The Ship That Died of Shame

Basil Dearden was an English film director. Dearden was born at Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. He graduated from theatre direction to film, working as an assistant to Basil Dean. He later changed his own name to Dearden to avoid confusion with his mentor. He first began working as a director at Ealing... Studios, co-directing comedy films with Will Hay, including The Goose Steps Out and My Learned Friend . He worked on the influential chiller compendium Dead of Night and directed the linking narrative and the "Hearse Driver" segment. He also directed The Captive Heart starring Michael Redgrave, a 1946 British war drama, produced by Ealing Studios. The film was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. The Blue Lamp , probably the most frequently shown of Dearden's Ealing films, is a police drama which first introduced audiences to PC George Dixon, later resurrected for the long-running Dixon of Dock Green television series. His last Ealing film, Out of the Clouds, was released in 1955.
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Michael Relph was a British art director and producer. He was the son of actor George Relph. He began his film career in 1933 as an assistant art director under Alfred Junge at Gaumont British then headed by Michael Balcon. In 1942 Relph began work at Ealing as chief art director. He worked mainly... on Basil Dearden's films, and in 1949 was nominated for an Academy Award for art direction for his work on the Stewart Granger vehicle Saraband for Dead Lovers . Later in his career, Relph worked as a producer. He had a 20-year partnership with Basil Dearden beginning in 1949 and ending with Dearden's death in 1971. From 1972 to 1979, he was chairman of the British Film Institute's Production Board. His son, Simon Relph, is also a film producer and former chairman of BAFTA. His daughter, Emma Relph, had several parts on television and in the films as an actress during the 1980s.
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