Philip MacDonald


Philip MacDonald was a British-born writer of fiction and screenplays, best known for thrillers.

Life and work

MacDonald was born in London, the son of author Ronald MacDonald and actress Constance Robertson, and grandson of the fiction writer and Christian minister George MacDonald. During World War I he served with the British cavalry in Mesopotamia, later trained horses for the army, and was a show jumper. He also raised Great Danes. After marrying the writer F. Ruth Howard, he moved to Hollywood in 1931. He was one of the most popular mystery writers of the 1930s, and between 1931 and 1963 wrote many screenplays along with a few radio and television scripts.
His detective novels, particularly those featuring his series detective
Anthony Gethryn, are primarily "whodunits" with the occasional locked room mystery. His novel X v. Rex, aka The Mystery of The Dead Police, is an early example of what has become known as a serial killer novel, in which an insane murderer is killing police officers one after the other. Perhaps his best-known novel is The List of Adrian Messenger.
His work in screenwriting included not only screenplays based on his own works but also original stories and screenplays for series characters such as Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto.
He did not receive any screen credit for his work in adapting Bride of Frankenstein. He adapted a story written by Agatha Christie for the movie Love From A Stranger. MacDonald and Michael Hogan adapted the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, from which Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison created the screenplay for Rebecca, the 1940 film. Sherwood and Harrison were nominated for an Academy Award.
MacDonald's 1927 novel Patrol was issued as one of the first twenty Penguin Books in 1935. He won the annual Short Story Edgar Award twice, in 1953 for the collection Something to Hide and Other Stories and in 1956 for the individual short story "Dream No More". He also wrote television scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Perry Mason.
As "W.J. Stuart", MacDonald wrote the novelisation of the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet. He also dabbled in science fiction under his own name, writing at least four SF short stories over a span of decades. Two of them are frequently issued in anthologies.
MacDonald died in Woodland Hills, California.
A critical essay on MacDonald's crime novels appears in S. T. Joshi's book Varieties of Crime Fiction .

As Oliver Fleming

  • Ambrotox and Limping Dick, with Ronald MacDonald
  • The Spandau Quid, with Ronald MacDonald

    As Anthony Lawless

  • Harbour
  • ''Moonfisher''

    As Martin Porlock

  • Mystery at Friar's Pardon
  • Mystery in Kensington Gore
  • X v. Rex . Serialised in American newspapers as 'Who Killed C*ck Robin Hoode?’.

    As W. J. Stuart

  • ''Forbidden Planet''

    As Warren Stuart

  • ''The Sword and the Net''

    Film scripts by Macdonald

  • 1934 – Charlie Chan in London
  • 19?? – Charlie Chan in Paris
  • 1932 – Hotel Splendide. Written with Ralph Smart
  • 1933 – Star Reporter
  • 1934 – The Mystery of Mr X
  • 1935 – The Last Outpost
  • 1936 – Yours for the Asking. Written with Eve Green and Harlan Ware, directed by Alexander Hall
  • 1938 – Mysterious Mr. Moto, directed by Norman Foster
  • 1939 – Mr. Moto's Last Warning, directed by Norman Foster
  • 1939 – Blind Alley, directed by Charles Vidor
  • 1939 – Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation, written with Norman Foster, directed by Norman Foster
  • 1942 – Nightmare
  • 1945 – The Body Snatcher, written with Val Lewton, directed by Robert Wise
  • 1947 – Love from a Stranger, directed by Richard Whorf
  • 1948 – The Dark Past, written with Michael Blankfort and Albert Duffy, directed by Rudolph Mate
  • 1948 – Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, uncredited, adapted from a Gerald Butler novel, screenplay with Leonardo Bercovici
  • 1951 – Circle of Danger, directed by Jacques Tourneur

    Films based on works by MacDonald

  • 1929 – Lost Patrol, directed by Walter Summers
  • 1932 – The Rasp, directed by Michael Powell
  • 1932 – Rynox, directed by Michael Powell
  • 1934 – The Lost Patrol, directed by John Ford
  • 1934 – The Mystery of Mr. X, directed by Edgar Selwyn
  • 1934 – Menace, originally to be titled Deep Night, directed by Ralph Murphy
  • 1936 – The Princess Comes Across, directed by William K Howard
  • 1937 – Who Killed John Savage?, directed by Maurice Elvey
  • 1939 – A Gentleman's Gentleman, directed by Roy William Neill
  • 1939 – The Nursemaid Who Disappeared, directed by Arthur B. Woods
  • 1940 – Hangman's Noose, directed by Léon Mathot
  • 1942 – Nightmare, directed by Tim Whelan
  • 1942 – Whispering Ghosts, directed by Alfred Werker
  • 1943 – Sahara, directed by Zoltan Korda
  • 1944 – Action in Arabia, directed by Leonard Mingus
  • 1945 – Dangerous Intruder, directed by Vernon Keays
  • 1952 – The Hour of 13, directed by Harold French
  • 1956 – 23 Paces to Baker Street, directed by Henry Hathaway
  • 1963 – The List of Adrian Messenger, directed by John Huston