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Anglo-Amalgamated
Anglo-Amalgamated Productions was a British film production company, run by Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy, which operated from 1945 until roughly 1971 (after which it was absorbed into EMI Films). Low-budget and second features, often produced at Merton Park Studios, formed much of its output. It was the UK distributor of many films produced by American International Pictures (AIP), who distributed AA's films in the United States. It is remembered for producing the first 12 ''Carry On'' films (all of which were produced at Pinewood Studios) and B-movie series such as '' The Scales of Justice'', ''Scotland Yard'' and the ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries''. It did, however, produce the Michael Powell film ''Peeping Tom'' (1960) and such films as John Schlesinger's '' A Kind of Loving'' (1962), '' Billy Liar'' (1963) or Ken Loach's ''Poor Cow'' (1967). The company's distribution arrangement with American International Pictures led to the last two films in Roger Corman's series of films based ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nat Cohen
Nat Cohen (23 December 1905 – 10 February 1988)William D. Rubinstein, et al (eds.''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p.171 was a British film producer and executive. For over four decades he was one of the most significant figures in the British film industry, particularly in his capacity as head of Anglo-Amalgamated and EMI Films; he helped finance the first ''Carry On'' movies and early work of filmmakers such as Ken Loach, John Schlesinger, Alan Parker and David Puttnam. In the early 1970s while head of EMI Films he was called the most powerful man in the British film industry. Early life Cohen was the son of a kosher butcher from the east end of London who was president of the Jubilee Street synagogue. He was the only son with one elder sister. Cohen's parents had emigrated from Poland in the early 1900s and his father was a silent partner in a cinema in the east end. Cohen attended a local LCV school and then joined his father's busi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peeping Tom (1960 Film)
''Peeping Tom'' is a 1960 British psychological horror-thriller film directed by Michael Powell, written by Leo Marks, and starring Carl Boehm, Anna Massey, and Moira Shearer. The film revolves around a serial killer who murders women while using a portable film camera to record their dying expressions of terror. Its title derives from the expression "peeping Tom", which describes a voyeur. The film's controversial subject matter and its extremely harsh reception by critics had a severely negative impact on Powell's career as a director in the United Kingdom. However, it attracted a cult following, and in later years, it has been re-evaluated and is now widely considered a masterpiece, and a progenitor of the contemporary slasher film. The British Film Institute named it the 78th greatest British film of all time, and in 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for '' Time Out'' magazine saw it ranked the 27th best British film ever. The music score ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EMI Films
EMI Films was a British film studio and distributor. A subsidiary of the EMI conglomerate, the corporate name was not used throughout the entire period of EMI's involvement in the film industry, from 1969 to 1986, but the company's brief connection with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Anglo-EMI, the division under Nat Cohen, and the later company as part of the Thorn EMI conglomerate (following the merger with Thorn) are outlined here. History Headed by Bryan Forbes The company was formed after the takeover of Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) in 1969 by EMI, following the acquisition of Warner Bros.' shares in ABPC the previous year. At the time ABPC owned 270 ABC Cinemas, a half share in the ITV contractor Thames Television, Elstree Studios at Shenley Road, and had recently bought Anglo-Amalgamated, a film studio in which Nat Cohen had been a partner. EMI moved into film production with the foundation of a new company, EMI-Elstree. Bernard Delfont appointed writer-d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-EMI Film Distributors
EMI Films was a British film studio and distributor. A subsidiary of the EMI conglomerate, the corporate name was not used throughout the entire period of EMI's involvement in the film industry, from 1969 to 1986, but the company's brief connection with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Anglo-EMI, the division under Nat Cohen, and the later company as part of the Thorn EMI conglomerate (following the merger with Thorn) are outlined here. History Headed by Bryan Forbes The company was formed after the takeover of Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) in 1969 by EMI, following the acquisition of Warner Bros.' shares in ABPC the previous year. At the time ABPC owned 270 ABC Cinemas, a half share in the ITV contractor Thames Television, Elstree Studios at Shenley Road, and had recently bought Anglo-Amalgamated, a film studio in which Nat Cohen had been a partner. EMI moved into film production with the foundation of a new company, EMI-Elstree. Bernard Delfont appointed writer-dir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edgar Wallace Mysteries
The ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' is a British second-feature film series mainly produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated. There were 48 films in the series, which were released between 1960 and 1965. The series was screened as ''The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre'' on television in the United States. Synopsis Producers Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy acquired the film rights to all of Edgar Wallace's books and stories in 1960. The original intent was that 30 of the films would be produced by Independent Artists at Beaconsfield Studios while a further 20 would be made by the Film Producers Guild at Merton Park Studios. In the event, Independent Artists' only contribution to the series would be The Malpas Mystery while more than double the intended 20 were made at Merton Park. The resulting adaptations were loose, with very few using Wallace's original titles. Like the concurrent Rialto Film series then being produced in Germany (see ''German crimis''), there was no atte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American International Pictures
American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing films from 1955 until 1980, a year after its acquisition by Filmways in 1979. It was formed on April 2, 1954 as American Releasing Corporation (ARC) by former Realart Pictures Inc. sales manager James H. Nicholson and entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff and their first release was the 1953 UK documentary film ''Operation Malaya''. It was dedicated to releasing low-budget films packaged as double features, primarily of interest to the teenagers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The company eventually became a part of Orion Pictures, which in turn, became a division of MGM. On October 7, 2020, four decades after the original closure, MGM revived AIP as a label for acquired films for digital and theatrical releases, with MGM overseeing ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
StudioCanal
StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world. The company is a unit of the Canal+ Group, owned by Vivendi. Background The company was founded in 1988 by Pierre Lescure as a spin-off of the Canal+ pay-TV network. The original function was to focus on French and European productions, but later made strategic deals with American production companies, such as Carolco Pictures. StudioCanal's most notable productions from its early years include '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'', '' JFK'', ''Basic Instinct'', ''Cliffhanger'', '' Under Siege'', ''Free Willy'', and the original ''Stargate'' movie. In those days, it was known as either Le Studio Canal+ or simply Canal+. Other films the company financed include '' U-571'', ''Bully'', and '' Bridget ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Associated British Picture Corporation
Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned approximately 500 cinemas in Britain by 1943, and in the 1950s and 60s owned a station on the ITV television network. The studio was partly owned by Warner Bros. from about 1940 until 1969; the American company also owned a stake in ABPC's distribution arm, Warner-Pathé, from 1958. It formed one half of a vertically integrated film industry duopoly in Britain with the Rank Organisation. History From 1927 to 1945 The company was founded during 1927 by Scottish solicitor John Maxwell after he had purchased British National Pictures Studios and its Elstree Studios complex and merged it with his ABC Cinemas circuit, renaming the company British International Pictures. The Wardour Film Company, with Maxwell as chairman, was the distributor of BI ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tomb Of Ligeia
''The Tomb of Ligeia'' is a 1964 British horror film directed by Roger Corman. Starring Vincent Price and Elizabeth Shepherd, it tells of a man haunted by the spirit of his dead wife and her effect on his second marriage. The screenplay by Robert Towne was based upon the short story "Ligeia" by American author Edgar Allan Poe and was the last in his series of films loosely based on the works of Poe. ''Tomb of Ligeia'' was filmed at Castle Acre Priory and other locations with a mostly English cast. Plot A funeral takes place at the side of Castle Acre Priory. The casket has a window allowing the face of a beautiful young woman to be seen. A black cat jumps on the coffin and seems to steal the soul of the woman. The widower, Verden Fell (Vincent Price) is both mournful about and feels threatened by the death of his wife, Ligeia. He had sensed her soul's reluctance to die and was concerned about her near-blasphemous statements about God (she was an atheist). Alone and troubled by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Masque Of The Red Death (1964 Film)
''The Masque of the Red Death'' is a 1964 horror film directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price. The story follows a prince who terrorizes a plague-ridden peasantry while merrymaking in a lonely castle with his jaded courtiers. The screenplay, written by Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell, was based upon the 1842 short story of the same name by American author Edgar Allan Poe, and incorporates a subplot based on another Poe tale, "Hop-Frog". Another subplot is drawn from ''Torture by Hope'' by Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. It is the seventh of a series of eight Corman film adaptations largely based on Edgar Allan Poe's works made by American International Pictures. Plot On a mountain in medieval Italy, an old woman meets a red-cloaked figure shuffling Tarot cards. The figure gives her a white rose, which then turns red and dappled with blood. Prince Prospero, a Satanist, visits the village he rules, and is confronted by two starving villagers, Gino and Lud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carry On Films
The ''Carry On'' series of 31 British comedy films were released between 1958 and 1978, produced by Peter Rogers with director Gerald Thomas. The humour of ''Carry On'' was in the British comic tradition of music hall and bawdy seaside postcards. In between the films, Rogers and Thomas produced four Christmas television specials (1969–1973), a 1975 television series of thirteen episodes, and three West End stage shows that later toured the regions. The series drew on regular ensemble that included Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor, Jack Douglas, and Jim Dale. A 31st film was released in 1992, though featuring only four of the "irregular" cast members. The ''Carry On'' series contains the largest number of films of any British film series, and is the second longest running, albeit with a fourteen-year gap (1978–1992) between the 30th and 31st entries ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poor Cow
''Poor Cow'' is a 1967 British kitchen sink drama film directed by Ken Loach and based on Nell Dunn's 1967 novel of the same name. It was Ken Loach's first feature film, after a series of TV productions. The film was re-released in the UK in 2016. Plot 18-year-old Joy, who comes from a big family with a heavy drinking mother and womanising father, leaves home to marry Tom and they have a son, Johnny. Tom mentally and physically abuses Joy and shows little interest or affection. He has been in prison for four years and, when he is jailed again after being caught attempting a big robbery, Joy and her very young son are left on their own. After briefly sharing a room with her Aunt Emm, an aging prostitute, Joy moves in with Dave, one of Tom's criminal associates. Dave is tender and understanding, but the idyll is shattered when he is sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for leading a robbery which results in a woman being blinded, and given his long criminal record, early release ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
