
Cecil Parker
Cecil Parker (3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969.
Born Cecil Schwabe in Hastings, Sussex, he began his theatrical career in London in 1922 after serving in World War I. He made his first film appearance in 1928 and subsequently became a familiar face in British, and occasionally American films, until his death. He appeared less often on television, but many of his films have remained popular and are often shown.
He acted in two adaptations of A. J. Cronin's novels, The Citadel (1938) and The Stars Look Down (1940), in addition to appearing in The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Under Capricorn (1949), both of the later films were directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Other roles were in 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956), Dangerous Moonlight (1941), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), and I Was Monty's Double (1958), as well as the comedies A French Mistress (1960), The Ladykillers (1955), The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Court Jester (1955), Indiscreet (1958) and I Believe in You (1952). Parker was also the original Charles Condomine in the West End production of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, a role subsequently played on Broadway by Clifton Webb and in the 1945 film by Rex Harrison.
He often played a touchy senior officer or British upper-class character, and his last two films were true to form: The Magnificent Two (1967) with the British comedy double act Morecambe and Wise and Richard Attenborough's version of Oh! What A Lovely War (1969).
He played an evil, scheming butler on one episode of The Avengers ("The £50,000 Breakfast").
Description above from the Wikipedia article Cecil Parker , licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 0.006 |
Birthday | 1897-09-02 |
Place of Birth | Hastings, Sussex, England, UK |
Also Known As | Cecil Schwabe, |

1938

The Lady Vanishes
7.436/942
On a train headed for England a group of travelers is delayed by an avalanche. Holed up in a hotel in a fictional European country, young Iris befrien...
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The Lady Vanishes

1958

A Tale of Two Cities
6.7/18
British barrister Sydney Carton lives an insubstantial and unhappy life. He falls under the spell of Lucie Manette, but Lucie marries Charles Darnay....
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A Tale of Two Cities

1955

The Ladykillers
7.3/486
Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicia...
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The Ladykillers

1960

The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's
6.2/18
The fourth form monsters' latest trick is their best ever – they have burned down St Trinian’s school! As the girls stand trial, the police breathe a...
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The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's

1936

The Man Who Changed His Mind
6/31
Dr. Laurence, a once-respectable scientist, begins to research the origin of the mind and the soul. The science community rejects him, and he risks lo...
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The Man Who Changed His Mind

1958

Indiscreet
6.55/180
Anna Kalman is an accomplished actress who has given up hope of finding the man of her dreams. She is in the middle of taking off her face cream, whil...
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Indiscreet

1938

Housemaster
0/0
Three girls arrive at a stuffy English public school and cause all sorts of problems with both the staff and pupils.
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Housemaster

1945

Caesar and Cleopatra
6.1/56
The aging Caesar finds himself intrigued by the young Egyptian queen. Adapted by George Bernard Shaw from his own play.
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Caesar and Cleopatra

1955

The Court Jester
7.3/195
A hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against a usurper who has overthrown the rightful king of England.
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The Court Jester

1964

Carry On Jack
5.9/57
Tenth entry in the Carry On series. Able seaman Poop-Decker signs up for adventure on the high seas with the wicked Captain Fearless. Those swabbing t...
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Carry On Jack

1951

The Man in the White Suit
6.856/187
The unassuming, nebbishy inventor Sidney Stratton creates a miraculous fabric that will never be dirty or worn out. Clearly he can make a fortune sell...
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The Man in the White Suit

1935

Crime Unlimited
5.8/6
A young Scotland Yard police academy recruit tries to break up a gang of thieves.
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Crime Unlimited

1966

Circus of Fear
5.2/32
A circus becomes the location for stolen loot and murder.
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Circus of Fear

1954

For Better, for Worse
5.6/9
In postwar London a young graduate and his girlfriend decide to marry. Her well-to-do parents are not convinced, but they agree once he has got a £5.1...
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For Better, for Worse

1940

The Stars Look Down
6.5/24
Davey Fenwick leaves his mining village on a university scholarship intent on returning to better support the miners against the owners. But he falls...
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The Stars Look Down

1957

The Admirable Crichton
6.8/29
Lord Loam has modern ideas about his household, he believes in treating his servants as his equals - at least sometimes. His butler, Crichton, still b...
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The Admirable Crichton

1960

Swiss Family Robinson
6.9/317
After being shipwrecked, the Robinson family is marooned on an island inhabited only by an impressive array of wildlife. In true pioneer spirit, they...
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Swiss Family Robinson

1956

23 Paces to Baker Street
6.7/75
Philip Hannon, a blind playwright living in London, overhears part of a conversation , that leads him into a desperate race, to find a kidnapped child...
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23 Paces to Baker Street

1934

The Blue Squadron
0/0
Anglo Italian aviation drama. Now lost.
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The Blue Squadron

1941

Dangerous Moonlight
6.4/8
Stefan Radetzky, a Polish pilot and famous concert pianist, is hospitalised in England from injuries sustained while in combat, and having lost his me...
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Dangerous Moonlight

1938

The Citadel
6.3/27
Andrew Manson, a young, idealistic, newly qualified Scottish doctor arrives in Wales takes his first job in a mining town, and begins to wonder at the...
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The Citadel

1937

Storm in a Teacup
7.5/28
A local politician in Scotland tries to break the reporter who wrote a negative story about him, and who is also in love with his daughter.
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Storm in a Teacup

1955

The Constant Husband
6.9/9
Charles Hathaway wakes up in West Wales with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. With the help of a Cardiff specialist he traces his lif...
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The Constant Husband

1958

I Was Monty's Double
6.8/24
The incredible but true story of how an impersonator was recruited to impersonate General Montgomery to mislead the Germans about his intentions befor...
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I Was Monty's Double

1964

The Comedy Man
7.1/5
A middle-aged stock actor goes to London to try the big time. After much frustration, he lands a job doing TV commercials, gaining wealth and recognit...
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The Comedy Man

1948

Quartet
6/14
Somerset Maugham introduces four of his tales in this anthology film: "The Facts of Life," "The Alien Corn," "The Kite," and "The Colonel's Lady."
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Quartet

1941

The Saint's Vacation
5.5/9
While on vacation, the Saint discovers a much-sought-after music box.
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The Saint's Vacation

1954

Father Brown
6.3/27
Works of art are disappearing, stolen by a master thief, a master of disguise. Father Brown has two goals: to catch the thief and to save his soul.
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Father Brown

1963

The Iron Maiden
6.6/7
The film follows Jack Hopkins, an aircraft designer with a passion for traction engines. His boss is eager to sell a new supersonic jet plane that Jac...
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The Iron Maiden

1960

Under Ten Flags
5.4/17
"Under Ten Flags" is a WWII movie loosely based on the true story of the German navy commerce raider Atlantis, a converted Auxilliary Cruiser, and he...
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Under Ten Flags

1939

Sons of the Sea
6.8/4
The head of Dartmouth Training College has been murdered, and his successor, Captain Hyde, suspects that he himself may have been the intended target....
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Sons of the Sea

1960

A French Mistress
5.7/6
The boys of Melbury Primary School are plunged into turmoil when the new French Master turns out to be a Mistress! Madelin Leforge's (the French Mistr...
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A French Mistress

1961

On the Fiddle
6.2/5
Tricked into joining the RAF by a wily judge, wide boy Horace Pope sets his sights on the main chance, teams with slow-witted, good-hearted gypsy Pedl...
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On the Fiddle

1947

Hungry Hill
5.4/5
Life becomes a tragedy for the wife of an Irish heir to a 19th-century family feud and fortune.
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Hungry Hill

1949

Dear Mr. Prohack
6/3
A modern-day retelling of Arnold Bennett's novel, in which a Treasury official with a reputation for fiscal prudence is left a great deal of money and...
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Dear Mr. Prohack

1946

The Magic Bow
5.3/7
Biography of the famous Italian violinist Nicola Paganini which focuses as much on the musician's romances as it does on his craft. Phyllis Calvert pl...
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The Magic Bow

1954

Isn't Life Wonderful!
5.6/5
Around the turn of the century, in England, alcoholic Uncle Willie is the bane of his family, of which his brother-in-law is the family spokesman. It...
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Isn't Life Wonderful!

1959

The Night We Dropped a Clanger
5.9/6
The movie takes place during WWII. A dashing British RAF Officer is earmarked for a secret mission behind enemy lines in occupied France, but wishing...
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The Night We Dropped a Clanger

1966

A Man Could Get Killed
3.8/6
An American businessman visiting Lisbon gets mistaken for a British secret agent who stole some diamonds. As a result, he has everybody in Lisbon afte...
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A Man Could Get Killed

1952

I Believe in You
6.1/7
A drama about parole officers to follow the successful Ealing police story of "The Blue Lamp"(1950) . Various sub-plots follow the parole officers an...
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I Believe in You

1952

His Excellency
6/3
A trade union official becomes governor of a British island colony
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His Excellency

1961

Petticoat Pirates
6.2/3
Undistinguished British farce (in Technicolor and CinemaScope). Stoker Charlie (the diminutive Drake) helps 150 Wrens under Superintendent Maxine Audl...
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Petticoat Pirates

1947

Captain Boycott
6.7/8
Based on real events, this historical drama is set in 19th-century Ireland, when poverty-stricken tenants dispossessed by greedy landowner Capt. Boyco...
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Captain Boycott

1963

Heavens Above!
6.3/23
A naive but caring prison chaplain, who happens to have the same last name as an upper class cleric, is by mistake appointed as vicar to a small and p...
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Heavens Above!

1958

Happy Is the Bride
6.2/4
In a quiet summer corner of Wiltshire that is forever England, David and Janet decide to tie the knot. Unfortunately this is the cue for everyone else...
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Happy Is the Bride

1962

The Brain
5.5/14
A millionaire businessman's brain is kept alive after a fatal accident, and communicates clues to a doctor on the trail of the killer
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The Brain

1967

The Magnificent Two
3.1/22
Two salesmen travel to a small South American Country to peddle their wares. However the country is in the middle of a major conflict between the Gove...
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The Magnificent Two

1964

Guns at Batasi
7.1/26
An anachronistic martinet RSM on a remote Colonial African army caught in a local coup d'etat must use his experience to defend those in his care.
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Guns at Batasi

1962

The Amorous Prawn
6.3/3
While her husband, the General is abroad, Lady Fitzadam decides to convert their army residence into a fishing resort for rich American tourists in or...
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The Amorous Prawn

1933

A Cuckoo in the Nest
5/3
A crowded inn means that a man and a woman must share the same room for a night. One problem is that they are both married - to other people. The othe...
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A Cuckoo in the Nest

1934

Dirty Work
0/0
Staff in a jewellery store hatch a plan to catch a thief.
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Dirty Work

1959

The Navy Lark
6.8/5
An Inshore Minesweeping Unit has been forgotten by the Navy after World War II on the peaceful island of Boonsley and they have adapted to their circu...
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The Navy Lark

1947

The Woman in the Hall
5.8/5
Lorna Blake, (Ursula Jeans) is a widow with two daughters. She augments her slender income by using her children to extort money - visiting the houses...
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The Woman in the Hall

1950

Tony Draws a Horse
0/0
The free-spirited wife of a proper British doctor leaves him after an arguement over the anatomically correct drawing of a horse on the wall drawn by...
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Tony Draws a Horse

1936

Jack of All Trades
5.5/2
In this he's on the dole, hungry and ready to do any job but quickly light-heartedly scams his way into society and a highly regarded position at a ba...
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Jack of All Trades

1935

Me and Marlborough
4.5/2
A woman disguises herself in men's clothes in order to follow her husband to the wars.
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Me and Marlborough

1934

Little Friend
3.5/2
A girl becomes an unwilling witness in her parents' scandalous divorce case.
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Little Friend

1949

The Chiltern Hundreds
5/4
Young Viscount Tony Pym wangles National Service leave on the pretext of standing as a Tory candidate for a local seat held by his family for generati...
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The Chiltern Hundreds

1935

Her Last Affaire
6/1
Desperate to prove his father innocent of treason, a secretary arranges a clandestine assignation with his employer's wife in order to get the proof h...
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Her Last Affaire

1936

Dishonour Bright
0/0
A man is cited as the co-respondent in a divorce case, but is cheerfully unashamed when he appears in court.
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Dishonour Bright

1934

Lady in Danger
5.7/3
Dexter becomes involved in a revolution and is asked to hide the Queen. This leads to misunderstanding with his firm and his fiancee.
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Lady in Danger

1940

Under Your Hat
5.3/3
In pre-Second World War England, a leading film star and his wife attempt to recover a secret carburetor stolen by enemy agents. Based on a popular s...
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Under Your Hat

1949

Under Capricorn
6.1/172
A native Briton banished to Australia for murder, and his wife, Henrietta, the disturbed sister of the man he was convicted on killing, set out to hel...
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Under Capricorn

1933

The Golden Cage
0/0
'Girl marries rich man but still loves poor hotel clerk.' (British Film Catalogue)
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The Golden Cage

1959

The Wreck of the Mary Deare
6.2/37
A disgraced merchant marine officer elects to stay aboard his sinking cargo ship in order to prove the vessel was deliberately scuttled and, as a resu...
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The Wreck of the Mary Deare

1935

Foreign Affaires
0/0
An ageing aristocrat schemes to secure his dwindling finances by any means – fair or foul!
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Foreign Affaires

1960

Follow That Horse!
0/0
A race horse swallows a microfilm and is pursued by the major superpowers spy agencies.
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Follow That Horse!

1941

Ships with Wings
4/2
Before the war, a Fleet Air Arm pilot is dismissed for causing the death of a colleague. Working for a small Greek airline when the Germans invade Gre...
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Ships with Wings

1934

The Silver Spoon
0/0
“A homeless gentleman confesses to a Lord's murder to protect a woman they both love.” - BFI.
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The Silver Spoon

1934

The Office Wife
0/0
“The reconciliation of a divorced couple following the publisher husband's marriage to his secretary.” - BFI.
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The Office Wife

1969

Oh! What a Lovely War
6.7/44
The working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the three boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warf...
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Oh! What a Lovely War

1935

The Guv'nor
7.3/3
The Guv'nor (released in the U.S. as Mr. Hobo) is a 1935 British comedy film starring George Arliss as a tramp who rides a series of misunderstandings...
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The Guv'nor

1952

The Magic Box
6.3/21
Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once very different. As young and handsome William Green he changed his name to i...
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The Magic Box

1956

It's Great to be Young!
6.2/5
IT’S GREAT TO A YOUNG stars John Mills as Dingle an easygoing high school teacher. When autocratic new headmaster Frome (Cecil Parker) begins imposing...
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It's Great to be Young!

1948

The Weaker Sex
6/5
A British housewife does her own battles against the enemy during World War II.
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The Weaker Sex

1937

Dark Journey
6.4/29
Madeline Goddard, is a British double agent who meets and falls in love with a German spy Baron Karl Von Marwitz during World War I. This tale of espi...
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Dark Journey

1957

True as a Turtle
7/2
Tony Hudson offers his young wife Jane a cruise on a yacht as a honeymoon trip. Although Jane suffers from chronic seasickness, she accepts and one da...
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True as a Turtle

1965

A Study in Terror
6.3/64
When Watson reads from the newspaper there have been two similar murders near Whitechapel in a few days, Sherlock Holmes' sharp deductive is immediate...
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A Study in Terror

1961

On the Fiddle
6.2/5
Tricked into joining the RAF by a wily judge, wide boy Horace Pope sets his sights on the main chance, teams with slow-witted, good-hearted gypsy Pedl...
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On the Fiddle

1948

The First Gentleman
6/3
The story of a romance between the daughter of the Prince Regent and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg.
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The First Gentleman

1965

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
5.8/12
A bawdy story of how a poor damsel surrenders her virtue again and again to get to the top of society.
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The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders

1965

Lady L
5.8/21
Lady L is an elegant 80-year-old woman who recalls her amorous life story, including past loves and lusty, scandalous adventures she has lived through...
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Lady L

1936

Men of Yesterday
0/0
A retired major and ex-enemies pledge peace at reunion.
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Men of Yesterday

2002

Swiss Family Robinson: Adventure in the Making
0/0
A look behind the scenes at Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
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Swiss Family Robinson: Adventure in the Making

1938

It Might Be You
0/0
This is a charity promotional film about Papworth Village TB sanatorium.
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