An art dealer’s son, Victor Saville was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Birmingham. He served in the British Army during World War I, was wounded at the Battle of Loos in 1915 and invalided out the following year. His first involvement with the film business was as manager of a small theater in Coventry, where he worked during the evenings. In the daytime, he was employed in a film distribution office. From 1917, Saville worked in the Features and Newsreels Department of the Pathé organisation in London. Just two years later, he co-founded Victory Pictures in conjunction with Michael Balcon. Between 1926 and 1927, he produced feature films for Gaumont, based at their Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd’s Bush. Under the banner of his own production company, Burlington Film, he made his first foray into directing with The Arcadians (1927). In 1931, Saville returned to Gaumont and became, alongside Alfred Hitchcock, the studio’s foremost director of romantic comedies, espionage and crime thrillers and glamorous musicals. The latter often starred Jessie Matthews, whose Evergreen (1934) became Britain’s most popular musical of the day. In 1936, Saville set up yet another company, this time under his own name (Victor Saville Productions) with the noted screenwriter Ian Dalrymple as his partner. They made several features for Alexander Korda at Denham Studios, including South Riding (1938), often cited as Saville’s best film. In 1938, Saville replaced Balcon as head of MGM’s British division. He moved to Hollywood the following year, where he acted primarily as producer, though he did direct one more A-grade film, Green Dolphin Street (1947). Though briefly touted as a possible successor to Louis B. Mayer at MGM, the massive critical and artistic failure of a decidedly stodgy and miscast biblical epic, The Silver Chalice (1954), hastened Saville’s eventual retirement from the industry.