The Flickr Briandonlevy Image Generatr

Directed by John Sturges

Filmed in CinemaScope

Directed by Frank Tuttle

Directed by Carl Reiner

The final career film of composer Miklós Rózsa and costume designer Edith Head.

Directed by Norman Taurog

Directed by Norman Taurog

British Real Photograph postcard, London, no. FS 122. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Brian Donlevy and Rochelle Hudson in Born Reckless (Malcolm St. Clair, 1937).

Brian Donlevy (1889-1972) was an Irish-born American film actor, noted for playing tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best known films are Beau Geste (1939) and the Preston Sturges comedy The Great McGinty (1940). For his role as Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

American film actress Rochelle Hudson (1916–1972) appeared in Hollywood films from the early 1930s through the 1960s. Her roles went from ingenue to leading lady to character actress. She is best remembered for co-starring in the tense and gripping social drama Wild Boys of the Road (William A. Wellman, 1933), playing Cosette in Les Misérables (Richard Boleslawski, 1935), as the older sister of Shirley Temple in Curly Top (Irving Cummings, 1935), and as Natalie Wood's mother in Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955).

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Ray Enright present tis movie in 1950 with Audie Murphy, Brian Donlevy, Marguerite Chapman, Scott Brady,...

George Marshall present tis movie in 1939 with Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Mischa Auer, Brian Donlevy,...

This is a Photochrom Co Ltd postcard showing the view in Piccadilly Circus looking northeast with Shaftesbury Avenue on the left and Coventry Street on the right. This is summer 1949 and the American film noire movie, “Impact” is playing at the London Pavilion. It starred Brian Donlevy and Ella Raines and ran from 4th July until 14th July 1949, Ella Raines was married to Robin Olds who was a WW2 and Vietnam war fighter ace who flew a P-51 Mustang in WW2 and a F4 Phantom in Vietnam. Two more American offerings are advertised on billboards at the corner of Coventry Street and the Haymarket, two of the Marx brothers, Harpo and Chico were top of a variety bill at the London Palladium from 20th June until 16th July. They were replaced at the Palladium with Benny Goodman and his band. At the Empress Hall in Earls Court an American ice skating show was playing from 22nd June for twelve weeks. The show was called “Ice Cycles of 1949”, the show regularly toured America and Canada by rail but in 1949 for their excursion to Europe they transported thirty tons of scenery and props across the Atlantic on the SS Marine Shark, not too bad for post WW2 austerity London. One of the advertisements on the corner with Shaftesbury Avenue is for Brylcreem which was developed by County Chemicals in Birmingham, it was first available in 1928 and has since become known worldwide and is especially popular in America. It is a combination of Mineral oil and water in an emulsion stabilized by beeswax, as a kid my barber always used it on my hair whether I wanted it or not. It was kept in a large shiny black container which he pumped several times, I can remember it becoming less popular during the 1960s, but it has since seen a resurgence and holds its own among Men’s hairdressing products. A coincidence has caught two furniture vans travelling around the Circus, a Waring & Gillow Ltd van and a Druce Co Ltd van, both companies were founded in the 19th Century and both are no longer trading.

This is a postcard published in the Mason’s Alpha series showing Piccadilly Circus looking east towards Coventry Street with Shaftesbury Avenue on the left. It is 1955 and the first spin off film from the 1953 BBC Television series “The Quatermass Experiment” is playing at the London Pavilion. “The Quatermass Xperiment” was made by Hammer film productions and starred the American actor, Brian Donlevy as Professor Bernard Quatermass and Jack Warner as Inspector Lomax. Donlevy was cast as a sop to the American market where the film was known as “The Creeping Unknown” and the British title left out the “E” in Experiment to emphasise the “X” classification made by the Board of Film Censors. Hammer made two more “Quatermass” sequels, “Quatermass II” in 1957 and “Quatermass and the Pit” in 1967. The film ran at the London Pavilion from 1st September until 22nd September 1955. The advertisement on the Shaftesbury Avenue side of the London Pavilion shows a stylized Wheatsheaf and the letters “CWS” and the words “Symbol of Value”, this was an advertisement for the Co-operative Wholesale Society whose purpose was to source and manufacture food, furniture, clothing and household products for sale to other Co-operative Societies. It was founded in Manchester in 1863 with the Wheatsheaf logo and is known for its introduction of the eight-hour day as well as introducing convalescent homes for sick employees. The society is now known as the “Co-operative Group”.

The poster illustration is by Gösta Åberg.

The poster illustration is by Gösta Åberg.

The poster illustration is by Gösta Åberg.

The poster design is by Gösta Åberg.

The poster design is by Gösta Åberg.

The poster illustration is by Eric Rohman.