Marcel Varnel(1894-1947)
- Director
- Producer
- Actor
French-born Marcel Varnel began his film career not in France but in
Hollywood, as a 30-year-old in 1924. He left Hollywood for Great
Britain in the
mid-'30s and began turning out a series of low-budget comedies for Will Hay
and George Formby, among others. While his
films were for the most part undistinguished, they were popular and
moved fast, as good comedies are meant to do. His best film is
generally considered to be
Oh, Mr. Porter! (1937), a Will
Hay comedy about a hapless railroad employee who is made stationmaster
of a run-down, bottom-of-the-barrel station in Ireland and his efforts
to bring it up to speed, only to get involved with ghosts and
gun-runners. It garnered Hay some of the best reviews of his career and
Varnel's direction of the picture also met with critical acclaim.
He died in an automobile accident in England in 1947 shortly after having finished This Man Is Mine (1946).
He died in an automobile accident in England in 1947 shortly after having finished This Man Is Mine (1946).
