Born in Maida Vale, London, Valmont Maurice Guest began his eclectic
career as a film journalist and columnist for the London edition of
the Hollywood Reporter, and for a brief spell as bit-part actor. He
learned the film business as a scriptwriter at Gainsborough Studios
on comedies for Will Hay, Arthur
Askey, and the Crazy Gang; he wrote some of Will Hay's best comedies
including Oh, Mr
Porter! (1937), and Ask
a Policeman (1939). His debut feature as a director was Miss London Ltd (1943). He spent the remainder of the 1940s perfecting
his skill on a number of comedies and suspense thrillers with varying
success. Later, Guest directed Miss Pilgrim's Progress (1950), an important
landmark in his life and career; he worked with actress Yolande Donlan
whom he would later marry. He began a productive collaboration with
Hammer Studios with Life
with the Lyons (1953), and followed with the landmark sci-fi thriller
The Quatermass Xperiment
(1955), earning Guest much acclaim. The sequel Quatermass
II (1957), touched upon public anxiety over the Cold War, whilst
once again Brian Donlevy as the erstwhile Professor Quatermass battled
alien invasion. Along with the Quatermass films, Guest also directed
The Abominable
Snowman (1957), The Camp on Blood
Island (1958) and Up the Creek (1958) whilst with Hammer.
Yesterday's Enemy (1959) and Hell
is a City (1960), were both taut psychological thrillers, and
two of Guest's final productions with Hammer. He made only one more
film with Hammer, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970). After leaving
the studio he continued to combine the thriller and science-fiction
genres to good effect. The
Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) remains a highlight of his career.
Guest co-directed the James Bond parody Casino
Royale (1967), with five other directors; as a result the film
suffered from an incoherent script and muddled vision. During the
1970’s, his career waned and Guest directed a number of sex comedies,
including Au
Pair Girls (1972) and Confessions
of a Window Cleaner (1974). He then turned his attention to directing
for television, working on series such as The Persuaders and Space
1999. Guest enjoyed a brief return to form with The Shillingbury Blowers
(1980), a quaint film starring Trevor
Howard about a small town band. His final film before retirement
in the mid-1980s was The Boys in Blue (1982), a painfully unfunny
remake of Ask a Policeman starring tv duo Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball.
He died in Palm Springs aged 94.
