Kinematograph Year Book 1947 (1947)

The Rank Organisation. 507 The Rank Organisation TN the comparatively short space of 12 years the Rank Organisation has -* emerged as the most important group of the British Film Industry. Through the organisation, J. Arthur Rank has a major interest in over 80 companies operating in the production, distribution, exhibiting and manufacturing sides of the business. The total assets of the group are estimated at £50,000,000. The annual turnover of these companies tops the £50,000,000 mark, and the concern gives employment to 33,000 employees. The history of the organisation dates back to 1935 at the time when the fortunes of the British production industry was at a low ebb. The boom produced by the Quota Act had turned into a depression ; there was grave anxiety in the City. Millions were being lost in financing British production, and later, as a result of a private and unpublished report by William Crocker, responsible for the expose on the London fire conspiracy, underwriters were refusing to back further projects. At this stage, J. Arthur Rank, previously only concerned with films from the religious aspect — he had formed a company to make pictures interpreting his Methodist viewpoint — became interested in the behind-thescenes financial battles for control of major film interests in this country. The exhibiting field at this time was dominated by Gaumont-British under the control of the Ostrer Brothers, and Associated British, headed by the late John Maxwell. A third circuit, the Odeon chain, was being developed rapidly by the late Oscar Deutsch. So far as the distributing side of the industry was concerned, the scene was overwhelmingly dominated by the American companies. Control of G.-B. was vested in the Metropolis and Bradford Trust, the key shares of which were held by the Ostrer Brothers. Offers for controlling interest in the Trust made on behalf of 20th CenturyFox were turned down by the Ostrers, but a large block of non-voting shares was sold to Maxwell together with an option on their 5,100 voting shares. Twentieth CenturyFox, which already held the balance of 4,900 voting shares, exercised its right of veto on the transfer of the Ostrers' voting shares to Maxwell. First Important Move Meanwhile, Rank made his first important move in the film industry. In association with the late C. M. Woolf, who retired from the board of G.-B., he formed General Film Distributors. The company was financed by General Cinema Finance Corporation, the board of which included, in addition to Rank, such influential names as Lord Portal, Lord Luke, Paul Lindenburg and Leslie William Farrow. Of the original board only Rank and Leslie Farrow remain. The first major move by G.F.D. was the completion of a deal with Universal of America, whereby directors were exchanged, a shareholding, which now stands at 13.3 per cent., was acquired in the American company, and G.F.D. received the rights to distribute Universal's Hollywood product in this country. This, in effect, was a most significant deal, for with a guaranteed supply of American films, Rank was able to compete with the American firms. The next major move was made by Rank in 1939, when he joined the board of Odeon. When Oscar Deutsch died in early 1942 he became chairman. A few months earlier he had acquired the 5,100 "A " shares in Metropolis and Bradford. John Maxwell, who had tried to merge his A. B.C. interests with G.-B.,