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Group Film Productions
Group Film Productions was a British film production company that made movies through the Rank Organisation. It was wholly owned by Rank, and followed a similar company, British Film-Makers, which had made fourteen titles. It would be followed in turn by Rank Organisation Film Productions, which made 96 films between 1953 and 1967. Background In January 1951, Rank formed British Film Makers (BFM) in association with the National Film Finance Corporation. Various producer director teams made movies for it. Rank's distribution arm, GFD, would distribute and guarantee 70% of finance, with the NFFC to provide the balance. Rank pulled out of the scheme in late 1952 saying it no longer wished to rely on the NFFC. Group Film Productions would be Rank's main film production company. The studio also co financed with independent producers. According to academics Sue Harper and Vincent Porter: Although some Rank films were produced independently, in practice the only difference between them a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribution, and exhibition facilities as well as manufacturing projection equipment and chairs. It diversified into the manufacture of radios, TVs and photocopiers (as one of the owners of Rank Xerox). The company name lasted until February 1996, when the name and some of the remaining assets were absorbed into the newly structured Rank Group plc. The company itself became a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox and was renamed XRO Limited in 1997. The company's logo, the Gongman, first used in 1935 by the group's distribution company General Film Distributors [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An Alligator Named Daisy
''An Alligator Named Daisy'' is a 1955 British comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Donald Sinden, Jeannie Carson, James Robertson Justice, Diana Dors, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway. It was written by Jack Davies based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Charles Terrot. Plot Returning from a cricket match in Ireland, Peter Weston, an Englishman, is left with a pet alligator by another passenger who abandons it to him. Horrified, his first instinct is to get rid of it as soon as possible. However, he soon develops a bond with Moira, a young Irishwoman, which appears to be centred almost entirely around the animal. He soon discovers that Daisy is very tame and domesticated, and seems to be the way to Moira's heart. Once back in London, Weston struggles to keep Daisy under control as she upsets his family, loses him his job at a department store and imperils his relationship with his fiancée Vanessa. He plans to get rid of Daisy, but the police and a pet s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Seekers (film)
''The Seekers'' is a 1954 British-New Zealand adventure film directed by Ken Annakin. It starred Jack Hawkins, Glynis Johns, Noel Purcell, and Kenneth Williams. The film was produced by the Rank Organisation and was shot at Pinewood Studios with location shooting around Whakatāne. The film's sets were designed by the art director Maurice Carter with costumes by Julie Harris. It was the first major international studio film shot in New Zealand. The film was adapted from the novel ''The Seekers'' by New Zealander John Guthrie. It was released in the United States by Universal Pictures as ''Land of Fury''. Annakin said it "was not my greatest triumph as a filmmaker, but an enjoyable experience in living — something I was beginning to recognise as just as important as the actual movie process." Plot In 1821, a British sailing ship, the ''Becket'', anchors off the New Zealand coast. Philip Wayne (Hawkins) and Paddy Clarke (Purcell), respectively First Mate and Bos'un, land to e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doctor In The House (film)
''Doctor in the House'' is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, Kenneth More, Donald Sinden, Donald Houston and James Robertson Justice. It was produced by Betty Box. The screenplay, by Nicholas Phipps, Richard Gordon and Ronald Wilkinson, is based on the 1952 novel ''Doctor in the House'' by Gordon, and follows a group of students through medical school. It was the most popular box office film of 1954 in Great Britain. Its success spawned six sequels, and also television and radio series titled ''Doctor in the House''. It made Dirk Bogarde one of the biggest British stars of the 1950s. James Robertson Justice appeared as the irascible chief surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt, a role he would repeat in many of the sequels. Plot summary The story follows the fortunes of Simon Sparrow starting as a new medical student at the fictional St Swithin's Hospital in London. His five years of student life, involving drinking, dating women, and fal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Day To Remember (1953 Film)
''A Day to Remember'' is a 1953 British comedy film, comedy drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring an ensemble cast including Stanley Holloway, Donald Sinden, James Hayter (actor), James Hayter and Bill Owen (actor), Bill Owen. Sinden wrote in his memoirs "what a delightful film this turned out to be" adding Ralph Thomas was "the most cuddly of directors" who it was a relief to work with after having made ''Mogambo'' with John Ford. Plot The darts team of a London public house go on a day trip to Boulogne-sur-Mer in France. On the eve of their visit to France, the members of the Hand & Flower pub darts team gather for a drink. The day trip has been organised by one of the team, Percy, who is a travel agent. For some of the team, it is their first ever trip abroad, while for others it is the first time they have returned to France since their service in World War I or World War II. Charley is looking forward to meeting some French ''mademoiselles'', but Fred, the pub's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Australian Women's Weekly
''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known simply as ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Are Media in Sydney and founded in 1933. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by the Australian edition of '' Better Homes and Gardens'' in 2014. , ''The Weekly'' has overtaken '' Better Homes and Gardens'' again, coming out on top as Australia's most read magazine. The magazine invested in the 2020 film ''I Am Woman'' about Helen Reddy, singer and feminist icon. History and profile The magazine was started in 1933 by Frank Packer and Ted Theodore as a weekly publication. The first editor was George Warnecke and the initial dummy was laid out by William Edwin Pidgeon who went on to do many famous covers over the next 25 years. It was to have two distinctive features; firstly, the newspaper's features would have an element of topicality, and secondly the magazine would appeal to all Australian women, reg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All For Mary
''All for Mary'' is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Wendy Toye and starring Nigel Patrick, David Tomlinson, Jill Day and Kathleen Harrison. It was written by Peter Blackmore, Paul Soskin and Alan Melville based on the successful West End play of the same title by Kay Bannerman and Harold Brooke, and was produced by Paul Soskin Productions for the Rank Organisation. The film had an original copyright notice with a renewal in 1983. Plot Two young bachelors take separate skiing holidays at the same resort. Clive Morton and "Humpy" Miller have nothing whatsoever in common –except for one thing: both men fall for the hotel proprietor's daughter Mary. Clive (a debonair soldier and sportsman) gets quickly into his stride, whilst poor "Humpy" – a clumsy, incongruous fellow – looks on dumbly. However, "Humpy" has a secret weapon: Miss Cartwright, his former nanny, who arrives just as the pair are quarantined in the hotel attic after contracting chicken pox. Quick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Man Of The Moment (1955 Film)
''Man of the Moment'' is a 1955 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom, Belinda Lee, Lana Morris and Jerry Desmonde. The film includes songs sung by the Beverley Sisters, including "Dreams for Sale" (Arthur Groves, Peter Carroll), "Beware" (Norman Wisdom), "Yodelee Yodelay", and "Man of the Moment" (Jack Fishman). Plotline Norman, a file clerk in the (fictional) British Ministry of Overseas Affairs, becomes a British delegate to a diplomatic conference in Geneva, as there is no one else available. He accidentally votes against a motion that would allow intervention in the affairs of the (fictional) peaceful Pacific island nation of Tawaki. This earns him the gratitude of the Queen of Tawaki, who leaves all matters concerning her nation's future in the hands of 'Honourable Sir Norman'. The furious governments, including America, Great Britain and the Soviet Union, which want to establish a military base on one of Tawaki's outlying islands, shower honours on Norman to persu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon And Laura
''Simon and Laura'' is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Peter Finch and Kay Kendall. Play Satirising the early days of BBC Television, ''Simon and Laura'' focuses on an argumentative theatrical couple called Simon and Laura Foster; they've been together for some 20 years and are given a new lease of life when playing a faux-harmonious version of 'themselves' in a daily soap opera filmed in their own home. Presented by H M Tennent Ltd, the play began a provincial tour at the Opera House Manchester on 30 August 1954, subsequently opening at the Strand Theatre in London's West End on 25 November. Directed by Murray Macdonald, it starred Roland Culver, Coral Browne, Ian Carmichael, Dora Bryan, Ernest Thesiger and Esma Cannon, with settings designed by Alan Tagg. According to Frances Stephens, editor of ''Theatre World'', "''Simon and Laura'' has as its amusing central theme the guying of television family serials and the author is well served by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Value For Money
In economics, economic value is a measure of the benefit provided by a good or service to an economic agent, and value for money represents an assessment of whether financial or other resources are being used effectively in order to secure such benefit. Economic value is generally measured through units of currency, and the interpretation is therefore "what is the maximum amount of money a person is willing and able to pay for a good or service?” Value for money is often expressed in comparative terms, such as "better", or "best value for money", but may also be expressed in absolute terms, such as where a deal does, or does not, offer value for money. Among the competing schools of economic theory there are differing theories of value. Economic value is ''not'' the same as market price, nor is economic value the same thing as market value. If a consumer is willing to buy a good, it implies that the customer places a higher value on the good than the market price. The differ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doctor At Sea (film)
''Doctor at Sea'' is a 1955 British comedy film, directed by Ralph Thomas, produced by Betty E. Box, and based on Richard Gordon's 1953 novel of the same name. This was the second of seven films in the ''Doctor'' series, following the hugely popular ''Doctor in the House'' from the previous year. Once again, Richard Gordon participated in the screenwriting, together with Nicholas Phipps and Jack Davies, and once again Dirk Bogarde played the lead character Dr Simon Sparrow. The cast also includes James Robertson Justice and Joan Sims from the first film, but this time playing different characters. This was Brigitte Bardot's first English-speaking film. Plot To escape his employers' daughter, who has amorous designs on him, Dr. Simon Sparrow (Bogarde) signs on as medical officer on a cargo ship, the SS ''Lotus''. The ship is commanded by the hot-tempered and authoritarian Captain Wentworth Hogg. Sparrow overcomes initial seasickness and settles into life on board. After arrivi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |