Background
Michael Balcon was born in Birmingham on May 19, 1896.
Michael Balcon was born in Birmingham on May 19, 1896.
Michael Balcon was educated in Birmingham.
He left a position in the rubber industry to join his friend Victor Saville (later to achieve fame as a producer and director) in film distribution.
After entering production, Balcon and Saville, with their business partner, John Freedman, formed Gainsborough Pictures in 1924. While acting as head of production for Gainsborough, Balcon gave Alfred Hitchcock, until then an art director and screenwriter, the chance to direct.
In his later years, when he was regarded as the elder statesman of the British film industry, Balcon preached against dependence on American assistance. In his first efforts at production, however, he took care to bolster his chances of a wide audience by using popular American stars, such as Betty Compson and Mae Marsh. Clive Brook and Victor McLaglen were among the British stars discovered by Balcon at Gainsborough.
Balcon was director of production at Gaumont-British from 1931 to 1936, when a decision to cease production resulted in his dismissal. While at Gaumont-British, Balcon oversaw the making of films as varied as the musical Evergreen, the documentary Man of Aran, and the British version of Feuchtwanger’s Jew Suss. A reunion with Hitchcock also produced the highly successful "The Man Who Knew Too Much".
A brief period heading MGM’s London office was followed by over two decades as head of production for Ealing Studios. The best-known of over a hundred films produced between 1939 and 1959 are a handful of comedies including "Kind Hearts" and "Coronets", which is famous for Alec Guinness’s multiple roles.
After Ealing closed, Balcon became head of Bryanston Films, a consortium of sixteen independent producers, retaining this position until 1975.
In 1951, three years after being knighted, he became chairman of the British Film Institute Experimental Film Fund (later the BFI Production Board), a body offering grants to young independent Filmmakers.
In keeping with the uncompromising Britishness of his Ealing productions, Balcon fought for the British cinema as a whole and strove to provide opportunities for newcomers to the industry.
In 1951, three years after being knighted, he became chairman of the British Film Institute Experimental Film Fund (later the BFI Production Board), a body offering grants to young independent Filmmakers.
Quotations:
BALCON ON THE SUCCESS OF THE EALING COMEDIES
The comedies were, if you like, a mild protest — but a protest about nothing more sinister than the regimentation of the times, after a period of war. I think we were going through a mildly euphoric period then — believing in ourselves and having some sense of, yes it sounds awful, national pride. And if I were to think and think I couldn’t give you a deeper analysis.
The freedom he granted his creative staff built his reputation as “an artist’s businessman.” A later commentator succinctly summed up the situation at Ealing with the observation that “in the absence of money, they had to make do with talent.”
the Oscar-winning actor
