Robert Clark (film Executive)
Robert Clark (1905–1984) was a Scottish film executive best known for being head of production at Associated British Picture Corporation in the late 1940s and 1950s. It was a successful time for the company, films including '' The Dam Busters'' (1955). Among Clark's achievements were negotiating a contract with Warner Bros and signing Audrey Hepburn and Richard Todd to long-term contracts before they were stars. He also financed early films of J. Lee Thompson and Michael Anderson. In 1949 he announced ABPC would make ten films at a total cost of £2 million. He was heavily reliant on the choices of his scenario director, Frederick Gotfurt. Clark lost nearly £530,000 on production in his first two years in charge and recouped only £330,000 in distribution. He reduced production costs by remaking old company properties, co-financing with the NFFC and going into co productions. According to writers Sue Harper and Vince Porter, the films which Clark had the most personal interes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Last Holiday (1950 Film)
''Last Holiday'' is a 1950 British film featuring Alec Guinness in his sixth starring role. The low key, dark comedy was written and co-produced by J. B. Priestley and directed by Henry Cass, featuring irony and wit often associated with Priestley. Shooting locations included Bedfordshire and Devon. The film was co-written by an uncredited J. Lee Thompson. The film's narrative revolves around George Bird, who is a salesman for an agricultural implements company. During a routine visit to his physician, he is told that he has a terminal disease and only a short time to live. He decides to spend his final days in an expensive hotel. Once there, he acquires friends and a love interest who eventually learn of his plight. Synopsis George Bird (Guinness), an ordinary, unassuming salesman of agricultural implements who inexplicably speaks with a posh public school accent, visits a physician for a routine check-up and is told he has Lampington's disease, a newly identified condition wh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1905 Births
Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music * 19 (band), a Japanese pop music duo Albums * ''19'' (Adele album), 2008 * ''19'', a 2003 album by Alsou * ''19'', a 2006 album by Evan Yo * ''19'', a 2018 album by MHD * ''19'', one half of the double album ''63/19'' by Kool A.D. * ''Number Nineteen'', a 1971 album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron * ''XIX'' (EP), a 2019 EP by 1the9 Songs * "19" (song), a 1985 song by British musician Paul Hardcastle. * "Nineteen", a song by Bad4Good from the 1992 album '' Refugee'' * "Nineteen", a song by Karma to Burn from the 2001 album ''Almost Heathen''. * "Nineteen" (song), a 2007 song by American singer Billy Ray Cyrus. * "Nineteen", a song by Tegan and Sara from the 2007 album '' The Con''. * "XIX" (song), a 2014 song by Slipk ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ice Cold In Alex
''Ice Cold in Alex'' is a 1958 British war film set during the Western Desert campaign of World War II based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Landon. Directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring John Mills, the film was a prizewinner at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. Under the title ''Desert Attack'', a shortened, 79-minute version of the film was released in the United States in 1961. Film critic Craig Butler later referred to the shortened versions as nonsensical. This review states the length of ''Desert Attack'' as 64 minutes. Later reviews indicate a length of 79 minutes. Plot Captain Anson, the officer commanding a British RASC Motor Ambulance Company in Tobruk, is suffering from battle fatigue and alcoholism. With the city about to be besieged by the German Afrika Korps, Anson and most of his unit are ordered to evacuate to Alexandria. During the evacuation, Anson, MSM Tom Pugh and two nurses, Sister Diana Murdoch and Sister Denise Norton, become ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chase A Crooked Shadow
''Chase a Crooked Shadow'' ( ''Sleep No More'') is a 1958 British suspense film starring Richard Todd, Anne Baxter and Herbert Lom. Michael Anderson directed ''Chase a Crooked Shadow'', the first film produced by Associated Dragon Films, a business venture of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Plot In her family's Spanish villa, Kimberly Prescott (Baxter), a young South African heiress of a diamond company, is grieving after her father's recent suicide, when she is taken aback by the arrival of a man (Todd) claiming to be her brother Ward, believed to have died in a car accident a few months ago. Kimberly calls the police but the man has a driving licence, passport and letter from the bank in the name of Ward Prescott. Even two photos from upstairs look like the man now in her house. The local police chief, Vargas, leaves, believing Kim to be unstable. The next day Kim is woken by an unknown woman who says she is Mrs Whitman, a friend of Ward's. Kim's maid has been given time off. A butl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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It's Great To Be Young
''It's Great to Be Young'' is a 1956 musical Technicolor comedy film about a school music teacher, starring Cecil Parker and John Mills. Plot Mr Dingle (John Mills) seeks to interest his pupils in music in order to enjoy life, while the new strict headmaster, Mr Frome ( Cecil Parker),believes Dingle is ruining the children's traditional education. Mr Dingle's pupils come up with a way to raise money by playing to crowds in the street and persuade him to help them. When this fails they decide to jazz it up and bring in some younger kids to help. This initiative is a success and, with the help of one of the pupil's parents, they are able to buy new musical instruments. The total cost, £200, is to be paid in instalments of £2.10s. per week which Dingle personally signs for. However, when Mr Dingle ends up on the front page of the local newspaper, the headmaster locks the instruments up. The pupils manage to get them out of the locked cupboards, rehearse and put them back wi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Weak And The Wicked
''The Weak and the Wicked'' (called ''Young and Willing'' in the United States) is a 1954 British drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson based on the autobiographical novel '' Who Lie in Gaol'' by his wife, Joan Henry, starring Glynis Johns and Diana Dors. Based on a best-selling book and prison experiences of author Joan Henry, director J. Lee Thompson's prison saga explores the life of inmates behind bars where innocence is lost in the world of vice. Despite its pulpy pot-boiler title, the film settles for earnest social drama over melodrama. Plot Frank "women in prison" story that sympathetically tracks several inmates through their imprisonment and subsequent return to society. Some are successfully rehabilitated; some are not. Female prisoners talk about the events that brought them there and each of their stories is detailed in a series of flashbacks; the upper-class Jean (Glynis Johns), the brash Betty (Diana Dors) and the pregnant Pat (Rachel Roberts). Jean has a ga ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Knave Of Hearts (film)
''Knave of Hearts'' is a 1954 British-French comedy drama film directed by René Clément and starring Gérard Philipe, Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood. The film was shot at the Elstree Studios of Associated British and on location across London including Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park. The film's sets were designed by the art director Ralph Brinton. In France it was released as ''Monsieur Ripois'', referencing the title of the original novel by Louis Hémon. The film was entered into the 1954 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize. Synopsis The film portrays the adventures of a French philanderer in Paris and London. Cast * Gérard Philipe as Andre Ripois * Natasha Parry as Patricia * Valerie Hobson as Catherine Ripois * Joan Greenwood as Norah * Margaret Johnston as Anne * Germaine Montero as Marcelle * Percy Marmont as Catherine's Father * Diana Decker as Diana * Bill Shine as Pub Barman * Eric Pohlmann as Boarding House Proprietor * Martin Benso ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Father's Doing Fine
''Father's Doing Fine'' is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Henry Cass and starring Richard Attenborough, Heather Thatcher, and Noel Purcell, and featuring Sid James. It was based on the 1948 play ''Little Lambs Eat Ivy'' by Noel Langley. It was shot at Associated British's Elstree Studios with sets designed by the art director Donald M. Ashton. Plot Eccentric widow Lady Buckering lives in splendour in Hampstead, but behind the scenes is struggling with poverty and bringing up four demanding daughters, one of whom is about to have a baby. Also of concern is the very nervous father-to-be and how exactly to deal with her light-fingered butler. Cast * Richard Attenborough as Dougall * Heather Thatcher as Lady Buckering * Noel Purcell as Shaughnessy * George Thorpe as Dr Drew * Diane Hart as Doreen * Susan Stephen as Bicky * Mary Germaine as Gerda * Virginia McKenna as Catherine * Jack Watling as Clifford Magill * Peter Hammond as Roly * Brian Worth as Wilfred * Sid J ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Yellow Balloon (film)
''The Yellow Balloon'' is a 1953 British drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Andrew Ray, William Sylvester, Kathleen Ryan, Kenneth More and Hy Hazell. It was Thompson's second feature as director. It was distributed by Associated British and produced by the company's Marble Arch Productions. It was made at Elstree Studios with sets designed by the art director Robert Jones. Location shooting took place around Bayswater and Chelsea. Plot The film is set in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, in London's East End, amongst the bomb sites. 12-year-old Frankie Palmer (Andrew Ray) loses the sixpence his father has given him to buy a large yellow balloon from a street seller which the boy has set his heart on. He sees that a friend of his, young Ronnie Williams (Stephen Fenemore), has already bought one and Frankie snatches it off him and runs off with it, with Ronnie in hot pursuit. Ronnie chases Frankie into a large, bombed-out house and they are r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Woman's Angle
''The Woman's Angle'' is 1952 British drama film directed by Leslie Arliss and starring Edward Underdown, Cathy O'Donnell and Lois Maxwell. It is based on the novel ''Three Cups of Coffee'' by Ruth Feiner. Premise The film is the story of three love affairs of man who belongs to celebrated family of musicians, culminating in divorce and his final discovery of happiness. Cast * Edward Underdown as Robert Mansell * Cathy O'Donnell as Nina Van Rhyne * Lois Maxwell as Enid Mansell * Claude Farell as Delysia Veronova * Peter Reynolds as Brian Mansell * Marjorie Fielding as Mrs. Mansell * Anthony Nicholls as Doctor Nigel Jarvis * Isabel Dean as Isobel Mansell * John Bentley as Renfro Mansell * Olaf Pooley as Rudolph Mansell * Ernest Thesiger as Judge * Eric Pohlmann as Steffano * Joan Collins as Marina * Malcolm Knight as Shepherd Boy * Fred Berger as Restaurant Manager * Dana Wynter as Elaine * Leslie Weston as Suttley * Geoffrey Toone as Count Cambia * Lea Seidl as Madame Kosso ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Young Wives' Tale
''Young Wives' Tale'', also known as ''Fun for Four'', is a 1951 British comedy film directed by Henry Cass and starring Joan Greenwood, Nigel Patrick, Derek Farr, and Guy Middleton. The film is based on the 1949 play ''Young Wives' Tale'' by Ronald Jeans. It features one of Audrey Hepburn's earliest film roles, albeit a minor one, as Eve Lester. Plot During the post-World War II housing shortage, Bruce and Mary are a married couple who both have professional jobs and own their own house, and they let out rooms, including to another married couple, Rodney and Sabina, because Sabina is a friend of Mary. Both couples have an infant child, and the presence of a nanny for the two children exacerbates the problems caused by the crowding. Another young female lodger and Sabina's persistent old beau intensify the tensions. Cast * Joan Greenwood as Sabina Pennant * Nigel Patrick as Rodney Pennant * Derek Farr as Bruce Banning * Guy Middleton as Victor Manifold * Athene Seyler as Nanny G ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |