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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 bus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 bas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crow Hollow
''Crow Hollow'' is a 1952 British mystery film directed by Michael McCarthy and starring Donald Houston, Natasha Parry and Patricia Owens. It is based on the 1950 novel ''Crow Hollow'' by Dorothy Eden. In the film, newlywed Ann Amour survives a number of murder attempts, while her maid is found stabbed to death by unknown assailants. Ann is unaware of who is trying to kill her. The film was shot at Merton Park Studios. There was also a scene shot at Gomshall and Shere railway station. Plot A young woman, Ann, falls in love with and marries Doctor Robert "Bob" Amour. She goes to live with him on his family estate, Crow Hollow, with his three, eccentric aunts - for whom he is obliged to provide a home, as a condition of ownership of the estate. Ann becomes increasingly concerned about incidents and about the behaviour of the three aunts and also an attractive young maid called Willow. On one occasion a large poisonous spider jumps on her from a box of delivered flowers while h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Konga (film)
''Konga'' is a 1961 technicolour science fiction horror film directed by John Lemont and starring Michael Gough, Margo Johns and Austin Trevor. It was shot at Merton Park Studios and in Croydon for Anglo Amalgamated, then distributed in the United States by American International Pictures (AIP) as a double feature with '' Master of the World''. Anglo Amalgamated and AIP each provided half the funding for the US$500,000 film, with each studio receiving distribution rights in their respective hemispheres. ''Konga'' was the basis for a comic book series published by Charlton Comics and initially drawn by Steve Ditko (prior to Ditko's co-creation of Spider-Man) in the 1960s. The film epitomises the B-movie in terms of illogical plot and shortcut special effects, such as a man in a gorilla suit replacing special effects. Shots of screaming people looking upwards invoke the idea that they are looking up to Konga and it is not explained how the serum changes species as well as size ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circus Of Horrors
''Circus of Horrors'' is a 1960 British horror film directed by Sidney Hayers, and starring Anton Diffring, Yvonne Monlaur, Erika Remberg, Kenneth Griffith, Jane Hylton, Conrad Phillips, Yvonne Romain, and Donald Pleasence. Set in 1947, it follows a deranged plastic surgeon who changes his identity after botching an operation, and later comes to gain control of a circus that he uses as a front for his surgical exploits. The original screenplay was written by American screenwriter George Baxt. It was released in the United States by American International Pictures as a double feature with '' The Angry Red Planet''. Plot In 1947 England, plastic surgeon Dr. Rossiter is wanted by police after performing a botched operation on socialite Evelyn Morley. However, believing himself to have brilliant abilities as a surgeon, he and his assistants, Martin and Angela, evade capture and escape to France. To avoid capture, Rossiter changes his name to Dr. Schüler. Schüler sees a girl sca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horrors Of The Black Museum
''Horrors of the Black Museum'' (1959) is a British-American horror film starring Michael Gough and directed by Arthur Crabtree. It was the first film in what film critic David Pirie dubbed Anglo-Amalgamated's "Sadian trilogy" (the other two being ''Circus of Horrors'' and ''Peeping Tom''), with an emphasis on sadism, cruelty and violence (with sexual undertones), in contrast to the supernatural horror of the Hammer films of the same era. Plot A package is delivered to Gail, a young blonde woman with a roommate named Peggy. Gail opens the package to find a pair of binoculars, but when she uses them to look out a window, she screams and collapses, dying. The binoculars are revealed to have two spikes emerging out of the eyepiece. Peggy is being interviewed by Superintendent Graham and Inspector Lodge when journalist and crime writer Edmond Bancroft enters the room. He wishes to see the binoculars for himself, and Graham remarks on their similarity to binoculars in Scotland Ya ... [...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 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cat Girl
''Cat Girl'' is a 1957 British-American horror film, produced by Herbert Smith and Lou Rusoff, directed by Alfred Shaughnessy, that stars Barbara Shelley, Robert Ayres, and Kay Callard. It was an unofficial remake of Val Lewton's '' Cat People'' (1942). AIP released ''Cat Girl'' on a double bill with their 1957 film ''The Amazing Colossal Man''. This was the first of two cat-related films starring Barbara Shelley, the other being ''The Shadow of the Cat'' (1961). accessed 26 March 2014 Plot Leonora Johnson () is a woman who returns to her ancestral home and is told she will inherit money, but also that there is a |
Joseph Losey
Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1950s, he moved to Europe where he made the remainder of his films, mostly in the United Kingdom. Among the most critically and commercially successful were the films with screenplays by Harold Pinter: '' The Servant'' (1963) and '' The Go-Between'' (1971). Losey's 1976 film ''Monsieur Klein'' won the César Awards for Best Film and Best Director. He was a four-time nominee for both the Palme d'Or (winning once) and the Golden Lion, and a two-time BAFTA nominee. Early life and career Joseph Walton Losey III was born on January 14, 1909, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he and Nicholas Ray were high-school classmates at La Crosse Central High School. He attended Dartmouth College and Harvard University, beginning as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as '' Doctor in the House'' (1954) for the Rank Organisation, he later acted in art house films, evolving from "heartthrob to icon of edginess". In a second career, he wrote seven best-selling volumes of memoirs, six novels, and a volume of collected journalism, mainly from articles in ''The Daily Telegraph''. During five years of active military duty during World War Two, he reached the rank of major and was awarded seven medals. His poetry has been published in war anthologies; a painting by Bogarde, also from the war, hangs in the British Museum, with many more in the Imperial War Museum. Having come to prominence in films including '' The Blue Lamp'' in the early 1950s, Bogarde starred in the successful '' Doctor'' film series (1954–1963). He twice won the BAFTA Award for Best Act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexis Smith
Margaret Alexis Fitzsimmons-Smith (June 8, 1921 – June 9, 1993) was a Canadian-born American actress and singer. She appeared in several major Hollywood films in the 1940s and had a notable career on Broadway in the 1970s, winning a Tony Award in 1972 for the Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman musical ''Follies''. Early life Smith was born in Penticton, British Columbia, to Gladys Mabel Fitz-Simmons (a Canadian) and Alexander Smith (a Scot). Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was about a year old. Her parents both became naturalized U.S. citizens in 1939, through which she derived her United States citizenship. Smith grew up in Los Angeles, attending Hollywood High School along with other future talents, including actress Nanette Fabray. Smith made her professional debut performing ballet at the Hollywood Bowl.Monush 2003pg. 69 She was discovered in 1940 at Los Angeles City College, acting in a school production, by a Warner Brothers' talent scout. Warner Bros Early role ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sleeping Tiger
''The Sleeping Tiger'' is a 1954 British film noir directed by Joseph Losey and starring Alexis Smith, Dirk Bogarde and Alexander Knox. It was Losey's first British feature, which he directed under the pseudonym of Victor Hanbury due to being blacklisted in the McCarthy Era. It was shot at Walton Studios and on location in London. The film's sets were designed by the art director John Stoll. It was released by Anglo-Amalgamated while in America it was distributed by Astor Pictures. Plot Two criminals are stalking the streets of London one dark night. Frank Clemmons (Dirk Bogarde), a cocky middle-class young man, holds up psychiatrist Dr. Clive Esmond (Alexander Knox) at gunpoint outside his affluent home, but Dr. Esmond overpowers him. Arriving home from in Paris, Dr. Esmond's wife Glenda (Alexis Smith) is taken aback to discover Clemmons staying in their home as the new household guest. To avoid being turned over to the police, Frank agreed to stay as a guest at Dr. Esmond's h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glad Tidings (film)
''Glad Tidings'' is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Barbara Kelly, Raymond Huntley and Ronald Howard. It was based on the play of the same title by R. F. Delderfield and made at the Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames. The film's art direction was by John Stoll. The backers Eros Films were pleased enough with the film's success to adapt another Delderfield play as '' Where There's a Will'' in 1955. Plot A retired RAF officer returns home to his sleepy little rural community with an attractive new American fiancée, to the initial resentment of his children. Cast * Barbara Kelly as Kay Stuart * Raymond Huntley as Tom Forester * Ronald Howard as Corporal Nicholas Brayne * Jean Lodge as Celia Forester * Terence Alexander as Flight Lieutenant Spud Cusack * Diana Calderwood as Josephine Forester * Laurence Payne as Clive Askham * Arthur Howard as Mr. Boddington * Brian Smith as Derek Forester * Yvette Wyatt as Miggs Forester * Doris Y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
