 One of twelve apprentices taken on straight from school in 1927 by Herbert Wilcox and J. D. Williams, Alfred Roome began as an assistant in the property department and cutting rooms. Moving from Wilcox's British and Dominions studio to British International Pictures, he worked as second camera assistant to Jack Cox on films directed by Alfred Hitchcock including The Ring (1927) and Blackmail (1929). At British International Pictures, Roome was also one of director E. A. Dupont's assistant editors. He noted that the German director edited his films himself. Returning to Wilcox at the British and Dominions studio, Roome's first full editing credit was for the Tom Walls Aldwych farce Thark (1932). He continued this association, working closely with the writer Ben Travers, when Walls' production unit moved to Gaumont-British and Gainsborough. Roome's growing reputation as a comedy specialist led to work on some of the cycle of Will Hay, Crazy Gang and Arthur Askey films produced at Gainsborough during the mid- to late 1930s. As Roome became a more senior figure during the 1940s he was often asked to come onto the studio floor to support new directors. He co-directed two films and progressed to associate producer status. Subsequently employed by Rank at Pinewood in the 1950s and 60s, Roome felt the films produced there were frequently quite poor but "as technicians, we were quite happy because it kept us in work". Roome often worked with directors Ken Annakin and Ralph Thomas during this period. He respected producer Betty Box's efficiency and commercial acumen, but sometimes challenged director Muriel Box, for whom he edited To Dorothy a Son (1954), because he felt the real power rested with her husband Sydney. Roome brought all his comedy experience to bear when in the late 1960s and early 70s he edited fourteen Carry On films. He knew, for example, that experienced performers like Sid James and Kenneth Williams could spoil someone else's line but gain an extra laugh "by either making a remark or making some facial expression, which, if put in the right place, made the line entirely different". The overall approach with regard to pacing these films was "just carry straight on... if there's three gags or three laughs and [the audience] miss two of them, but get one, that's good enough". Roy Perkins/Martin Stollery, British Film Editors: The Heart of the Movie (BFI Publishing, 2004)
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FILM & TV CREDITS
