Thorold Dickinson

Biography

Born in Bristol, England, Thorold Dickinson began his film career during the silent era as a writer. He went to work for Ealing in the 1930s, first as an editor and then as a director. He directed or produced military training films during World War II, and after the war he turned out a string of unique and well-received films, such as The Queen of Spades (1949), about an elderly woman who strikes a deal with the devil that will enable her to always win at playing cards, and Secret People (1952) a story of resistance against an undemocratic regime which features two sisters in exile. A resister from their past draws the younger of the two into an act of violence which harms neutral civilians. In 1955 Dickinson directed Hill 24 Doesn't Answer (1955), a drama about the 1947 war for independence in Israel, which was the first Israeli film to be distributed worldwide. The next year he went to work for the UN Department of Public Information as the head of its film division, producing several documentaries. He was appointed president of the International Federation of Film Societies, and in the early 1960s he was offered, and accepted, a position on the teaching staff of the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, where he instituted a pioneering postgraduate course in the research and study of Film Form and Film History. He retired from London University in 1971 as its first Professor of Film, and was then awarded the CBE. He died in London in 1984.