Pen TENNYSON

Penrose Tennyson is a minor but appealing figure in British cinema history whose considerable promise was cut short by an early death. Born in London on 26 August 1912, he was a great-grandson of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson and his father was a senior government official. After Eton, he studied briefly at Oxford, but swiftly left to pursue a career in the cinema. He started work with Michael Balcon (who was a friend of the family) in the script department at Gaumont-British in 1932 and then became an assistant director. He worked with Victor SAVILLE on The Good Companions (1933) and with HITCHCOCK on a number of films including The 39 Steps (1935). He then followed Balcon as he went to MGM British and then on to Ealing. It was here that he made his debut as a feature director with There Ain't No Justice (1939) which he also wrote, as with all of his films as a director. He was the youngest director then working in British films. The film's depiction of corruption in the world of boxing indicated Tennyson's preference for films with a strong social conscience, which was to become his trademark.

He made a greater impact with The Proud Valley (1940), a drama set in the South Wales coalfields which clearly takes the side of the unemployed miners against the self-serving pit owners.