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Rank Film Distributors Of America
Rank Film Distributors of America was a short lived distribution company established in the USA by the Rank Organisation to distribute its films. The company only lasted a few years before collapsing. History In 1956 Rank established Rank Film Distributors of America to distribute its films in the USA. It would distribute fifteen Rank films plus some non Rank movies. John Davis of Rank declared "it was not a gamble but a reasonable business risk... We know that in our line up product we have stories, stars, backgrounds that cannot fail to appeal." The company lost a reported $1 million in its first year with its only success being ''The Pursuit of the Graf Spee'', which made over $500,000. However some high-profile films such as ''Reach for the Sky'' made just $100,000 and most films grossed between $50,000 and $75,000. Irv Sochin, general sales manager, left the company in October 1958 which was seen as a sign trouble within the company. The company had high hopes for the US succe ... [...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] |
John Davis (British Businessman)
Sir John Henry Harris Davis CVO (10 November 1906 – 27 May 1993) was an English businessman and accountant. He was the managing director, later chairman, of the Rank Organisation. Early life and career John Davis was born in London in 1906 to Sidney Myring Davis and Emily Harris.''England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975'' He was educated at the City of London School. Davis became a member of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries. He was working as an accountant for a Welsh coal and steel company in Birmingham when he met Oscar Deutsch, a leading metal merchant based in the city who had begun to diversify into cinema ownership. In 1938 Deutsch invited Davis to become accountant for Odeon Cinemas, which by 1936 had become the fourth largest cinema circuit in the country. Rank Organisation When Deutsch died in 1940 control of the company passed to J. Arthur Rank and he became very close to Rank. Davis became managing director of the Rank Organisation in 1948. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reach For The Sky
''Reach for the Sky'' is a 1956 British biographical film about aviator Douglas Bader, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill. The film stars Kenneth More and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film of 1956. The film's composer John Addison was Bader's brother-in-law. Plot In 1928, Douglas Bader joins the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a Flight Cadet. Despite a friendly reprimand from Air Vice-Marshal Halahan for his disregard for service discipline and flight rules, he successfully completes his training and is posted to No. 23 Squadron at RAF Kenley. In 1930, he is chosen to be among the pilots for an aerial exhibition. Later, although his flight commander has explicitly banned low level aerobatics (as two pilots had been killed trying just that), he is goaded into it by a disparaging remark by a civilian pilot. The wing tip of his bi-plane touches the ground during his flight and he crashes dramatically, and is c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Battle Of The River Plate (film)
''The Battle of the River Plate'' (a.k.a. ''Pursuit of the Graf Spee'' in the United States) is a 1956 British war film in Technicolor and VistaVision by the writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film stars John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Bernard Lee and Peter Finch. It was distributed worldwide by Rank Film Distributors Ltd. The film's storyline concerns the Battle of the River Plate, an early World War II naval engagement in 1939 between a Royal Navy force of three cruisers and the German pocket battleship . Plot In the early months of the Second World War, Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' sends out merchant raiders to attack Allied shipping. The British Royal Navy responds with hunting groups whose mission is to stop these attacks. In time, the German battleship ''Admiral Graf Spee'' is discovered in the Atlantic, just off South America, by a trio of British cruisers. With its speed and destructive firepower, ''Graf Spee'' is a for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Night To Remember (1958 Film)
''A Night to Remember'' is a 1958 British historical disaster film, directed by Roy Ward Baker. Its screenplay by Eric Ambler was based on the 1955 book by Walter Lord, depicting the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'' on 15 April 1912, after it struck an iceberg. The film recounts the events of that night in a documentary-style fashion in considerable detail. It stars Kenneth More as the ship's Second Officer Charles Lightoller and features Michael Goodliffe, Laurence Naismith, Kenneth Griffith, David McCallum and Tucker McGuire. ''A Night to Remember'' was filmed at Pinewood Studios from October 1957 to March 1958. The production team, supervised by producer William MacQuitty, used blueprints of the ship to create authentic sets, while Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall and ex- Cunard Commodore Harry Grattidge worked as technical advisors on the film. Its estimated budget of up to £600,000 made it the most expensive film ever made in Britain up to that time. The film's sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film Production Companies Of The United Kingdom
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since the 1930s, synchronized with sound and (less commonly) other sensory stimulations. Etymology and alternative terms The name "film" originally referred to the thin layer of photochemical emulsion on the celluloid strip that used to be the actual medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for an individual motion-picture, including "picture", "picture show", "moving picture", "photoplay", and "flick". The most common term in the United States is "movie", while in Europe, "film" is preferred. Archaic terms include "animated pictures" and "animated photography". "Flick" is, in general a slang term, first recorded in 1926. It originates in the verb flicker, owing to the flickering appearance of early films. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
