About Roger Manvell
Lived 1909 – 1987 (aged 78). Roger Manvell was a British film director, screenwriter, film scholar and opinion journalist.
Arnold Roger Manvell (10 October 1909 – 30 November 1987) was the first director of the British Film Academy (1947–1959) and author of many books on films and film-making. He wrote (sometimes in collaboration with Heinrich Fraenkel) many books on Nazi Germany, including biographies of Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring.
During World War II, Manvell worked in the Ministry of Information, creating propaganda films for the British government. In his career, he also lectured widely in universities, and was a broadcaster and screenwriter. He joined the Boston University faculty in 1975 teaching film history classes at the College of Communications. Manvell was named University Professor in 1982.
Biography He was the son of the Rev. Arnold Edward William Manvell, who graduated B.A. at the University of Oxford in 1891, and his wife Gertrude Theresa Baines, daughter of Samuel Charles Baines of Leicester. He was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys, Leicester, and King's School, Peterborough. He read English literature at University College, Leicester, then gaining a doctorate at the University of London. After a period as a schoolteacher, he joined Bristol University in 1937.
Books Some books authored or co-authored by Roger Manvell.
Novels The Dreamers The Passion
On the arts (film/television/theatre) A Seat at the Cinema Age of Communication: Press, Books, Films, Radio, TV Art in Movement: New Directions in Animation The Cinema (annual Pelican film review) Design in motion Experiment in the Film Film (1944) Film and The Public (annual Pelican film review) Film and the Second World War (1974) The German Cinema History of the British Film Images of Madness: Portrayal of Insanity in the Feature Film The International Encyclopedia of Film Living Screen: Background to the Film and Television Love Goddesses of the Movies Masterworks of the German Cinema: The Golem – Nosferatu – M -The Threepenny Opera New Cinema in Britain New Cinema in Europe New cinema in the U.S.A: The feature film since 1946 On the air: A study of broadcasting in sound and television The Penguin Film Review (1946-1949) Progress in Television Shakespeare and the Film (1979) Selected Comedies: Elizabeth Inchbald The Technique of Film Animation The Technique of Film Music Theatre and Film: A Comparative Study of the Two Forms of Dramatic Art and of the Problems of Adaptation of Stage Plays into Films This Age of Communication Three British screen plays: "Brief Encounter","Odd man out," "Scott of the Antarctic" What is Film?
On Nazi Germany The Canaris Conspiracy The Conspirators Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death Films and the Second World War Gestapo Göring Hess Heinrich Himmler: The SS, Gestapo, His Life and Career Heinrich Himmler Hitler: The Man and The Myth The Hundred Days to Hitler Incomparable Crime, The: Mass Extermination in the Twentieth Century The July Plot SS & Gestapo: Rule of Terror
Biography Chaplin Elizabeth Inchbald: England's Principal Woman Dramatist and Independent Woman of Letters in 18th Century London – A Biographical Study Ellen Terry (1968) Ingmar Bergman, an Appreciation Sarah Siddons The Trial of Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh
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Important facts
People in Roger Manvell's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
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Frequently asked questions
Who was Roger Manvell?
British author & civil servant (1909–1987)
When was Roger Manvell born?
Roger Manvell was born on 10 October 1909 in London.
When did Roger Manvell die?
Roger Manvell died on 30 November 1987 in Boston.
What was Roger Manvell's occupation?
Roger Manvell was a film director, screenwriter, film scholar and opinion journalist.
What nationality was Roger Manvell?
Roger Manvell was British.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Roger Manvell. https://biography.guide/roger-manvell/
MLA: "Roger Manvell." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/roger-manvell/.
Chicago: "Roger Manvell." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/roger-manvell/.
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