Kingsley-International Pictures was an American film importing and releasing agency, located in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, active between 1952 and 1962 with its product distributed by Union Motion Picture Distributors. The company specialized in importing foreign art house films, mainly French but also some independent British titles, such as '' Carrington V.C.'' (1955), ''

Lucky Jim ''Lucky Jim'' is a novel by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz Ltd, Victor Gollancz. It was Amis's first novel and won the 1955 Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. The novel follows the academic and romantic tribulations ...

'' (1957), ''

The League of Gentlemen ''The League of Gentlemen'' is a British surreal comedy horror series that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the lives ...

'' (1960), and ''

Only Two Can Play ''Only Two Can Play'' is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Sidney Gilliat starring Peter Sellers, Mai Zetterling and Virginia Maskell. The screenplay was by Bryan Forbes, based on the 1955 novel '' That Uncertain Feeling'' by Kingsley Amis ...

'' (1962).

History

The company was started and run by Edward Kingsley (1914-1962), a pioneer in "

art house An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...

" film distribution in the US. Kingsley began as a publicist for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

in 1933. In 1949, he began distributing French films in partnership with Arthur Mayer, another art house distribution pioneer, but after a few years he branched out on his own by starting Kingsley-International Pictures. The company is mainly famous for two things: in 1957 it introduced

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a French former actress, singer, and model as well as an animal rights activist. Famous for portraying characters with Hedonism, hedonistic life ...

to the American audience via '' And God Created Woman'', which created a Bardot fever in the USA,Tino Balio: ''The Foreign Film Renaissance on American Screens, 1946–1973'' (Univ of Wisconsin Press 2010, page 84)
Linked 2013-08-21 and it released the first film version of ''

Lady Chatterley's Lover ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the final novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Florence, Italy, and in 1929, in Paris, France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Ki ...

'', the 1955 French film '' L'Amant de lady Chatterley'', which in 1955 was banned by

New York State Board of Regents The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over the University of the State of New York and the New York State Educatio ...

, not because of any sex scenes, but because it "promoted adultery". The film was eventually released in 1959 after the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

ruled the banning unconstitutional. That court ruling is seen as a landmark decision forming modern US views on censorship. In 1956, the company became the art house subsidiary of

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

, not because of a sudden interest from Columbia for foreign films in general, but as a way for the Hollywood major to distribute and make money from ''And God Created Woman'' without having to submit the film to the PCA for approval, which the company as member of the

MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, the mini-major Amazon MGM Studios, as well as the video streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. F ...

was obliged to do.Steve Neale: ''Classical Hollywood Reader'' (Routledge, 2012)
Linked 2013-08-21 When Kingsley died in 1962, at the age of 47, the company was transferred to Kingsley Global. A company owned by the Kingsley Family.

References

External links

*
Official Telegram Channel
Film distributors of the United States 1952 establishments 1952 establishments in the United States {{US-film-company-stub 1952 establishments in New York (state) 1952 establishments in New York City 1962 disestablishments 1962 disestablishments in the United States 1962 disestablishments in New York (state)