Michael Balcon


Sir Michael Elias Balcon was an English film producer, of Jewish heritage, known for his leadership of Ealing Studios from 1938 to 1955. He left after ownership had changed for a second time. Under his direction, it became the most notable British film studio. In an industry short of Hollywood-style moguls, Balcon emerges as a key figure, and an obdurately British one too, in his benevolent, somewhat headmasterly approach to the running of a creative organization. He is known for his leadership, as well as his guidance towards first time Director Alfred Hitchcock.
Balcon had earlier co-founded Gainsborough Pictures with Victor Saville in 1923; later working with Gaumont British, which absorbed their studio. Later still he worked with MGM-British. In 1956 he founded a production company known as Ealing Films, and later headed British Lion Films. He served as chairman of the British Film Institute production board to help fund and encourage new work.
Balcon was a legendary figure in the British Film Industry, and his most famous style of films he produced were 'Post War Comedies.' Balcon's work was also expanded beyond film, he was a writer of multiple books published from 1943 to 1969. Balcon was always described as a leader and inspiring.

Background

Born in Birmingham, Balcon was the youngest son and fourth of five children of Louis Balcon and his wife, Laura, Lithuanian Jewish immigrants from Latvia who had met in Britain. Growing up in a respectable but impoverished setting, in 1907 Balcon won a scholarship to Birmingham's George Dixon Grammar School, but had to leave in 1913 owing to his family's financial needs. He worked as a jeweler's apprentice, was turned down for service in the First World War because of defective eyesight, and joined the Dunlop Rubber Company's huge plant at Aston Cross in 1915, rising to become personal assistant to the managing director.

Filmography

In 1920, Micheal had begun his career in filmmaking during the 1920s and, together with Victor Saville and John Freedman, he formed Balcon, Freedman & Saville. After the war, Balcon's friend Victor Saville suggested a partnership to establish a film distribution company for the new and growing industry. The company, Victory Motion Pictures, led to them settling in London, opening an office in Soho in 1921. In 1923, their first feature film was released, the successful melodrama Woman to Woman, starring Clive Brook and Betty Compson, and directed by Graham Cutts. They leased Islington Studios and formed the more long-lasting Gainsborough Pictures.
, Miriam Hopkins, visitor Michael Balcon, and Kenneth Macgowan on the set of Becky Sharp
The studio, recently vacated by the Hollywood company Famous Players-Lasky was small but well equipped and fully staffed. A young Alfred Hitchcock was one of its employees. Balcon gave Hitchcock his first directing opportunity, and Gainsborough gained a reputation for producing high-quality films.

Balcon and Hitchcock

In 1924, he and Graham Cutts founded Gainsborough Pictures, which he presided over for twelve years, as director of production for Gaumont-British from 1931. During this time, Balcon oversaw Alfred Hitchcock's very first production titled The Pleasure Garden. The film was followed by Hitchcock's as well as The Ring showing that Hitchcock's talent was growing and diversifying. At first Balcon was reluctant towards 'The Lodger,'however after the re-edit by Ivor Montagu, he was then confident in the production.
Balcon's independence had eroded and Gainsborough became an extension of the Gaumont Film Company. Still, between 1931 and 1936, Balcon produced a number of classics, including a string of Hitchcock successes, such as The 39 Steps and Man of Aran; the latter was known as 'Balcon's folly' for going well over budget.
He also helped individuals escape Nazi Germany as persecution of Jewish citizens increased, including the actor Conrad Veidt, who had starred in his 1934 film Jew Suss. By 1936, Gaumont was looking for an entry into the American market. Balcon spent several months in the United States forming links with the big Hollywood studios. On his return, he found Gaumont in financial ruin and joined MGM-British Studios that November. The year and a half he spent there was a trying period for Balcon, who clashed frequently with studio head Louis B. Mayer. During this period, Balcon lived at 57a Tufton Street, Westminster. Today a commemorative plaque marks his former home.

Ealing Studios

When Balcon was invited by an old associate of his, Reginald Baker, to head Ealing Studios in 1938, he readily agreed. Under his benevolent leadership and surrounded by a reliable team of directors, writers, technicians and actors, Ealing became the most famous British studio in the world, despite turning out no more than six feature films a year.
Went the Day Well?, Dead of Night, Undercover, and the Ealing Comedies were released during his time there. Other films from the studio include Dance Hall with Petula Clark and Diana Dors; and The Blue Lamp, whose lead character, George Dixon, was named after Balcon's grammar school. This character was later used in the long-running television drama Dixon of Dock Green. In his 1969 autobiography, Michael Balcon Presents... A Lifetime of Films, he wrote that his years at Ealing Studios were "the most rewarding years in my personal career, and perhaps one of the most fruitful periods in the history of British film production."
Besides Hitchcock, Balcon worked with Basil Dearden, Michael Relph and many other significant figures of British film. He was knighted in 1948 for his services to the industry.
In 1944, Ealing Studios was taken over by the Rank Organisation. In 1955 Rank sold the studio to the BBC. As a result, Balcon left Rank in 1956 and set up the production company Ealing Films, striking a distribution and production deal with MGM. Balcon's company would shoot films at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood and MGM would handle the worldwide distribution of the films.
In 1959 Balcon became chairman of Bryanston Films, a subsidiary of British Lion Films. The firm went bankrupt in 1963. Balcon took over British Lion Films. He was proud to be associated with the British New Wave; the last film on which he worked as executive producer was Tom Jones, after which he continued to encourage young directors, serving as chairman of the British Film Institute production board and funding low-budget experimental work.

Famous Ealing Studios' Films

Although Balcon was more famously known as a Motion Picture Producer, he also wrote a handful of novels in his lifetime.
Such as:
A pub in Ealing, "The Sir Michael Balcon" is named in his honour.
The BAFTA for Outstanding Contribution to British Film is presented every year in honour of Balcon's memory.
'Sir' Micheal Balcon was Knighted in 1948.
Most recently, Birmingham University, also, held screenings and discussions on Micheal Balcon and his films on October 27th, 2013 to celebrate his life and legacy.

Personal life

On 10 April 1924, Balcon married Aileen Freda Leatherman, daughter of Max Jacobs and Beatrice Leatherman, whose families were Jewish immigrants from Poland. She was born in Middlesex, but brought up in Johannesburg, South Africa. The couple enjoyed theatre and opera, loved travel, and had a wide circle of friends. They had two children: Jill, and Jonathan.
In 1946, Aileen was appointed an MBE for her war work.
Their daughter Jill Balcon became an actress. She met Anglo-Irish poet, Cecil Day-Lewis, and the two started a relationship, marrying in 1951. Michael Balcon was deeply unhappy about the marriage, and became estranged from his daughter as a result.
Day-Lewis later was appointed as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. They had two children together : Tamasin Day-Lewis, who became a food critic and television chef, and Daniel Day-Lewis, who became an actor. He has won three Academy Awards in addition to many other awards.
In 1977, Balcon died at Upper Parrock, a 15th-century house set on a Sussex hilltop near the Kent border. He and his wife had lived there since the Second World War. He was cremated and his ashes buried there.

Selected filmography

Producer

YearFilmNotes
1933I Was a Spy
1933Leave It to Smith
1933The Constant Nymph
1934Princess Charming
1934Evergreen
1934Along Came Sally
1935The 39 Steps
1935Stormy Weather
1935Things Are Looking Up
1936The First Offence
1936Secret Agent
1936Tudor Rose
1937Doctor Syn
1938A Yank at Oxford
1940The Proud Valley
1941The Ghost of St. Michael's
1941Turned Out Nice Again
1942The Foreman Went to France
1942Went the Day Well?
1944For Those in Peril
1944Champagne Charlie
1944The Halfway House
1945Dead of Night
1945Pink String and Sealing Wax
1946The Captive Heart
1946The Overlanders
1947Hue and Cry
1947It Always Rains on Sunday
1948Saraband for Dead Lovers
1948Scott of the Antarctic
1949Whisky Galore!
1949A Run for Your Money
1949Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949Passport to Pimlico
1950The Magnet
1950The Blue Lamp
1951The Lavender Hill Mob
1951The Man in the White Suit
1952Mandy
1953The Cruel Sea
1953The Ladykillers
1954The Maggie
1955The Night My Number Came Up
1956The Long Arm
1957The Shiralee
1957All at Sea-
1958Dunkirk
1959The Siege of Pinchgut
1959The Scapegoat
1961The Long and the Short and the Tall