 Called up for war work in 1942, Noreen Ackland was placed by Thorold Dickinson in the cutting rooms of the Army Kinematograph Unit. There she began a long stint as assistant to Reginald Mills, following him when he began editing for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger during their late 1940s heyday. In the 1950s, when the Archers were less prolific, she continued to work as one of their assistant editors, but also filled in as a dubbing assistant on Rank films including You Know What Sailors Are (d. Ken Annakin, 1954), Simba (d. Brian Desmond Hurst, 1955) and several films directed by Muriel Box. When Mills suffered a heart attack, Ackland made a significant contribution to editing Passionate Summer (d. Rudolph Cartier, 1958). Her break came two years later when Michael Powell invited her to edit Peeping Tom. After a second film for Powell she edited a Norman Wisdom comedy and three films produced by Virginia and Andrew Stone. Thereafter Ackland abandoned features editing for jobs that allowed her to devote more time to family commitments. She worked intermittently in television, children's films, newsreels, and occasionally as a dubbing assistant on features such as Nicholas and Alexandra (US, d. Franklin J. Schaffner, 1971). Roy Perkins/Martin Stollery, British Film Editors: The Heart of the Movie (BFI Publishing, 2004)
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FILM & TV CREDITS
