One of my Dad’s favourite films and because of that it is one of my mine too – Victor Mature was my Dad’s favourite actor.
I have not seen this photograph before. At first I thought it was possibly at the Premier of the film but of course it is not – Richard Burton looks still to be in costume and Jean Simmons looks uncomfortable for some reason.
At the time Richard Burton and Jean Simmons were not film stars on a truly international scale. Alright both of them had successful careers in England but is wasn’t until this film was released that step up came and they became well known. On the other hand, Victor Mature was already established on the World scale due a decade at the top and big money making films like ‘Samson and Delilah’ Earlier than that he was a superb Doc Holliday in John Ford’s ‘My Darling Clementine’
After The Robe he again hit the Box Office jackpot with ‘Demetrius and the Gladiators’ – a follow on from ‘The Robe’. Then came ‘The Egyptian’
Financially a very productive few years for Victor Mature.
Just come across these which I found particularly interesting
I Was A Teenage Werewolf / Dragstrip Girl:
One of those teenage classics; both made by American International Pictures in 1957
I Was A Teenage Werewolf starred a young Michael Landon and was the first film ever to have the word ‘teenage’ in its title,
Dragstrip Girl was co-produced by the legendary Samuel Z. Arkoff
This poster is most likely a late 1950s, possibly early 1960s re-screening of the films, billed as ‘The double thrill sensation of the century!’, distributed by Anglo Amalgamated with the Hammer House Wardour Street address printed at the bottom of the poster.
Viking Women / Back To Nature / The Mysterious Invader: Late 1950s, possibly early 1960s, film poster for a triple bill of 1957 Anglo International Pictures features. Viking Women, also known as The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent, produced by Roger Corman and the legendary Samuel Z. Arkoff.
The Astounding She Monster, here billed as The Mysterious Invader, directed& produced by Ronald V. Ashcroft, who employed the B-movie king Edward D. Wood, Jr. as an unofficial consultant after having worked on his Night of the Ghouls.
his ‘Colossal Triple Attraction’, distributed by Anglo Amalgamated with the Hammer House Wardour Street address printed at the bottom of the poster.
The third part of the bill is a nudist film, Back To Nature, filmed in colour and set in the Elsinore nudist colony California, I seem to recall that Michael Winner started his career with a couple of such films made in England around the same time. One called ‘Some Like it Cool ‘ springs to mind – a film written, financed and made by Michael Winner – and one that made quite a lot of money and kick-started his career
Well this is really a chart from the USA. Scanning down the chart, certain ones surprise me – for instance I hadn’t realised that ‘The Country Girl’ was such a popular film at the time nor for that matter ‘The Caine Mutiny’
The Country Girl is a brilliant piece of work thanks in part to a fine adaptation by director and screenwriter George Seaton (Oscar for best screen adaptation, 1954) and performances by Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and William Holden.
I didn’t think that ‘The Caine Mutiny’ would be so highly placed
One interesting snippet on the film though is that the original Vinyl record of the score of ‘The Caine Mutiny’ would be now, so highly valued. Apparently the Studio withdrew the record almost immediately after it’s release because of contractual issues. As regards the film – a wonderful performance by Humphrey Bogart. Who can forget the final scene where he virtually goes to pieces giving evidence – brilliant acting.
‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ was a real hit for Walt Disney who only a few years before had got into ‘live-action’ films with ‘Treasure Island’ and ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ – I have to say that I thought these two films were better than 20,00 Leagues. Kirk Douglas was to the fore in this one though. He was popular at the Box Office and in fairness to him, he realised his own worth and capitalised on it.
Recently I read that Kirk had been approached for a key role in ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ but he also demanded star billing and the largest of all the other actors in salary – Sam Spiegel the Producer told him NO
I read also about ‘Spartacus’ which he had co-produced that he had one Director fired from the film. One of the producers commented that ‘Spartacus was a good film -‘ it could have been a great film if that bastard (Kirk Douglas) had not insisted in being in every sceneof the film’
James Stewart has two films here in the top ten – quite different ones – ‘The Glenn Miller Story’ and Hitchcock’s classic ‘Rear Window’ – both very good and entertaining films.
We all know ‘Rear Window’– it is film that leaves you on the edge of your seat right up until the last scene. Very much done on an elaborate Studio set
‘The High and the Mighty’ is there as a big box office winner. It was little seen after it’s original release but in the last decade or so, it has had a DVD release and has been on Television. It is a film packed with suspense – This was an original in it’s time but all the ‘Airport’ films followed with stories similar in style to this
‘White Christmas’ tops the chart here – this iis almost always on Television in England at Christmas and like ‘Its a Wonderful Life’ always has a big viewing audience
The unique and beautiful Cinema – The Kinema in the Woods at Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire – shows ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ each year just before Christmas and even now in November this year, a number of the showings are sold out
In 1935 Alexander Korda, a Hungarian film impresario of international stature who had rejuvenated England’s film industry with his productions of The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935)capitalised on his box-office success by securing finance from the Prudential Assurance Company to help him build own studio – Denham. A studio to rival Hollywood that would make big World targeted films at least the equal to anything from the US
ABOVE – Alexander Korda sitting in his office at the old house overlooking the lake at Denham.
It was here that he sat alongside Producers, Directors and writers as he planned his next production
It was here in this very office that Michael Powell was called along with others to discuss the making of a major Korda Film ‘The Spy in Black’ 1937′. As they talked Korda interrupted and said that he would like to introduce someone who had written the screenplay for the film – and then introduced Emric Pressburger who quietly went through hat he had written – Michael Powell sat transfixed – he did not know this man but thought what he had written was brilliant and vowed that he just had to work with him again which we all know he did for many years
So it was in this office in the old house at Denham, that Michael Powell first met Emric Pressburgerthus beginning their unique collaboration which resulted in some of the finest British films ever made
Korda felt that the only way to bring the English film industry to prominence would be by concentrating on quality films. Alexander Korda organised London Film Productions, and risked everything on a deceptively-lavish movie The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) starring Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester. The film became a worldwide blockbuster.
Following the success of this film, Korda was hailed as the saviour of the British film industry. On the strength of this film, he was also able to land an American distribution deal with United Artists.
Korda constructed the stately Denham Film Studios on a 165-acre estate outside London. He also established his own stable of contract actors – and very impressive they were – including Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon (who became the second Mrs. Korda in 1939), Wendy Barrie, Robert Donat, Maurice Evans, and Vivien Leigh.
Some of his more ambitious films included Rembrandt (1936), which he also directed; Things to Come (1936) a $1.5 million adaptation of the H. G. Welles book; and The Thief of Bagdad (1940).
While Britain was war-torn in the early 1940s, Korda took up an extended residence in the United States.
In March 1943, Korda entered into a merger between his independent company London Film Productions and MGM-British. Korda would become the new executive producer of the English division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.He returned to England. However, his dissatisfaction with the deal brought about his resignation in 1946.
Korda then with his London Films, bought a controlling interest in British Lion Films which was involved in such productions as The Third Man (1949).
In 1948 he received an advance payment of £375,000, the largest single payment received by a British film company, for three movies, An Ideal Husband (1947), Anna Karenina (1948) and Mine Own Executioner (1948). He released three other films, Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), The Winslow Boy (1948) and The Fallen Idol (1948).Some of these films did well but others were expensive failures, and Korda was badly hurt by the trade war between the British and American film industries in the late 1940s. In 1948 Korda signed a co-production deal with David O. Selznick.
Korda did recover in part due to a ₤3 million loan British Lion received from the National Film Finance Corporation. In 1954 he received ₤5 million from the City Investing Corporation of New York, enabling him to keep producing movies until his death. The last film with Korda’s involvement was Laurence Olivier’s adaptation of Richard III (1955).
A draft screenplay of what became The Red Shoes was written by Emeric Pressburger in the 1930s for Korda and intended as a vehicle for his future wife Merle Oberon. The screenplay was bought by Michael Powell and Pressburger who made it for J. Arthur Rank. During the 1950s, Korda reportedly expressed interest in producing a James Bond film based upon Ian Fleming’s novel Live and Let Die but no agreement was ever reached.
He died at the age of 62 in London of a heart attack and was cremated. His ashes are at Golders Green Crematorium in London.
There are not many so called ‘giants’ in any industry but that work could sum up Aleaxander Korda – The Man who built Denham Film Studios and very nearly pulled it off and put British film studios on a par with Hollywood.
Sadly Denham with its sheer size was forced to close in 1952 and now it is not easy to know where it was. I am pleased to say that I know where it is !!! – and as a film lover it is a place that is very special to me. I do drive past and look when I am down that way.
When he started London Films, he soon became a partner at United Artists, an equal of Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Mary Pickford. I am pretty sure that is Sam Goldwyn in the picture too
What might have been the saviour for Denham came when Walt Disney decided to make Live Action films as opposed to Cartoon feature and he chose Denham as the Studio making ‘Treasure Island’ there in 1949 and then ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ in 1951 released in 1952.
These were bold Technicolor Productions with plenty of money lavished on them – and it shows. !!
However they maybe came a little too late to save this wonderful Studio.
