Arthur Crabtree(1900-1975)

Arthur Crabtree was born in Shipley, Yorkshire, where he gave up a safe job with a local firm of engineers to become a clapper boy at Elstree Studios. He had always been interested in photography and at the age of 29 he took a calculated risk, which paid of when sound hit the British studios .From being a lowly clapper boy, he rose to become an assistant to a young and upcoming director called Alfred Hitchcock, learning all he could. Ten years later, he moved to Gainsborough Studios where he became a cameraman and then a lighting director, working on such films as Kipps (1940) ,The Man in Grey (1943), and Fanny by Gaslight (1944). After that, he was noticed by Maurice Ostrer who promoted him to director for Madonna of the Seven Moons. This milestone in British film history had a cast that included Phyllis Calvert and Stewart Granger and caused great queues at cinemas when it was screened in 1945. Subsequent films by Arthur included Lilli Marlene and Hindle Wakes. His last film was Horrors of the Black Museum in 1959, after which he retired.