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Walter Summers is a Director, Scriptwriter and Producer British born on 2 september 1892 at Barnstaple (United-kingdom)

Walter Summers

Walter Summers
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Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 2 september 1892 at Barnstaple (United-kingdom)
Death 1 january 1973 (at 80 years) at Wandsworth (United-kingdom)

Walter Summers (1896–1973) was a British film director and screenwriter.

Biography

Born in Barnstaple to a family of actors, British motion picture director Walter Summers began his career in the family trade; his first contact with filmmaking was as an assistant to American director George Loane Tucker, who worked for the English London Films unit from 1914 to 1916. With the outbreak of war, Summers mobilized into the British Army, gaining experiences that would serve him well later as a filmmaker. At war’s end, Summers worked briefly for Cecil Hepworth, and then the Territorial Unit in India before making contact with producer/director George B. Samuelson. Samuelson hired Summers as a writer, primarily on films starring the popular actress Lillian Hall-Davis such as Maisie’s Marriage (1923). Summers co-directed a couple of pictures with Samuelson before flying solo for the first time with a comedy, A Couple of Down and Outs (1923). Tiring of Samuelson’s on again, off again production schedule, Summers left and worked on a couple of features for even smaller concerns before landing at British Instructional Films, or BIF. There he directed historical battle recreations that within Britain are regarded as his greatest and most consequential films: Ypres (1925), Mons (1926), Nelson (1926), The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands (1927) and Bolibar (1928). The Battles of the Coronel and the Falkland Islands was so popular that it was reissued in a sound version under the title The Deeds Men Do (1932), and while the tone of these films (save Bolibar) are heavily patriotic they continue to hold up well.

In 1929, BIF reorganized as British International Pictures or BIP. Summers went into the era of the talkies continuing his string of successes, including Chamber of Horrors (1929, the last British silent), Lost Patrol (1929, later remade by John Ford), Raise the Roof (1930, starring Betty Blythe and regarded as the first British movie musical), The Flame of Love (1930) starring Anna May Wong and Suspense (1930), an outstanding psychological thriller set in the trenches of World War I. In time, however, BIP began to persuade Summers towards more workaday, banal material in keeping with their usual product stream. Presented with much the same option, Summers’ colleague Alfred Hitchcock simply walked out and went to British Gaumont, but Summers decided to stay. As reward for his loyalty, BIP brought along a number of projects that were neither suitable to nor worthy of Summers’ talents. Burned out, he left BIP in 1936 and worked for a time with a small, formerly BIP-owned unit, Welwyn Studios. When BIP reorganized again as Associated British, Summers seemed to gain a second wind in making his last films, which number among his best – Premiere (1938), Traitor Spy (1938), At the Villa Rose (1939) and the film for which he is best known outside of England, Dark Eyes of London (1939) with Bela Lugosi. Although all were Associated British productions, the last three titles were filmed at Welwyn.

When World War II broke out, Summers enlisted again. After the war he dutifully returned to work at Associated British, but made no more films. Summers seems to have lost interest in making motion pictures and merely drifted away from the industry, dying forgotten decades later at the age of 77. While the majority of Walter Summers’ considerable output remains obscure, his cycle of silent war films and such titles as Suspense and Dark Eyes of London attest to his extraordinary talents.

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Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Walter Summers (39 films)

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Director

The Human Monster, 1h15
Directed by Walter Summers
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Thriller, Horror, Crime
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about disabilities, La cécité
Actors Bela Lugosi, Hugh Williams, Greta Gynt, Wilfred Walter, Alexander Field, Edmon Ryan
Rating57% 2.8514952.8514952.8514952.8514952.851495
In London, Dr. Orloff (Bela Lugosi) runs an insurance agency where he loans money in exchange for the assigning of life insurance benefits to himself of many of his customers' policies. A resident of Orloff's (under the name "Dearborn") home for the "Destitute Blind" is Jake, a tall, hideous brute, who murders on Orloff's behalf. Scotland Yard begins finding bodies in the Thames River. One of the dead men has a daughter named Diane (Greta Gynt) for whom Orloff obtains employment at the home for the blind. Suspicions begin to arise surrounding Dearborn and Orloff in relation to the dead bodies. Orloff sends Jake (Wilfred Walter) to kill Diane who has found out too much about them. When Orloff disappears, Diane finds one of her father's cuff links in the home from the blind. Confronted by Diane, Dearborn removes his disguise to show himself as Orloff. Orloff traps Diane with a straight-jacket and calls for Jake to finish the job. Jake refuses as he has found out that Orloff has murdered a blind friend of his. Jake turns on Orloff and throws him out of a window allowing him to sink in the mud below.
The Four Just Men, 1h25
Directed by Walter Summers, Walter Forde
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller
Actors Edward Chapman, Griffith Jones, Hugh Sinclair, Francis L. Sullivan, Frank Lawton, Anna Lee
Rating61% 3.0959753.0959753.0959753.0959753.095975
The Four Men are British World War I veterans who unite to work in secret against enemies of the country. They aren't above a spot of murder or sabotage to achieve their ends, but they consider themselves true patriots.
Ourselves Alone, 1h8
Directed by Walter Summers, Brian Desmond Hurst
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Romance
Themes Political films
Actors John Lodge, John Loder, Antoinette Cellier, Niall MacGinnis, Clifford Evans, Jerry Verno
Rating61% 3.079063.079063.079063.079063.07906
The film opens with an IRA ambush of a police convoy carrying two captured members of the IRA. Irish Police Inspector Hannay (John Lodge) and British Captain Wiltshire of the Royal Intelligence Corps (John Loder) both turn out to be in love with Maureen Elliot (Antionette Cellier) sister of the IRA leader. The IRA leader is subsequently shot by Wiltshire. Hannay realises that Maureen is in love with Wiltshire and, as a final gesture, takes the blame for shooting her brother himself. Maureen then helps Captain Wiltshire to escape an IRA trap.
Royal Cavalcade, 1h44
Directed by Herbert Brenon, Marcel Varnel, Thomas Bentley, Norman Lee, Walter Summers, W. P. Kellino
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Documentary
Actors Marie Lohr, Olga Lindo, Hermione Baddeley, Owen Nares, Charles Paton, C.V. France
Rating65% 3.2981353.2981353.2981353.2981353.298135
The film portrays a dramatised pastiche of great events that occurred during the reign of George V. It was made to mark the twenty fifth anniversary of his succession to the throne.
Timbuctoo
Timbuctoo (1933)
, 1h12
Directed by Walter Summers, Arthur B. Woods
Origin United-kingdom
Themes Films set in Africa
Actors Henry Kendall, Margot Grahame, Emily Fitzroy, Hubert Harben, Jean Cadell, Una O'Connor

The film's slight storyline concerns a man (Kendall) who has a violent quarrel with his family over his fiancée (Grahame). Feeling totally upset, he wants to get away from all the conflict and decides to travel overland to Timbuktu with its legendary reputation as one of the most remote and mysterious places in the world. As soon as his fiancée learns of his departure, she vows to do the same thing and challenges herself to arrive in Timbuktu before him. Much of the film is essentially taken up with travelogue sequences of African natives and habitats.