Michael Deeley left in 1978. Barry Spikings ran the ship alone, with films for EMI's distribution outfit in the US. This would prove disastrous. But let's look at the films:
* The Awakening
*The Mirror Crack'd.
*The Jazz Singer
*Times Square
*Can't Stop the Music
*Honky Tonk Freeway
Okay, let's try not to be too wise in hindsight. A classy horror film... that' not bad, Even if the source material wasn't strongest. Agatha Christie? Tick. A remake of Jazz Singer? Why not?
Times Square... obscure, small target film. Can't Stop the Music - big budget musical for a band that had peaked, These were arguable. Honky Tonk wasn't - unfunny comedy from a director with no experience in the genre, and no stars... and a blow out cost.
Another slate
*Memoirs of a Survivor
*Britannia Hospital
*Evil Under the Sun
*Frances
*Handgun
Alright let's look at this. Agathat Christie good. A Frances Farmer biopic, yes. But the others are weird - Memoirs of a Survivor and Handgun are like TV, Brittania Hospital is brilliant but lacking any empathy. Only two had a commercial chance.
Then there are films Spikings arranged for before he left:
* Second Thoughts
*Tender Mercies
*Bad Boys
*Cross Creek
*Strange Invaders
*Not for Publication
Cripes what a slate. A B list rom com, gritty drama, biopic about an unfamous person, satire. No action movie, no stars, it's all pretty arthouse.
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