Mancunian Films
Encyclopedia
Mancunian Films was a British motion picture production company organized in 1934.

Founded by John E. Blakeley
John E. Blakeley
John E. Blakeley was a British film producer, director and screenwriter, the founder of Mancunian Films.Born Ardwick, Manchester, son of James Blakeley , and Margaret . His father had become an early film distributor in 1908 after previous work as a travelling draper...

, the company originally produced films in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on extremely low budgets. Blakeley's first studio consisted of a single soundstage in a loft space above a taxi garage. Whenever the filmmakers wanted to shoot a scene, they would first have to signal the mechanics below to stop working, so the noise from below wouldn't register on the soundtracks. Blakeley's first production was Boots! Boots!
Boots! Boots!
Boots! Boots! is a 1934 British comedy film directed by Bert Tracey and starring George Formby, Beryl Formby and Arthur Kingsley. It was made by Blakeley's Productions, Ltd. at the Albany Studios in London.Producer John E...

(1934), starring the young variety entertainer George Formby
George Formby
George Formby, OBE , born George Hoy Booth, was a British comedy actor, singer-songwriter, and comedian. He sang light, comical songs, accompanying himself on the banjo ukulele or banjolele...

. Production values were so low that some scenes were filmed in semi-darkness, to hide the lack of set decorations. Despite the technical flaws, the debut film was a huge success in the local provinces, recouping Blakeley's investment several times over and launching George Formby as Britain's leading screen comedian. Within the year "Blakeley's Productions, Ltd." had become "The Mancunian Film Distributors, Ltd."

Escalating costs and a desire to cater for the robust tastes of northern industrial audiences led to the establishment of the two-stage facility in a former Methodist Chapel on Dickenson Road, Rusholme
Rusholme
-Etymology:Rusholme, unlike other areas of Manchester which have '-holme' in the place name is not a true '-holme'. Its name came from ryscum, which is the dative plural of Old English rysc "rush": "[at the] rushes"...

. Starting with Cup-tie Honeymoon
Cup-tie Honeymoon
Cup-Tie Honeymoon was the first motion picture to be filmed at the Dickenson Road Studios by the Mancunian Film Corporation in 1948, themed around football.-Plot summary:...

(1948) starring Sandy Powell
Sandy Powell (comedian)
Sandy Powell MBE was an English comedian best known for his radio work of the 1930s and for his catchphrase Can You Hear Me, Mother?-Life and career:...

, over the next six years the films went on to feature northern favourites Frank Randle
Frank Randle
Frank Randle was an English comedian...

, Josef Locke
Josef Locke
Josef Locke was the stage name of Joseph McLaughlin , a tenor singer who was successful in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s....

, Diana Dors
Diana Dors
Diana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in ­Swindon,...

, and Jimmy Clitheroe
Jimmy Clitheroe
James Robinson Clitheroe was a British comic entertainer. He never grew any taller than 4 feet 3 inches, and could easily pass for an 11-year-old boy, the character he played in The Clitheroe Kid....

. The studio, though it often worked on a shoestring, was successful and profitable but Blakely decided to retire when he reached 65.

Mancunian Films continued under Blakeley's son Tom for many years, providing facilities for Hammer Horror and making a number of B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

s. The cinematographic
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...

 expertise developed in Manchester formed the foundations of Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

. The studio was sold to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 in 1954 making it the first regional BBC TV studio outside London, and demolished in 1975 when operations were transferred to New Broadcasting House
New Broadcasting House
New Broadcasting House is the home of the BBC on Oxford Road in Manchester city centre. The studios house BBC Manchester, BBC North, BBC North West, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Religion and Ethics department...

 on Oxford Road. The studio's archives were lost in a fire at Kay Film Laboratories in 1980.

Mike Blakeley, cameraman and grandson of John E. Blakeley, is presently working with CP Lee
CP Lee
CP Lee is a musician, author, broadcaster and lecturer from Manchester, England.-Biography:Christopher Paul "CP" Lee is a writer, broadcaster, lecturer and performer who started playing in the North West folk and beat clubs of the 1960s with his band Greasy Bear and became a lynchpin of the punk...

 of the University of Salford
University of Salford
The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...

 in promoting the detailed history of the Mancunian Film Studio via film screenings and facts about Mancunian Films and its actors.

Selected filmography

  • Boots! Boots!
    Boots! Boots!
    Boots! Boots! is a 1934 British comedy film directed by Bert Tracey and starring George Formby, Beryl Formby and Arthur Kingsley. It was made by Blakeley's Productions, Ltd. at the Albany Studios in London.Producer John E...

    (1934)
  • Off the Dole (1935)
  • Cup-Tie Honeymoon
    Cup-tie Honeymoon
    Cup-Tie Honeymoon was the first motion picture to be filmed at the Dickenson Road Studios by the Mancunian Film Corporation in 1948, themed around football.-Plot summary:...

    (1948)
  • International Circus Review (1948)
  • Holidays with Pay
    Holidays with Pay
    Holidays with Pay is a 1948 British comedy film directed by John E. Blakeley and starring Frank Randle, Tessie O'Shea and Dan Young. The Rogers go on a family holiday to Blackpool where they enjoy a series of adventures.-Cast:* Frank Randle - Jack Rogers...

    (1948)
  • Showground of the North (1948)
  • Somewhere in Politics
    Somewhere in Politics
    Somewhere in Politics is a 1949 British comedy film directed by John E. Blakeley and starring Frank Randle, Tessie O'Shea and Josef Locke. It was the fifth and final film in the Somewhere series of films featuring Randle.-Cast:...

    (1948)
  • What a Carry On (1949)
  • School for Randle
    School for Randle
    School for Randle is a 1949 British comedy film directed by John E. Blakeley and starring Frank Randle, Dan Young and Alec Pleon. A school caretaker turns out to be the father of a number of the pupils...

    (1949)
  • Over the Garden Wall (1950)
  • Let's Have a Murder (1950)
  • Love's a Luxury (1952)
  • Those People Next Door
    Those People Next Door
    Those People Next Door is a 1953 British comedy film directed by John Harlow and starring Jack Warner, Charles Victor and Marjorie Rhodes.-Cast:* Jack Warner ... Sam Twigg* Charles Victor ... Joe Higgins* Marjorie Rhodes ... Mary Twigg...

    (1952)
  • It's a Grand Life
    It's a Grand Life
    It's a Grand Life is a 1953 British comedy film starring Frank Randle and Diana Dors. Music hall comedian Frank Randle stars as an accident-prone Private in his final film appearance. The film also features the professional wrestler Jack Pye and the popular pianist Winifred Atwell...

    (1953)

External links

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