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{{Short description|English filmmaker (1886–1940)}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Geoffrey Malins
| name = Geoffrey Malins
Line 6: Line 7:
| birth_name = Arthur Herbert Malins
| birth_name = Arthur Herbert Malins
| birth_date = {{birth date|1886|11|18|df=y}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1886|11|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = Hastings
| birth_place = [[Hastings, Sussex]], England
| death_date = 1940
| death_date = {{death date and age|1940|2|11|1886|11|18|df=y}}
| death_place =
| death_place = [[Cape Town]], [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]]
| death_cause =
| death_cause =
| occupation = Film director, screenwriter, photographer
| occupation = Film director, screenwriter, photographer
| years_active =
| years_active =
| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Caroline Saywell|1909|1920|end = divorced}}|{{marriage|Gladys Peterkin|1923|1925|end = divorced}}|{{marriage|Phyllis Ward|1939}}}}
| children = 3
}}
}}


'''Arthur "Geoffrey" Herbert Malins''' (18 November 1886 – 1940) was a British film director most famous for camera and editing work on the 1916 film [[The Battle of the Somme (film)|The Battle of the Somme]].
'''Geoffrey Herbert Malins''' (born '''Arthur Herbert Malins'''; 18 November 1886 – 11 February 1940) was a British film director most famous for camera and editing work on the 1916 [[war film]] ''[[The Battle of the Somme (film)|The Battle of the Somme]]'', which combined [[documentary]] and [[propaganda]], and reached an audience of over 20 million viewers.


==Biography==
==Background==
Malins was born '''Arthur Herbert Malins''' in [[Hastings, Sussex]], the son of a hairdresser.<ref name = ODNB>{{cite ODNB|last1=Smither|first1=Roger|title=Malins, Geoffrey Herbert|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/107325|year=2004|publisher=OUP|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/107325|isbn=978-0-19-861411-1|accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref> Starting his career as a photographer, he secured a position in 1910 with the Croydon-based [[Clarendon Film Company]].<ref name = ODNB/>
==Career==
⚫
===Film===
[[File:George malins z aeroskopem St Eloi.jpg|thumb|250px|Geoffrey Malins with [[aeroscope]] camera during WWI.]]
⚫
Prior to the outbreak of the [[First World War]], Malins joined the British arm of the [[Gaumont Film Company]]. In the autumn of the 1914, the company sent him to [[Belgium]] to record footage of the Belgian army in action.<ref name=Malins5>{{cite book |last1=Malins |first1=Geoffrey |title=How I filmed the war |date=1920 |publisher=Herbert Jenkins Limited|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/ifilmedwar00maliuoft/page/n22 5]|url=https://archive.org/details/ifilmedwar00maliuoft |accessdate=3 January 2016}}</ref>


⚫
1915 saw the release of a number of song films shot by Malins.<ref>{{cite web|title=Orpheus Song Films|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/5530398d78b53 |website=Explore Film|publisher=BFI |accessdate=3 January 2016}}{{dead link|date=October 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> These were silent films based on well known tunes such as [[Abide with Me]] and On the Banks of Allan Water, designed to be shown with live singers providing a musical accompaniment.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Brown |editor1-first=Julie |editor2-last=Davison |editor2-first=Annette |title=The Sounds of the Silents in Britain |date=2013 |publisher=OUP |page=57 }}</ref> Late the same year Malins received a War Office appointment to act as an official cameraman. He was given an honorary rank and sent to the front with an assistant.
Malins was born in Hastings, Essex, the son of a hairdresser. Starting his career as a photographer, he secured a position in 1910 with the Croydon-based [[Clarendon Film Company]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smither|first1=Roger|title=Malins, Geoffrey Herbert|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/107325|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=OUP|accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>


⚫
The pinnacle of the footage shot by Malins and his assistant John McDowell in 1916 is represented in the feature ''[[The Battle of the Somme (film)|The Battle of the Somme]]''. The huge success of the film led to the release of ''The Battle of the Ancre and the Advance of the Tanks'' but Malins' work at the front was hampered by increasing ill health. He was invalided out of the army in June 1918.<ref name = ODNB/>
⚫
===Film career===

⚫
Prior to the outbreak of the [[First World War]], Malins joined the British arm of the [[Gaumont Film Company]]. In the autumn of the 1914, the company sent him to Belgium to record footage of the Belgian army in action.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=How I filmed the war|date=1920|publisher=Herbert Jenkins Limited|location=London|page=5|url=https://archive.org/details/ifilmedwar00maliuoft|accessdate=3 January 2016}}</ref>

⚫
1915 saw the release of a number of song films shot by Malins.<ref>{{cite web|title=Orpheus Song Films|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/5530398d78b53|website=Explore Film|publisher=BFI|accessdate=3 January 2016}}</ref> These were silent films based on well known tunes such as [[Abide with Me]] and On the Banks of Allan Water, designed to be shown with live singers providing a musical accompaniment.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Brown|editor1-first=Julie|editor2-last=Davison|editor2-first=Annette|title=The Sounds of the Silents in Britain|date=2013|publisher=OUP|page=57|accessdate=18 October 2015}}</ref> Late the same year Malins received a War Office appointment to act as an official cameraman. He was given an honorary rank and sent to the front with an assistant.

⚫
The pinnacle of the footage shot by Malins and his assistant John McDowell in 1916 is represented in the feature [[The Battle of the Somme (film)|The Battle of the Somme]]. The huge success of the film led to the release of ''The Battle of the Ancre and the Advance of the Tanks'' but Malins' work at the front was hampered by increasing ill health. He was invalided out of the army in June 1918.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smither|first1=Roger|title=Malins, Geoffrey Herbert|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/107325|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=OUP|accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>


Malins published an account of his wartime filming in 1920 entitled ''How I Filmed the War''. The book conveys the extremely dangerous conditions under which Malins worked (though it also omits reference to McDowell). In it Malins described his own feelings towards the Battle of the Somme's initial reception in Britain:
Malins published an account of his wartime filming in 1920 entitled ''How I Filmed the War''. The book conveys the extremely dangerous conditions under which Malins worked (though it also omits reference to McDowell). In it Malins described his own feelings towards the Battle of the Somme's initial reception in Britain:


"I really thought that some of the dead scenes would offend the British public. And yet why should they? It is only a very mild touch of what is happening day after day, week after week, on the bloody plains of France and Belgium ... the British public did not object to these realistic scenes in the film. They realised that it was their duty to see for themselves."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=How I Filmed the War|date=1920|publisher=Herbert Jenkins|page=183|url=https://archive.org/stream/ifilmedwar00maliuoft/ifilmedwar00maliuoft_djvu.txt|accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>
"I really thought that some of the dead scenes would offend the British public. And yet why should they? It is only a very mild touch of what is happening day after day, week after week, on the bloody plains of France and Belgium ... the British public did not object to these realistic scenes in the film. They realised that it was their duty to see for themselves."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=How I Filmed the War |date=1920 |publisher=Herbert Jenkins |page=183 |url=https://archive.org/stream/ifilmedwar00maliuoft/ifilmedwar00maliuoft_djvu.txt |accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>


In June 1918, Malins was awarded an [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]. The citation commended his work as official photographer "in circumstances of great difficulty and danger."<ref>{{cite news|title=Supplement to the London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30738/supplement/6897|accessdate=3 January 2016|issue=30738|date=7 June 1918}}</ref>
In June 1918, Malins was awarded an [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]. The citation commended his work as official photographer "in circumstances of great difficulty and danger."<ref>{{cite news |title=Supplement to the London Gazette |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30738/supplement/6897 |accessdate=3 January 2016 |issue=30738 |date=7 June 1918}}</ref>


In January 1919, Malins founded the Garrick Film Company. The company produced at least three films, directed by Malins: Patricia Brent, Spinster (depicting a [[German strategic bombing during World War I|German air attack on London]] and promoted as 'the air raid film'), The Greater Love and The Golden Web.<ref>{{cite web|title=Garrick Films|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9876b9c2|website=Explore Film|publisher=BFI|accessdate=3 January 2016}}</ref> The Golden Web had a plot based around the discovery of a gold mine<ref>{{cite web|title=The Golden Web (1920)|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b71fe7f1b|website=Explore Film|publisher=BFI|accessdate=3 January 2016}}</ref> but the film did not prove to be one and the company went into liquidation in August the following year.<ref>{{cite web|title=BT 31/24338/152650|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4966031|publisher=The National Archives|accessdate=3 January 2016}}</ref> Malins made at least half a dozen features and several more shorts with the Dundee actress [[Ena Beaumont]] who was also a partner at Garrick.
In January 1919, Malins founded the Garrick Film Company. The company produced at least three films, directed by Malins: ''Patricia Brent, Spinster'' (depicting a [[German strategic bombing during World War I|German air attack on London]] and promoted as 'the air raid film'), ''The Greater Love'' and ''The Golden Web''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Garrick Films|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9876b9c2|website=Explore Film|publisher=BFI|accessdate=3 January 2016}}{{dead link|date=October 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> ''The Golden Web'' had a plot based around the discovery of a gold mine,<ref>{{cite web|title=The Golden Web (1920)|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b71fe7f1b|website=Explore Film|publisher=BFI|accessdate=3 January 2016}}{{dead link|date=October 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> but the film failed, and the company went into liquidation in August the following year.<ref>{{cite web|title=BT 31/24338/152650|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4966031|publisher=The National Archives|accessdate=3 January 2016}}</ref> Malins made at least half a dozen features and several more shorts with London-born actress [[Gladys Mary Peterkin Mitchell]] (1892-1986; "Ena Beaumont"), a partner at Garrick to whom he was briefly married.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0064591/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm |title=Ena Beaumont (Gladys Mary Peterkin Mitchell) |website=Internet Movie Database (IMDB) |access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref>


===Circumnavigation===
===Circumnavigation===


In 1922 Malins was involved in an attempt to fly around the world, in a team including Wing Commander [[Norman Macmillan (RAF officer)|Norman Macmillan]] and led by Major [[Wilfred Theodore Blake|Wilfred Blake]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Blake|first1=Wilfred Theodore|title=Some difficulties in flying round the world|journal=Geographical Journal|date=1923|volume=61|issue=4|pages=273–279|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1781257|accessdate=2 January 2016}}</ref> The group flew successfully as far as India but no further.<ref>{{cite news|title=The World Flight|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74071498|accessdate=2 January 2016|work=Adelaide Advertiser|publisher=Trove|date=8 September 1922}}</ref> A follow up attempt the following year was also unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite web|title=The World-Flight Expedition of 1923|url=http://www.frontiersmenhistorian.info/world.htm|website=The Frontiersman Historian|accessdate=3 January 2016}}</ref>
In 1922, Malins was involved in an attempt to fly around the world, in a team including Wing Commander [[Norman Macmillan (RAF officer)|Norman Macmillan]] and led by Major [[Wilfred Theodore Blake|Wilfred Blake]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Blake|first1=Wilfred Theodore|title=Some difficulties in flying round the world|journal=Geographical Journal|date=1923|volume=61|issue=4|pages=273–279|doi=10.2307/1781257|jstor=1781257}}</ref> The group flew successfully as far as India but no further.<ref>{{cite news|title=The World Flight|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74071498|accessdate=2 January 2016|work=Adelaide Advertiser|publisher=Trove|date=8 September 1922}}</ref> A follow-up attempt the following year was also unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite web|title=The World-Flight Expedition of 1923|url=http://www.frontiersmenhistorian.info/world.htm|website=The Frontiersman Historian|accessdate=3 January 2016|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180222/http://www.frontiersmenhistorian.info/world.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>


In November 1926, Malins commenced an attempt to journey round the world by motorcycle and sidecar accompanied by Charles Oliver. The pair rode bikes Malins nicknamed 'Pip' and 'Squeak'.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=Going Further|date=1931|publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot|location=London|url=http://www.worldcat.org/title/going-further/oclc/5296602}}</ref> Malins described the objects of the expedition as being to "to create a record for, and demonstrate the reliability of British Motor Cycles, to investigate the position of British films in the various countries traversed; and to secure a film of the whole trip".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=Going Further|date=1931|publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot|location=London|page=v|url=http://www.worldcat.org/title/going-further/oclc/5296602}}</ref> Together with Jimmy Baxter, the pair set out from London travelling through Europe, the Middle and Far East, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and San Francisco to New York. The team returned successfully to London in December 1927.
In November 1926, Malins commenced an attempt to journey round the world by motorcycle and sidecar accompanied by Charles Oliver. The pair rode bikes Malins nicknamed 'Pip' and 'Squeak'.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=Going Further|date=1931|publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot|location=London|oclc=5296602}}</ref> Malins described the objects of the expedition as being "to create a record for, and demonstrate the reliability of British Motor Cycles, to investigate the position of British films in the various countries traversed; and to secure a film of the whole trip".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=Going Further|date=1931|publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot|location=London|page=v|oclc=5296602}}</ref> Together with Jimmy Baxter, the pair set out from London travelling through Europe, the Middle and Far East, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and San Francisco to New York. The team returned successfully to London in December 1927.


En route Malins gave evidence to the [[Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry in Australia]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=Going Further|date=1931|publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot|location=London|page=355|url=http://www.worldcat.org/title/going-further/oclc/5296602}}</ref> and "watched D.W. Griffiths[sic] at work directing scenes in an old Spanish setting".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=Going Further|date=1931|publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot|location=London|page=366|url=http://www.worldcat.org/title/going-further/oclc/5296602}}</ref> He also shot extensive footage of the trip and gave a series of lectures.
En route, Malins gave evidence to the [[Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry in Australia]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=Going Further|date=1931|publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot|location=London|page=355|oclc=5296602}}</ref> and "watched D.W. Griffiths [sic] at work directing scenes in an old Spanish setting".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malins|first1=Geoffrey|title=Going Further|date=1931|publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot|location=London|page=366|oclc=5296602}}</ref> He also shot extensive footage of the trip and gave a series of lectures. Malins published an account of the motorcycle journey in 1931 entitled 'Going Further'. In the 1930s, Malins settled in South Africa.<ref name = ODNB/>


⚫
==Personal life==
Malins published an account of the motorcycle journey in 1931 entitled 'Going Further'. In the 1930s Malins settled in South Africa.


⚫
Malins married his first wife Caroline in March 1909.<ref>{{cite web|title=J 77/1435/4162|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8017422|publisher=The National Archives|accessdate=2 January 2016}}</ref> The couple had two children, Monica (born 4 June 1910) and Patricia (born 29 July 1914), but by 1917, their marriage had broken down and they were divorced in 1920.<ref>{{cite web|title=J 77/1435/4162|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8017422|publisher=The National Archives|accessdate=2 January 2016}}</ref> In April 1923, Malins married [[Gladys Mary Peterkin Mitchell]] (actress Ena Beaumont). The couple divorced in 1925.<ref>{{cite web|title=J 77/2151/7369|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8040630|publisher=The National Archives|accessdate=2 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0064591/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm |title=Ena Beaumont (Gladys Mary Peterkin Mitchell) |website=Internet Movie Database (IMDB) |access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref> Thereafter, the latter became the wife of Malins' former flight partner, [[Norman Macmillan (RAF officer)|Norman Macmillan]].<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Norman Macmillan Obituary |date=1976-08-11 |page=14}}</ref> In June 1933, Malins married his third wife Phyllis War, and they had one daughter.<ref name = ODNB/>
⚫
===Personal life===


Malins died from cancer in [[Cape Town]] on 11 February 1940.<ref name = ODNB/>
⚫
Malins married his first wife Caroline in March 1909.<ref>{{cite web|title=J 77/1435/4162|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8017422|publisher=The National Archives|accessdate=2 January 2016}}</ref> The couple had two children Monica (born 4 June 1910) and Patricia (born 29 July 1914) but by 1917 their marriage had broken down and they were divorced in 1920.<ref>{{cite web|title=J 77/1435/4162|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8017422|publisher=The National Archives|accessdate=2 January 2016}}</ref> In April 1923, Malins married Glady Mary Peterkin. The couple divorced in 1925.<ref>{{cite web|title=J 77/2151/7369|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8040630|publisher=The National Archives|accessdate=2 January 2016}}</ref> In June 1933 Malins married his third wife Phyllis Ward.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smither|first1=Roger|title=Malins, Geoffrey Herbert|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/107325|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=OUP|accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>


==Selected Filmography==
==Selected filmography==
{{div col|cols=2}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[The Battle of the Somme (film)|The Battle of the Somme]] (1916)
* ''[[The Battle of the Somme (film)|The Battle of the Somme]]'' (1916)
* The German Retreat and the Battle of Arras (1917)
* ''The German Retreat and the Battle of Arras'' (1917)
* The Girl from Downing Street (1918)
* ''The Girl from Downing Street'' (1918)
* Patricia Brent, Spinster (1919)
* ''Patricia Brent, Spinster'' (1919)
* The Golden Web (1920)
* ''[[The Golden Web (1920 film)|The Golden Web]]'' (1920)
* Our Girls and their Physique (series) (1920)
* ''[[All the Winners]]'' (1920)
* ''Our Girls and their Physique'' (series) (1920)
* Inquisitive (1920) (co-directed with Neville Bruce)
* ''Inquisitive'' (1920) (co-directed with Neville Bruce)
* Series of [[Ally Sloper]] short films (1921)
* Series of [[Ally Sloper]] short films (1921)
* The Scourge (1922)
* ''[[The Scourge (film)|The Scourge]]'' (1922)
* [[The Wonderful Wooing]] (1925)
* ''[[The Recoil (1922 film)|The Recoil]]'' (1922)
* The Changeling (1928)
* ''[[The Wonderful Wooing]]'' (1925)
* London Melody (1930)
* ''The Changeling'' (1928)
* ''London Melody'' (1930)
{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist|30em}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/107325 DNB article]
* [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/107325 DNB article]
* [http://blogs.iwm.org.uk/research/2015/02/geoffrey-malins-early-adopter-2/ Malins as pioneer of product placement and crowd funding]
* [http://blogs.iwm.org.uk/research/2015/02/geoffrey-malins-early-adopter-2/ Malins as pioneer of product placement and crowd funding] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150304231339/http://blogs.iwm.org.uk/research/2015/02/geoffrey-malins-early-adopter-2 |date=2015-03-04 }}
* [http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9f1e8c52 Filmography at BFI Explore]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120722225424/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9f1e8c52 Filmography at BFI Explore]
* [http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/pictures/captain-malins-1927-oec-temple/ Photos of 1926 motorbike tour]
* [http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/pictures/captain-malins-1927-oec-temple/ Photos of 1926 motorbike tour]
* [https://archive.org/details/ifilmedwar00maliuoft How I Filmed the War] (Internet Archive), [http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/History/How-I-Filmed-the-War-Audiobook/B005HF3B86 as audiobook] (Audible)
* [https://archive.org/details/ifilmedwar00maliuoft How I Filmed the War] (Internet Archive), [http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/History/How-I-Filmed-the-War-Audiobook/B005HF3B86 as audiobook] (Audible)


{{Authority control}}
⚫
[[Category:British film directors]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malins, Geoffrey}}
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
⚫
[[Category:English film directors]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in South Africa]]
[[Category:English emigrants to South Africa]]
[[Category:People from Hastings]]

Latest revision as of 22:00, 11 November 2024

Geoffrey Malins
Geoffrey Malins in his photographic studio, c. 1905
Born
Arthur Herbert Malins

(1886-11-18)18 November 1886
Hastings, Sussex, England
Died11 February 1940(1940-02-11) (aged 53)
Cape Town, South Africa
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, photographer
Spouses
  • Caroline Saywell
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1909; div. 1920)​
  • Gladys Peterkin
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1923; div. 1925)​
  • Phyllis Ward
    ​
    (m. 1939)​
Children3

Geoffrey Herbert Malins (born Arthur Herbert Malins; 18 November 1886 – 11 February 1940) was a British film director most famous for camera and editing work on the 1916 war film The Battle of the Somme, which combined documentary and propaganda, and reached an audience of over 20 million viewers.

Background

[edit]

Malins was born Arthur Herbert Malins in Hastings, Sussex, the son of a hairdresser.[1] Starting his career as a photographer, he secured a position in 1910 with the Croydon-based Clarendon Film Company.[1]

Career

[edit]

Film

[edit]
Geoffrey Malins with aeroscope camera during WWI.

Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, Malins joined the British arm of the Gaumont Film Company. In the autumn of the 1914, the company sent him to Belgium to record footage of the Belgian army in action.[2]

1915 saw the release of a number of song films shot by Malins.[3] These were silent films based on well known tunes such as Abide with Me and On the Banks of Allan Water, designed to be shown with live singers providing a musical accompaniment.[4] Late the same year Malins received a War Office appointment to act as an official cameraman. He was given an honorary rank and sent to the front with an assistant.

The pinnacle of the footage shot by Malins and his assistant John McDowell in 1916 is represented in the feature The Battle of the Somme. The huge success of the film led to the release of The Battle of the Ancre and the Advance of the Tanks but Malins' work at the front was hampered by increasing ill health. He was invalided out of the army in June 1918.[1]

Malins published an account of his wartime filming in 1920 entitled How I Filmed the War. The book conveys the extremely dangerous conditions under which Malins worked (though it also omits reference to McDowell). In it Malins described his own feelings towards the Battle of the Somme's initial reception in Britain:

"I really thought that some of the dead scenes would offend the British public. And yet why should they? It is only a very mild touch of what is happening day after day, week after week, on the bloody plains of France and Belgium ... the British public did not object to these realistic scenes in the film. They realised that it was their duty to see for themselves."[5]

In June 1918, Malins was awarded an OBE. The citation commended his work as official photographer "in circumstances of great difficulty and danger."[6]

In January 1919, Malins founded the Garrick Film Company. The company produced at least three films, directed by Malins: Patricia Brent, Spinster (depicting a German air attack on London and promoted as 'the air raid film'), The Greater Love and The Golden Web.[7] The Golden Web had a plot based around the discovery of a gold mine,[8] but the film failed, and the company went into liquidation in August the following year.[9] Malins made at least half a dozen features and several more shorts with London-born actress Gladys Mary Peterkin Mitchell (1892-1986; "Ena Beaumont"), a partner at Garrick to whom he was briefly married.[10]

Circumnavigation

[edit]

In 1922, Malins was involved in an attempt to fly around the world, in a team including Wing Commander Norman Macmillan and led by Major Wilfred Blake.[11] The group flew successfully as far as India but no further.[12] A follow-up attempt the following year was also unsuccessful.[13]

In November 1926, Malins commenced an attempt to journey round the world by motorcycle and sidecar accompanied by Charles Oliver. The pair rode bikes Malins nicknamed 'Pip' and 'Squeak'.[14] Malins described the objects of the expedition as being "to create a record for, and demonstrate the reliability of British Motor Cycles, to investigate the position of British films in the various countries traversed; and to secure a film of the whole trip".[15] Together with Jimmy Baxter, the pair set out from London travelling through Europe, the Middle and Far East, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and San Francisco to New York. The team returned successfully to London in December 1927.

En route, Malins gave evidence to the Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry in Australia[16] and "watched D.W. Griffiths [sic] at work directing scenes in an old Spanish setting".[17] He also shot extensive footage of the trip and gave a series of lectures. Malins published an account of the motorcycle journey in 1931 entitled 'Going Further'. In the 1930s, Malins settled in South Africa.[1]

Personal life

[edit]

Malins married his first wife Caroline in March 1909.[18] The couple had two children, Monica (born 4 June 1910) and Patricia (born 29 July 1914), but by 1917, their marriage had broken down and they were divorced in 1920.[19] In April 1923, Malins married Gladys Mary Peterkin Mitchell (actress Ena Beaumont). The couple divorced in 1925.[20][21] Thereafter, the latter became the wife of Malins' former flight partner, Norman Macmillan.[22] In June 1933, Malins married his third wife Phyllis War, and they had one daughter.[1]

Malins died from cancer in Cape Town on 11 February 1940.[1]

Selected filmography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Smither, Roger (2004). "Malins, Geoffrey Herbert". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). OUP. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/107325. ISBN 978-0-19-861411-1. Retrieved 19 October 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Malins, Geoffrey (1920). How I filmed the war. London: Herbert Jenkins Limited. p. 5. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  3. ^ "Orpheus Song Films". Explore Film. BFI. Retrieved 3 January 2016.[dead link‍]
  4. ^ Brown, Julie; Davison, Annette, eds. (2013). The Sounds of the Silents in Britain. OUP. p. 57.
  5. ^ Malins, Geoffrey (1920). How I Filmed the War. Herbert Jenkins. p. 183. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  6. ^ "Supplement to the London Gazette". No. 30738. 7 June 1918. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Garrick Films". Explore Film. BFI. Retrieved 3 January 2016.[dead link‍]
  8. ^ "The Golden Web (1920)". Explore Film. BFI. Retrieved 3 January 2016.[dead link‍]
  9. ^ "BT 31/24338/152650". The National Archives. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  10. ^ "Ena Beaumont (Gladys Mary Peterkin Mitchell)". Internet Movie Database (IMDB). Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  11. ^ Blake, Wilfred Theodore (1923). "Some difficulties in flying round the world". Geographical Journal. 61 (4): 273–279. doi:10.2307/1781257. JSTOR 1781257.
  12. ^ "The World Flight". Adelaide Advertiser. Trove. 8 September 1922. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  13. ^ "The World-Flight Expedition of 1923". The Frontiersman Historian. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  14. ^ Malins, Geoffrey (1931). Going Further. London: E. Mathews & Marrot. OCLC 5296602.
  15. ^ Malins, Geoffrey (1931). Going Further. London: E. Mathews & Marrot. p. v. OCLC 5296602.
  16. ^ Malins, Geoffrey (1931). Going Further. London: E. Mathews & Marrot. p. 355. OCLC 5296602.
  17. ^ Malins, Geoffrey (1931). Going Further. London: E. Mathews & Marrot. p. 366. OCLC 5296602.
  18. ^ "J 77/1435/4162". The National Archives. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  19. ^ "J 77/1435/4162". The National Archives. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  20. ^ "J 77/2151/7369". The National Archives. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  21. ^ "Ena Beaumont (Gladys Mary Peterkin Mitchell)". Internet Movie Database (IMDB). Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  22. ^ "Norman Macmillan Obituary". The Times. London. 1976-08-11. p. 14.
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