Film production company, 1927 to 1970
Associated British Picture Corporation
(
ABPC
), originally
British International Pictures
(
BIP
), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into
EMI
. ABPC also owned approximately 500 cinemas in Britain by 1943,
[1]
and in the 1950s and 60s owned a station on the
ITV
television network. The studio was partly owned by
Warner Bros.
from about 1940 until 1969; the American company also owned a stake in ABPC's distribution arm,
Warner-Pathe
, from 1958. It formed one half of a
vertically integrated
film industry duopoly in Britain with the
Rank Organisation
.
History
[
edit
]
From 1927 to 1945
[
edit
]
The company was founded during 1927 by Scottish solicitor
John Maxwell
after he had purchased
British National Pictures Studios
and its Elstree Studios complex and merged it with his
ABC Cinemas
circuit, renaming the company British International Pictures. The Wardour Film Company, with Maxwell as chairman, was the distributor of BIP films.
[2]
He appointed
Joseph Grossman
, formerly manager of the Stoll Studios, his Studio Manager.
During its early years the company's most prominent work was that directed by
Alfred Hitchcock
, including the film
Blackmail
(1929), usually regarded as the first British all-
talkie
. Hitchcock worked on a total of twelve pictures for the company before leaving in 1933 to work for the rival
British Gaumont
, due to his dissatisfaction with the projects he was assigned at British International.
Under Maxwell's paternalistic management the company prospered and during 1933 it acquired British Pathe, which as Associated British-Pathe now functioned as the distribution division.
[3]
The company was renamed Associated British Picture Corporation in 1933 and was now in a position to vertically integrate production, distribution and exhibition of films.
[4]
After Maxwell's death in October 1940,
[5]
his widow Catherine sold a large number of shares to
Warner Bros.
, who, although the Maxwell family remained the largest shareholders, were able to exercise a measure of control. The studio at Elstree was taken over by the government for the duration of the war. Film production was restricted to B-Pictures made at the
company's smaller studio
in
Welwyn Garden City
,
[5]
which closed in 1950.
[6]
After the Second World War
[
edit
]
Much of the output of the studio was routine, which restricted its success outside the UK, but after
World War II
, the company contracted with Warner (by now the largest shareholder, owning 40% of the studio)
[7]
for the distribution of its films in the United States.
Robert Clark
was head of production for the company between 1949 and 1958, and insisted on tight budgeting and the use of pre-existing properties such as books or plays as these already had a demonstrated "public value". Of the 21 films made by ABPC during the 1950s, only two were derived from original screenplays.
[8]
German-born
Frederick Gotfurt
was Clark's scenario editor in this period, but his command of English was imperfect and the contracted actor
Richard Todd
doubted Gotfurt's ability to assess the quality of the dialogue in a script.
[9]
"It was a dreadful place", said
Richard Attenborough
when remembering ABPC's Elstree facility. "It created nothing in terms of a feeling of commitment."
[10]
During this period though, the company produced its best remembered titles such as
The Dam Busters
(
Michael Anderson
, 1954), and
Ice Cold in Alex
(1958), whose director
J. Lee Thompson
was ABPC's most productive during the 1950s.
[11]
[12]
In 1958, Associated Talking Pictures, the parent company of
Ealing Films
, was acquired.
Expansion into television
[
edit
]
In 1955, the
Independent Television Authority
(ITA) awarded one of the four initial contracts for commercial television in the UK to ABPC (after original awardee
Kemsley-Winnick Television
collapsed). The contract was to provide programming on the new
ITV network
in the
Midlands
and
northern England
on Saturdays and Sundays. The board of ABPC had been unconvinced by the merits of entering the television market, but were eventually convinced by the ITA who believed they were the only acceptable option to take the contract. Former head of
British Pathe
Howard Thomas
was appointed as the station's managing director.
Under the name
ABC Television
, the company came on the air in stages between February and November 1956. Among many television series ABC produced were
Opportunity Knocks
,
The Avengers
,
Redcap
, and the long-running
Armchair Theatre
drama anthology series.
Following a reallocation of the ITV franchises, ABC Television ceased to exist in 1968; however, unwilling to eject ABPC from the system, the ITA awarded the contract for weekdays in London to a new company that would be joint-owned by ABPC and
British Electric Traction
(parent company of outgoing franchisee
Rediffusion
), with ABPC holding a 51% controlling stake. Both companies were initially reluctant to this "shotgun merger", but eventually the new station, christened
Thames Television
, took to the air in July 1968 (two days after ABC's last broadcast). The 51% controlling stake passed to
EMI
upon its acquisition of ABPC the following year.
From 1958 onwards
[
edit
]
Policies changed after Clark left in January 1958. New projects from the company were limited to those using contracted television comedy performers, and investment in independent productions. The use of Elstree for television production increased.
[13]
Later successful features from ABPC itself included several films built around the pop singer
Cliff Richard
, such as
The Young Ones
(1961) and
Summer Holiday
(1963).
[11]
The same year, ABPC acquired Associated Talking Pictures (parent of the original
Ealing Studios
) from
The Rank Organisation
(who had bought the studio in 1944).
In 1962, the company acquired 50% of the shares of
Anglo-Amalgamated
, and made an arrangement with the Grade Organisation to support the production of films by independent producers.
[14]
During the 1960s, however, the fortunes of the company declined, and in 1967
Seven Arts
, the new owners of Warner, decided to dispose of its holdings in ABPC which was purchased in 1968 by
EMI
, who acquired the remaining stock the following year.
[15]
(For the subsequent history, see
EMI Films
.) The entire ABPC library is now owned by
StudioCanal
.
[16]
Subsidiaries of Associated British Picture Corporation
[
edit
]
Wholly owned
[
edit
]
- Associated British Productions Ltd. ?
Associated British Studios
- Associated British Cinemas Ltd. ?
ABC Cinemas
- Associated British-Pathe
Ltd. ? 1933
- Associated Talking Pictures - 1958 -
Ealing Studios
- Associated British Film Distributors Ltd. ? usually only known by its initials ABFD
- British and Overseas Film Sales Ltd.
- Pathe Laboratories Ltd.
- Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd. ? 1955 ?
ABC Weekend TV
- A.B.C. Television Ltd. ?
c.
1957
?
ABC Weekend TV
- A.B.C. Television Films Ltd. ? 1966
[17]
? Associated British Corporation
Jointly owned
[
edit
]
- Warner-Pathe Distributors Ltd. (50%) ? from 1958
[18]
- Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (50%) ? from 1962
- Thames Television
Ltd. (51%) ? from 1968
Select filmography
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Foreign Trade: Cinemonopoly"
.
Time
. New York. 20 December 1943. Archived from
the original
on 23 October 2012.
- ^
McFarlane, Brian (2003).
The Encyclopedia of British Film
. London: Methuen/BFI. p. 443.
- ^
"History of British Pathe: A Golden Age: 1933 to 1958"
.
British Pathe
. Retrieved
18 March
2019
.
- ^
Burton, Alan; Chibnall, Steve (2013).
Historical Dictionary of British Cinema
. Lanham, MD and Plymouth, England: Scarecrow Press. p. 43.
ISBN
9780810880269
.
- ^
a
b
Murphy, Robert (2000).
British Cinema and the Second World War
. London & New York: Continuum. p. 12.
ISBN
9780826478979
.
- ^
Warren, Patricia (2001).
British Film Studios: An Illustrated History
. B. T. Batsford. p. 182.
- ^
Davis, Ronald L.
Just Making Movies: Company Directors on the Studio System
Vincent Sherman Interview
2005 University of Kentucky Press, p.96
- ^
Porter, Vincent (2000).
"Outsiders in England The films of the Associated British Picture Corporation, 1949?58"
. In Ashby, Justine; Higson, Andrew (eds.).
British Cinema, Past and Present
. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. p. 153.
ISBN
9781135125158
.
- ^
Porter, p.156
- ^
Porter, p.152
- ^
a
b
Alexander, Lou (2003?2014).
"Associated British Picture Corporation (1933?70)"
.
BFI screenonline
. Retrieved
17 July
2015
.
- ^
Porter, p.161
- ^
Porter, p.163
- ^
"Company Meeting: Associated British Picture Corporation"
.
The Spectator
. 16 August 1962. p. 25
. Retrieved
17 July
2015
.
- ^
Warren, Patricia (2001).
British Film Studios: An Illustrated History
. London: B. T. Batsford. p. 75.
- ^
Mitchell, Wendy (17 December 2012).
"Network Distributing acquires rights to 450 films from StudioCanal library"
.
Screen Daily
. Retrieved
24 April
2015
.
- ^
Farmer, Richard (2019).
Transformation and Tradition in 1960s British Cinema
. Edinburgh University Press. p. 44.
ISBN
9781474423120
. Retrieved
27 May
2022
.
- ^
Luke McKernan
"Pathe"
, BFI screenonline; Brian McFarlane
Encyclopedia of British Film
, London: Methen/BFI, 2003, p.511-12
External links
[
edit
]