British director Charles Frend started his film career as an editor, and worked on several Alfred Hitchcock films, including Secret Agent (1936) and Young and Innocent (1937). He later worked for MGM at Elstree Studios, where he edited such films as A Yank at Oxford (1938) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). He made his directorial debut in 1942 and turned out several low-budget dramas and documentaries. After the war he directed several critically acclaimed dramas, including The Cruel Sea (1953) and Scott of the Antarctic (1948). His final film as director was The Sky Bike (1967) and the film on which he ended his career was Ryan's Daughter (1970), on which he worked as a second-unit director.