Tigon British Film Productions
Encyclopedia
Tigon British Film Productions or Tigon was a film production and distribution company founded by Tony Tenser
in 1966. It is most famous for its horror film
s, particularly Witchfinder General
(directed by Michael Reeves
, 1968) and Blood on Satan's Claw
(directed by Piers Haggard
, 1971). Other Tigon films include The Creeping Flesh
, The Sorcerers
and Doomwatch (1972), based on the TV series
of the same name.
Tigon was based in Wardour Street
, London
, and released a wide range of films from semi-pornographic sexploitation
films through to an acclaimed 1971 adaptation of August Strindberg
's Miss Julie, starring Helen Mirren
. The largest part of their output, however, was made up by low-budget horror films in a similar style to those made by Hammer Film Productions
or Amicus Productions
.
In February 2005, a DVD box set of Tigon films was released by Anchor Bay
UK.
Tony Tenser
Tony Tenser was an English-born film producer of Lithuanian-Jewish descent. He specialised in producing Exploitation film movies and founded his own production company Tigon British Film Productions in 1966, which also made more mainstream films such as Witchfinder General and other horror films...
in 1966. It is most famous for its horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s, particularly Witchfinder General
Witchfinder General (film)
Witchfinder General is a 1968 British horror film directed by Michael Reeves and starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, and Hilary Dwyer. The screenplay was by Reeves and Tom Baker based on Ronald Bassett's novel of the same name. Made on a low budget of under £100,000, the movie was coproduced by...
(directed by Michael Reeves
Michael Reeves
Michael Reeves was an English film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the 1968 American International Pictures/Tigon motion picture Witchfinder General...
, 1968) and Blood on Satan's Claw
Blood on Satan's Claw
Blood on Satan's Claw is a 1970 British horror film made by Tigon British Film Productions and directed by Piers Haggard. The film was written by Robert Wynne-Simmons, with additions by Piers Haggard, and stars Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden and Barry Andrews...
(directed by Piers Haggard
Piers Haggard
Piers Inigo Haggard is a British film and television director, although he has worked mostly in the latter medium.He is the great grandnephew of H...
, 1971). Other Tigon films include The Creeping Flesh
The Creeping Flesh
The Creeping Flesh is a 1973 British horror film. The film was directed by Freddie Francis, and stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Lorna Heilbron.-Plot:...
, The Sorcerers
The Sorcerers (film)
The Sorcerers is a 1967 British science fiction/horror film directed by Michael Reeves, starring Boris Karloff, Catherine Lacey, Ian Ogilvy, and Susan George...
and Doomwatch (1972), based on the TV series
Doomwatch
Doomwatch is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC One between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist , responsible for investigating and combating various...
of the same name.
Tigon was based in Wardour Street
Wardour Street
Wardour Street is a street in Soho, London. It is a one-way street south to north from Leicester Square, up through Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street.-History:...
, 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...
, and released a wide range of films from semi-pornographic sexploitation
Sexploitation
Sexploitation, or "sex-exploitation", describes a class of independently produced, low-budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films...
films through to an acclaimed 1971 adaptation of August Strindberg
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
's Miss Julie, starring Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
. The largest part of their output, however, was made up by low-budget horror films in a similar style to those made by Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
or Amicus Productions
Amicus Productions
Amicus Productions is a British film production company, based at Shepperton Studios, England. It was founded by American producer and screenwriter Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg.-Horror:...
.
In February 2005, a DVD box set of Tigon films was released by Anchor Bay
Anchor Bay
Anchor Bay may refer to:* Anchor Bay, California, a small coastal community in northern California* Anchor Bay, is a bay in Malta, also known as Prajjiet or Popeye Village Bay* Anchor Bay Entertainment, a home video company...
UK.
Partial filmography
- Mini Weekend (1967)
- The SorcerersThe Sorcerers (film)The Sorcerers is a 1967 British science fiction/horror film directed by Michael Reeves, starring Boris Karloff, Catherine Lacey, Ian Ogilvy, and Susan George...
(1967) - Curse of the Crimson AltarCurse of the Crimson AltarCurse of the Crimson Altar is a 1968 British horror film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Barbara Steele and Mark Eden. The film was produced by Lewis M. Heyward for Tigon British Film Productions. The film was released as The Crimson Cult in the United States....
(1968) - The Blood Beast TerrorThe Blood Beast TerrorThe Blood Beast Terror is a 1968 British horror film released by Tigon. It was known in the United States under the title The Vampire-Beast Craves Blood.-Story:A series of grisly murders is occurring in the English countryside...
(1968) - Love in Our Time (1968)
- Witchfinder GeneralWitchfinder General (film)Witchfinder General is a 1968 British horror film directed by Michael Reeves and starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, and Hilary Dwyer. The screenplay was by Reeves and Tom Baker based on Ronald Bassett's novel of the same name. Made on a low budget of under £100,000, the movie was coproduced by...
(1968) - The Body StealersThe Body StealersThe Body Stealers is a 1969 British science fiction film directed by Gerry Levy, about the disappearance of British military paratroopers in mid-air whilst on a routine jump. Two investigators try to figure out what happened and uncover an alien plot to steal bodies of earthlings by snatching them...
(1969) - Sandy the SealSandy the SealSandy the Seal is a 1969 British family film directed by Robert Lynn and starring Heinz Drache, Marianne Koch and Gert Van den Bergh. The children of a lighthouse keeper take in an injured seal, and outwit local seal-hunters.-Cast:...
(1969) - The Haunted House of Horror (1969)
- What's Good for the GooseWhat's Good for the GooseWhat's Good For The Goose is a 1969 British comedy film, and was Norman Wisdom's last starring role in a film. It was written and directed by Menahem Golan. In the movie he leaves his wife and kids to go off on a business trip and he has an affair with a young woman played by Sally Geeson...
(1969) - Zeta OneZeta OneZeta One is a 1969 British comedy science fiction film directed by Michael Cort and starring James Robertson Justice, Charles Hawtrey and Robin Hawdon.-Cast:* James Robertson Justice - Major Bourdon* Charles Hawtrey - Swyne* Robin Hawdon - James Word...
(1969) - MoniqueMoniqueMonique is a female given name, the original form of Monica. It has also been regularly used in English speaking countries since at least the 1950s.-Notable women named Monique:In acting:...
(1969) - The Beast in the CellarThe Beast in the CellarThe Beast in the Cellar is a 1970 British horror film written and directed by James Kelley. The film was produced by Leander Films and Tigon British Film Productions. Filming took place at Pinewood Studios. The film was released in the UK on DVD by Anchor Bay as part of The Tigon Collection...
(1970) - Blood on Satan's ClawBlood on Satan's ClawBlood on Satan's Claw is a 1970 British horror film made by Tigon British Film Productions and directed by Piers Haggard. The film was written by Robert Wynne-Simmons, with additions by Piers Haggard, and stars Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden and Barry Andrews...
(1971) - Black BeautyBlack BeautyBlack Beauty is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate bestseller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, long enough to see her first and only...
(1971) - Hannie CaulderHannie CaulderHannie Caulder is a 1971 British Western film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring Raquel Welch, Robert Culp and Ernest Borgnine.-Plot:Hannie Caulder is a frontier wife whose husband is murdered by the Clemens brothers, a trio of rather inept outlaw brothers .After a disastrous bank raid, the...
(1971) - The Magnificent Seven Deadly SinsThe Magnificent Seven Deadly SinsThe Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins is a 1971 British comedy film directed and produced by Graham Stark. Its title is a conflation of The Magnificent Seven and the seven deadly sins. It comprises a sequence of seven sketches, each representing a sin and written by an array of British comedy-writing...
(1971) - DoomwatchDoomwatchDoomwatch is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC One between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist , responsible for investigating and combating various...
(1972) - Virgin WitchVirgin WitchVirgin Witch is a 1971 British horror exploitation film about a prospective model who ends up joining a coven of witches. The film was directed by Ray Austin, and stars Ann Michelle and Vicki Michelle.-Plot:...
(1972) - Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (1972)
- Oh! Calcutta!Oh! Calcutta!Oh! Calcutta! is an avant-garde theatrical revue, created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan. The show, consisting of sketches on sex-related topics, debuted Off-Broadway in 1969 and then in London in 1970. It ran in London for over 3,900 performances, and in New York initially for 1,314...
(1972) - Au Pair GirlsAu Pair GirlsAu Pair Girls is a 1972 British comedy film directed by Val Guest.The film is part of the British 1970s soft core sex comedy film. It also had cameo appearances by mainstream actors such as John Le Mesurier and Richard O'Sullivan.-Plot:...
(1972) - The Creeping FleshThe Creeping FleshThe Creeping Flesh is a 1973 British horror film. The film was directed by Freddie Francis, and stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Lorna Heilbron.-Plot:...
(1973) - Come Play With Me (1977)