Leslie Arliss

{{More citations needed|section|date=August 2022}}

His parents were Charles Sawforde Arliss and Annie Eleanor Lilian "Nina" Barnett Hill. He was not the son of George and Florence Arliss as has sometimes been reported erroneously.

Arliss began his professional career as a journalist in South Africa. Later he branched out into being a critic.

During the 1920s, Arliss entered the film industry as a screenwriter, and author of short stories. He did some uncredited work on The Farmer's Wife (1928) directed by Alfred Hitchcock, then was credited on the comedies Tonight's the Night (1932), Strip! Strip! Hooray!!! (1932), Josser on the River (1932), The Innocents of Chicago (1932) and Holiday Lovers (1932).

Arliss joined Gaumont British to write Road House (1934), a crime film; Orders Is Orders (1934), a comedy; My Old Dutch (1934), a comedy; Jack Ahoy (1934), a Jack Hulbert vehicle. He was credited on Heat Wave (1935), and Windbag the Sailor (1936) with Will Hay.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32841572 |title=FILM WORLD |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=51 |issue=15,192 |location=Western Australia |date=1 March 1935 |accessdate=26 October 2017 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Arliss' most prestigious credit to date was Rhodes of Africa (1936) starring Walter Huston, a job he got in part because of his South African background.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219396956 |title=Big British Films |newspaper=The Voice |volume=8 |issue=52 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=28 December 1935 |accessdate=28 September 2017 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} It was back to more typical fare with All In (1936), a comedy; Everybody Dance (1936), a musical; Where There's a Will (1936) and Good Morning, Boys (1937) with Will Hay; and Said O'Reilly to McNab (1937) with Will Mahoney. Many of these were written for producer Ted Black.{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-film-moguls-ted-black/|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=1 December 2024|access-date=1 December 2024|title=Forgotten British Film Moguls: Ted Black}}

In 1938 it was reported he was writing a script on Rob Roy for Gainsborough Studios but the film was not made.{{cite news |title=NEWS OF THE SCREEN: Warners and Cagney End Litigation; Actor Returns to Studio 14 March--Other Picture Items New Film for Montgomery Coast Scripts Of Local Origin|work=New York Times|date=4 January 1938|page=18}} He worked in Hollywood in 1937 and 1938.{{cite news |title=The LEE SIDE o' L. A.|author=Shippey, Lee|work=Los Angeles Times|date=19 January 1938|page=A4}} He did some work for Sam Goldwyn and wrote an unfilmed story of Tchaikovsky.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article99644703 |title=Garbo And Stokowski |newspaper=Goulburn Evening Penny Post |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=31 May 1938 |accessdate=26 October 2017 |page=3|edition=DAILY |via=National Library of Australia}}

Arliss wrote a crime film Too Dangerous to Live (1938) then did Come On George! (1939) with George Formby and The Second Mr. Bush (1940).

With World War II he began writing propaganda films: Pastor Hall (1940) for Roy Boulting; For Freedom (1940) with Will Fyffe; Bulldog Sees It Through (1941) with Jack Buchanan; and South American George (1941) with Formby. He also wrote The Saint Meets the Tiger (made 1941 released 1943) with Hugh Sinclair.

The success of Noël Coward as a writer and director with In Which We Serve (1942) led to the British film industry encouraging writers to become directors.{{cite news|title=LONDON'S CROP OF AMBIDEXTROUS FILM-MAKERS: Noel Coward Established One-Man Vogue With His 'In Which We Serve'|author=C.A. LEJEUNE |work=New York Times|date=22 November 1942|page=X3}}

In 1941 Arliss became a director, initially for Associated British, but soon changing to Gainsborough Pictures. He made his directorial debut with a remake of The Farmer's Wife (1941), co-directed by Norman Lee.

He worked on The Foreman Went to France (1942) for Ealing Studios as writer only and wrote and directed The Night Has Eyes (1942), a thriller, with James Mason.

Arliss had the biggest success of his career to date with The Man in Grey (1943), which he co-wrote and directed.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97803320 |title=WHAT GOES ON IN HOLLYWOOD |newspaper=Sunday Mail |issue=682 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=16 May 1943 |accessdate=28 September 2017 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} It was one of the biggest hits of his career and made stars of its leads, Mason, Stewart Granger, Phyllis Calvert and Margaret Lockwood. Calvert later claimed Arliss was "not at all" responsible for the eventual success of the film, saying "He was a lazy director; he had got a wonderful job there and he just sat back... [producer] Ted Black was the one who would watch it, cut it, and know exactly what the audience would take."Brian MacFarlane, An Autobiography of British Cinema, Methuen 1997 p 110 Calvert also said ""Arlissing about" became "a Gainsborough byword for slackness."{{cite news|title=Film: For love? Hell no, I did it for money Frustrated by the British studios, Phyllis Calvert went to Hollywood. What followed was even worse.|edition=FOREIGN |author=Sweet, Matthew|work=The Independent|location=London|date=25 February 2000|page=12}}

Arliss' next movie was also a huge hit. Love Story (1944), which he co-wrote and directed, starred Granger, Lockwood and Patricia Roc.

An even bigger success was The Wicked Lady (1945), which Arliss wrote and directed, starring Lockwood and Mason.

He was working on a film called Digger's Republic in 1945.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229027386 |title=Film Stars in the News-- A "Sun" Thursday Feature |newspaper=The Sun |issue=11,151 |location=Sydney |date=18 October 1945 |accessdate=28 September 2017 |page=9|edition=LATE FINAL EXTRA |via=National Library of Australia}} It was later made without him as Diamond City (1948).

Arliss turned down Hollywood offers, but in March 1946 he accepted an offer to work for Alexander Korda.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17973604 |title=Busy British Film Studios New Thriller Realism |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=33,776 |date=26 March 1946 |accessdate=28 September 2017 |page=11 (The Sydney Morning Herald Magazine.) |via=National Library of Australia}} (Korda was on a talent-signing spree at the time, also doing contracts with Herbert Wilcox, Edward Black and Anthony Kimmins.){{cite news|title=NOTED IN THE LONDON STUDIOS: Scenes From Recent Film Arrivals in First-Run Houses |author=C.A. LEJEUNE|work=New York Times|date=17 March 1946|page=X3}} Arliss was put to work on Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), although he eventually left the project.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18026378 |title=British Film News 17-YEARS-OLD OPHELIA FOR SCREEN "HAMLET" |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=34,132 |date=15 May 1947 |accessdate=26 October 2017 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}

He directed A Man About the House (1947).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60997604 |title=FIRST CLASS FILMS IN THE MAKING |newspaper=The Examiner |volume=CIV |issue=271 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=25 January 1947 |accessdate=28 September 2017 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} Arliss directed Idol of Paris (1948) for Gainsborough's former production chief Maurice Ostrer, but the film was a notorious flop, as was Bonnie Prince Charlie when it was released.

He was meant to make an Egg and I style comedy with Kieron Moore for Korda,{{cite news|title=GLOOM, NOT FOG, ENVELOPS ENGLISH FILM STUDIOS: Expected Upswing in Production Fails to Materialize, but Costs Mount -- Castings|author=C.A. LEJEUNE|work=New York Times |date=7 March 1948|page=X5}} but instead he wrote and directed Saints and Sinners (1949), which also did poorly.

Arliss prepared a sequel to his greatest success, The Wicked Lady's Daughter, but it was not made.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28669984 |title=Kids Like The Kissing |newspaper=The Sunday Herald (Sydney) |issue=64 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=16 April 1950 |accessdate=26 October 2017 |page=5 (Features) |via=National Library of Australia}} Instead he wrote and directed The Woman's Angle (1952), which was a commercial disappointment.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55742950 |title=He waited 7 years to do film |newspaper=The Mail |volume=41 |issue=2,064 |location=Adelaide |date=22 December 1951 |accessdate=28 September 2017 |page=7 (SUNDAY MAGAZINE) |via=National Library of Australia}}

He directed some comedies, Miss Tulip Stays the Night (1955) and See How They Run (1955) (which he also wrote).

He did a number of short films in the mid/late 1950s, two of which, Dearth of a Salesman and Insomnia Is Good for You (both 1957), featured Peter Sellers. The films, long believed lost, were rediscovered around 2013.{{cite news|last=Clark|first=Nick|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/lost-peter-sellers-films-dearth-of-a-salesman-and-insomnia-is-good-for-you-hailed-as-the-movie-equivalent-of-finding-dead-sea-scrolls-8998709.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/lost-peter-sellers-films-dearth-of-a-salesman-and-insomnia-is-good-for-you-hailed-as-the-movie-equivalent-of-finding-dead-sea-scrolls-8998709.html |archive-date=14 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Lost Peter Sellers films Dearth of a Salesman and Insomnia Is Good for|date=11 December 2013|work=The Independent.co.uk|accessdate=4 October 2018}}

He later directed several series of television programmes such as Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Presents (1954), Sailor of Fortune (1955) The Buccaneers (1956), The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957–58), The Invisible Man (1958) and The Forest Rangers (1963).

Arliss died in his home on the English Channel Island of Jersey.{{cite news|title=BRITISH FILM DIRECTOR LESLIE ARLISS, 86|edition= SPORTS FINAL, C|agency=Associated Press|work=Chicago Tribune|date=2 January 1988|page=8}}

In 1928 he married Dorothy Gordon Cumming (died 1986). His survivors include a daughter.{{cite news|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1988/01/03/british-adventure-film-director-leslie-arliss-dies-at-age-86/b7386459-accc-4c01-bd4a-c70d74b8932f/|title=BRITISH ADVENTURE FILM DIRECTOR LESLIE ARLISS DIES AT AGE 86|date=3 January 1988}}

• The Farmer's Wife – 1928 (uncredited)
• Tonight's the Night – 1932
• Strip! Strip! Hooray!!! – 1932 (short : also lyricist for songs)
• Josser on the River – 1933
• The Innocents of Chicago – 1932
• Holiday Lovers – 1932
• Road House – 1934
• Orders is Orders – 1934
• My Old Dutch -1934
• Jack Ahoy – 1934
• Heat Wave – 1935
• Windbag the Sailor – 1936
• Rhodes of Africa – 1936
• All In – 1936
• Everybody Dance – 1936
• Where There's a Will – 1936 (story)
• Good Morning, Boys – 1937
• Said O'Reilly to McNab – 1937
• Too Dangerous to Live – 1939
• Come on George! – 1939
• The Second Mr. Bush – 1940
• Pastor Hall – 1940
• For Freedom – 1940
• Bulldog Sees it Through – 1940
• South American George – 1941
• The Foreman Went to France – 1942
• The Saint Meets the Tiger – 1943
• Top of the Form – 1953
• The Wicked Lady – 1983

• The Farmer's Wife – 1941
• The Night Has Eyes – 1942
• The Man in Grey – 1943
• Love Story – 1944
• The Wicked Lady – 1945
• A Man About the House – 1947
• Idol of Paris – 1948 (Director only)
• Saints and Sinners – 1949 (also Producer)
• The Woman's Angle (1952)
• Miss Tulip Stays the Night – 1955
• See How They Run – 1955

• Man with a Dog (short) (1957)
• Dearth of a Salesman (short) (1957)
• Insomnia Is Good for You (short) (1957)
• Danger List (short) (1959)

• The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957) – directed 15 episodes
• Sailor of Fortune (1955–1956) – directed 3 episodes
• The Buccaneers (1956–1957) – directed 9 episodes
• The Invisible Man (1958) – wrote or co-wrote 4 episodes

{{reflist}}

• "Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies" – 14th edition – published by HarperCollins – {{ISBN|0-06-093507-3}}
• BFI Screenonline: Leslie Arliss Biography by Laurence Napier (see external link)
• Directors in British and Irish Cinema : A Reference Companion by Robert Murphy -2006 -BFI publishing- {{ISBN|9781844571260}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0035199|name=Leslie Arliss}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/825467|title=BFI Biography of Leslie Arliss by Lawrence Napier}}

{{Leslie Arliss}}

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Category:1901 births

Category:1987 deaths

Category:English male screenwriters

Category:English film directors

Category:Writers from London

Category:20th-century English screenwriters

Category:20th-century English male writers