Editing Muriel Box

{{Short description|British film director and writer (1905–1991)}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = The Lady Gardiner
| image            = Director_Muriel_Box.jpg
| caption          = 
| birth_name       = Violette Muriel Baker
| birth_date       = {{birth date|df=yes|1905|9|22}}
| birth_place      = [[New Malden]], Surrey, England, UK
| death_date       = {{death date and age|df=yes|1991|5|18|1905|9|22}}
| death_place      = [[Hendon]], London, England, UK
| occupation       = Director, writer, screenwriter
| spouses          = [[Sydney Box]] (1935–1969; divorced)<br>[[Gerald Gardiner, Baron Gardiner]] (1970–1990; his death)
| children         = 1 daughter
}}

'''Violette Muriel Box, Baroness Gardiner''', (22 September 1905 – 18 May 1991) was an English screenwriter and director,<ref name="BFI">{{cite web |title=Muriel Box |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f40d561 |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308191525/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f40d561 |archive-date=8 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Britain's most prolific female director, having directed 12 feature films and one featurette.<ref>{{cite web |last=Young |first=Neil |title=The delights of Muriel Box |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/muriel-box-career-retrospective-san-sebastian-truth-women-passionate-stranger-seventh-veil-happy-family |website=British Film Institute |date=24 October 2018}}</ref> Her screenplay for ''[[The Seventh Veil]]'' (co-written with husband [[Sydney Box]]) won an [[Academy Award]] for [[Best Original Screenplay]].

==Early life ==
Violette Muriel Baker was born in Simla, Poplar Grove, [[New Malden]], Surrey, on 22 September 1905.<ref name="BFI" /> She was the third child of Caroline Beatrice (''née'' Doney) (1872–1961) and Charles Stephen Baker (''d''. 1945). Her mother had been a [[Pupil-teacher|pupil teacher]], a maid, and an assistant in a [[magic lantern]] shop. Her father worked as a clerk for the South Western Railway at Waterloo. Her family called young Muriel "Tiggy". She attended St Matthew's School, Tolworth, for her primary school years moving up to Holy Cross Convent in Wimbledon in 1915, but was expelled, mostly as she had not been baptised. She then transferred to [[Surbiton High School]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB |title=Box [née Baker], (Violette) Muriel [other married name (Violette) Muriel Gardiner, Lady Gardiner] (1905–1991), screenwriter and film director |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49588 |access-date=2023-02-19 |date=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/49588}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Burnett |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mwtAQAAIAAJ&q=surbiton+high |title=The Autobiography of the Working Class: An Annotated, Critical Bibliography |last2=Vincent |first2=David |last3=Mayall |first3=David |date=2 March 1984 |publisher=Harvester Press |isbn=9780710809704 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Here she took ballet lessons and studied drama with Sir [[Ben Greet]]. In the 1920s, she met [[Joseph Grossman]] of [[Stoll Pictures]] which led to work as an extra in ''The Wandering Jew'' and in the thriller series ''[[The Old Man in the Corner]]''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

In 1929, Baker left a typing job at Barcley Corsets in Welwyn Garden City, for the scenario department of British Instructional Pictures. As [[Sound film|talkies]] were introduced, Barker was given the task of reading unsolicited manuscripts which led to her developing story writing and dialogue skills. She landed a job as continuity clerk on [[Anthony Asquith]]'s ''[[Tell England (film)|Tell England]]'' (1931). She moved to [[Associated British Picture Corporation|British International Pictures]] at [[Elstree Studios|Elstree]], where she worked on Alfred Hitchcock's ''[[Number Seventeen]]'' (1932).<ref name=":0" />

== Career ==
In 1935, she met and married journalist [[Sydney Box]], with whom she collaborated on nearly forty plays with mainly female roles for amateur theatre groups.<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, Carol and Muriel |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jcln |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref> Their production company, [[Verity Films]], first released short wartime propaganda films, including ''The English Inn'' (1941), her first directing effort, after which it branched into fiction. The couple achieved their greatest joint success with ''[[The Seventh Veil]]'' (1945) for which they gained the [[Academy Award]] for Best Writing, Original Screenplay in the following year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/muriel-box-p82649|title=Muriel Box - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie|work=AllMovie}}</ref><ref name="screenonline">{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/479374/|title=BFI Screenonline: Box, Muriel (1905-1991) Biography|work=screenonline.org.uk}}</ref>

After the war, the [[Rank Organisation]] hired her husband to head [[Gainsborough Pictures]], where she was in charge of the scenario department, writing scripts for a number of light comedies, including two for child star [[Petula Clark]], ''[[Easy Money (1948 film)|Easy Money]]'' and ''[[Here Come the Huggetts]]'' (both 1948). Muriel Box occasionally assisted as a dialogue director, or re-shot scenes during post-production.  Her extensive work on ''[[The Lost People]]'' (1949) gained her a credit as co-director, her first for a full-length feature.<ref name="screenonline"/>  In 1951, her husband created [[London Independent Producers]], allowing Box more opportunities to direct.  Many of her early films were adaptations of plays, and as such felt stage-bound.  They were noteworthy more for their strong performances than they were for a distinctive directorial style. She favoured scripts with topical and frequently controversial themes, including Irish politics, teenage sex, abortion, [[illegitimacy]] and [[syphilis]] — consequently,  several of her films were banned by local authorities.<ref name=screenonline/>

She pursued her favourite subject – the female experience – in a number of films, including ''[[Street Corner (1953 film)|Street Corner]]'' (1953) about women police officers, [[Somerset Maugham]]'s ''[[The Beachcomber (1954 film)|The Beachcomber]]'' (1954), with [[Donald Sinden]] and [[Glynis Johns]] as a resourceful missionary, again working with Donald Sinden on ''[[Eyewitness (1956 film)|Eyewitness]]'' (1956) and a series of comedies about the battle of the sexes, including ''[[The Passionate Stranger]]'' (1957), ''[[The Truth About Women]]'' (1958) and her final film, ''[[Rattle of a Simple Man]]'' (1964).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/06/women-muriel-betty-box-rachel-cooke-film|title=Power women of the 1950s: Muriel and Betty Box|author=Rachel Cooke|work=the Guardian|date=5 October 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Morley |first=Carol |date=2023-02-19 |title=Who was Muriel Box, Britain's most prolific female film director? |language=en-GB |work=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/feb/19/muriel-box-female-film-director-carol-morley-sunday-feature |access-date=2023-02-19 |issn=0029-7712}}</ref>

Box often experienced prejudice in a male-dominated industry, especially hurtful when perpetrated by another woman. [[Jean Simmons]] had her replaced on ''[[So Long at the Fair]]'' (1950), and [[Kay Kendall]] unsuccessfully attempted to do the same with ''[[Simon and Laura]]'' (1955).  Many producers questioned her competence to direct large-scale feature films, and while the press was quick to note her position as one of very few women directors in the British film industry, their tone tended to be condescending rather than filled with praise.<ref name=screenonline/>

==Later years==
Muriel Box left film-making to write novels and created a successful publishing house, [[Femina (UK)|Femina]], which proved to be a rewarding outlet for her [[feminism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmdirectorssite.com/muriel-box|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208150400/http://www.filmdirectorssite.com/muriel-box|url-status=dead|archive-date=2015-12-08|title=Muriel Box Films - Muriel Box Filmography - Muriel Box Biography - Muriel Box Career - Muriel Box Awards|work=filmdirectorssite.com}}</ref> She published her memoirs, ''Odd Woman Out'', in 1974,<ref>{{cite book |last=Box |first=Muriel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1341873 |title=Odd woman out : an autobiography |date=1974 |publisher=Frewin |isbn=0-85632-090-0 |location=London |oclc=1341873}}</ref> and published ''Rebel Advocate'', a biography of her second husband, Gerald Gardiner, in 1983.<ref>{{cite book |last=Box |first=Muriel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9668786 |title=Rebel advocate : a biography of Gerald Gardiner |date=1983 |publisher=Gollancz |isbn=0-575-03269-3 |location=London |oclc=9668786}}</ref>

==Personal life==
She married [[Sydney Box]] in 1935 and gave birth to a daughter, Leonora the following year. They divorced in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|date=2013-10-05|title=Power women of the 1950s: Muriel and Betty Box|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/06/women-muriel-betty-box-rachel-cooke-film|access-date=2021-07-15|website=the Guardian}}</ref> Her sister-in-law [[Betty Box]] was Head of Production at the [[Gainsborough Pictures]] studio in Poole Street, [[Hoxton]], and her brother-in-law through Betty was [[Peter Rogers]], producer of the ''[[Carry On (franchise)|Carry On]]'' series of British comedy films.<ref>{{cite news |date=1947-03-29 |title=Producers run in Box family |work=Australian Women's Weekly |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51389240 |access-date=2023-02-19}}</ref> In 1970, she married [[Gerald Gardiner, Baron Gardiner|Gerald Austin Gardiner]], who had been [[Lord Chancellor]], who died in 1990. She died in Mote End, Nan Clark's Lane, Mill Hill, [[Hendon]], [[London Borough of Barnet|Barnet]], London<ref name=":0" /> on 18 May 1991, aged 85.<ref name="BFI" />

=== Daughter ===
Leonora went on to study at the [[Royal Academy of Arts|Royal Academy]] from 30 September 1957 until December 1960, exhibiting at both the 1959<ref>{{cite web|title=1959 Changing Times|url=https://chronicle250.com/1959#catalogue=leonora+box|access-date=2021-07-15|website=chronicle250.com}}</ref> and 1960<ref>{{cite web|title=1960 Dod Procter's Jamaican Girl|url=https://chronicle250.com/1960#catalogue=leonora+box|access-date=2021-07-15|website=chronicle250.com}}</ref> Royal Academy of Arts Exhibitions, while living at Pond Cottage, Nan-Clark's Lane, Mill Hill NW7.<ref>{{cite web|title=Leonora Box {{!}} Artist {{!}} Royal Academy of Arts|url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/leonora-box|access-date=2021-07-15|website=www.royalacademy.org.uk}}</ref>

==Filmography==
===Screenwriting credits===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*''[[Too Young to Love (film)|Too Young to Love]]'' (1960)
*''[[The Truth About Women]]'' (1957)
*''[[The Passionate Stranger]]'' (1957)
*''[[Street Corner (1953 film)|Street Corner]]'' (1953)
*''[[The Happy Family (1952 film)|The Happy Family]]'' (1952)
*''[[Christopher Columbus (1949 film)|Christopher Columbus]]'' (1949)
*''[[Here Come the Huggetts]]'' (1948)
*''[[The Blind Goddess (1948 film)|The Blind Goddess]]'' (1948)
*''[[Daybreak (1948 film)|Daybreak]]'' (1948)
*''[[Good-Time Girl]]'' (1948)
*''[[Easy Money (1948 film)|Easy Money]]'' (1948)
*''[[Portrait from Life]]'' (1948)
*''[[When the Bough Breaks (1947 film)|When the Bough Breaks]]'' (1947)
*''[[Holiday Camp (film)|Holiday Camp]]'' (1947)
*''[[Dear Murderer]]'' (1947)
*''[[The Brothers (1947 film)|The Brothers]]'' (1947)
*''[[The Man Within (film)|The Man Within]]'' (1947)
*''[[A Girl in a Million]]'' (1946)
*''[[The Years Between (film)|The Years Between]]'' (1946)
*''[[The Seventh Veil]]'' (1945)
*''[[29 Acacia Avenue]]'' (1945)
*''[[Alibi Inn]]'' (1935)
{{div col end}}

===Directing credits===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*''[[Rattle of a Simple Man]]'' (1964)
*''[[The Piper's Tune]]'' (1962, featurette for Children's Film Foundation
*''[[Too Young to Love (film)|Too Young to Love]]'' (1960)
*''[[Subway in the Sky]]'' (1959)
*''[[This Other Eden (film)|This Other Eden]]'' (1959)
*''[[The Truth About Women]]'' (1957)
*''[[The Passionate Stranger]]'' (1957)
*''[[Eyewitness (1956 film)|Eyewitness]]'' (1956)
*''[[Simon and Laura]]'' (1955)
*''[[To Dorothy a Son]]'' (1954)
*''[[The Beachcomber (1954 film)|The Beachcomber]]'' (1954)
*''[[A Prince for Cynthia]]'' (1953, short)
*''[[Street Corner (1953 film)|Street Corner]]'' (1953)
*''[[The Happy Family (1952 film)|The Happy Family]]'' (1952)
*''[[The Lost People]]'' (1949)
*''The English Inn'' (1941, documentary short [credited as Muriel Baker])
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*''Odd Woman Out'' by Muriel Box, published by [[Leslie Frewin]], London, 1974
*''Gainsborough Melodrama'', edited by Sue Aspinall and Robert Murphy, published by the [[British Film Institute]], London, 1983

==External links==
*{{IMDb name | id = 0101504 | name = Muriel Box }}
* {{cite web|url= https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/muriel-box-career-retrospective-san-sebastian-truth-women-passionate-stranger-seventh-veil-happy-family|title= The delights of Muriel Box|date= 3 February 2023}} Sight & Sound festival retrospective report by Neil Young
* Muriel Box (Senses of Cinema Great Directors) by Melanie Williams https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2024/great-directors/box-muriel/
* Spotlight: Muriel Box by Melanie Williams https://www.invisible-women.co.uk/post/spotlight-muriel-box
* How Muriel Box broke down doors by Josephine Botting https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/how-muriel-box-broke-down-doors-female-directors-britain

{{Muriel Box}}
{{AcademyAwardBestOriginalScreenplay 1940-1960}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Box, Muriel}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:20th-century English memoirists]]
[[Category:20th-century English screenwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
[[Category:Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:English film directors]]
[[Category:English film producers]]
[[Category:English women film directors]]
[[Category:British women screenwriters]]
[[Category:British baronesses|Gardiner]]
[[Category:British women memoirists]]
[[Category:Spouses of life peers]]
[[Category:People educated at Surbiton High School]]
[[Category:People from New Malden]]
[[Category:People from Tolworth]]
[[Category:Writers from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames]]