david len mason

[bart]

hi everyone , i have been asked by a dear old lady (90 years old!) if anyone has heard of her late husband david len mason ,he was lighting director on such films as the 39th parallel and a film called queen victoria. olive (her name sorry!) was employed at pinewood with david. her job was publicity stills photos god knows what year we are talking about , olive bless her said her memory is not what it was !!!!!!!! regards bart:)

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by bart hi everyone , i have been asked by a dear old lady (90 years old!) if anyone has heard of her late husband david len mason ,he was lighting director on such films as the 39th parallel and a film called queen victoria. olive (her name sorry!) was employed at pinewood with david. her job was publicity stills photos god knows what year we are talking about , olive bless her said her memory is not what it was !!!!!!!! regards bart:)

That film title should be 49th Parallel (1941), not 39th Parallel . It was made by Powell & Pressburger. David Mason (I didn't know his middle name) was an assistant cameraman working under Director of Photography, Freddie Young.

The film is about a Nazi U-Boat attacking Canada. It is bombed while some of the crew are ashore and those crew members have to try to make their way to the then neutral United States. It's a propaganda film as most films made during the war really were but this is one of the few British films at the time that was actually sponsored by the government. It cost so much that after this one they left the film industry tp finance them themselves.

The film shows a lot of the different types of people that live in Canada, French Canadians, German emigrees etc. and how they are now all happy being Canadian. The Nazis try to spread their own ideology, especially amongst the German emigrees, and are spectacularly rebuffed.

Of course the underlying message is really aimed at the Americans, to point out that they aren't safe with their isolationist policy and that they should really get involved.

It has a good line-up of stars, Larry Olivier (as a French-Canadian trapper), Eric Portman (as the leader of the Nazis), Finlay Currie, Anton Walbrook, Glynis Johns, Leslie Howard and many others.

Does Olive remember if David went to Canada with most of the rest of the cast & crew?

The studio scenes were shot at Denham, but there was a lot of sharing of facilities and personnel around then so it's quite possible that they used people from Pinewood.

The main stills photographer was Jack Hynes.

There's a page about David Mason on the IMDb and that says that he also worked on:
A Touch of the Sun (1979)
... aka No Secrets

The Manster (1962)
... aka Kyofu (Japan)
... aka Nightmare
... aka The Split
... aka The Two-Headed Monster

Zanzabuku (1956)

Trouble with Eve (1960) (camera operator)
... aka In Trouble with Eve

The Manster (1962) & Zanzabuku (1956) were both made in the States. Did he go there? The IMDb could have got him mixed up with another David Mason. It's often the case that two people with the same name work in films, but it's rare that they both do the same job at about the same time.

If Olive can let us know any other details then we can get it recorded on the IMDb so that he's properly remembered and attributed. It doesn't record him as working on any film about Queen Victoria, but she's been portrayed quite a few times on film. With some more details we might be able to pin it down a bit closer.

Steve

[bart]

many thanks steve, what a cracking reply!!olive will be gobsmacked!!!, olive is my sisters friend who lives next door in cornwall ,i will see if i can find out any more information thanks again steve regards bart

[JamesM]

Here are some credits for 'David mason' cinematographer of British documentaries. This list includes the two American films but there are many innaccuracies on the BFI site.

BFI | Film & TV Database | MASON, David

There was a David Leonard Mason born in 1919 who died in 1997. Is this Olive's late husband?

The film you name as 'Queen Victoria' was the title of an 82 minute truncated version of the two films Herbert Wilcox made starring his wife Anna Neagle, 'Victoria the Great' (1938) and Sixty Glorious Years' (1938). I suspect Olive may have worked on one of these productions.

There are a few people alive who worked on these productions, make up artist Stuart Freeborn, matte artist Peter Ellenshaw, musical orchestrator Roy Douglas and editor Elmo Williams. As is actress Pamela Standish (Princess Royal) and possibly actor Charles Lefeaux.

What was Olive's maiden (working) name?

[bart]

hi james many thanks for the info ,i will ask olive what her maiden was , this gets more interesting all the time !!! . i think david leonard mason was the correct full name of olives late husband. regards bart (watch this space folks!!!)