Studiocanal Films (formerly known as EMI Films, Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, Lumiere Pictures and Television,UGC DA and Canal+ Image International) was a British-French film, television, animation studio and distributor. A former subsidiary of the EMI conglomerate, the corporate name was not used throughout the entire period of EMI's involvement in the film industry, from 1969 to 1986, but the company's brief connection with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Anglo-EMI, the division under Nat Cohen, and the later company as part of the Thorn EMI conglomerate (following the merger with Thorn) are outlined here.
The library passed through the hands of several companies over the following years and is now owned by StudioCanal, a former sister company to Universal Music Group and parent company Canal+ Group's acquisition of European cinema operator UGC who acquired the library's then-owner, the United Kingdom-based Lumiere Pictures and Television in 1996, via Cannon Films. EMI Films also owned Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England; in turn, Cannon ended up purchasing the studio as well, but later sold it to Brent Walker in 1988, who in turn ended up selling half of the EMI Elstree Studios site to Tesco for a supermarket, before Hertsmere Council eventually acquired what was left of the Elstree Studios, and, as of 2018, continues to operate it as a film and television studios centre.
EMI Films Bryan Forbes and Nat Cohen The company was formed after the takeover of Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) in 1969 by EMI, following the acquisition of Warner Bros.' shares in ABPC the previous year. At the time ABPC owned 270 ABC Cinemas, a half share in the ITV contractor Thames Television, Elstree Studios at Shenley Road in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, and had recently bought Anglo-Amalgamated, a film studio in which Nat Cohen had been a partner.
EMI moved into film production with the foundation of a new company, EMI-Elstree. Bernard Delfont appointed writer-director Bryan Forbes as the head of production at Elstree in April 1969 for three years at £40,000 a year, plus a percentage of the profits.Forbes, p 62 As part of the general shake up of EMI, Nat Cohen was appointed to the Board. According to Filmink this led to "two competing fiefdoms" at EMI.
EMI announced they would make 28 films for $36 million—13 of these would be from Cohen's unit for £7 million, the rest from Forbes'. Bernard Delfont called it "probably the most ambitious program ever undertaken by a British film company."
Forbes announced his intention to make a variety of films at Elstree, steering away from what he called the "pornography of violence."Walker, 1974, p.426-428 He claimed EMI would make 14 films in 18 months with such stars as Peter Sellers and Roger Moore at a cost of £5–10 million in total. His aim was to keep budgets down and create a varied slate which would increase the chances of appealing to audiences and making a sufficient return to continue productions.
In August 1969 Forbes announced his slate of fifteen projects, including: Hoffman (starring Peter Sellers, directed by Alvin Rakoff) And Soon the Darkness The Man Who Haunted Himself The Go-Between, directed by Joseph Losey from a script by Harold Pinter The Breaking of Bumbo, directed by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo The Feathers of Death, directed by Richard Attenborough from a story by Simon Raven (unproduced)Forbes, p.103 A film of a script by Richard Condon directed by John Bryson (unproduced) An adaptation of The Railway Children directed by Lionel Jeffries A Fine and Private Place, directed by Paul Watson An adaptation of the novel The Bitter Lollipop by John Quigly An adaptation of the novel Candidate of Promise by Dennis Barker The Barnardo Boys, a musical about Dr. Barnardo with music by Michael Lewis Question of Innocence, from a script by Julian Bond based on a story by Roger Moore Dulcima, directed by Frank Nesbitt with John Mills Mr. Forbush and the Penguins
"This is the first serious effort to revitalize the British film industry in 20 years", said Forbes. He added, "We intend to give youth a chance and not merely pay lip service to it. This is our first program and it won't be our last."
In November 1969 Nat Cohen and Bernard Delfont announced a slate of eight more films for EMI including: (subscription required) (subscription required) The Impotent, starring Carol White and Malcolm McDowell (unproduced) The Practice, from the novel by Stanley Winchester (unproduced) The Burden of Proof, from a novel by James Barlow (this later became Villain) Percy, the story of a penis transplant Jam Today, from a novel by Susan Baratt (unproduced) My Family and Other Animals, from a book by Gerald Durrell and produced by Michael Medwin (unproduced) Wise Child, from Simon Gray's stage play (unproduced) A film starring Julie Christie (unproduced) A film directed by John Schlesinger (unproduced) The first few films of Forbes' regime performed poorly commercially: Eyewitness, Hoffmann, And Soon the Darkness and The Man Who Haunted Himself (starring Moore). The Breaking of Bumbo (all 1970), and Mr. Forbush and the Penguins (1971) flopped and A Fine and Private Place was abandoned. Forbes clashed with Bernard Delfont and their American backers, in this case Columbia, over the artistic and commercial value of director Joseph Losey's film The Go-Between (1970). Forbes was also criticised within EMI for directing his own film, The Raging Moon (US: Long Ago, Tomorrow, 1971). The Railway Children (1970) and Tales of Beatrix Potter (1971) were Forbes' only hits.
The company was affected with labour problems. Forbes felt as though he did not have the support of the EMI board, arguing that he never had the funds to market his films, in contrast with those available to Anglo-EMI, which was headed by Nat Cohen.
Defont wrote "Nat resented the implication that his films were somehow less worthy than those appearing under the Elstree banner, the more so because his films made a lot of money. In Wardour Street, where Nat had his power base, the talk was of Bryan Forbes enjoying the luxury of spending what Nat and his friends earned. Delfont acknowledged the differences between the men "went deeper" with Forbes feeling British films should be made for British audiences whereas Cohen aimed for bigger budgeted movies that had international appeal. "I was split between the two," wrote Delfont. "My heart was with Bryan Forbes: I wanted him to succeed. But as director of EMI with a responsibility to shareholders and the workforce, I had to accept that Nat Cohen was talking practical common sense."Delfont p 168 Delfont also felt Forbes program "would have taken an investment of time and money which was out of all proportion to likely return."Delfont p 168-169
Forbes resigned in March 1971, after committing himself to a no-redundancy policy. He had made eleven films in total for an estimated cost of £4 million.Walker, 1985, p 114 Although Forbes' regime was seen at the time to have been a commercial failure, he later claimed that by 1993 his £4 million program of films had eventually brought EMI a profit of £16 million.Forbes, p.108 (In 1994 he said the profit was £18 million from 18 films.) Linsday Anderson later wrote: Bryan Forbes was a fighter, and he did his best to discipline the oldfashioned, small-minded labour force. But the penny-pinching, unimaginative management was just as bad. The £4,000,000 ‘revolving production fund’ was never forthcoming. Worst of all was the ‘respectable’ taste which dictated the choice of projects. However urgent the pressure, the new Elstree should not have kicked off with duds like The Man Who Haunted Himself (Roger Moore) or Hoffman (Peter Sellers). Most horribly significant was the grudging, purblind treatment of Bryan's own excellent The Raging Moon, which made only too clear the intransigent mediocrity of the people in key positions. Thus, what was probably the last chance of saving the British film industry was lost. Editor Teddy Darvas later observed: It was a great tragedy that Bryan failed. Part of the reason I think was that he got himself very much involved in little things instead of letting John Hargreaves, who was his number two, to run the studio like Korda would allow Lew Thornburn to run the studio and would only go in on major matters. Also, because he, as a director... had been interfered with so much by front office he felt that, when he gave people the money to make a film, it shouldn't interfere and because of that he gave young people a chance and brought in, sometimes inexperienced technicians. And because he didn't interfere, a lot of those films under his reign were flops, also he was told to make so many films instead of being told you have got money to make a number of films when you get the right story. A lot of films, I think, were made for the sake of being made. Among the films Forbes wished to make but was unable to during his time at Elstree were an adaptation of Graham Greene's play The Living Room, to be directed by Michael Powell;Forbes, p.102 a musical about the Barnardo Boys; and The Loud, Loud Silence a post-apocalyptic story from Richard Condon. He turned down Ned Kelly (1970) because its projected budget was too high.
MGM-EMI In April 1970, EMI struck up a co-production agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The Hollywood studio announced they would sell their Borehamwood facility ("MGM-British Studios") and move their equipment to EMI's Elstree studio. MGM and EMI would then distribute and produce films in co-operation through a joint venture to be called MGM-EMI.Sian Barber The British Film Industry in the 1970s: Capital, Culture and Creativity, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, p.47 and MGM began to finance some of EMI's productions. EMI's studio complex was renamed EMI-MGM Elstree StudiosPatricia Warren British Film Studios: An Illustrated History, London: B.T Batsford, 2001, p.76 while a film distribution company MGM-EMI Distributors Ltd. was formed as part of the co-production agreement. This company, headed by Mike Havas would handle domestic distribution of MGM and EMI-produced films in the United Kingdom.
It was originally announced that MGM-EMI would make six to eight films a year, but they ended up producing far fewer. Forbes was given the title of managing director of MGM-EMI to add to his existing title of head of production. In July 1970 MGM-EMI announced they would make four co-productions: The Go-Between, Get Carter, The Boyfriend and The Last Run directed by John Boorman. Of these only the last was not made (It was eventually made with Richard Fleischer directing as a MGM film with no EMI involvement except for UK distribution).
MGM pulled out of the amalgamation in 1973, and became a member of CIC, which took over international distribution of MGM produced films. At this point the distribution company became EMI Film Distributors Ltd., and EMI-MGM Elstree Studios reverted to EMI-Elstree Studios.
Nat Cohen EMI's other filmmaking division, Anglo-EMI Film Distributors Ltd, which had come out of Anglo-Amalgamated, was run autonomously by Nat Cohen. This wing of the company had released films such as Percy (1971). They also financed and distributed a series of films made by Hammer Film Productions, which partly came about through Bernard Delfont's friendship with James Carreras. There was an initial agreement to make three films, then an agreement to make nine movies over three years at a cost of around £200,000 each.Sandles. "Abpc, Hammer in Film Deal." Financial Times, 18 Aug. 1970, p. 21. Financial Times Historical Archive,