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.