Known for Camera
John Laurence Wilcox was a British cinematographer active from the early 1940's up to his death in 1979. During that period he worked on numerous films, either as DOP (Director of Photography), director of second camera units on large budget films, or simply as a cameraman. In the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s he lensed several popular films, such as Carve Her Name with Pride, The Cockleshell Heroes, Safari, The Mouse That Roared, and Summer Holiday. In the mid 1960s, he struck up a good working relationship with horror director Freddie Francis, and they worked together on horror classics such as The Skull, Hysteria, The Evil of Frankenstein, The Deadly Bees, The Ghoul, and Legend of the Werewolf. As director of second camera units he worked on films such as The Third Man, The Guns of Navarone, Casino Royale and The Eagle Has Landed.
Born
May 7, 1905
Died
May 31, 1979 (age 74)
Birthplace
Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, UK
Filmography
49 films


The Hound of the Baskervilles
1978 · 1h 25m
country: United Kingdom
When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.


Terror of Frankenstein
1977 · 1h 32m
country: Ireland
Victor Frankenstein's search for the secret of life leads to the creation of a monster that consumes his life and family.


Legend of the Werewolf
1975 · 1h 25m
country: United Kingdom
In 19th-century Paris, a man raised by wolves works at a travelling circus, but on full moon nights, he transforms into a dangerous beast. Professor Paul Cataflanque is in charge of hunting him down as the young man develops an obsession for a prostitute.


The Ghoul
1975 · 1h 30m
country: United Kingdom
In 1920s England, former clergyman Dr Lawrence keeps his cannibal son locked in the attic after the young man is exposed to savage practices in India. When an auto race is held at the estate, Lawrence worries that his son may escape and terrorise the youth.


Shatter
1974 · 1h 30m
country: Hong Kong
Shatter, an international contract killer, has been assigned to assassinate the President of a small African country and collect his fee from a bank in the Far East. On arrival in Hong Kong his life is threatened and when the bank denies all knowledge of payment arrangements, he realises he has been drawn into a dangerous game where there are no rules. Amongst the players are the Mafia and several foreign intelligence services and the stakes being played for are deadly.


The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
1974 · 1h 29m
country: Hong Kong
Professor Van Helsing had been asked to help against the tyranny of skeletal creatures that are responsible for terror and death amongst the peasants in rural China. He is the only person qualified to deal with the cause of these phenomena, for the undead are controlled by the most diabolical force of all.... Count Dracula. But he is not alone- to aid him comes a mystical brotherhood of seven martial arts warriors.


Craze
1974 · 1h 36m
country: United Kingdom
A demented art dealer and antique shop owner performs nightly rituals in honour of the African god Chuku, whom he believes will reward him with unimaginable wealth and power if he merely offers human sacrifice.


Au Pair Girls
1972 · 1h 25m
country: United Kingdom
Four sexy young foreign girls come to England as au pairs and quickly become quite intimate with their employers, host families, and just about everyone else they encounter.


Steptoe & Son
1972 · 1h 38m
country: United Kingdom
Albert Steptoe and his son Harold are rag-and-bone men, complete with horse and cart to tour the neighbourhood. They also live together at the junk yard. Harold, who likes the bright lights in the West End of London, meets a stripper, marries her and takes her home. Albert is furious and tries every trick he knows to drive the new bride from his household.


The Last Valley
1971 · 2h 8m
country: United Kingdom
People in a small German village in the last valley to remain untouched by the devastating Thirty Years' War try to exist in peace with a group of soldiers occupying the valley.


Connecting Rooms
1970 · 1h 43m
country: United Kingdom
Explores the relationships shared by the residents of a seedy boarding house in London. Based on the play The Cellist, by Marion Hart.


The Chairman
1969 · 1h 33m
country: United Kingdom
An American scientist is sent to Red China to steal the formula for a newly developed agricultural enzyme. What he is not told by his bosses is that a micro-sized bomb has been planted in his brain so that should the mission ever look likely to fail, he can be eliminated at the push of a button!


The Deadly Bees
1966 · 1h 23m
country: United Kingdom
Pop singer Vicki Robbins collapses from exhaustion while shooting ta music video; her physician prescribes a respite on Seagull Island with beekeeper Ralph Hargrove. Initially finding the Hargroves' bitter marital strife oddly relaxing, the arrival of specially-bred attack bees pushes Vicki to her survival instinct.


Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.
1966 · 1h 21m
country: United Kingdom
Doctor Who and his companions are hurled into the future and make a horrifying discovery: the Daleks have conquered Earth! The metal fiends have devastated entire continents and turned the survivors into Robomen.


The Psychopath
1966 · 1h 23m
country: United Kingdom
Four men involved in the investigation of a German millionaire at the end of World War II are found murdered with tiny dolls beside their corpses.


Judith
1966 · 1h 49m
country: Israel
A Jewish woman is recruited to help track down a German commander who was her former husband.


The Skull
1965 · 1h 23m
country: United Kingdom
Esoterica collector Dr Maitland buys an unusual skull from his ordinary source; the artifact is what remains of the Marquis De Sade. Much too soon, Maitland discovers that the skull is turning him into a frenzied killer.


Dr. Who and the Daleks
1965 · 1h 22m
country: United Kingdom
Scientist Doctor Who accidentally activates his new invention, the Tardis, a time machine disguised as a police telephone box. Who, his two granddaughters Barbara and Susan, and Barbara's boyfriend Ian are transported through time and space to the planet Skaro, where a peaceful race of Thals are under threat of nuclear attack from the planet's other inhabitants: the robotic mutant Daleks.


Hysteria
1965 · 1h 25m
country: United Kingdom
An American wakes in an English hospital, unable to remember anything prior to a recent car accident. With only a magazine photograph as a guide, and an unknown benefactor, he attempts to unravel what increasingly looks like a bizarre murder.


The Evil of Frankenstein
1964 · 1h 27m
country: United Kingdom
Once hounded from his castle by outraged villagers for creating a monstrous living being, Baron Frankenstein returns to Karlstaad. High in the mountains they stumble on the body of the creature, perfectly preserved in the ice. He is brought back to life with the help of the hypnotist Zoltan who now controls the creature. Can Frankenstein break Zoltan's hypnotic spell that incites the monster to commit these horrific murders or will Zoltan induce the creature to destroy its creator?


Nightmare
1964 · 1h 23m
country: United Kingdom
A young woman is plagued by nightmares of her asylum-patient mother. Upon returning to her family home, the nightmares become real when she sees a strange woman pacing the halls.


Summer Holiday
1963 · 1h 48m
country: United Kingdom
1960s musical showcasing Cliff Richard. Four bus mechanics working for London Transport strike up a deal with the company: they do up a one of the company's legendary red double decker buses and take it to southern Europe as a mobile hotel. If it succeeds, they will be put in charge of a whole fleet. While on the road in France they pick up three young British ladies whose car breaks down and offer to take them to their next singing job in Athens. They also pick up a stowaway, who hides the fact that she's a famous American pop star on the run, chased by the media and her parents.


The King's Breakfast
1963 · 28m
country: United Kingdom
A king misses the butter on his slice of bread.


Some People
1962 · 1h 33m
country: United Kingdom
Four teen-aged Teds are persuaded to form a rock group and undertake the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme to keep them out of trouble.


Waltz of the Toreadors
1962 · 1h 45m
country: United Kingdom
At the end of a successful military career, womanising Leo Fitzjohn retires to his countryside manor with his unbearable family. When his platonic French mistress Ghislaine arrives at the door, Fitzjohn is prepared to take the relationship to the next level. However, Fitzjohn must compete for Ghislaine's affections against his own aide.


Only Two Can Play
1962 · 1h 46m
country: United Kingdom
John Lewis is bored of his job and his wife. Then Liz, wife of a local councillor, sets her sights on him. But this is risky stuff in a Welsh valleys town - if he and Liz ever manage to consummate their affair, that is.


Mr. Topaze
1961 · 1h 37m
country: United Kingdom
Mr. Topaze is an unassuming school teacher in an unassuming small French town, who is honest to a fault. He is fired when he refuses to give a passing grade to a bad student, the grandson of a wealthy baroness. Castel Benac, a government official who runs a crooked financial business on the side, is persuaded by his mistress, Suzy, a musical comedy actress, to hire Mr. Topaze as the front man for his business. Gradually, Topaze becomes a rapacious financier who sacrifices his honesty for success and, in a final stroke of business bravado, fires Benac and acquires Suzy in the deal. An old friend and colleague, Tamise questions him and tells Topaze that what he now says and practices indicates there are no more honest men.


Light Up the Sky!
1960 · 1h 30m
country: United Kingdom
Chaos ensues when a bunch of misfits man a British searchlight battery during World War II.


A Touch of Larceny
1960 · 1h 33m
country: United Kingdom
After falling in love with an American woman, Virginia Killain, who is engaged to another man, British Naval Commander Max Easton, hatches a plan that will get him enough money to support Virginia in the lifestyle she is accustomed to. Easton's plan is to disappear for a time making it seem that he has defected to the Soviets taking important Naval secrets from his job at the Admiralty and to return and sue the newspapers for slander. Not everything goes as planned for Commander Easton.


Expresso Bongo
1959 · 1h 51m
country: United Kingdom
A seedy London promoter turns a naive, working-class teenager into a pop singing sensation.


The Mouse That Roared
1959 · 1h 23m
country: United Kingdom
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. They send an invasion force (in chain mail, armed with bows and arrows) to New York and they arrive during a nuclear drill that has cleared the streets.


Harry Black and the Tiger
1958 · 1h 47m
country: United Kingdom
In the mysterious jungle of India, Harry Black, a skilled hunter, hunts a dangerous tiger which attacked. This tiger has already claimed hundreds of victims. While recovering from his wounds will review the most important moments of his life.


Carve Her Name with Pride
1958 · 1h 59m
country: United Kingdom
London, England, during World War II. After living a tragic life experience, young Violette Szabo joins the Special Operations Executive and crosses the German enemy lines as a secret agent to aid a French Resistance group.


Zarak
1956 · 1h 39m
country: United Kingdom
A notorious bandit develops a grudging respect for the English military man assigned to capture him.


Safari
1956 · 1h 30m
country: United Kingdom
Wealthy eccentric Sir Vincent Brampton and his fiancée Linda Latham hire Ken Duffield to lead them on a jungle hunt. Duffield is looking for the murderer of his son; he gets the killer and Linda.


April in Portugal
1956 · 20m
country: Portugal
Beautiful Jocelyn Lane goes sightseeing in Portugal accompanied by bandleader George Melachrino and his orchestra. Featuring Portugal's top singing star Amália Rodrigues and the world-famous Tagide Club Dancers of Lisbon.


The Cockleshell Heroes
1955 · 1h 37m
country: United Kingdom
During WW2, German ships are "safely" docked upriver at Bordeaux, but the British send a team of kayakers to attack them.


The Black Knight
1954 · 1h 25m
country: United Kingdom
John, a blacksmith and swordsmith, is tutored at Camelot. As a commoner, he can't hope to win the hand of Lady Linet, daughter of the Earl of Yeoniland, so he creates a secret alternate identity as the Black Knight. In this new role, he is now able to help King Arthur when Saracens and Cornish men—disguised as Vikings -- plot to take over the country.


Hell Below Zero
1954 · 1h 30m
country: United Kingdom
Duncan Craig signs on a whaling ship, partly because his own business deal has fallen through, partly to help Judie Nordhall find her father. Rumor has it that her father may have been murdered by Erik Bland, son of her father's partner and her one-time lover. Duncan and Erik find themselves on rival whaleboats and, ultimately, on an ice floe.


The Red Beret
1953 · 1h 28m
country: United Kingdom
Steve MacKendrick resigns from the US Army after causing the needless death of a fellow officer. Wanting to serve in the war, he enlists as a Canadian in the British 1st Parachute Brigade. He proves himself exceptionally skilled for a recruit, arousing the suspicion of his commanding officer who starts an investigation. He redeems himself during combat. The film was titled "Paratrooper" in the US.


Who Goes There!
1952 · 1h 22m
country: United Kingdom
When Miles Cornwall returns suddenly to the home he shares with his father and sister in a grace-and-favour house at St. James's Palace, he's amazed to find a pretty Irish girl in his favorite armchair. Intrigued, he turns on the charm but, as she explains her situation, he finds himself unaccountably falling in love with this pretty interloper.


Mr. Denning Drives North
1951 · 1h 33m
country: United Kingdom
When well-off aircraft designer Denning finds his daughter's current boyfriend is a nasty character he tries to buy him off, ending up hitting him and causing his death when he falls. Instead of calling the police he dumps the body in a lonely spot on the road to the North, making it look like a hit-and-run accident. Weeks later there is still no report of the body being found, and Denning starts to go to pieces. When he lets his wife into his secret the two start making enquiries, possibly making things worse.


Outcast of the Islands
1951 · 1h 42m
country: United Kingdom
After financial improprieties are discovered at the Eastern trading company where he works, Peter Willems flees the resulting disgrace and criminal charges. He persuades the man who gave him his start in life, the merchant ship captain Lingard, to bring him to a trading post on a remote Indonesian island where he can hide out.


The New Lot
1943 · 43m
country: United Kingdom
A new batch of Army recruits, from diverse backgrounds and with varying degrees of commitment, is shaped into an efficient fighting unit.