Vandyke Productions was a British

film production Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

company which operated between 1947 and 1956. It specialised in making

B film A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

s which would be released on the bottom-half of a

double bill The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera h ...

. Founded by the brothers Nigel and Roger Proudlock in 1947 after their

demobilisation Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and milit ...

, the company used several studios during its existence including

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and Kensington. Often operating on very low-budgets, during its first few years the company produced a mix of thrillers and comedies. Some of its films of the 1950s were slightly more expensive including ''

Black 13 ''Black 13'' is a 1953 British crime drama film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Peter Reynolds, Rona Anderson, Patrick Barr and John Le Mesurier. The film is a remake of the 1948 Italian film ''Gioventù perduta'' (also known as ''Lost You ...

'', which was released in the United States by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

John Guillermin John Guillermin (11 November 192527 September 2015) was a French-British film director, writer and producer who was most active in big-budget, action-adventure films throughout his lengthy career. His more well-known films include '' I Was Mont ...

, who went on to be a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

director, made several films for Vandyke early in his career. The company went out of business in 1956 due to a slump in B Film production, but Roger Proudlock returned to make a few more films until 1960.Chibnall & McFarlane p.121-3

References

Bibliography

* Chibnall, Steve & McFarlane, Brian. ''The British 'B' Film''. Palgrave MacMillan, 2009. British film studios Film production companies of the United Kingdom Film distributors of the United Kingdom {{UK-film-company-stub