Dickinson worked as a film editor on such features as ''Love's Option
(1928), Auld Lang Syne (1929), Loyalties
(1933) and Sing As We Go!
(1934). His first directorial experience was on Java Head'' (1934), when he took over after
J. Walter Ruben became ill and was unable to continue. remaining in the post until 1953. Dickinson's first feature film, starring
Lionel Atwill and
Lucie Mannheim, was
The High Command (1937), for which he formed the short-lived Fanfare Pictures with
Gordon Wellesley. He visited Spain during the
Civil War and made two documentary shorts, one of which
Spanish ABC (1938) "is a sober advocacy of the educational policy of Republican Spain". Based on the
Patrick Hamilton play, it was later suppressed for some years when MGM bought the rights for its
own version, but led to an invitation to work in Hollywood from
David O. Selznick which was rejected by Dickinson. A film biography of
Disraeli,
The Prime Minister (1941), starring
John Gielgud, was disowned by its director,
Men of Two Worlds (1946), from a script by novelist
Joyce Cary starring
Robert Adams, attempted to "tell an African story from the point of view of an African". It was though a difficult production; the crew lost equipment and film stock. For
The Queen of Spades (1949) Dickinson assumed responsibility at five days notice after he was recommended by actor
Anton Walbrook, the star of
Gaslight, when the production was close to collapse. Following an aborted attempt to adapt
Thomas Hardy's
The Mayor of Casterbridge in time for the
Festival of Britain, he returned to
Secret People (1952), a long cherished project which
Ealing Studios took up, but this was unsuccessful at the box-office and became Dickinson's last British-made feature film.
Secret People was notable for providing
Audrey Hepburn with her first supporting film role. Performing all her own ballet moves during the dance sequences, Dickinson went on to film the screen test of Audrey which led to international stardom. In the screen test, she describes how she used to dance for audiences to raise funds for the resistance in The Netherlands during the Second World War. The screen test was sent to director
William Wyler and led to her casting as Princess Ann in
Roman Holiday. In Israel, Dickinson directed a short film for the Israeli Army,
The Red Ground (1953), and an English-language feature, ''Hill 24 Doesn't Answer'' (1955), for which he reworked the screenplay in collaboration with his wife Joanna. Dickinson's other work outside the UK included a tenure with the
United Nations Department of Public Information as Chief of Film Services from 1956 to 1960. In 1959 he was a member of the jury at the
1st Moscow International Film Festival. After his work with the United Nations, Dickinson devoted the final part of his life to teaching about film. In 1960 he established the film studies department at the
Slade School of Fine Art,
University College London, where one of his first students was
Raymond Durgnat, the prominent film critic. Others included
Marco Bellocchio and
Maysoon Pachachi. In 1967 he was head of the jury at the
17th Berlin International Film Festival. In the same year, he was named a professor in the department, becoming the first professor of film studies in the UK. He served in the post until 1971. He was appointed CBE in the
1973 Birthday Honours. The Thorold Dickinson Archive is held at the
University of the Arts London's Archives and Special Collections Centre. ==Partial filmography==