Astra Films

Astra Films was a British film production and distribution company of the silent era. It was set up in Leeds following the First World War by the film director Herbert Wilcox, his younger brother Charles Wilcox and H.W. Thompson, a leading figure in film distribution in the North of England.^[1] After the company's initial success, Wilcox left the firm to set up on his own and rose to become one of the most successful independent producer-directors in the world. After a merger the company released films under the name Astra-National.

While smaller than the leading British studios Ideal Films and Stoll Pictures, it was an important producer of films before the Slump of 1924. As was common during the era, many of the same writers, directors and a stock company of actors worked on various different films for the company. After Herbert Wilcox left the company, the majority of films were dicrected by Kenelm Foss and featured stars such as Mary Odette, Lionelle Howard and Roy Travers.

Selected filmography

• The Breed of the Treshams (1920)
• Cherry Ripe (1921)
• The Street of Adventure (1921)
• The Double Event (1921)
• The Wonderful Story (1922)
• Paddy the Next Best Thing (1923)
• Southern Love (1924)
• Decameron Nights (1924)
• The Flag Lieutenant (1926)

References

Bibliography

• Low, Rachael. The History of the British Film, 1918-1929. George Allen & Unwin, 1971.

Cinema of the United Kingdom
Culture of the United Kingdom
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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 Butcher's Film Service Clarendon Film Company Bryanston Films The Danzigers 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
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