Associated British Picture Corporation

Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British independent film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970. ABPC also owned approximately 500 cinemas in Britain during 1943.^[1] The studio was partly owned by Warner Bros. from about 1940 until 1969, with the American company also having a stake in ABPC's distribution arm, Warner-Pathé.

History

The company was founded during 1927 by Scottish solicitor John Maxwell after he had purchased British National Studios and their Elstree Studios complex and merged it with his ABC cinema circuit, renaming the company British International Pictures. He appointed Joseph Grossman, formerly manager of the Stoll Studios, as his Studio Manager. During their early years the company's most prominent work was that directed by Alfred Hitchcock, including his 1929 feature Blackmail, which is regarded commonly as being the first British all-talkie. Hitchcock left the company in 1933 to work for rival British Gaumont.

Under Maxwell's paternalistic management the company prospered and during 1937, after its acquisition of British Pathé, the company was renamed Associated British Picture Corporation and was in a position to vertically integrate production, distribution and exhibition of films. After Maxwell's death in 1940, 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.

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^[2]) for the distribution of its films in the United States and the company was to produce some of its best remembered work during this era, including films such as The Dam Busters (1954), Ice Cold in Alex (1958), and Summer Holiday (1963).

ABPC won a franchise contract for the new ITV television network which began to develop from 1955. Associated British Corporation, the new subsidiary, held the commercial television licence for broadcasting to both the Midlands and the North of England during weekends. This company ended when ABPC formed Thames Television with Rediffusion Television for the London weekday ITV franchise, which began broadcasting in 1968, after the ITV Midlands 7 day contract was awarded to Associated Television and the North of England 7 day contract was awarded to Granada Television and Yorkshire Television.

During the 1960s, however, the fortunes of the parent company declined, and in 1967 Seven Arts, the new owners of Warner, decided to dispose of its holdings in ABPC which was purchased in 1969 by EMI. The entire ABPC library is now owned by StudioCanal.^[3]

Subsidiaries of Associated British Picture Corporation

Wholly owned

• Associated British Productions Ltd.
• Associated British Cinemas Ltd.
• Associated British Pathé Ltd.
• Associated British Film Distributors Ltd. - usually only known by its initials: ABFD
• British and Overseas Film Sales Ltd.
• Pathé Laboratories Ltd.
• Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd.
• Associated British Corporation Ltd.

Jointly owned

• Warner-Pathé Distributors Ltd. (50%) from 1958^[4]
• Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors. (50%)

See also

• British and Dominions Imperial Studios

References

• Alexander, Lou. Associated British Picture Corporation (1933-1970). British Film Institute Screenonline. URL accessed 7 February 2006.

External links

• Associated British Picture Corporation at the Internet Movie Database

Cinema of the United Kingdom Culture of the United Kingdom World cinema Films by year (Films A–Z) Pre 1920 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Production companies and studios Active Aardman Animations BBC Films Big Talk Productions British Lion Films DNA Films Double Negative (VFX) Ealing Studios Elstree Studios Eon Productions Film4 Productions Framestore Goldcrest Films Hammer Film Productions HandMade Films Heyday Films The Imaginarium Studios London Films Palace Pictures Passion Pictures The Pinewood Studios Group (Pinewood Studios Shepperton Studios) Recorded Picture Company Scott Free Productions Syncopy Inc. S4C Films Thin Man Films Vertigo Films Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden Warp Films Wimbledon Studios Working Title Films Former Amicus Productions Associated British Picture Corporation Astra Films British Instructional Films British National Films Company Clarendon Film Company Bryanston Films Denham Film Studios Eagle-Lion Films Eros Films G. B. Samuelson Productions Gainsborough Pictures General Film Distributors Halas and Batchelor Hemdale Film Corporation Ideal Film Company Mancunian Films MGM-British Studios Merton Park Studios Rank Organisation Southall Studios Stoll Pictures Tempean Films Tigon British Film Productions Warwick Films Woolf & Freedman Film Service Organisations BAFTA British Board of Film Classification British Film Institute BFI National Archive BFI Southbank British Society of Cinematographers Children's Film Foundation Cinema Exhibitors' Association National Film and Television School National Media Museum Northern Ireland Screen Scottish Screen UK Film Council People Actors and actresses Cinematographers Directors Editors Producers Production designers Score composers Screenwriters Other British Academy Film Awards British Independent Film Awards British New Wave Carry On Cinematograph Films Act 1927 Documentary Film Movement Eady Levy Ealing Comedies Edgar Wallace Mysteries Free Cinema Gainsborough melodramas Harry Potter History of British film certificates Home Video Charts James Bond London Film Festival Look at Life London in film National Theatre Live Telecinema Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy Category Commons