Leslie Norman(1911-1993)
- Director
- Editor
- Producer
Leslie Norman began his career as a 14-year-old in the laboratories and
editorial rooms of Warner Brothers Teddington Studios. He worked his
way up from sweeping cutting-room floors to supervising editor and then
assistant director. After military service he joined Ealing, where he
became involved in their Australian operation. Norman's first major
credit was as supervising editor of the classic outback drama about
wartime cattle droving,
La route est ouverte (1946), starring
Chips Rafferty. Back in Britain he worked
on
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947)
and Frieda (1947), before resuming his
fruitful association with "Overlanders" director
Harry Watt as producer of Watt's African and
Australian "true-life" adventure dramas, including the Technicolor
Quand les vautours ne volent plus (1951)
(which he also co-wrote) and
A l'ouest de Zanzibar (1954). Norman
then produced one of the classic British war dramas of the 1950s, an
epic story of Atlantic convoy duty during World War II,
La mer cruelle (1953). The picture
made a major star out of its lead,
Jack Hawkins.
By 1955 Norman was directing his own films, beginning with the suspenser La nuit où mon destin s'est joué (1955), followed by a well-observed Australian-set character drama, Le Voyageur des plaines (1957); and even a rather well-received sci-fi drama, X the Unknown (1956) (which he took over from exiled American director Joseph Losey). He also turned out the stiff-upper-lip wartime epic Dunkerque (1958), which was Ealing's most expensive venture to date. What to do with a captured Japanese prisoner in the Malayan jungle was the theme occupying Norman's last notable directorial effort, La patrouille égarée (1961). He elicited some excellent performances from his cast (including Laurence Harvey and Richard Todd) in what was an absorbing character study of clashing personalities.
Norman, ever versatile, turned his hand to directing episodic television during the 1960s and 1970s, with particular emphasis on cult action series, such as Le Saint (1962), Alias le Baron (1966), Département S (1969) and Amicalement vôtre... (1971).
By 1955 Norman was directing his own films, beginning with the suspenser La nuit où mon destin s'est joué (1955), followed by a well-observed Australian-set character drama, Le Voyageur des plaines (1957); and even a rather well-received sci-fi drama, X the Unknown (1956) (which he took over from exiled American director Joseph Losey). He also turned out the stiff-upper-lip wartime epic Dunkerque (1958), which was Ealing's most expensive venture to date. What to do with a captured Japanese prisoner in the Malayan jungle was the theme occupying Norman's last notable directorial effort, La patrouille égarée (1961). He elicited some excellent performances from his cast (including Laurence Harvey and Richard Todd) in what was an absorbing character study of clashing personalities.
Norman, ever versatile, turned his hand to directing episodic television during the 1960s and 1970s, with particular emphasis on cult action series, such as Le Saint (1962), Alias le Baron (1966), Département S (1969) and Amicalement vôtre... (1971).
