Happy Birthday, Leslie Arliss! Born today in 1901, this English screenwriter and film director is best known for his work on the Gainsborough melodramas.
Arliss began his professional career as a journalist in South Africa. He later branched out into being a film critic.
During the 1920s, Arliss entered the film industry as a screenwriter, and author of short stories.
Arliss began his film career as a screenwriter in the 1930s, mainly for Gainsborough Pictures.
He continued as a writer for ten years, eventually leaving Gainsborough in 1941 when he was offered a chance to direct at Associated British.
It wasn't long before he returned to Gainsborough and brought with him a young actor named James Mason. The films that they later made together there garnered both of them public recognition.
The most notable was the first film of which Arliss is best known for co-writing and directing.
This was the 1943 British black and white romance/melodrama film 'The Man in Grey'. The film was based on English writer Eleanor Smith's fiction 1941 fiction novel of the same name.
Desirous of an heir, the remote and cruel Lord Rohan (James Mason) marries pretty young Clarissa Marr (Phyllis Calvert).
Soon after, Clarissa discovers old school friend Hesther Shaw (Margaret Lockwood), now impoverished in an acting troupe, and brings her home, unaware that Hesther has long nursed resentment of her good fortune.
While the ambitious Hesther sets her sights on Rohan, she also secretly encourages Clarissa into a relationship with affable gypsy Peter Rokeby (Stewart Granger).
Upon release, 'The Man in Grey' was quite popular with wartime audiences, who found Mason's villainy just what they needed to hiss at during the depths of the war.
The film also melded together elements of the successful "women's pictures" of the time with distinct new elements.
The film was such a box-office success that Gainsborough used it as a template, launching a cycle of increasingly rococo films.
It was also this tale of treachery of which put both the Gainsborough melodrama and Mason on the map, making him a star along with Calvert, Lockwood, and Granger.
Calvert later claimed Arliss was "not at all" responsible for the eventual success of the film.
She had said: "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."
Calvert also said ""Arlissing about" became "a Gainsborough byword for slackness.
Their next two films together were the 1944 British black and white romance/drama film 'Love Story' (released in the United States as 'A Lady Surrenders') and the 1945 British black and white adventure costume drama film 'The Wicked Lady'.
After 'The Wicked Lady', Arliss then left Gainsborough for London Films. Prior to this, he had turned down Hollywood offers.
However, in March 1946, Arliss accepted an offer to work for London Films. This was the company of Hungarian-born British film producer and director and screenwriter Alexander Korda.
Unfortunately, Arliss' tenure there was anything but productive. He and Korda did not get along at all and fought constantly.
Later, Arliss left London Films under less-than-amicable conditions and it was three years before he made another film.
His later work was a considerable step down in quality from his earlier films, and he wound up his career directing television.
Arliss is often erroneously listed as son of English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker George Arliss and English actress Florence Arliss. In truth, they had no children.
Arliss had been active from 1928–1983.
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