John Dighton
Encyclopedia
John Dighton was a successful British
playwright
and screenwriter
.
Dighton wrote for the stage until 1936, when he made the transition to films. His 1940s output included comedian Will Hay
's last starring features, and several George Formby films as well as the 1947 adaptation
of Charles Dickens
' Nicholas Nickleby
, and the 1943 war movie Undercover starring John Clements
and Michael Wilding
.
Most gainfully employed by Ealing Studios
, he collaborated on the screenplays of such celebrated comedies as Kind Hearts and Coronets
(1949) and The Man in the White Suit
(1952), sharing an Academy Award nomination for the latter. He earned a second nomination for the American-financed Roman Holiday (1953).
Two of his more popular stage plays, The Happiest Days of Your Life
and Who Goes There!
(known as The Passionate Sentry in the USA), were successfully adapted for the screen by Dighton himself, the former in collaboration with Frank Launder
.
His final screen credit was his adaptation of George Bernard Shaw
's The Devil's Disciple
, penned in collaboration with Roland Kibbee
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
.
Dighton wrote for the stage until 1936, when he made the transition to films. His 1940s output included comedian Will Hay
Will Hay
William Thomson "Will" Hay was an English comedian, actor, film director and amateur astronomer.-Early life:He was born in Stockton-on-Tees, in north east England, to William R...
's last starring features, and several George Formby films as well as the 1947 adaptation
Adaptation
An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....
of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' Nicholas Nickleby
Nicholas Nickleby (1947 film)
Nicholas Nickleby is a 1947 British drama film directed by Cavalcanti. The screenplay by John Dighton is based on the 1839 novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens...
, and the 1943 war movie Undercover starring John Clements
John Clements
Sir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge University then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made...
and Michael Wilding
Michael Wilding (actor)
-Early life:Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, Wilding was a successful commercial artist when he joined the art department of a London film studio in 1933. He soon embarked on an acting career.-Career:...
.
Most gainfully employed by Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
, he collaborated on the screenplays of such celebrated comedies as Kind Hearts and Coronets
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Kind Hearts and Coronets is a 1949 British black comedy feature film. The plot is loosely based on the 1907 novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman, with the screenplay written by Robert Hamer and John Dighton and the film directed by Hamer...
(1949) and The Man in the White Suit
The Man in the White Suit
The Man In The White Suit is a 1951 satirical comedy film made by Ealing Studios. It starred Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, and Cecil Parker, and was directed by Alexander Mackendrick. It followed a common Ealing Studios theme of the "common man" against the Establishment...
(1952), sharing an Academy Award nomination for the latter. He earned a second nomination for the American-financed Roman Holiday (1953).
Two of his more popular stage plays, The Happiest Days of Your Life
The Happiest Days of Your Life
The Happiest Days of Your Life is a 1950 British comedy film directed by Frank Launder, based on the play by John Dighton. The two men also wrote the screenplay. It's one of a stable of classic British film comedies produced by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat for British Lion Film Corporation. The...
and Who Goes There!
Who Goes There!
Who Goes There! is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Nigel Patrick, Valerie Hobson and George Cole. The film depicts the farcical activities of the various inhabitants of a Grace and Favour house near St. James Palace in Central London...
(known as The Passionate Sentry in the USA), were successfully adapted for the screen by Dighton himself, the former in collaboration with Frank Launder
Frank Launder
Frank Launder was an English writer, director and producer, who made more than 40 films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat....
.
His final screen credit was his adaptation of George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's The Devil's Disciple
The Devil's Disciple
The Devil's Disciple is an 1897 play written by Irish dramatist, George Bernard Shaw. The play is Shaw's eighth, and after Richard Mansfield's original 1897 American production it was his first financial success, which helped to affirm his career as a playwright...
, penned in collaboration with Roland Kibbee
Roland Kibbee
Roland Kibbee was an American screenwriter and producer.- Works :...
.
Selected films as screenwriter
- Hail and FarewellHail and Farewell (film)Hail and Farewell is a 1936 British comedy film directed by Ralph Ince and starring Claude Hulbert. The film was a quota quickie production, following the escapades of a group of British sailors during six hours' shore leave in Southampton...
(1936) - The VultureThe Vulture (1937 film)The Vulture is a 1937 British quota quickie slapstick comedy film, directed by Ralph Ince and starring Claude Hulbert, Hal Walters and Lesley Brook. The film proved very popular with audiences and the following year spawned a sequel The Viper, although this was much less successful...
(1937) - Thank EvansThank EvansThank Evans is a 1938 British comedy film, directed by Roy William Neill and starring Max Miller. The film is sequel to Educated Evans , with Miller, Hal Walters and Albert Whelan all returning to reprise their roles as the hapless horse racing tipster Evans, his pal Nobby and the bungling...
(1938) - The ViperThe Viper (film)The Viper is a 1938 British slapstick comedy film, directed by Roy William Neill and starring Claude Hulbert and Hal Walters. The film was a sequel to the previous year's very successful The Vulture, with Hulbert and Walters reprising their roles as hapless private detective Cedric Gull and his...
(1938) - Everything Happens to MeEverything Happens to Me (1938 film)Everything Happens to Me is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Roy William Neill and starring Max Miller, Chili Bouchier and H.F. Maltby....
(1938) - Sailors ThreeSailors ThreeSailors Three is a 1940 British war comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Tommy Trinder, Claude Hulbert and Carla Lehmann. Thre British sailors accidentally find themselves aboard a German ship during the Second World War....
(1940) - Let George Do ItLet George Do ItLet George Do It is a 1940 British, black-and-white, comedy musical war film, directed by Marcel Varnel and starring George Formby, with Ronald Shiner as the clarinetist...
(1940) - Saloon BarSaloon Bar- Plot summary :An amateur detective tries to clear an innocent man of a crime before the date of his execution.- Cast :*Gordon Harker as Joe Harris*Elizabeth Allan as Queenie*Mervyn Johns as Wickers*Joyce Barbour as Sally*Anna Konstam as Ivy...
(1940) - The Ghost of St. Michael'sThe Ghost of St. Michael'sThe Ghost of St. Michael’s is a 1941 British comedy-thriller film, produced by Ealing Studios.-Plot:An ineffectual science teacher William Lamb is hired by a school recently transferred because of World War II to the remote Dunbain Castle on the Isle of Skye, Scotland...
(1941) - Turned Out Nice AgainTurned Out Nice AgainTurned Out Nice Again is a British comedy film starring Lancashire-born George Formby. The film was released in 1941 and filmed at Ealing Studios, London.-Sypnosis:...
(1941) - The Black Sheep of WhitehallThe Black Sheep of WhitehallThe Black Sheep of Whitehall is a 1942 British, black-and-white, comedy, war film, directed by Will Hay and Basil Dearden, and; starring Will Hay as Professor Will Davis, John Mills and Basil Sydney...
(1942) - Went the Day Well?Went the Day Well?"Went the Day Well?" is a British war film produced by Ealing Studios in 1942 as unofficial propaganda. It tells of how an English village is taken over by German paratroopers . Made during the war, it reflects the greatest potential nightmares of many Britons of the time, although the threat of...
(1942) - The Goose Steps OutThe Goose Steps OutThe Goose Steps Out is a British comedy film released in 1942. This film starred, and was co-directed by, the British comedian Will Hay.The film's title refers to the Nazis' vigorous ceremonial marching, called "goose-stepping".-Plot summary:...
(1942) - The Foreman Went to FranceThe Foreman Went to FranceThe Foreman Went to France, also known as Somewhere in France, is a 1942 British World War II war film starring Clifford Evans, Tommy Trinder, Constance Cummings and Gordon Jackson...
(1942) - The Next of KinThe Next of KinThe Next of Kin, also known as Next of Kin, is a 1942 World War II propaganda film produced by Ealing Studios.The film was originally commissioned by the British War Office as a training film to promote the government propaganda message that "Careless talk costs lives"...
(1942) - Undercover (1943)
- My Learned FriendMy Learned FriendMy Learned Friend is a 1943 British, black-and-white, comedy, farce, directed by Basil Dearden, co-directed with regular collaborator Will Hay and starring Ronald Shiner as the Man in Wilson's café, Will Hay as William Fitch and Charles Victor as "Safety" Wilson. It was produced by Michael Balcon,...
(1943) - Champagne CharlieChampagne Charlie (film)Champagne Charlie is a 1944 British musical film made by Ealing Studios. It is based on an 1860s play that depicted the real life rivalry between George Leybourne, who first performed the song of that name, and Alfred Vance....
(1944) - Nicholas NicklebyNicholas Nickleby (1947 film)Nicholas Nickleby is a 1947 British drama film directed by Cavalcanti. The screenplay by John Dighton is based on the 1839 novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens...
(1947) - Saraband for Dead LoversSaraband for Dead LoversSaraband for Dead Lovers is a 1948 British historical drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Stewart Granger and Joan Greenwood. It is based on the novel by Helen Simpson...
(1948) - Kind Hearts and CoronetsKind Hearts and CoronetsKind Hearts and Coronets is a 1949 British black comedy feature film. The plot is loosely based on the 1907 novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman, with the screenplay written by Robert Hamer and John Dighton and the film directed by Hamer...
(1949) - The Happiest Days of Your LifeThe Happiest Days of Your LifeThe Happiest Days of Your Life is a 1950 British comedy film directed by Frank Launder, based on the play by John Dighton. The two men also wrote the screenplay. It's one of a stable of classic British film comedies produced by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat for British Lion Film Corporation. The...
(1950) (based on his play) - The Man in the White SuitThe Man in the White SuitThe Man In The White Suit is a 1951 satirical comedy film made by Ealing Studios. It starred Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, and Cecil Parker, and was directed by Alexander Mackendrick. It followed a common Ealing Studios theme of the "common man" against the Establishment...
(1951) - Who Goes There!Who Goes There!Who Goes There! is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Nigel Patrick, Valerie Hobson and George Cole. The film depicts the farcical activities of the various inhabitants of a Grace and Favour house near St. James Palace in Central London...
(1952) (based on his play The Passionate Sentry) - Brandy for the ParsonBrandy for the ParsonBrandy for the Parson is a 1952 British comedy film directed by John Eldridge and starring Kenneth More, Charles Hawtrey, James Donald and Jean Lodge. A young couple get mixed up in a smuggling ring. It was based on a novel by Geoffrey Household...
(1952) - Folly to Be WiseFolly to Be WiseFolly to Be Wise is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Frank Launder and starring Alastair Sim, Elizabeth Allan, Roland Culver, Colin Gordon, Martita Hunt and Edward Chapman. It is based on the play It Depends What You Mean by James Bridie...
(1953) - Roman Holiday (1953)
- The SwanThe Swan (film)The Swan is a 1956 remake by MGM of a 1925 Paramount film with the same title. . The film is a romantic comedy directed by Charles Vidor, produced by Dore Schary from a screenplay by John Dighton based on the play by Ferenc Molnár...
(1956) - The Barretts of Wimpole StreetThe Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957 film)The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1957 film originating from the United Kingdom, and was a re-make of the earlier 1934 version by the same director, Sidney Franklin. Both films are based on the play The Barretts of Wimpole Street by Rudolf Besier...
(1957) - Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)
- The Devil's DiscipleThe Devil's DiscipleThe Devil's Disciple is an 1897 play written by Irish dramatist, George Bernard Shaw. The play is Shaw's eighth, and after Richard Mansfield's original 1897 American production it was his first financial success, which helped to affirm his career as a playwright...
(1959)