By the early 1930s, Frankel was in demand as an arranger and musical director in London, working with several dance bands. He wrote several popular dance band arrangements for Henry Hall's BBC Dance Orchestra, including "Learn To Croon", "Don't Blame Me", "Weep No More My Baby", "April in Paris" and "In Town Tonight". He wrote many arrangements and scores for theatre and film music but gave up theatre work in 1944. He did, however, retain an interest in film composing until his death, writing over 100 scores. These included "The Seventh Veil" (1945), "The Man in the White Suit" (1951), "The Importance of being Earnest" (1952), "Night of the Iguana" (1964), and "Battle of the Bulge" (1965), as well as the first British (partly) serial film score, to "The Curse of the Werewolf" (1961).