Basil Wright

Age: N/A | From: Frieth, Buckinghamshire, England

TV
Involvement

Movie
Involvement

Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Basil Charles Wright

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Frieth, Buckinghamshire, England

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 22

TV Involvements: 0

Most Famous Work

Biography

Basil Wright - was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher. During World War II, Wright worked only as a producer, first at John Grierson's Film Centre before joining The Crown Film Unit between 1945 and 1946 as producer-in-charge. Among the best known films he produced for Crown are Humphrey Jennings' A Diary for Timothy (1946) and A Defeated People (1946) and Instruments of the Orchestra (1946) featuring Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.[1] Returning to direction in the early 1950s, his films included Waters of Time (1951) made for the Festival of Britain, World Without End (1953) directed with Paul Rotha for UNESCO and Greece: The Immortal Land (1958) in collaboration with his friend the artist Michael Ayrton. Writing throughout the 30s and 40s, Basil Wright had contributed to the theoretical development of documentary in the movement's journals Cinema Quarterly, World Film News and Documentary Newsletter. He was the film critic for The Spectator after Graham Greene left. Wright was a regular contributor to the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound during the 1940s and '50s. He published a small book: The Uses of Film (1948) and his personal (extensive) history of cinema The Long View (1974). He taught at the University of Southern California (1962 and 1968), The National Film and Television School in London (1971–73) and Temple University in Philadelphia (1977–78). He was Governor of the British Film Institute, a fellow of the British Film Academy and President of the International Association of Documentary Filmmakers. In his films Wright combined an ability to look closely and carefully at a subject with a poetic and often experimental approach to editing and sound. In Britain he is commemorated with a film prize awarded biennially by the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Most Famous Work

Average

Acting

Year	Character	Movie/Tv
1974	Himself	Omnibus - Cuckoo: A Celebration of Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy 1974-12-21 Movie
1934	Vicar (uncredited)	Pett and Pott: A Fairy Story of the Suburbs 1934-04-16 Movie
1929	N/A	Every Day 1929-04-30 Movie
Year	Character	Movie/Tv

Directing

Year	Role	Movie/Tv
1953	Director	World Without End 1953-01-01 Movie
1951	Director	Waters of Time 1951-01-01 Movie
1938	Director	The Face of Scotland 1938-05-04 Movie
1937	Director	Children at School 1937-01-01 Movie
1936	Director	Night Mail 1936-01-13 Movie
1934	Director	The Song of Ceylon 1934-11-30 Movie
1933	Director	The Country Comes to Town 1933-12-31 Movie
1932	Director	O'er Hill and Dale 1932-12-31 Movie
Year	Role	Movie/Tv

Production

Year	Role	Movie/Tv
1953	Producer	The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci 1953-01-01 Movie
1946	Producer	It Might Be You 1946-07-25 Movie
1945	Producer	A Diary for Timothy 1945-12-31 Movie
	Producer	The Channel Islands 1940-1945 1945-06-01 Movie
1942	Producer	London Scrapbook 1942-09-30 Movie
	Producer	This Is Colour 1942-03-05 Movie
1941	Producer	The Green Girdle 1941-01-01 Movie
1940	Producer	Men of Africa 1940-09-01 Movie
Year	Role	Movie/Tv