London-born director who made very English entertainment for the cinema
for years. French was also a prolific stage director, especially of
the works of Terence Rattigan and Noel Coward.
None of his films was quite a masterpiece, nor even a big box-office
hit, but several of them, particularly those made between 1940 and 1955,
remain pleasing, unassuming, skilful entertainment.
French had begun his career as an actor, on stage (from 1912) and in
films (from 1923), performing off and on until 1936. With the coming
of sound, having already made a reputation on stage, he began to star
regularly for the cinema, although hardly any of his 1930s' films are
remembered today. With the coming of World War II, however, French emerged
fairly suddenly as a front-rank director of the British cinema. The
House of the Arrow (1940) was an exciting version of A.E.W. Mason's
thriller; Secret Mission (1942) and The
Day Will Dawn (1942) are two stiff-upper-lip but soberly presented
war films, and Dear Octopus (1943) the first of several warm and cosily
amusing portraits of middleclass British family life that would also
include English Without Tears (1944) and Quiet Weekend (1947). French
also made some mild flights of fancy including White Cradle Inn (1946)
and The Dancing Years (1948), also some stodgy romantic dramas.
French had a solid box-office success with the cunningly contrived
My Brother Jonathan (1948), on the crest of the British vogue for provincial
stories spread over a number of years, with triumph and tragedy coming
out equal in their characters' lives. It is hard to imagine this most
civilised of men turning his hand to rough-and-tumble action in glorious
TechniColour, but he did in fact direct Rob Roy the Highland Rogue (1954)
for the Disney Organisation, before ending his film career with The
Man Who Loved Redheads (1955), another Rattigan comedy with a brilliant
cast. French then turned back to writing. In later years he turned his
attention to the stage. Tragedy entered French's life in 1941 when his
wife Phyllis was killed in a bombing raid.
