Michael Balcon was born on May 19, 1896 in Birmingham
and went to school at George Dixon Grammar School, City Road in Edgbaston.
After the war......supposedly, in 1919 Michael joined
with Oscar Deutsch and Victor Saville to form Victory Motion Pictures. I
couldn't find the record on that formation BUT.... oddly enough there is
a record in 1915 of the registration of Victory Feature Films Ltd. I haven't
been able to document if this was the company that they formed or not yet.
Films for Victory were distributed through John Freedman
at W & F Film Service. During filming, Balcon became friends with Graham
Cutts who was a director for Famous Players-Lasky British Producers who
had been the primary production company at Islington.
As Famous Players-Lasky British ended their contract
with Islington, Balcon closed Victory and formed Gainsborough Pictures with
Victor Saville and Graham Cutts, (Oscar Deutsch left and
went on to form the Odeon Theatre Chain). Also on the board was John Freedman
of W & F to handle the distribution.
Gainsborough took over production at Islington in
1924 with Balcon at the head and proceeded to release numerous major successes.
Balcon developed a very talented group which led Gainsborough into the limelight
of major production companies. One of the bright spots was a young assistant
director under Graham Cutts, named Alfred Hitchcock.
Saville left the company in 1926 to join Gaumont-British
and was instumental in the early development of Gaumont's sound releases.
In 1928, Gaumont-British absorbed Gainsborough Pictures
and formed a conglomerate which also included nearly 300 cinemas with Balcon
remaining as head of production for the Gainsborough Studio.
In 1936, Balcon who was increasingly having trouble
with management, left Gainsborough for a 2 year contract with MGM for a
larger salary. After 2 frustrating years with MGM, Balcon left to become
director and production chief at newly named Ealing Studio where he remained
until 1959.
The last few years at Ealing became more difficult
because BBC Television had purchased Ealing in 1955 and began moving more
to television production.
In 1959, Balcon left Ealing to stay more into movie
production and formed Bryanston Films. Bryanston focused on independant
production and was backed by British Lion and Twickenham Studios. In 1961,
the UK arm of Seven Arts also became a backer.
In 1964, when British Lion was taken over by creditors,
Balcon headed a group of investors that purchased British Lion with Balcon
at the head. Unfortunately, the group of investors were constantly squabbling
over direction of the company and after 2 years Balcon retired in 1966.
Miscellaneous Facts
* Balcon was knighted
to become Sir Michael Balcon in 1948
* Balcon married Aileen
Leatherman in 1924 and they had a son and a daughter
* Actress Jill Balcon
was his daughter who married poet Cecil Day-Lewis
* His grandson was
actor Daniel Day-Lewis
Michael Balcon died October 17, 1977...... a true
Pioneer in the British Film Industry
