Reed began his film career in 1927 as an assistant to Edgar Wallace at British Lion films, supervising the adaptation of Wallace's works into film. After a spell as dialogue director and assistant director for Basil Dean, he had an early directing credit of his own with "Midshipman Easy/Men of the Sea" (1936).Reed soon earned a reputation for his finely observed portrayals of working-class life, such as "Bank Holiday" (1938), "The Stars Look Down" (1939)--the film which established Reed as a major director--and "Kipps" (1941), adapted from the novel by H.G. Wells. He also earned attention for
