Anyone who takes an interest in British cinema history is going to come across the name of Adrian Brunel sooner or later. Yet seeing his films is another matter.
Brunel was born in Brighton and educated at Harrow. He got involved in amateur dramatics in Brighton making many connections which served him throughout his career. He also dabbled in local journalism, which brought him into contact with the last of the film pioneers who had briefly turned Brighton and Hove into the centre of the film industry. He took a job in film distribution, and thus was well placed to develop the Ministry of Information's film department when he proved unfit for active service.
When the war was over, he continued in the industry. The twenties were an unhappy period for the industry but Brunel worked his way up while the number of features nosedived. He was a scenario writer, a producer and also had a nice sideline re-editing foreign films for the British market. His main contribution to the industry was a series of humorous shorts such as Crossing the Great Sagrada parodying the genres of the day.
He was heavily involved with the Film Society which promoted cinema as an art to the intelligentsia. It screened foreign art movies and selected revivals. Brunel's parody of the newsreel Topical Budget (Typical Budget) was premiered as part of the society's first programme.
The success of the feature Blighty took him out of the shorts business. The pinnacle of his career coincided with the birth of sound and the Quota Act - changing the business completely. Elstree Calling, an all-talkie review film, was edited without his approval, and extra sequences shot without him. That, and a law suit he started against Gainsborough Studios made people think twice about employing him.
He re-entered the business at the bottom - directing quota quickies. It was a thankless job, but the unexpected success of Badger's Green raised his profile again. His directing career finally foundered on the failure of The Lion Has Wings. Though he continued to get credits on films (including The Gentle Sex from which he was removed from directing after a few days) he gradually moved away from the business, becoming a successful playwright and penning an entertaining memoir of his time in movies.
With many of his quota films lost and his silent work difficult to see, it's hard to judge just how good a director he was. Certainly, his memoir is so full of regrets about projects taken away from him before completion, it's hard to escape the feeling that he was better at getting jobs than keeping them.
| 1916 | The Cost of a Kiss |
| 1920 | Twice Two |
| 1920 | The Temporary Lady |
| 1920 | Five Pounds Reward |
| 1920 | The Bump |
| 1921 | Too Many Crooks |
| 1923 | Yes, We Have No... |
| 1923 | Two-chinned Chow |
| 1923 | The Shimmy Sheik |
| 1923 | The Man Without Desire |
| 1924 | Sheer Trickery |
| 1924 | A Pathetic Gazette |
| 1924 | Lovers in Araby |
| 1924 | Crossing the Great Sagrada |
| 1925 | A Typical Budget |
| 1925 | So This is Jollygood |
| 1925 | Cut It Out! |
| 1925 | The Blunderland of Big Game |
| 1925 | Battling Bruisers |
| 1927 | Blighty |
| 1928 | The Constant Nymph |
| 1928 | The Vortex |
| 1929 | The Crooked Billet |
| 1030 | Elstree Calling |
| 1933 | Two Wives for Henry |
| 1933 | Little Napoleon |
| 1933 | The Laughter of Fools |
| 1933 | I'm an Explosive |
| 1933 | Follow the Lady |
| 1933 | Taxi to Paradise |
| 1934 | Menace |
| 1934 | Important People |
| 1934 | Badger's Green |
| 1935 | Variety |
| 1935 | Vanity |
| 1935 | The Invader |
| 1935 | City of Beautiful Nonsense |
| 1935 | Cross Currents |
| 1935 | While Parents Sleep |
| 1936 | Prison Breaker |
| 1936 | Love at Sea |
| 1938 | The Lion Has Wings |
| 1939 | The Rebel Son |
| 1940 | The Girl Who Forgot |
