James Hill (British director)
Encyclopedia
James Hill (1 August 1919 - 7 October 1994) was a British film
and television director
, screenwriter
and producer
whose career spanned 52 years between 1937–1989, best remembered for his documentaries and short subjects such as Giuseppina
and The Home Made Car
, and as director of the internationally acclaimed Born Free.
Hill also directed, produced and/or wrote such diverse films as Black Beauty
, A Study in Terror
, Every Day's a Holiday, The Lion at World's End (aka Christian the Lion
), Captain Nemo and the Underwater City
, The Man from O.R.G.Y., and the children's television series' Worzel Gummidge
and Worzel Gummidge Down Under
.
on 1 August 1919. He entered the GPO Film Unit
in 1937 as an assistant, then served in the RAF Film Unit during World War II
, receiving a DFC
. He is said to have been the model for Donald Pleasence
' character Flight Lt. Colin Blythe ("the Forger") in The Great Escape
(1963).
After the war he became a documentary director, primarily of shorts, before graduating to feature length children's movies with The Stolen Plans in 1952.
In 1955 Hill entered a new phase with the documentary The New Explorers, sponsored by the BP
oil company who (following Shell Oil's example) produced a number of industry-related, independently-produced documentaries and shorts. Accompanying an oil exploration team around the world on its unsuccessful quest, Hill later wrote of his trek in the trade magazine Film User that he had "...travelled nearly 100,000 miles by car, jeep, train, liner, launch, dhow, canoe, catamaran, bicycle, aircraft, flying-boat, camel, helicopter, horseback and foot." Due to production costs and almost inaccessible locations the movie was shot on 16mm film, rather than 35mm film then in common use.
:
Beginning with The Kitchen
(1961), based on Arnold Wesker
's play, it was quickly followed by two John Mortimer
play adaptations, Lunch Hour (1961), showing the dire consequences of a lunch hour romance, and the legal satire The Dock Brief
(1962); both essentially two-hander plays. Every Day's a Holiday
(1964), for which he also wrote the screenplay, was a teenage pop musical typical of the era.
At the same time Hill continued to make documentaries and children oriented shorts, including the immensely popular and Academy Award winning Giuseppina
(1960), following young Giuseppina's interaction with the traffic that passes by and through her father's gas station in Italy. Another popular short, The Home-Made Car
(1964), without dialogue, won two Berlin International Film Festival
awards. Both films were regularly shown on BBC2 as Trade test colour films
(aka fillers
); in fact at 2:30 pm on 24 August 1973, Giuseppina was the last such film ever shown.
The year 1965 began with A Study in Terror
, pitting an imaginary Sherlock Holmes
against real life Jack the Ripper
. Considered to be one of the best films of its genre, it boasted an impressive cast which included John Neville, Donald Houston
, Robert Morley
, Anthony Quayle
, Barry Jones
and Judy Dench.
, an international hit starring Bill Travers
and Virginia McKenna
, based on the autobiographical book by Joy Adamson
about Elsa the Lioness
. In an interview with Doris Martin, writer Sid Cole
reminisced: “On Born Free I remember getting a card from Jimmy Hill saying he was in Kenya entirely surrounded by lions. (laughter).” Filmed on location in Kenya over a period of 9 months, with George Adamson
as technical advisor, the shoot had a profound effect on the participants.
Closely associated with Travers, McKenna and Adamson, Hill followed up with three docu/dramas related to wildlife in Africa which he either directed, co-produced and/or wrote: The Lions Are Free (1967) on the fate of the Born Free lion-actors, An Elephant Called Slowly
(1969), and The Lion at World's End (aka, Christian the Lion
) (1971).
(1969), Black Beauty
(1971), The Belstone Fox (1973), The Young Visitors (1984), and for the two children's television series Worzel Gummidge
and Worzel Gummidge Down Under
, almost all of which he either directed, wrote and/or produced.
Active in television throughout his career, his credits include The Human Jungle
, Gideon's Way
, The Saint
, The Avengers
, Journey to the Unknown
, The Persuaders!
, The New Avengers, and C.A.T.S. Eyes
.
Hill appeared as himself in:
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
whose career spanned 52 years between 1937–1989, best remembered for his documentaries and short subjects such as Giuseppina
Giuseppina
Giuseppina is a 1960 short documentary film produced by James Hill. It won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. Production of the film was sponsored by the British Petroleum company , which also distributes the film...
and The Home Made Car
The Home Made Car
The Home Made Car is a short film directed by James Hill about a young man who rebuilds a vintage car and finds love. The film was nominated for an Academy Award...
, and as director of the internationally acclaimed Born Free.
Hill also directed, produced and/or wrote such diverse films as Black Beauty
Black Beauty
Black Beauty is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate bestseller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, long enough to see her first and only...
, A Study in Terror
A Study in Terror
A Study in Terror is a 1965 British thriller film directed by James Hill and starring John Neville as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Houston as Dr. Watson...
, Every Day's a Holiday, The Lion at World's End (aka Christian the Lion
Christian the lion
Christian was a lion originally purchased by Australians John Rendall and Anthony "Ace" Bourke from Harrods department store of London, England in 1969 and ultimately reintroduced to the African wild by conservationist George Adamson. One year after George Adamson released Christian to the wild,...
), Captain Nemo and the Underwater City
Captain Nemo and the Underwater City
Captain Nemo and the Underwater City is a 1969 British film, featuring the character Captain Nemo and some of the settings of Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It was written by Pip and Jane Baker and stars Robert Ryan as Nemo....
, The Man from O.R.G.Y., and the children's television series' Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge (TV series)
Worzel Gummidge is a children's television series, produced by Southern Television for ITV, based on the books by Barbara Euphan Todd. Starting in 1979, the programme starred Jon Pertwee in the title role and ran for four series in the UK until 1981...
and Worzel Gummidge Down Under
Worzel Gummidge Down Under
Worzel Gummidge Down Under, adapted from the books written by Barbara Euphan Todd and the children's television programme produced and broadcasted in the United Kingdom named Worzel Gummidge, starring Jon Pertwee...
.
Early career
James H. Hill was born in Eldwick, Yorkshire, Englandon 1 August 1919. He entered the GPO Film Unit
GPO Film Unit
The GPO Film Unit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. The unit was established in 1933, taking on responsibilities of the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit...
in 1937 as an assistant, then served in the RAF Film Unit during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, receiving a DFC
Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...
. He is said to have been the model for Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
' character Flight Lt. Colin Blythe ("the Forger") in The Great Escape
The Great Escape (film)
The Great Escape is a 1963 American film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough...
(1963).
After the war he became a documentary director, primarily of shorts, before graduating to feature length children's movies with The Stolen Plans in 1952.
In 1955 Hill entered a new phase with the documentary The New Explorers, sponsored by the BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
oil company who (following Shell Oil's example) produced a number of industry-related, independently-produced documentaries and shorts. Accompanying an oil exploration team around the world on its unsuccessful quest, Hill later wrote of his trek in the trade magazine Film User that he had "...travelled nearly 100,000 miles by car, jeep, train, liner, launch, dhow, canoe, catamaran, bicycle, aircraft, flying-boat, camel, helicopter, horseback and foot." Due to production costs and almost inaccessible locations the movie was shot on 16mm film, rather than 35mm film then in common use.
Mainstream
In the 1960s Hill expanded his scope and firmly established himself as a mainstream director. In the words of Richard Chatten of The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
:
"The British cinema of the Sixties was littered with the bones of directors who showed promise in the field of documentaries and shorts but came to grief in features; but James Hill was one of the most conspicuous exceptions."
Beginning with The Kitchen
The Kitchen (film)
The Kitchen is a 1961 British drama film directed by James Hill and starring Carl Möhner, Mary Yeomans, Brian Phelan, Tom Bell, Eric Pohlmann and James Bolam. The film follows an ensemble of the staff in a cafe's kitchen during the course of one busy morning...
(1961), based on Arnold Wesker
Arnold Wesker
Sir Arnold Wesker is a prolific British dramatist known for his contributions to kitchen sink drama. He is the author of 42 plays, 4 volumes of short stories, 2 volumes of essays, a book on journalism, a children's book, extensive journalism, poetry and other assorted writings...
's play, it was quickly followed by two John Mortimer
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
play adaptations, Lunch Hour (1961), showing the dire consequences of a lunch hour romance, and the legal satire The Dock Brief
The Dock Brief
The Dock Brief is a 1962 black-and-white British legal satire directed by James Hill, starring Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough, and based on the play of the same name written by John Mortimer .Richard Attenborough was nominated for the 1963 BAFTA Award for best British Actor for his...
(1962); both essentially two-hander plays. Every Day's a Holiday
Every Day's a Holiday (1965 film)
Every Day's a Holiday is a 1965 British musical comedy film directed by James Hill and starring John Leyton, Michael Sarne and Peter Birrell. A group of teenagers take up jobs working in a seaside resort for the summer. It is also known as Seaside Swingers.-Cast:* John Leyton ... Gerry Pullman*...
(1964), for which he also wrote the screenplay, was a teenage pop musical typical of the era.
At the same time Hill continued to make documentaries and children oriented shorts, including the immensely popular and Academy Award winning Giuseppina
Giuseppina
Giuseppina is a 1960 short documentary film produced by James Hill. It won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. Production of the film was sponsored by the British Petroleum company , which also distributes the film...
(1960), following young Giuseppina's interaction with the traffic that passes by and through her father's gas station in Italy. Another popular short, The Home-Made Car
The Home Made Car
The Home Made Car is a short film directed by James Hill about a young man who rebuilds a vintage car and finds love. The film was nominated for an Academy Award...
(1964), without dialogue, won two Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
awards. Both films were regularly shown on BBC2 as Trade test colour films
Trade test colour films
Trade test colour films were broadcast by the television network BBC 2 in the early days of colour television in Britain during intervals when no regular programming had been scheduled. The goal of these transmissions was to provide colour broadcasting in these intervals for use by television shops...
(aka fillers
Filler (media)
In media, filler is material that is combined with material of greater relevance or quality to "fill out" a certain volume.-Early television:...
); in fact at 2:30 pm on 24 August 1973, Giuseppina was the last such film ever shown.
The year 1965 began with A Study in Terror
A Study in Terror
A Study in Terror is a 1965 British thriller film directed by James Hill and starring John Neville as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Houston as Dr. Watson...
, pitting an imaginary Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
against real life Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
. Considered to be one of the best films of its genre, it boasted an impressive cast which included John Neville, Donald Houston
Donald Houston
Donald Daniel Houston was a Welsh actor whose first two films – The Blue Lagoon with Jean Simmons, and A Run for Your Money with Sir Alec Guinness – were highly successful...
, Robert Morley
Robert Morley
Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE was an English actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment...
, Anthony Quayle
Anthony Quayle
Sir John Anthony Quayle, CBE was an English actor and director.-Early life:Quayle was born in Ainsdale, Southport, in Lancashire to a Manx family....
, Barry Jones
Barry Jones (actor)
Barry Jones was an actor seen in British and American films, on American television and on the stage.-Biography:...
and Judy Dench.
Born Free and African wildlife
1965 was also the year of Born FreeBorn Free
Born Free is a 1966 British drama film starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, a real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her into the wilds of Kenya. The movie was produced by Open Road Films Ltd. and Columbia...
, an international hit starring Bill Travers
Bill Travers
William Lindon-Travers was an English actor, screenwriter, director and an animal rights activist, known professionally as Bill Travers.-Life and career:...
and Virginia McKenna
Virginia McKenna
Virginia A. McKenna OBE is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner.-Early career:McKenna trained as an actress at the Central School of Speech and Drama then worked on stage in London's West End theatres before making her motion picture debut in 1952...
, based on the autobiographical book by Joy Adamson
Joy Adamson
Joy Adamson was a naturalist, artist, and author best known for her book, Born Free, which describes her experiences raising a lion cub named Elsa...
about Elsa the Lioness
Elsa the lioness
Elsa the lioness was raised by game warden George Adamson and his wife Joy Adamson in Kenya. Elsa and her two sisters, 'Big One' and 'Lustica', first came under the care of the Adamsons when only a few weeks old. They had become orphaned when George was reluctantly forced to kill their mother...
. In an interview with Doris Martin, writer Sid Cole
Sidney Cole
Sidney Henry Cole was a British film and television producer and editor.Cole was educated at the LSE, and entered the film industry as a scenario reader for Stoll Picture Productions, a company founded by Sir Oswald Stoll...
reminisced: “On Born Free I remember getting a card from Jimmy Hill saying he was in Kenya entirely surrounded by lions. (laughter).” Filmed on location in Kenya over a period of 9 months, with George Adamson
George Adamson
George Adamson , also known as the "Baba ya Simba" , was a British wildlife conservationist and author...
as technical advisor, the shoot had a profound effect on the participants.
Closely associated with Travers, McKenna and Adamson, Hill followed up with three docu/dramas related to wildlife in Africa which he either directed, co-produced and/or wrote: The Lions Are Free (1967) on the fate of the Born Free lion-actors, An Elephant Called Slowly
An Elephant Called Slowly
An Elephant Called Slowly is a Morning Star Productions Ltd. feature film starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna as themselves in a story about the couple's real-life adventures with three young African elephants while house-sitting in Kenya. George Adamson , makes an appearance as himself...
(1969), and The Lion at World's End (aka, Christian the Lion
Christian the lion
Christian was a lion originally purchased by Australians John Rendall and Anthony "Ace" Bourke from Harrods department store of London, England in 1969 and ultimately reintroduced to the African wild by conservationist George Adamson. One year after George Adamson released Christian to the wild,...
) (1971).
Later work and television
In following decades Hill is best remembered for Captain Nemo and the Underwater CityCaptain Nemo and the Underwater City
Captain Nemo and the Underwater City is a 1969 British film, featuring the character Captain Nemo and some of the settings of Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It was written by Pip and Jane Baker and stars Robert Ryan as Nemo....
(1969), Black Beauty
Black Beauty
Black Beauty is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate bestseller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, long enough to see her first and only...
(1971), The Belstone Fox (1973), The Young Visitors (1984), and for the two children's television series Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a British children's fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by the novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. A walking, talking scarecrow, Gummidge has a set of interchangeable turnip, mangel worzel and swede heads, each of which suit a particular occasion or endow...
and Worzel Gummidge Down Under
Worzel Gummidge Down Under
Worzel Gummidge Down Under, adapted from the books written by Barbara Euphan Todd and the children's television programme produced and broadcasted in the United Kingdom named Worzel Gummidge, starring Jon Pertwee...
, almost all of which he either directed, wrote and/or produced.
Active in television throughout his career, his credits include The Human Jungle
The Human Jungle
The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Weekend Television by the small production company Independent Artists and screened by the ITV Network...
, Gideon's Way
Gideon of Scotland Yard
Commander George Gideon of London's Scotland Yard is a fictional policeman created by John Creasey under the pseudonym J.J. Marric. He appeared in the first of 26 police procedural novels by Creasey, Gideon's Day, in 1955.- The character :...
, The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
, The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
, Journey to the Unknown
Journey to the Unknown
Journey To The Unknown was a British TV anthology series made in 1968, by Hammer Film Productions Ltd. It has a fantasy, science fiction and supernatural theme. It featured both British and American actors...
, The Persuaders!
The Persuaders!
The Persuaders! is a 1971 action/adventure series, produced by ITC Entertainment for initial broadcast on ITV and ABC. It has been called "the last major entry in the cycle of adventure series that had begun eleven years earlier with Danger Man in 1960", as well as "the most ambitious and most...
, The New Avengers, and C.A.T.S. Eyes
C.A.T.S. Eyes
C.A.T.S. Eyes is a British television series made by TVS for ITV between 1985 and 1987.-Premise:The series was a spin-off from The Gentle Touch and saw Jill Gascoine reprise her role as Det. Insp. Maggie Forbes, having left the police force to join a private detective agency called "Eyes" that is...
.
Selected filmography
| Year | Title | As | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | A Journey for Jeremy | director | |||
| 1952 | The Stolen Plans | director, writer | |||
| 1953 | The Clue of the Missing Ape Filmography for the Children's Film Foundation This article is a list of films produced, distributed or sponsored by the Children's Film Foundation.- Feature or Featurettes :*4D Special Agents *Adventures of Hal 5 *Anoop and The Elephant *The Battle of Billy's Pond... |
director, writer | aka Gibraltar Adventure | ||
| 1955 | The New Explorers | director | for BP BP BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"... |
||
| 1960 | Giuseppina Giuseppina Giuseppina is a 1960 short documentary film produced by James Hill. It won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. Production of the film was sponsored by the British Petroleum company , which also distributes the film... |
director, producer, writer | a James Hill Production for BP see Awards bellow |
||
| 1961 | The Kitchen The Kitchen (film) The Kitchen is a 1961 British drama film directed by James Hill and starring Carl Möhner, Mary Yeomans, Brian Phelan, Tom Bell, Eric Pohlmann and James Bolam. The film follows an ensemble of the staff in a cafe's kitchen during the course of one busy morning... |
director | |||
| 1961 | Lunch Hour | director | composed main theme | ||
| 1962 | The Dock Brief The Dock Brief The Dock Brief is a 1962 black-and-white British legal satire directed by James Hill, starring Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough, and based on the play of the same name written by John Mortimer .Richard Attenborough was nominated for the 1963 BAFTA Award for best British Actor for his... |
director | aka Trial and Error (USA) starring Peter Sellers Peter Sellers Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr... and Richard Attenborough Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi... |
||
| 1963 | The Home-Made Car The Home Made Car The Home Made Car is a short film directed by James Hill about a young man who rebuilds a vintage car and finds love. The film was nominated for an Academy Award... |
director, writer, producer | a James Hill Production; see Awards below | ||
| 1964 | Every Day's a Holiday Every Day's a Holiday (1965 film) Every Day's a Holiday is a 1965 British musical comedy film directed by James Hill and starring John Leyton, Michael Sarne and Peter Birrell. A group of teenagers take up jobs working in a seaside resort for the summer. It is also known as Seaside Swingers.-Cast:* John Leyton ... Gerry Pullman*... |
director, screenplay | aka Seaside Swingers (USA), The Adventures of Tim (UK: video title) |
||
| 1964 | The Golden Head The Golden Head The Golden Head is a 1964 American-Hungarian drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and James Hill and starring George Sanders, Buddy Hackett, Jess Conrad, Lorraine Power and Robert Coote.-Synopsis:... |
co-director | with Richard Thorpe Richard Thorpe Richard Thorpe was an American film director.Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, he began his entertainment career performing in vaudeville and onstage. In 1921 he began in motion pictures as an actor and directed his first silent film in 1923. He went on to direct more than one hundred... |
||
| 1965 | A Study in Terror A Study in Terror A Study in Terror is a 1965 British thriller film directed by James Hill and starring John Neville as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Houston as Dr. Watson... |
director | aka Fog | ||
| 1965 | Born Free Born Free Born Free is a 1966 British drama film starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, a real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her into the wilds of Kenya. The movie was produced by Open Road Films Ltd. and Columbia... |
director | see Awards below; trailer, Fandango.com: http://www.fandango.com/bornfreemovietrailer/58306 | ||
| 1967 | The Lions Are Free | director, writer, producer | trailer, videoemo.com http://www.vidoemo.com/yvideo.php?i=LXctSlNTcWuRpUGsyYjA&the-lions-are-free | ||
| 1967 | Die Hölle von Macao | director | aka The Peking Medallion The Peking Medallion The Peking Medallion, also called The Corrupt Ones, is a 1967 crime film directed by James Hill and Frank Winterstein and starring Elke Sommer, Robert Stack, Nancy Kwan and Werner Peters. The film was a co-production between France, Italy and West Germany although it was shot in English... |
||
| 1967 | An Elephant Called Slowly An Elephant Called Slowly An Elephant Called Slowly is a Morning Star Productions Ltd. feature film starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna as themselves in a story about the couple's real-life adventures with three young African elephants while house-sitting in Kenya. George Adamson , makes an appearance as himself... |
director, writer, producer | |||
| 1969 | Captain Nemo and the Underwater City Captain Nemo and the Underwater City Captain Nemo and the Underwater City is a 1969 British film, featuring the character Captain Nemo and some of the settings of Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It was written by Pip and Jane Baker and stars Robert Ryan as Nemo.... |
director | |||
| 1970 | The Man from O.R.G.Y. | director | aka, The Real Gone Girls | ||
| 1971 | The Lion at World's End | writer, producer | aka, Christian the Lion Christian the lion Christian was a lion originally purchased by Australians John Rendall and Anthony "Ace" Bourke from Harrods department store of London, England in 1969 and ultimately reintroduced to the African wild by conservationist George Adamson. One year after George Adamson released Christian to the wild,... |
||
| 1971 | Black Beauty Black Beauty Black Beauty is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate bestseller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, long enough to see her first and only... |
director, additional dialogue | |||
| 1973 | Jane Goodall Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE , is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her 45-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National... and the World of Animal Behavior: The Wild Dogs of Africa |
producer | |||
| 1973 | The Belstone Fox | director, writer | aka Free Spirit | ||
| 1975 | The Man from Nowhere | director | |||
| 1976 | London Conspiracy | director | |||
| 1979–1981 | Worzel Gummidge Worzel Gummidge Worzel Gummidge is a British children's fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by the novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. A walking, talking scarecrow, Gummidge has a set of interchangeable turnip, mangel worzel and swede heads, each of which suit a particular occasion or endow... |
director, producer | children's TV series | ||
| 1980 | The Wild and the Free | director | |||
| 1983 | Owain Glendower, Prince of Wales (TV) | director, writer | |||
| 1984 | The Young Visitors | director, screenplay, producer | |||
| 1987–1989 | Worzel Gummidge Down Under Worzel Gummidge Down Under Worzel Gummidge Down Under, adapted from the books written by Barbara Euphan Todd and the children's television programme produced and broadcasted in the United Kingdom named Worzel Gummidge, starring Jon Pertwee... |
director, writer | children's series, directed 13 episodes, wrote 3 | ||
Hill appeared as himself in:
- The Lion at World's End (1971) aka Christian the Lion (USA)
- Without Walls Documentary (1992), episode “The Avengers”
- Avenging the Avengers Documentary (archival footage) (2000)
Awards
| Year | Status | Award | Category / Title | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Won | Academy Award | Best Documentary, Short Subjects for: Giuseppina Giuseppina Giuseppina is a 1960 short documentary film produced by James Hill. It won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. Production of the film was sponsored by the British Petroleum company , which also distributes the film... (1960) |
||
| 1963 | Won | Berlin International Film Festival Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978... : Silver Bear |
Special Prize: Short Film for: The Home-Made Car The Home Made Car The Home Made Car is a short film directed by James Hill about a young man who rebuilds a vintage car and finds love. The film was nominated for an Academy Award... (1963) |
||
| 1963 | Honorable Mention | Berlin International Film Festival: Youth Film Award |
Best Short Film Suitable for Young People for: The Home-Made Car (1963) | ||
| 1964 | Nominated | Academy Award: Oscar | Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects for: The Home-Made Car (1963) | ||
| 1967 | Nominated | Directors Guild of America Directors Guild of America Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry... : DGA Award |
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for: Born Free Born Free Born Free is a 1966 British drama film starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, a real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her into the wilds of Kenya. The movie was produced by Open Road Films Ltd. and Columbia... (1966) |
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| 1980 | Nominated | BAFTA TV Award | 'Harlequin' (Drama/Light Entertainment) for: Worzel Gummidge Worzel Gummidge Worzel Gummidge is a British children's fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by the novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. A walking, talking scarecrow, Gummidge has a set of interchangeable turnip, mangel worzel and swede heads, each of which suit a particular occasion or endow... (1979) |
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| 1981 | Nominated | BAFTA TV Award | 'Harlequin' (Drama/Light Entertainment) for: Worzel Gummidge Worzel Gummidge Worzel Gummidge is a British children's fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by the novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. A walking, talking scarecrow, Gummidge has a set of interchangeable turnip, mangel worzel and swede heads, each of which suit a particular occasion or endow... (1979) |
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| 1982 | Nominated | BAFTA TV Award | 'Harlequin' (Drama/Light Entertainment) for: Worzel Gummidge Worzel Gummidge Worzel Gummidge is a British children's fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by the novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. A walking, talking scarecrow, Gummidge has a set of interchangeable turnip, mangel worzel and swede heads, each of which suit a particular occasion or endow... (1979) |
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