He was one of a number of experienced directors who were brought over from Hollywood in the 1930s to work on what were in all other respects very British productions; others included Raoul Walsh and Allan Dwan.
He was sometimes called "One Shot", supposedly for his propensity to shoot just one take, regardless of the problems found in that one take (actors flubing their lines, special effects going haywire and the like).
He returned permanently to America in 1937. Both before and after his brief British period he turned out low-budget American films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres: he began with biography early in the century and was active in film and TV production almost up until his death in 1970.