The British film industry offered very few chances to working class people, particularly if they wanted to be directors. The higher up the social ladder you were, the better your opportunities. Few directors were as posh as Anthony Asquith.
Daddy was Herbert Asquith, prominent Liberal politician and Prime Minister (1908-1916). Shortly after leaving Oxford University Asquith became a founder member of the Film Society (with, amongst others, H.G. Wells and G.B. Shaw). He went to America for a short while to study film making, and when he came back to Britain his connections soon got him work in the film industry. He was a director by the age of twenty five.
His first film, Shooting Stars, which he co-directed with A.V. Bramble, is one of the few classic silent films produced in this country, but at the time it was seen as being too arty for most audiences. The same criticism was levelled at his next few films in which he grappled with the innovation of sound.
The thirties were a difficult period for Asquith. He moved from company to company (British Instructional Films, British International Pictures, Gaumont-British, London Films). His reputation for artiness held him back despite the solid entertainment value of his films and by Brown on Resolution he was reduced to second unit work. He only really got going again when, thanks to his connections with Shaw, he was allowed to co-direct Pygmalion with its star Leslie Howard.
He followed this smash with another, French Without Tears. In this film he started his long association with writer Terence Rattigan. This association would lead to Asquith's work being accused of being too theatrical. Certainly, from this point his style would favour performance over action.
Asquith got wonderful performances from the ensemble casts of Quiet Wedding, The Winslow Boy and The Importance of Being Earnest, and memorable star performances from Michael Redgrave in The Browning Version and David Niven in Carrington VC. The critics were frequently sniffy; not only were these films theatrical but they were out of touch with the fad for realism. Of course, audiences had no such objections.
When he died, many people thought his career had been disappointing. However, he made a handful of classics that have stood the test of time.
| 1927 | Shooting Stars (co) |
| 1928 | Underground |
| 1928 | The Runaway Princess |
| 1930 | A Cottage on Dartmoor |
| 1931 | Tell England (co) |
| 1932 | Dance Pretty Lady |
| 1933 | The Lucky Number |
| 1934 | Unfinished Symphony |
| 1935 | Moscow Nights |
| 1935 | Brown on Resolution (co) |
| 1938 | Pygmalion (co) |
| 1939 | French Without Tears |
| 1940 | Freedom Radio |
| 1940 | Channel Incident |
| 1940 | Quiet Wedding |
| 1941 | Cottage to Let |
| 1942 | Uncensored |
| 1943 | The Demi-Paradise |
| 1943 | We Dive at Dawn |
| 1944 | Fanny by Gaslight |
| 1945 | The Way to the Stars |
| 1946 | While the Sun Shines |
| 1948 | The Winslow Boy |
| 1950 | The Woman in Question |
| 1951 | The Browning Version |
| 1952 | The Importance of Being Earnest |
| 1953 | The Net |
| 1953 | The Final Test |
| 1954 | The Young Lovers |
| 1954 | Carrington VC |
| 1955 | On Such a Night |
| 1958 | Orders to Kill |
| 1959 | Libel |
| 1959 | The Doctor's Dilemma |
| 1960 | The Millionairess |
| 1961 | Two Living, One Dead |
| 1962 | Guns of Darkness |
| 1963 | The VIPs |
| 1964 | The Yellow Rolls-Royce |
