcel Varnel est mort dans un accident de la route le 13 juillet 1947 près de Rake dans le Sussex.
Source : Wikidata
Marcel Varnel
Birth name Marcel Hyacinth Le Bozec
Nationality France
Birth 16 october 1894 at Paris (France)
Death 13 july 1947 (at 52 years) at West Sussex (United-kingdom)
Nationality France
Birth 16 october 1894 at Paris (France)
Death 13 july 1947 (at 52 years) at West Sussex (United-kingdom)
Biography
Marcel Hyacinth Le Bozec naît le 16 octobre 1894 à Paris. Il commence à travailler comme acteur sur les scènes de théâtre parisiennes mais devient rapidement metteur en scène de comédies musicales. En 1925, il part s'installer à New York, où il dirige plusieurs opérettes, comédies musicales et drames à Broadway, pour le compte de la famille Shubert. Puis il quitte New York pour Hollywood où il réalise trois thrillers à petit budget.En 1934, il part pour l'Angleterre et c'est en tant que metteur en scène de comédies britanniques, d'abord pour British International Pictures, à Elstree, ensuite, en 1936, pour Gainsborough Pictures, qu'il produit ses meilleurs films, en particulier ceux dans lesquels on retrouve Will Hay, Graham Moffatt, Moore Marriott, The Crazy Gang, Arthur Askey et George Formby.
Marcel Varnel est mort dans un accident de la route le 13 juillet 1947 près de Rake dans le Sussex.
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Filmography of Marcel Varnel (39 films)
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George in Civvy Street (1946)
, 1h19Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors George Formby, Ronald Shiner, Ian Fleming, Wally Patch
Rating65%
This comedy film portrays George Formby leaving the forces and becoming a village pub owner, who works to turn a waitress from her current boss, a rival pub owner. Formby falls in love with the waitress, and various battles ensue between the pub rivals.
This Man Is Mine (1946)
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Genres War, Comedy
Themes Films based on plays
Actors Tom Walls, Glynis Johns, Hugh McDermott, Nova Pilbeam, Barry Morse, Ambrosine Phillpotts
Rating60%
I Didn't Do It (1945)
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Genres Comedy, Crime
Actors George Formby, Carl Jaffe, Wally Patch, Ian Fleming, Dennis Wyndham, Jack Raine
Rating62%
An actor staying at a theatrical boarding house is framed for a murder.
He Snoops to Conquer (1944)
, 1h43Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors George Formby, Elizabeth Allen, Elizabeth Allan, Aubrey Mallalieu, Gordon McLeod, Katie Johnson
Rating63%
The film is set in immediate post-war Britain. After being ordered to do a piece on town planning two newspapermen randomly pick on the small, industrial town of Tangleton. After arriving at the town hall the only man they can find working is the odd job man, George Gribble, who gives them a guided tour of the town. However, they run a negative angle on the story highlighting the fact that the wealthy leader of the council, Mr Oxbold, lives in a giant house by himself while Gribble is one of fourteen staying in a tiny slum house. When they read the article, the town's leaders order Gribble to do an public opinion investigation around the town. Instead of doing a cross section as ordered, he interviews the entire town's population. The results he produces shock the town's complacent leaders, who discover the people are deeply unhappy with the status quo and wants radical changes in living conditions and other services. This is a blow to the council leader and his colleagues who all have financial interests in keeping the town as it is. Oxbold is a slum landlord who fears a Whitehall scheme to demolish much of the existing town and rebuild it with council houses. To avert this, Oxbold and his colleagues decide to send off to London only those limited number of forms which praise the current situation. Gribble is ordered to burn the rest but, not wishing to waste paper, he puts them out for salvage instead.
Bell-Bottom George (1944)
, 1h37Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres War, Comedy
Themes Documentary films about war, Documentary films about historical events, Musical films, Political films, Documentary films about World War II
Actors George Formby, Reginald Purdell, Anne Firth, Peter Murray-Hill, Dennis Wyndham, Eliot Makeham
Rating58%
George Blake (Formby) is a waiter with ambitions to join the Navy, although he's been rejected several times, because of a weak heart. But during an air raid he's mistaken for a sailor because he's wearing the clothes of a navy friend who's borrowed his to go to a Lock-in at a pub. George is spotted by military police who think he is AWOL and escort him back to Naval barracks. He impresses the sailors there with his songs and ukulele playing, and is recruited to play at the "Spick and Span" troop radio concert in London. Somehow, along the way, he stumbles on a group of Nazi spies using a taxidermists shop as a front, and foils their plot to blow up a British submarine, "The Firefly". He also impresses and wins the heart of Pat (Anne Firth}, the Wren he's fallen for.
Get Cracking (1943)
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Genres War, Comedy, Romance
Themes Documentary films about war, Documentary films about historical events, Political films, Documentary films about World War II
Actors George Formby, Dinah Sheridan, Edward Rigby, Ronald Shiner, Frank Pettingell, Harry Fowler
Rating59%
This comedy explores the wayward rivalry between mechanic and Home Guard lance corporal George Singleton (George Formby) and an adversary also in the Home Guard (Ronald Shiner). When the rival Home Guard units of Major Wallop and Minor Wallop are sent on battle manoeuvres, George Singleton (Formby) launches his own unique style of commando raid against neighbouring Major Wallop to steal a Vickers machine gun. The raid fails and Singleton loses his lance corporal's stripe, so he and a little evacuee girl named Irene (Vera Frances) decide to fall back on 'Plan B' - to build their very own tank. The venture is such a success that George is made a sergeant.
King Arthur Was a Gentleman (1942)
, 1h39Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Musical
Themes Documentary films about war, Documentary films about historical events, Musical films, Political films, Documentary films about World War II
Actors Arthur Askey, Vera Frances, Brefni O'Rorke, Anne Shelton, Ronald Shiner
Rating55%
Set during World War II, the plot involves the diminutive Arthur joining the army to prove himself to his girlfriend Susan (Evelyn Dall), who is in the same unit as him. Here, his idealistic notions about King Arthur prompt his messmates to trick him into believing that a sword they have dug up is the fabled Excalibur. Armed with this talisman Arthur strides forth to deal with the Wehrmacht.
Much Too Shy (1942)
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Genres Comedy
Actors George Formby, Kathleen Harrison, Hilda Bayley, Joss Ambler, Frederick Burtwell, Charles Hawtrey
Rating61%
Gasbags (1941)
, 1h17Directed by Marcel Varnel, Walter Forde
Origin United-kingdom
Genres War, Comedy, Action, Adventure
Themes Documentary films about war, Documentary films about historical events, Political films, Documentary films about World War II
Actors Moore Marriott, Wally Patch, Peter Gawthorne, Frederick Valk, Eric Clavering, Carl Jaffe
Rating54%
The film brims with British comedy talent of the period. The Crazy Gang’s mobile fish and chip shop is accidentally tied to a barrage balloon and the gang is carried to Nazi Germany. They are captured but break out of prison, impersonate Adolf Hitler and return to England in a stolen secret weapon.
The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941)
, 1h22Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Spy films, Political films
Actors Will Hay, Claude Hulbert, Charles Hawtrey, John Laurie, Raymond Huntley, Felix Aylmer
Rating66%
An ineffectual science teacher William Lamb (Will Hay) is hired by a school recently transferred because of World War II to the remote Dunbain Castle on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Posing as (amongst many other things) an Old Etonian, Lamb settles down into his new surroundings and becomes acquainted with the various local Scottish traditions and legends that abound and strikes up a friendship with one of the other masters, Hilary Teasdale (Claude Hulbert).
I Thank You (1941)
, 1h23Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Documentary films about war, Documentary films about historical events, Political films, Documentary films about World War II
Actors Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt, Peter Gawthorne, Kathleen Harrison
Rating59%
The film is set in London during World War II at the time of the Blitz. The leads are a couple of out of work variety entertainers who use great ingenuity in their efforts to get financial assistance to "put on a show". Hoping to put their proposal to the formidable Lady Randall, ex-music hall star Lily Morris, they infiltrate her house in the guise of a servant (Murdoch) and cook (Askey - in drag). After some farcical interludes, they achieve their aim after Lady Randall is persuaded to sing an old music hall standard "Waiting at the Church" at an impromptu show located underground at Aldwych tube station, - used during wartime as an underground bomb shelter. As the ex-music hall star, Lily Morris plays herself. The title of the film is a gentrified version of Arthur Askey's famous catch-phrase - "I thangyew". Also in the film is elderly comic actor Moore Marriott who plays Lady Randall's somewhat eccentric father and the somewhat ubiquitous 'Albert' (Graham Moffatt) who appears under that name in the comedy films of both Will Hay and Arthur Askey.
Turned Out Nice Again (1941)
, 1h21Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Musical
Themes Films about music and musicians, Théâtre, Musical films, Films based on plays
Actors George Formby, Elliott Mason, Edward Chapman, Ronald Ward, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Michael Rennie
Rating62%
George Pearson, an employee at an underwear factory, is caught between his modern wife and his meddling mother. After buying a special yarn and getting his wife to promote it, he has an argument with his boss, Mr Dawson who insults Pearson's wife and refuses to apologise. Pearson then resigns. After finding out that the yarn is actually worth a fair amount, Mr Dawson tries to buy it from Pearson but he has some competition.
Hi Gang! (1941)
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Genres Comedy, Romance
Actors Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon, Vic Oliver, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt, Felix Aylmer
Rating68%
South American George (1941)
, 1h32Directed by Marcel Varnel, Leslie Arliss
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors George Formby, Linden Travers, Enid Stamp Taylor, Felix Aylmer, Ronald Shiner, Alf Goddard
Rating60%
A press agent hurries to bring in a substitute after a South American opera star flops. A lookalike takes over from the tenor, but chaos ensues when the bogus singer finds himself hunted by paid assassins.
Band Waggon (1940)
, 1h25Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Musical
Themes Musical films
Actors Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch, Pat Kirkwood, Moore Marriott, Peter Gawthorne, Donald Calthrop
Rating54%
Arthur Askey and Stinker Murdoch, two out-of-work performers, are living on the roof of the Broadcasting House in Central London. After being called in for an audition with the BBC three months before, they were forgotten about and settled down to live there waiting for their big chance. One day an item from their clothes line falls and hits Claude Pilkington, a senior figure at the BBC, who has them evicted. They are forced to pack up all their belongings and leave.