Maurice Elvey (1887 - 1967)

Few directors have been as derided as Maurice Elvey. For some, he represents all that's bad about British films. Yet he holds the record for the number of British films he directed and his reputation is undergoing something of a renaissance. He must have done something right.

He was born William Seward Folkard in Stockton-on-Tees. His family was poor and he was working as a hotel pageboy by the age of nine. He took to the stage as an actor at 17 and moved from stage directing to films, directing his first feature in 1913.

He quickly got into the swing of things. I don't know how he avoided the draft for WWI, but he spent the time producing over 40 features. After the war he continued in the same vein. The filmography below doesn't include the 15 short Sherlock Holmes films he made with Ellie Norwood, Conan Doyle's favourite in the role.

In 1923 he met Isobel Elsom on the set of The Wandering Jew. They were soon married, though it didn't last. He had a brief Hollywood period but came back here to make some of his best films before talkies took over. He also dabbled in colour film processes, helping to finance short-lived process Raycol in which he made The School for Scandal, Britain's first colour talkie.

The 30s meant business as usual, and he was handed some of the most prestigious productions of the era as well as the more ordinary. The 40s were harder (only 9 features) but it's his work in the 50s which gave him such a bad reputation. He made a succession of low-budget stinkers for obscure companies. His total professionalism made him a safe pair of hands for on-time, on-budget completion, but it also made him incapable of struggling against the appalling scripts he was handed. Only the loss of an eye forced him into retirement. 

1996 brought the first showing of The Life Story of David Lloyd George. It was suppressed shortly after its production in 1918, and was rediscovered in the Lloyd George family archives. To everyone's surprise it turned out to be one of the best silent films produced in this country. The following year brought a retrospective of Elvey's work at the Pordenone silent film festival. Now Elvey is seen as a key figure in British cinema, and one of the few to master both silent cinema and the talkies.

Filmography (features only)

 Maurice Elvey at Amazon UK

 Maurice Elvey at Amazon US