Anthony Asquith

Directing

Anthony Asquith

Born November 9, 1902 · London, England

Died February 20, 1968 · aged 65

Anthony Asquith (9 November 1902 –20 February 1968) was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy (1948) and The Browning Version (1951), among other adaptations. His other notable films include Pygmalion (1938), French Without Tears (1940), The Way to the Stars (1945), and a 1952 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of …

Known For

The Yellow Rolls-RoyceThe Yellow Rolls-Royce · 1964
The Yellow Rolls-Royce
★ 6.11964
MovieDramaComedy
One Rolls-Royce belongs to three vastly different owners, starting with Lord Charles, who buys the car for his wife as an anniversary present. The next owner is Paolo Maltese, a mafioso who purchases the car during a trip to Italy and leaves it with his girlfriend while he returns to Chicago. Finally, the car is owned by American widow Gerda, who joins the Yugoslavian resistance against the invading Nazis.
PygmalionPygmalion · 1938
Pygmalion
★ 7.01938
MovieComedyDrama
When linguistics professor Henry Higgins boasts that he can pass off Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle as a princess with only six months' training, Colonel George Pickering takes him up on the bet. Eliza moves into Higgins's home and begins her rigorous training after the professor comes to a financial agreement with her dustman father, Alfred. But the plucky young woman is not the only one undergoing a transformation.
The MillionairessThe Millionairess · 1960
The Millionairess
★ 5.31960
MovieComedyRomance
When her father dies, Epifania Parerga, an Italian in London, becomes the world's richest woman. She feels incomplete without a husband and falls in love with a humble, Indian physician, Ahmed el Kabir, much loved by his indigent English patients.
The V.I.P.sThe V.I.P.s · 1963
The V.I.P.s
★ 6.21963
MovieDrama
Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport fight to survive a variety of personal trials.
The Woman in QuestionThe Woman in Question · 1950
The Woman in Question
★ 6.31950
MovieMysteryCrime
Agnes "Astra" Huston, a fortune teller at a run-down fair, is found strangled in her bedroom. As the police question five suspects, their interactions with her are shown in flashbacks from their point of view.
The Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being Earnest · 1952
The Importance of Being Earnest
★ 7.21952
MovieComedy
Two young gentlemen living in 1890s England use the same pseudonym ('Ernest') on the sly, which is fine until they both fall in love with women using that name, which leads to a comedy of mistaken identities.
Fanny by GaslightFanny by Gaslight · 1944
Fanny by Gaslight
★ 5.51944
MovieDramaRomance
Returning to 1870s London after finishing at boarding school, Fanny winesses the death of her father in a fight with Lord Manderstoke. She then finds that her family has for many years been running a bordello next door to their home. When her mother dies shortly after, she next discovers that her real father is in fact a well-respected politician. Meeting him and then falling in love with his young advisor Harry Somerford leads to a life of ups and downs and conflict between the classes. Periodically the scoundrel of a Lord crosses her path, always to tragic effect.
The Browning VersionThe Browning Version · 1951
The Browning Version
★ 7.61951
MovieDrama
Andrew Crocker-Harris has been forced from his position as the classics master at an English public school due to poor health. As he winds up his final term, he discovers not only that his wife, Millie, has been unfaithful to him with one of his fellow schoolmasters, but that the school's students and faculty have long disdained him. However, an unexpected act of kindness causes Crocker-Harris to re-evaluate his life's work.

Filmography

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The Demi-ParadiseThe Demi-Paradise · 1943
The Demi-Paradise
★ 6.61943
MovieDramaComedy
Ivan Kouznetsoff, a Russian engineer, recounts during World War II his stay in England prior to the war working on a new propeller for ice-breaking ships. Naïve about British people and convinced by hearsay that they are shallow and hypocritical, Ivan is both bemused and amused by them. He is blunt in his opinions about Britons and at first this puts off his hosts, including the lovely Ann Tisdall, whose grandfather runs the shipbuilding firm that will make use of Ivan's propeller. The longer Ivan stays, however, the more he comes to understand the humor, warmth, strength, and conviction of the British people, and the more they come to see him as a friend rather than merely a suspicious Russian. As a romantic bond grows between Ivan and Ann, a cultural bond begins to grow as well, particularly as the war begins and Russia is attacked by Germany.

Director