John Eldridge

John Eldridge made his name as a documentary director but really made his reputation for a series of gentle, lyrical and "veddy" British features. He began his career as an assistant editor in the mid-'30s, and by 1939 had graduated to a full-fledged documentary director. One of his best received earlier films was Three Dawns to Sydney (1949), about the countries one sees while flying from England to Australia. After making a few more documentaries he moved into feature films and joined John Grierson's well-regarded Group 3 Productions. His first feature for that company, Brandy for the Parson (1952), was a whimsical comedy about liquor smugglers on the coast of Kent, reminiscent of the classic British comedy Whisky Galore! (1949). His next, Scotch on the Rocks (1953), was another comedy in that same vein, about residents of the Hebrides Islands and how they outwitted an unfeeling government bureaucracy. Fuss Over Feathers (1954) was a slightly more serious tale of a bird preserve, praised by critics for the lush photography of Arthur Grant. Unfortunately, it was to be Eldridge's last film as a director. He had been plagued by poor health, and after this film he was just not up to the rigors, both physical and emotional, of directing. After writing screenplays for a half-dozen or so pictures for other directors, his health finally gave out and he died in 1960, at just 42 years of age.