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Rank Organisation Film Productions

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Rank Organisation Film Productions was a British film production company that made movies for the Rank Organisation. It followed on from Group Film Productions and was established in 1955.[1][2]

In February 1956, Davis announced Rank would make 20 films at over £3 million. He said "great care will be taken to ensure that, while retaining essentially British characteristics the films will have the widest international appeal. This is part of an intensified drive to secure ever widening showing in overseas markets which already return more than half the revenue earned by Pinewood films."[3] That year, Rank announced it would set up distribution in the United States (see below).

In 1956 Rank released a series of dramas such as Eyewitness, The Black Tent, House of Secrets, Tiger in the Smoke and Checkpoint. The most popular were The Spanish Gardener with Dirk Bogarde and Up in the World with Norman Wisdom. The studio also co financed the hugely popular Reach for the Sky.[4] That year the studio made less comedies than Group Film Productions had, and more thrillers.[5]

In October 1956, Davis listed the Rank actors he thought could become international stars: Dirk Bogarde, Peter Finch, Kay Kendall, Jeannie Carson, Virginia McKenna, Belinda Lee, Michael Craig, Tony Wright, Maureen Swanson and Kenneth More.[6][7]

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1957

In October 1957, at the 21st birthday for Pinewood Studios, Davis said Rank would make 18 films that year and 20 the next, with the latter costing £5 million.[8][9]

1958 crisis

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In January 1958 John Davis announced in Variety they would make 20 films:

20 top-line productions tailored for the international market. These are big pictures, pictures to be reckoned with. Their stories come from best- selling books, top plays and the best of original screenplays; their casts include _ world - popular names; their producers and directors have earned high acclaim in every continent for their brilliantly no specialized selling to a limited market.[10]

However the very same month Rank announced it would be stopping four films and sacking over 300 workers in an economy measure to do an overall fall in cinema attendances. (The company had four films in production at the time - A Night to Remember, Nor the Moon by Night, The Wind Cannot Read and Innocent Sinners - which cost £1.1 million in total).[11]

Eight films costing £2.1 million to be completed by the end of August were Anna, Floods of Fear, Sea Fury, The Light Blue, Rockets Galore, The Square Peg, Lawrence of Arabia, Adventure in Diamonds, or The Shadow and the Peak. It appears the three films cancelled were Anna, Light Blue and Lawrence of Arabia.[12]

In September 1958 the company had lost £1,264,000 on film productoin and distribution causing the group's profit to drop from £5 million to £1.8 million. John Davis wound up several long-term contracts Rank had with talent. "The trouble with some of them is they won't work," he said. "They lose their sense of proportion. They say, 'I don't want to live in Britain but if you want to mae a film I will go to France for. year'.""[13] To recoup some of their losses, Rank sold Ealing Studios and its library to Associated British Picture Corporation.

Anthony Carew in The Daily Herald wrote "the top executives of the Rank Organisation have made some extraordinarily bad guesses in the past, profit losing year" pointing to films like Innocent Sinners, Campbell's Kingdom, High Tide at Noon and Miracle in Soho.[14] A year later, in August 1959, Carew argued "The Rank Organisation, for long the king film company in Britain, is abdicating its throne" and was cutting back on production.[15]

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1959

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In September 1959 the film group reported a loss of £875,000 on production and distribution although the Rank Group as a whole recovered.[16] Rank shut down its American distributing organisation. Davis said "It is incredible and inconceivable why British films do not sell in America. They seem to like their own product. It is a question of public taste.[17]

In November 1959 Rank announced the formation of Allied Film Makers.[18]

1960

In January 1960, John Davis announced that Rank would concentrate on bigger budgeted, internationally focused productions.[19]

In September 1960 J Arthur Rank announced long term production plans were impractical due to declining cinema attendances. Davis admitted the company took sunstantial losses on its record divisions and was converting cinemas into bowling alleys.[20]

However film production distribution made a profit of £217,000 for the previous year. (This was only 4% of the group's profit, 53% of it came from exhibition.)[21]

1961

In 1961, they announced a production slate of a dozen films worth £7 million.[22]

In October 1961 Rank film production and distribution made a profit of £529,000.[23]

1962

In October 1962, Lord Rank resigned as chairman of the company and was replaced by managing director Davis. That year, the company made a group profit of over £6 million and stated 41% of its film production income came from overseas. The report said "the pattern of Film Production has continued to change with that of public taste. This change has continued throughout the year but we have met the challenge with some success. The biggest problem is the continuous and alarming rise in costs particularly of artists and creative talent, largely brought about by scarcity."[24] Rank's film production and distribution made a profit of £209,000.[23]

1963

Film production and distribution made a profit of £435,000. The three most successful British releases were On the Beat , The Fast Lady and Tiara Tahiti.[25]

In February 1964 Rank announced it would make eight films at a cost of £4.5 million, including:[26][27][28][29]

  • Almost a Hero with Norman Wisdom
  • Doctor in Clover
  • Love on the Riviera with James Robertson Justice and Leslie Philips
  • The Innocent Gunman from the novel by Jean Paul Lecroix
  • The High Bright Sun
  • The Lonely from the novel by Paul Gallico (never made)
  • The Female of the Species (which became Deadlier Than the Male)
  • The Unknown Battle (which became The Heroes of Telemark).

In March 1966 Rank announced it would make nine films with a total cost of £7.5 million of which it would provide £4 million. Two films were financed by Rank completely, a Norman Wisdom movie and a "doctor" comedy (Doctor on Toast which became Doctor in Trouble). The others were The Quiller Memorandum, Deadlier than the Male, Maroc Seven, Red Hot Ferrari (never made), The Fifth Coin (never made), The Battle of Britain and The Long Duel.[30]

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Rank Film Productions

The company was succeeded by Rank Film Productions Limited.

In July 1967 E.A.R "Kip" Herren, the managing director of Pinewood Studios, was made managing director of Rank Film Productions.[31][32]

In 1970 Rank made financed 8 first and 6 second features during the period involving a cost of £1,500,000.. The following year it invested approximately £1,700,000 in whole or in part in thirteen first features, five second feature and six shorts.

The Rank Organisation financed four films by the end of the 1974 financial year -Carry on Dick, Carry on Girls, The Belstone Fox and Don't Just Lie There, Say Something - and partly financed Soft Beds and Hard Battles and Caravan to Vaccares.[33]

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Rank Film Distributors of America

See Rank Film Distributors of America

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References

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