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A scriptwriter in British films by the late '20s, Launder collaborated with Sidney Gilliat in the late '30s and early '40s on the screenplays for Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes and Carol Reed's Night Train to Munich and Kipps. They also co-directed the 1942 short Partners in Crime and the 1943 feature Millions Like Us. Launder produced and co-scripted several notable films which Gilliat directed in the '40s and '50s, including Green for Danger and State Secret. As a director, Launder is most fondly remembered for his espionage film I See a Dark Stranger (aka The Adventuress) with Deborah Kerr, The Blue Lagoon with Jean Simmons and Donald Houston, and the twisted series of St. Trinian's black comedies, starting with The Belles of St. Trinian's, starring Alastair Sim.