AllMovie

The son of actress Fay Compton and producer Arthur Pelissier, London-born Anthony Pelissier began his own acting career in the 1930s. Finding stage directing more to his liking, Pelissier switched his base of operations to films in 1949. His finest movie directorial efforts were literally adaptations: H.G. Wells' The History of Mr. Polly (1949), D.H. Lawrence's The Rocking Horse Winner (1950) and Somerset Maugham's Encore (1950). Pelissier also turned out Tonight at 8:30 (1952), a stylish cinemazation of a Noel Coward theatrical piece (complete with descending curtains during the act-breaks). Leaving films in 1956, Anthony Pelissier went on to head the experimental production unit at BBC television (his bosses evidently forgave him for raking TV over the coals in the 1954 satire Meet Mr. Lucifer).