A tribute to Verity Lambert, the first (and I think only) female head of a British film studio. Lambert is best known for her TV producing work, which was astonishing, but for three years (1982-85) she was head of production at Thorn EMI, then one of the few British film studios.
Lambert didn't look back on her time at Thorn EMI with great fondness, and indeed it was very much a mixed bag (EMI wound up film production soon after), but it was a regime that should be better remembered, so here are some highlights:
* 'Slayground' (1983) - adaptation of a Donald Westlake novel, with Peter Coyote going for stardom and Mel Smith (of Not the Nine O'Clock News, etc) quite good as a gangster
*'Comfort and Joy (1984) - Bill Forsyth's follow up to "Local Hero" wasn't as popular but is quite charming (the tale of ice cream wars in Glasgow)
* A Passage to India (1984) - David Lean's final film which doesn't seem to be much talked about nowadays (Alec Guiness is in brown face admittedly) but was a big deal at the time
* Morons from Outer Space (1985) - Mel Smith goes for big screen stardom and it didn't work out
* Restless Natives (1985) - Scottish buddy comedy not much liked out of Scotland which helped launch the career of director Michael Hoffman
* Dreamchild (1985) - the Lewis Carroll story adapted by Dennis Potter which has a surprisingly small cult
* Wild Geese II (1985) - sequel to the classic isn't as good but does have the last screen appearance by Laurence Olivier
* The Holcroft Covenant (1985) - early attempt to adapt a Ludlum novel with Michael Caine (who replaced James Caan during filming) doing sterling work trying to make it believable
* Clockwise (1986) - John Cleese acting a Michael Frayn script in a funny comedy that is stressful to watch - Nat Cohen was executive producer
* Link (1986) - a British film with an Aussie director (Richard Franklin) and writer (Everette de Roche) - a thriller about killer apes cut-about by the studio and hard to see
I like this slate - some commercial action films, a thriller, a bold swing with Dreamchild, some comedies, a David Lean. Slayground was silly.
Only David Lean really worked out. I think the films needed more American stars. Or at least British stars known in the US.
Some cancelled films:
* El Diablo - fro a script by John Carpenter
*The Wolves of Willoughby by Fay Weldon
*R and R by Nancy Dowd
No comments:
Post a Comment