Seth Holt, brother-in-law of Robert Hamer, worked
as an actor before joining Ealing in 1944 as assistant editor, graduating
to editor in 1949, producer in 1955 and made his directorial bow with
a melodrama, Nowhere to Go (1958). Subsequently
he edited The
Battle of the Sexes (1959) and Saturday
Night and Sunday Morning (1960). Films as director outside Ealing
included Taste
of Fear (1961), Station Six Sahara (1962), The
Nanny (1965) and Danger
Route (1967). In 1969, Holt was slated to direct the pioneering
youth-alienation fantasy If..., but his health and morale had deteriorated
to the point that Lindsay
Anderson was obliged to take over direction. Seth Holt died of heart
failure and exhaustion the age of 48 while shooting Blood from the Tomb
(1971).
