In 1925, the owners of British National Films were
having financial problems. After a disagreement between Williams and Schlesinger,
the founders, John
Maxwell was able to provide enough capital to take control of the company.
Maxwell immediately renamed it British International Pictures (BIP) and
make it the umbrella company for his growing empire. With the deal came
the British National’s 40-acre studio site at Shenley Road, Borehamwood
– a complex now known universally, and erroneously, as Elstree Studios.
Being a lawyer, Maxwell was astute enough to know
that he knew very little about film production, so he surrounded himself
with knowledgable people. One of the first moves that he made was to bring
in a promising young director from Gainsborough
Studios named Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock was given a 3 year, 12 film
contract.
He then acquired Walter Mycroft, a founding member
of the London Film Society and film critic for the Evening Standard as editor.
By 1928, Maxwell had acquired 43 cinemas with 5 more
under development in 3 different circuits: Scottish Cinema and Variety Theatres,
Savoy Cinemas and Favourite Cinemas. He consolidated the 3 chains to form
the Associated British Cinemas (ABC).
Realizing the importance of sound, Maxwell installed
RCA Photophone recording equipment in April of 1929 in the rush to be the
first studio to provide sound. Historians constantly disagree which was
the actual first 'all talkie' to be released..The contenders being British
and Dominion's Wolves; British Lion's Clue of the New Pin; British Sound
Film's Crimson Circle; Neo-Art Productions White Cargo.... but the one most
talked about is BIP's Blackmail directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
To help recoup his huge investment into sound distribution,
Maxwell became head of Wardour Films which became the distribution arm of
BIP. Maxwell also acquired British Instructional Films and their studios,
Welwyn.
Maxwell's cinema chain had grown to over 120 cinemas,
and with other recent acquisitions, Maxwell decided to reorganize his empire
in 1933. He changed the name of the studios to Associated-British Picture
Corporation (ABPC) and made Mycroft head of production.
Here are the films we have in our archive
on BIP
Go back to British
Distributors
