TheBritish National Films Company was formed in England in 1934 byJ. Arthur Rank,Lady Annie Henrietta Yule ofBricket Wood, and producerJohn Corfield. Rank soon left the company but it continued to operate until the 1940s, funding mostly low budget films but also some classics of British cinema such asGaslight andOne of Our Aircraft is Missing.^[1][2]

Joseph Arthur Rank was a devout member of theWesleyan Methodist Church and the son of a millionaire flour miller. On the first day of the week, he was aSunday school teacher, and he discovered that if he screened religious films instead of lecturing his class, he got a positive response. His idea spread to other classes held by other churches, and in 1933 this motivated Rank to form theReligious Film Society to distribute the films that he wanted to show to other Sunday schools.

Following distribution, Rank then decided to go into the business of producing religious films.Mastership was his first religious film production. It was a twenty-minute film made at Merton Park Studios at a cost of £2,700.Mastership was never shown commercially because it was merely intended as a form of evangelism and shown within other churches. Rank was pleased with the results, and other films went into production in Elstree at the better-equippedRock Studios, which were later renamed British National.

In the 1930s, theMethodist Timesnewspaper in England began attacking the low moral standards exhibited by British films and by American films shown in Britain. In response, the LondonEvening News answered theMethodist Times by suggesting that if theMethodist Church was so concerned about the effect that the film industry was having upon family life in Britain, it should start producing its own family-friendly films. It was this exchange that motivated Rank to expand his film interests into the commercial market.

A young producer named John Corfield introduced Rank to LadyAnnie Henrietta Yule ofBricket Wood, who was extremely wealthy.^[2] In order to fill her life with activity, she engaged inbig game hunting and breedingArabian horses with a degree of success and lasting fame; herHanstead Stud won international recognition. She also commissionedluxury yachts, including theNahlin, which she chartered in 1936 to the new king,Edward VIII. Upon meeting Rank, she decided to add the making of films to her list. However, when it came to the business side of film production, Lady Yule did not share the same ideas as Rank with regard to making and distributing films to improve society; she did not believe in giving discounts to religiously motivated film productions. She thought that films were an interesting hobby and similar to her financial interests in Arabian horse breeding.

In 1934, Rank, Lady Yule and John Corfield formed the British National Films Company and went into production in answer to the challenge by theEvening News.

British National's first feature film wasTurn of the Tide, which was released in 1935. The script was based upon a 1932 novel byLeo Walmsley calledThree Fevers. The setting, which Rank knew from childhood, wasRobin Hood's Bay on the north coast ofYorkshire,England. Having read the book, Rank decided that it would make an excellent family-friendly British film in answer to theHollywood-style films thatAlexander Korda was making at theDenham Film Studios.

AlthoughTurn of the Tide featured a good cast, British National were unable to gain wide distribution for the film, and when they did, it was as the second half of a double feature. The company struggled to recoup its costs. Rank knew that for British National to make a profit, he had to create a commercial version of his Religious Film Society to control distribution and exhibition.

Norman Walker, who directedTurn of the Tide, made a second film for British NationalDebt of Honour (1936). Other films planned at the time wereThe Forbidden Road based on a book by HL Meyers, and the story ofMadame Tussaud.^[3]

In May 1936 it was announced British National would make six films a year for 20th Century Fox but this did not appear to happen.^[4]

In 1934,Charles Boot had undertaken to construct a new film studio in the village ofIver Heath inBuckinghamshire. His location was set among the pine trees on the estate grounds of a mansion calledHeatherden Hall that Boot had recently bought at auction. The complex was namedPinewood Film Studios and was completed within a year. By 1935, Boot had approached British National about taking over ownership and management of the new studios, and a contract was entered into. Corfield eventually resigned from the board of Pinewood Film Studios, and Lady Yule sold her shares to Rank.

Corfield and Yule continued British National without Rank.^[5]

British National resumed production withThe Street Singer (1937), a musical with Arthur Tracy. It was followed byMr. Reeder in Room 13 (1938), from an Edgar Wallace story;Meet Mr. Penny (1938) from director David MacDonald based on a radio series, intended to be the first in a series (that did not eventuate);^[6]Lassie from Lancashire (1938), a musical with Marjorie Brown;Night Journey (1938), a crime drama.^[2]

Dead Men Tell No Tales (1938) was a crime drama that performed strongly at the box office .^[7]Spies of the Air (1939) was an espionage film released prior to the outbreak of war. Most of these films were released by Associated British.

In June 1939 British National via John Cornfeld signed a deal with Anglo American Film Company, headed by Louis Jackson, for it to distribute the movies. By this stage Anglo American had four films in pre production:Mr Walker Wants to Know, which becameWhat Would You Do, Chums?;Sons of the Sea, a film about the Navy;Old Mother Riley Joins Up; andGaslight. These would be made by British National, except forSons of the Sea.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

British National's first film distributed by Anglo American wasSecret Journey (1939) which came out after war had been declared.What Would You Do, Chums? (1939) was a comedy with Syd Walker.Old Mother Riley Joins Up (1939) was part of the Old Mother Riley series, which would be made at British National for the next decade.

Over the first four and a half years of the company's existence it made twelve films. When war started it began making nine films a year.^[13] According toKinematograph Weekly "Variety will be the keynote of this new ambitious programme with one object in mind—that of making real, honest-to-goodness entertainment."^[14]

In November 1939 John Corfeld announced British National would re-open its studios would start a program of continuous production, of five films:Laugh it Off (1940), a comedy with Tommy Trinder;This German Freedom (never made);Blackout, a thriller (which becameContraband);Gaslight and anOld Mother Riley film (which becameOld Mother Riley in Society).^[15]Gaslight became British National's best known early films.

British National also madeCrook's Tour (1940) andThe Second Mr. Bush (1940).

In late 1940 John Corfield left the company^[16] and was replaced as head of production byLouis H. Jackson.

British National began producing more elaborate films such asLove on the Dole (1941), with Deborah Kerr;This England (1941);"Pimpernel" Smith (1941) with Leslie Howard; andPenn of Pennsylvania (1941). The studio alternated this with lower budgeted projects, notably the Old Mother Riley series:Old Mother Riley in Business (1941),Old Mother Riley's Ghosts (1941).^[17] In January 1941Kinematograph Weekly reported "British National is probably the busiest production company in the country."^[18] The same month G.W. Parish of British National declared:

It is the intention of my board to try to live up to everything implied in our name of British National, to maintain as high a standard as possible in our productions, to give continuity of employment to British film personnel and to provide restful, interesting, amusing and muchn eeded entertainment for the public with regard to the coming New Year.. continuity of production must be our objective, and, notwithstanding all the difficulties that the Industry will face during 1941, I feel confident that every effort will be made by all concerned to maintain and strengthen this great national work.^[19]

In February 1941 British National announced that since July 1939 it made twelve films at a cost of £225,000 all of which had been "renumerative" for the company.^[20]

In July 1941 British National announced four new films includingOld Mother Riley's Cricus,One of Our Aircraft is Missing, andLet the People Sing.^[21]

Following the end of production onPenn of Pennsylvania in April 1942, British National ceased production for six weeks to give its staff a break, before resuming again withThe Common Touch (1942).Kine Weekly wrote "since the war, British National has spent over a quarter of a million and has an unbroken record of hits... a record in such difficult times of which anyone might be proud."^[22]

The studio had a big hit with the war movieOne of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942) and its other war films includedSalute John Citizen (1942) andSabotage at Sea (1942).

In early 1942 British National shifted its policy, making less war movies and more light entertainments.^[13] Examples of the latter includedLet the People Sing (1942),Lady from Lisbon (1942),Asking for Trouble (1942),We'll Smile Again (1942),Old Mother Riley Overseas (1943),When We Are Married (1943),Old Mother Riley Detective (1943),Theatre Royal (1943),

The studio madeThe Dummy Talks (1943), a crime film;The Shipbuilders (1943), a drama;Strawberry Roan (1944), a romance;Candles at Nine (1944), a mystery film.

In 1944, regular director John Baxter left the company to set up his own company.^[23] In March 1945 Lady Yule criticised spending in the film industry.^[24]

In December 1945 Anglo was called the "number one independent British renters".^[25]

Vernon Sewell directed several films for the company. He later said "I could do what I liked with Lady Yule... I could have run the studio, she would have given me the whole lot. She would have given me a Rolls Royce if I'd wanted it, she ate out of my hand for some unknown reason."^[26]

In January 1947 Anglo American was bought byAssociated British Picture Corporation for a reported $1 million.^[27]Variety reported the deal was to ensure British National pictures for Associated British's cinemas, writing "British National is good for nine films yearly and practically solves ABC's [Associated British Cinema's] quota problem. Circuit plays no pix of J. Arthur Rank, chief British film producer."^[28]

In August 1947 Lou Jackson announced British National would start a new slate of films starting withDeath of a Rat which becameCounterblast.^[29][30]

In October Jackson said "I quite agree that production quality is essential, but I still maintain that the time it has taken to get this quality is not justified in the final result...the only way we can develop new stars is to put them into enough pictures, and I think it is wrong to spend £200,000 or more on a completely unknown artiste. A large number of technicians will not agree with me."^[31]

British National soon wound up and shut down in April 1948 after finishingNo Room at the Inn.^[32] Vernon Sewell recalled the ending of the studio was sudden. "They gave everybody a fortnight's notice... It was sold to the BBC." He claimed Yule "got fed-up with it! Annoyed with Lou Jackson, annoyed with me, for not telling her the stories... She died shortly afterwards and so did her daughter, her daughter died quite young."^[26]

In 1947 United Artists reported "Lady Yule, who financed this proposition [British National], is not particularly interested in putting up further money for Mr. Jackson to make pictures as ther have not been turning out particularly well as Jackson doesn't make a good picture."^[33]

Variety reported in April 1948 that Lady Yule "has lost close to $1,000,000, is in disagreement with the producer [Lou Jackson], and refuses to finance further films. Jackson cannot find other finance, and closure is temporary until an-other tenant goes in."^[34]

• Big Ben
• Polonaise
• The Canon in Residence
• Battle for Music (1944)

• List of British National films

• Anglo Amalgamated atIMDB

• Film distributors of the United Kingdom
• Film production companies of the United Kingdom
• Entertainment companies established in 1934
• 1934 establishments in the United Kingdom

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata