Tigon British Film Productions or Tigon was a film production and distribution company, founded by

Tony Tenser Samuel Anthony Tenser (10 August 1920 – 5 December 2007)Gavin Gaugha"Obituary: Tony Tenser" ''The Guardian'', 13 March 2008 was an English-born film producer of Lithuanian-Jewish descent. He began as the producer of low budget exploitation ...

in 1966. It is best remembered for its

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

s, particularly '' Witchfinder General'' (directed by

Michael Reeves Michael Reeves (17 October 1943 – 11 February 1969) was an English film director and screenwriter. He is best remembered for the 1968 film '' Witchfinder General'' (known in the US as ''Conqueror Worm''). A few months after the film's re ...

, 1968) and '' The Blood on Satan's Claw'' (directed by Piers Haggard, 1971). Other Tigon films include '' The Creeping Flesh'', ''

The Sorcerers ''The Sorcerers'' is a 1967 British science fiction/horror film directed by Michael Reeves, starring Boris Karloff, Catherine Lacey, Ian Ogilvy, and Susan George. The original story and screenplay was conceived and written by John Burke. R ...

'' and '' Doomwatch'' (1972), based on the

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

of the same name. A 1990s book by Andy Boot (''Fragments of Fear'') highlighted the importance of Tigon and Tony Tenser to the British horror genre but contained a number of factual errors, including the misidentification of a number of films as Tigon productions. This misidentification continues to this day.

History

Tigon was based at Hammer House in

Wardour Street Wardour Street () is a street in Soho, City of Westminster, London. It is a one-way street that runs north from Leicester Square, through Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street. Throughout the 20th century the street became a c ...

, London, and released a wide range of films from

sexploitation A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit se ...

(''

Zeta One ''Zeta One'' is a 1969 British comedy science fiction film directed by Michael Cort and starring James Robertson Justice, Charles Hawtrey and Dawn Addams. Plot A spy for Section 5, James Word, finds a secretary for the section waiting as he r ...

''), to an acclaimed television adaptation of

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty ...

's ''

Miss Julie ''Miss Julie'' ( sv, Fröken Julie) is a naturalistic play written in 1888 by August Strindberg. It is set on Midsummer's Eve and the following morning, which is Midsummer and the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist. The setting is an estate of ...

'' (1972) starring

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdo ...

. The largest part of its output, however, was made up by low-budget horror films in direct competition for audiences with

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classi ...

and Amicus Productions. In February 2005, a DVD box set of Tigon films was released by Anchor BayUK. The box set contains only '' Witchfinder General'', '' The Body Stealers'', ''

The Haunted House of Horror ''The Haunted House of Horror'', also titled ''Horror House'' and ''The Dark'', is a 1969 British horror film directed by Michael Armstrong and starring Frankie Avalon and Jill Haworth as young adults looking for a thrill by spending the nig ...

'', '' The Blood on Satan's Claw'', '' The Beast in the Cellar'', and '' Virgin Witch'', and consists of UK rather than US prints, in Region 2 – PAL format. Providing an audio commentary on a number of the films, as well as writing the productions notes, was the author and film critic John Hamilton. The same year, FAB press in the UK published John Hamilton's biography of Tony Tenser, a comprehensive look at the career of Tigon's founder and the man dubbed "the Godfather of British Exploitation". Hamilton had access to production files, diaries and personal correspondence, as well as recording a number of exclusive interviews with the likes of

Vernon Sewell Vernon Campbell Sewell (4 July 1903 – 21 June 2001) was a British film director, writer, producer and, briefly, an actor. Sewell was born in London, England, and was educated at Marlborough College. He directed more than 30 films during his c ...

, Michael Armstrong,

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

, Ian Ogilvy and Peter Sasdy. He also recorded over 18 hours of interviews with Tony Tenser himself, all of which went to create an in-depth look not only at the making of the films but the machinations involved with running a film company. The book was critically acclaimed in a number of newspapers and magazines, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', as well as '' Film Review'' and ''SPFX'' (the latter dubbed it the "best single volume history ever written on British horror"). Hamilton has gone on to write a number of articles on Tigon film productions, published in magazines like ''The Darkside'', ''Shivers'' and ''Little Shoppe of Horrors''; in 2015, Hemlock Books published ''Tigon: Blood on a Budget'', the author's look at the studio's horror and fantasy movies.

Filmography

As production company

*'' Sandy the Seal'' (1965 - released 1969) *''

'' (1967) *''Mini Weekend'' (1968) *''

The Blood Beast Terror ''The Blood Beast Terror'' is a 1968 British horror film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Peter Cushing, Robert Flemyng and Wanda Ventham, released by Tigon in February 1968.John Hamilton, ''Beasts in the Cellar: The Exploitation Fil ...

'' (1968) *'' Witchfinder General'' (1968) *'' Love in Our Time'' (1968) *'' Curse of the Crimson Altar'' (1968) *'' The Body Stealers'' (1969) *'' What's Good for the Goose'' (1969) *''

'' (1969) *''

'' (1969) *'' The Nude Vampire'' (1970) *'' The Beast in the Cellar'' (1970) *''

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary For ...

'' (1970) *'' Monique'' (1970) *'' The Blood on Satan's Claw'' (1971) *'' The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins'' (1971) *''

Black Beauty ''Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse'' is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she was bedridden and seriously ill.Merriam-Webster (1995). ...

'' (1971) *'' Hannie Caulder'' (1971) *'' Au Pair Girls'' (1972) *'' Virgin Witch'' (1972) *'' Doomwatch'' (1972) *''Neither the Sea Nor the Sand'' (1972) *'' The Creeping Flesh'' (1973)

As distributor

*''

Castle of the Living Dead ''Castle of the Living Dead'' ( it, Il Castello dei Morti Vivi, french: Le Chateau des Morts Vivants) is a 1964 horror film directed by Warren Kiefer. It was released in English under the title ''Crypt of Horror''. It was Kiefer's first film as ...

'' (1964) *'' Terror-Creatures from the Grave'' (1965) *'' Snow Treasure'' (1968) *''

O.K. Yevtushenko ''Somebody's Stolen Our Russian Spy'' or '' O.K. Yevtushenko'' (the film shot the same year as ''O.K. Connery'') is a 1967 Spanish/British international co-production Eurospy film shot in Spain and Portugal. The film was co-produced by James Ward ...

'' (1968 – released 1975) *'' Simon, Simon'' (1970) *'' Permissive'' (1970) *'' Clegg'' (1970) *''

Stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons a ...

'' (1971) *''

'' (1972) (TV movie) *'' Wrong Way'' (1972 – released 1981) *'' Sex, Love and Marriage'' (1972) *'' The Flesh and Blood Show'' (1972) *'' The Sex Thief'' (1973) *'' A Candle for the Devil'' (1973) *'' Murder Inferno'' (1973) *'' The Great McGonagall'' (1974) *''

Double Agent 73 ''Double Agent 73'' is a 1974 American exploitation spy film directed and produced by Doris Wishman and starring burlesque performer Chesty Morgan. Plot Chesty Morgan, a woman whose bust is in size, plays Jane Tennay, a large breasted secret age ...

'' (1974) *'' All I Want Is You... and You... and You...'' (1974) *'' Sizzlers'' (1976) *'' Intimate Games'' (1976) *''

Erotic Confessions Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, ...

'' (1976 – released 1981) *'' The Red Nights of the Gestapo'' (1977) *'' Come Play With Me'' (1977) *'' Tänzerinnen für Tanger'' (1977) *'' The Playbirds'' (1978) *'' The Violation of the Bitch'' (1978) *'' Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair'' (1979) *'' Queen of the Blues'' (1979) *'' The Ecstasy Girls'' (1979) *''

Sex with the Stars Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, ...

'' (1980) *''

Come Play with Me 2 Come may refer to: * Comè, a city and commune in Benin * Come (Tenos), an ancient town on Tenos island, Greece Music * Come (American band), an American indie rock band formed in 1990 * Come (UK band), a British noise project founded in 1979 ** ...

'' (1980) *''

Rude Boy Rude boy, rudeboy, rudie, rudi, and rudy are slang terms that originated in 1960s Jamaican street culture, and that are still used today. In the late 1970s, there was a revival in England of the terms ''rude boy'' and ''rude girl'', among other ...

'' (1980) *'' Emanuelle: Queen Bitch'' (1980) *'' Hotel Paradise'' (1980) *'' Mary Millington's World Striptease Extravaganza'' (1981) *''

Emmanuelle in Soho ''Emmanuelle in Soho'' is a 1981 British sex film directed by David Hughes and produced by David Sullivan, and starring Angie Quick (under the name 'Mandy Miller'), Julie Lee and John M. East. Sullivan had originally intended Mary Millington to ...

'' (1981) *'' Ring of Desire'' (1981) *'' Electric Blue - The Movie'' (1982) *'' Hellcat Mud Wrestlers'' (1983)

References

{{Authority control Film production companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1966

History

Filmography

As production company

As distributor

Further reading

References