He went on to Good Morning, Boys (1937) with Will Hay; The Great Barrier (1937) with Richard Arlen, shot partly on location in Canada; Said O'Reilly to McNab (1937) with Will Mahoney and Will Fyffe; and Oh, Mr. Porter!
Crabtree shot Bank Holiday (1938) for director Carol Reed starring Margaret Lockwood.
He did Convict 99 (1938) with Hay; Alf's Button Afloat (1938) with The Crazy Gang for Varney; Old Bones of the River (1938) and Hey!
He did a short for director Anthony Asquith, Channel Incident (1941) and one for Herbert Mason, Mr. Proudfoot Shows a Light (1941).
He did another with Formby at Columbia Pictures, Much Too Shy (1942), then went back to Gainbsorough for King Arthur Was a Gentleman (1942) with Askey.
He shot a comedy with Lockwood, Dear Octopus (1943), then did another melodrama, Fanny by Gaslight (1944), directed by Asquith and starring Calvert, Granger and Mason, another huge success.
Crabtree followed this with Waterloo Road (1945) starring Granger and John Mills, directed by Sidney Gilliat.
Crabtree had filmed some of Gainsborough's biggest successes and the studio promoted him to director for Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) with Calvert and Granger.
He made Morning Call (1957), then did West of Suez (1958) for producer Richard Gordon starring Keefe Brasselle.