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Hemdale Film Corporation
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Foundation date 1 january 1967
Hemdale Film Corporation, known as Hemdale Communications after 1993, was an independent film production company and distributor founded in London in 1967 as the Hemdale Company by actor David Hemmings and his manager, John Daly. Hemmings left the company in 1971, and Daly purchased his stock.
Hemdale began as an investment company to cut the high personal taxes on British actors. Eventually, the company went public as Hemdale Ltd. and began diversifying. Hemdale launched a talent agency that helped launch the careers of such bands as Black Sabbath and Yes, invested in feature films, financed stage productions such as Grease, and became involved in boxing promotions such as The Rumble in the Jungle match between George Foreman and Muhammed Ali. Hemdale also distributed cable TV to hotels, which, in 1974, was its major source of revenue. After producing and distributing British films throughout the 1970s, Hemdale relocated to Hollywood in 1980 and focused extensively on movie-making. Derek Gibson later joined the company.
Among its most well-known films are The Terminator, The Return of the Living Dead, Hoosiers, Salvador, River's Edge, Platoon, and The Last Emperor; the latter two were back-to-back recipients of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Despite these critical and commercial successes, Hemdale followed these films up with a series of box office bombs and the company eventually declared bankruptcy.
In 1991, Eric Parkinson joined Hemdale as president of the company, eventually shutting down its production facilities and duties, and started acquiring and distributing films independently produced by others.
In 1996, Hemdale shut its doors, shortly after it was announced that Daly and Gibson would leave the company. The library was then incorporated into Consortium de Realisation, a French holding company set up to handle the rights to titles acquired by Credit Lyonnais Bank.
After the studio's closing, the Hemdale library was incorporated into the Orion Pictures output now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, after MGM acquired the Consortium de Realisation library from PolyGram (ironically, Orion was the original distributor for many of Hemdale's films). One key exception is The Last Emperor, a Hemdale production originally issued by Columbia Pictures, but whose rights are now held by its producer, Jeremy Thomas. Most of the foreign productions Hemdale distributed have subsequently returned to their original owners (such as Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, which producer Tokyo Movie Shinsha now controls worldwide).
In 1991, Hemdale created a collection of many video cassette titles released by Hemdale Home Video, which was formed by Parkinson, around the United States of America. In 1995, the video rights to some of Hemdale's higher-profile titles were licensed to LIVE Entertainment (now Lionsgate).
In 1995, the video rights to some of Hemdale's higher-profile titles were licensed to LIVE Entertainment (now Lionsgate).
The company's last new credit was for the Virgin Games video game adaptation of The Terminator, which showed up on the game's start up screen as "Hemdale's The Terminator" in text on the scrolling logo, despite all box art calling it "The Terminator".
Best films
(1987)
(1987)Filmography of Hemdale Film Corporation (52 films)
Distribution
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Voices (1973)
, 1h31Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Horror
Actors David Hemmings, Gayle Hunnicutt, Lynn Farleigh
After her young son accidentally drowns, a woman has a breakdown and is finally placed in a mental hospital. After her release, her husband takes her for a weekend at a secluded country mansion, hoping to help her recover. However, things at the mansion aren't quite what they seem to be, the couple begin to feel an uneasy and oppressive presence, and the mother starts to see things that may, or may not, be hallucinations.
England Made Me (1973)
, 1h42Directed by Peter Duffell
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama
Actors Joss Ackland, Michael Hordern, Peter Finch, Hildegarde Neil, Michael York, Tessa Wyatt
Anthony Farrant (York) is a naive 1930s businessman who pays a visit to Germany on the way home from a business trip, and falls under the politically dubious spell of charismatic financier Erich Krogh (Finch). While Anthony was taught to value fairness and decency, in Erich's world opportunism, corruption, and decadence hold sway.
Tiffany Jones (1973)
, 1h30Directed by Pete Walker
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films
Actors Eric Pohlmann, Damien Thomas, Anouska Hempel, Alan Curtis, Ray Brooks, Martin Benson
Tiffany Jones (1973)
, 1h30Directed by Pete Walker
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films
Actors Anouska Hempel, Damien Thomas, Ray Brooks, Eric Pohlmann, Richard Marner, Martin Benson
Much like the comic strip the film centers around Tiffany Jones, a photo model in swinging London and features some female nudity. However, here she also has a double life as a secret agent. The plot follows her as she tries to topple an Eastern European dictatorship in the fictional country Zirdana.
The Triple Echo (1972)
, 1h34Directed by Michael Apted
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War
Themes Films about sexuality, Films about the labor movement, LGBT-related films, Transgender in film, LGBT-related film
Actors Glenda Jackson, Oliver Reed, Brian Deacon, Anthony May, Gavin Richards, Jenny Lee-Wright
In England during WWII, Alice, a woman running a farm in the countryside, discovers a man named Barton roaming the fields. He helps around the farm and the two become friends, then lovers. Barton decides to desert the army. Alice offers him refuge in exchange for help running the farm in the absence of her husband, who has been taken prisoner by the Japanese. Barton puts Alice's ailing dog out of its misery by shooting it with her husband's shotgun. When army MPs begin to search for Barton he must take measures to avoid being caught, so Alice helps him form the disguise of a woman, Jill, her "sister." A Sergeant soon begins to take a liking to Jill. As Christmas approaches, the Sergeant returns to invite Alice and Jill to a Christmas party. Alice declines, but Barton, wanting to get out and have some fun, accepts the offer. Alice disapproves. During the party, the Sergeant and another soldier take Jill and a woman into a back room to engage in some sexual activity, but when Jill pushes the Sergeant away he discovers the secret. Barton escapes and the MPs follow, hunt him down near the farm house where Alice is waiting. Because Alice does not want Barton to suffer at the hands of the soldiers, she shoots him dead with her husband's shotgun.
Universal Soldier (1972)
, 1h34Directed by Cy Endfield
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Action
Actors George Lazenby, Ben Carruthers, Edward Judd, Cy Endfield, Ronan O'Rahilly, Rudolph Walker
Ryker (Lazenby), a former mercenary, comes out of retirement to take part in the overthrow of an African dictator. He travels to London to meet former war comrade Jesse Jones (Ben Carruthers), and his associates Freddy Bradshaw (Robin Hunter) and Temple Smith (Alan Barnes). After helping fellow mercenaries test and ship weapons to South Africa, Ryker begins to have ethical concerns about his involvement. He eventually distances himself from the others, and rents a flat in London. He falls into hippie culture, and begins dating a girl named Chrissie (Chrissie Townson).
The Four Dimensions of Greta (1972)
, 1h25Directed by Pete Walker
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films, Sexploitation films
Actors Tristan Rogers, Robin Askwith, Alan Curtis, John Clive, Martin Wyldeck, Elizabeth Bradley
Hans a young German journalist arrives in London to write an article about au-pair girls, but is requested by friends to investigate the whereabouts of their teenage daughter Greta. He interviews four individuals who all paint distinctly different pictures of the missing girl - each revealing a different aspect or dimension. These reminiscences constitute the film's 3-D sequences. Hans finally tracks down Greta and discovers she has been kidnapped by an East End gangster.