Group 3 Films
Group 3 Films was a short lived British film production company that operated from 1951 to 1955.[1][2]
Background
It was set up by the National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC) to help finance movies from newer filmmakers.[3] Its films were to be distributed by the Associated British Film DIstributors (ABFD) subsidiary of Associated British Picture Corporation and mostly financed by the NFFC with ABFD to make up the balance of finance. Michael Balcon and James Lawrie sat on the board and the company was run by John Grierson and John Baxter. [4]
They produced over 20 films and lost half a million pounds before the NFFC brought the company to a halt.[5]
There were two other companies with similar financing: British Film-Makers and the Elstree Group.[6][7][8]
Richard Dyer MacCann argued "From 1953 to 1955, a majority of the Group 3 films were modest stories with a soap opera flavour about family relation¬ ships or problems of growing up. "[9]
Critical appraisal
FilmInk wrote "are there any decent Group 3 pictures?"[10]
Richard Dyer MacCann wrote the scheme "may have been the first full government subsidy for feature filmmaking in a capitalist country and... provides a case study of one attempt to develop young talent," argugin the films "were not extraordinary, but they were not negligible; Sir Michael Balcon, company chairman of Group 3, called them ‘comedies with comments’.[11]
Select Films
- Judgment Deferred (1951) - directed by John Baxter starring Joan Collins
- Brandy for the Parson (1952) - directed by John Eldridge starring Kenneth More
- Time Gentlemen Please! (1952) - directed by Lewis Gilbert
- You're Only Young Twice (1952) - directed by Terry Bishop
- The Brave Don't Cry (1952) - directed by Philip Leacock starring John Gregson
- Miss Robin Hood (1952) - directed by John Guillermin starring Margaret Rutherford
- Laxdale Hall (1952) - directed by John Eldridge
- Child's Play (1952) - directed by Margaret Thomson, written by Don Sharp
- The Nutcracker (1952) (short) - directed by Cyril Frankel
- The Oracle (1953) - directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards
- Man of Africa (1953) - directed by Cyril Frankel
- Background (1953) aka Edge of Divorce - written by Don Sharp, directed by Daniel Lowe
- The Conquest of Everest (1953) (documentary) directed by George Lowe
- The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp (1953) - directed by Alan Bromly starring Diane Cilento
- Devil on Horseback (1954) - directed by Cyril Frankel
- Conflict of Wings (1954) aka Fuss Over Feathers - directed by John Elddridge, written by Don Sharp, starring Kieron Moore and Edwin Richfield
- The End of the Road (1954) - directed by Wolf Rilla
- Orders are Orders (1954) - directed by David Paltenghi
- Make Me an Offer (1954) - directed by Cyril Frankel from debut novel of Wolf Mankowitz starring Peter Finch in his first solo lead
- Doublecross (1954) aka Queer Fish
- The Love Match (1954) - directed by David Paltenghi starring Arthur Askey
- The Blue Peter (1955) - directed by Wolf Rilla, written by Don Sharp, starring Kieron Moore and Edwin Richfield
- John and Julie (1955) - directed by William Fairchild
- Tensing's Country (1955) (documentary)
- The Challenge of the North (1955) (documentary)
References
- ^ Popple, Simon. “Group Three: A Lesson in State Intervention?” Film History, vol. 8, no. 2, 1996, pp. 131–142. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3815330. Accessed 26 June 2020.
- ^ Balcon, Sir Michael (7 January 1953). "Group 3, Brit Prod Unit, a Reservoir of Future Talent". Variety. p. 193.
- ^ "John Grierson, Screen Pioneer Who Made Documentaries Dies (Published 1972)". The New York Times. 21 February 1972 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Grierson, John (27 September 1951). "Three's Company Adds Up". Kine Weekly.
- ^ Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2003). British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press. pp. 185–187. ISBN 9780198159346.
- ^ "NFFC Prod Scheme seen as solving many of England's filmmaking woes". Variety. 31 January 1951. p. 11.
- ^ The British film industry. Political and Economic Planning. 1952. p. 261.
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (28 May 2025). "Forgotten British Studios: British Film-Makers". Filmink. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
- ^ MacCann p 171
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (17 November 2020). "John Guillermin: Action Man". Filmink.
- ^ MacCann p 158
Notes
- MacCann, Richard Dyer (July 1977). "Subsidy for the Screen Grierson and Group 3". Sight and Sound. pp. 168–173.