From the Orient With Fury UK Quad!

I took the title of this blog, and my PhD itself, from a 1960s Eurospy film released in the UK by Compton. It was one of the Agent 077 films. These were Italian/ French/ Spanish co-productions. 

Whilst I have yet to find a copy of this film itself, last weekend I found the quad poster. It was in the same shop I bought the lobby cards almost two years ago, in a box of posters I had never seen before. It has been folded, probably for most of the last fifty years, but it is still in remarkably good condition. The artwork is crude, and Ken Clark is all out of proportion and looks like he is in a western, but I am still happy to have found it. This will take a prominent place in the visual elements of my study. 

Agent 077's name was Dick Malloy, and he was played by the American actor Ken Clark, who despite some success at home spent the majority of his career working in Italian films.

According to the Kiss Kiss Kill Kill archive there were three Agent 077 films, and some of the posters advertised that fact. It is interesting that Compton chose not to use that in their materials, perhaps trying to play down the Bond connection for suspicious British audiences. 

Argentinian poster for From the Orient With Fury (1965)

Italian poster for Mission Bloody Mary (1965)

Italian poster for Operation Lady Chaplin (1966)

Mark of the Devil

After many years the infamous Mark of the Devil is being released uncut in the UK. Arrow Video have put it out on blu ray, and they asked me to write an essay for the booklet. I was honoured to have been asked, and the fact that I love all that censorship stuff combined with the international angle meant it was pretty much a perfect fit. It was released this week, and I'm still eagerly awaiting my copy. It's a fascinating film, as these old shockers always are. If there was ever any doubt as to the exploitation value of torturing sexy ladies, this cheesy promotional image of Udo Kier and potential victim ought to settle the question.

If you too are interested to know how the film was treated by the BBFC, simply click on the cover above and order yourself a copy! Only be warned, this is not one for the kids.

Jake West

Recently published in Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media is an interview I conducted with British film director Jake West. Of particular interest to me was the fact that he is a former student of the college where I currently teach part-time. I don't know this for definite, but I would like to claim that this is the most in-depth, career-spanning interview Jake has done. We even talked about Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes (2006).

Whilst browsing through other articles in the journal I was amused and delighted to notice that I had been referenced in a review of The Witch Who Came From the Sea (1976), which was incidentally on the Department for Public Prosecutions list of "video nasties" in 1983. My description of Baba Yaga (1973), from an article I wrote in last summer's edition of Intensities, has been used. Nice to know that at least one person out there read it. This is the first time that I know of where I have been referenced in an academic context. I guess this means there is hope for me yet.

Exciting news!

Last week I was offered a full three-year PhD scholarship at The University of Sussex to start in September.

This means that I have a definite end in sight; that in three years, all being well, I will have the PhD and be eligable for more exciting prospects of employment. I'm also looking forward to being involved in research and seminars at the university, and there's a good chance that I can give lectures to undergraduates too.

I had given up all hope of ever getting a full scholarship, which just shows that you can never say never.

This also means that you can expect to see this blog updated far more often.

E.J. Fancey

One of the distributors I have recently discovered is a man by the name of Edwin John Fancey (1902 - 1980). He began his career in the 1940s both as a film producer and distributor. By the 1960s, my main period of interest, he had established quite the collection of companies, and had most of his immediate family working for him. So far I have found these company names registered to him, but there may be more:

D.U.K. Films, Ltd.

E.J. Fancey Productions, Ltd.

New Realm Pictures, Ltd.

S.F. (Film) Distributors Ltd.

Embassy Films

Aqua

Fantur

Border Films

The Border Films office on Wardour Street in Soho, around 1971

The same place today, where even The Marquee Club is a distant memory

Something of a colourful character, Fancey apparently went to prison for a short time in 1941 for stabbing his accountant in the groin, leaving him so severely injured that his leg was amputated.

One of Fancey's greatest claims to fame, apart from having produced the Goon film Down Among the Z Men (1952), was that shortly before he retired in the 1970s one of companies secured the UK distribution for Emmanuelle (1974). That deal must have left his family financially secure for life.

I have been trying to establish just how many international films Fancey brought in to the UK during the 1960s, and there are hundreds. I have been in touch with some members of his family, and it would seem that there is no surviving archive, which is tragic.

Another way to establish what films were distributed is by searching the BBFC archive. Doing this has enabled me to find several dozen so far, and I have even been to the BBFC to view some of the correspondence available. Fancey seemed to focus almost entirely on exploitation, and as such had many a censorship battle to contend with. I will reproduce some of this here at a later date, but for now here are just a few examples of marketing material he produced for use in the UK. They were generally of a cheaper quality than either Compton or Gala, two of his main rivals, but still entertaining.