The Likely Lad

Moody, Paul

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-94803-4_6

Paul Moody²

81 Accesses

Abstract

Cohen’s core output is analysed in this chapter, covering many of the most successful comedy films of the 1970s, including Frankie Howerd’s Up series, Percy and its sequel, Percy’s Progress, and several sitcom films, including both Steptoe and Son spin-offs. Cohen also developed major interventions in two other genres during this period, both of which are analysed here: the thriller films Villain and Fear is the Key, and a series of music-themed vehicles for leading 1970s pop stars Roy Harper, Cliff Richard, and David Essex, whose Stardust is presented as a pivotal film in EMI’s history, which was a catalyst to its eventual shift into transnational production.

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Notes

1.
Box, B. (2000). Lifting the Lid: The Autobiography of Film Producer Betty Box. London: Book Guild Publishing, p. 272.
2.
Percy (6 October 1970). London: BBFC.
3.
EMI Film Productions Limited and Anglo-EMI Film Distributors Limited—Production Release Schedule (24 April 1972). Bryan Forbes Collection. Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library.
4.
Box, B. (2000), p. 281.
5.
Letter from John Croydon to R.E.F. Garrett (28 September 1970). London: Film Finances Archive.
6.
Letter from John Croydon to R.E.F. Garrett (28 September 1970).
7.
‘Distribution agreement’ (Undated, c. October 1970). London: Film Finances Archive.
8.
Letter from Nat Cohen to John Trevelyan (29 April 1971). London: BBFC.
9.
Letter from John Trevelyan to Nat Cohen (14 May 1971). London: BBFC.
10.
Letter from John Trevelyan to Nat Cohen (14 May 1971).
11.
Personnel Files, Bryan Forbes and John Hargreaves (30 June 1971). London: StudioCanal.
12.
EMI Film Productions Limited and Anglo-EMI Film Distributors Limited—Production Release Schedule (24 April 1972). Bryan Forbes Collection. Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library.
13.
Up the Chastity Belt (27 September 1971). London: BBFC.
14.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to Ned Sherrin (28 September 1971). London: BBFC.
15.
Letter from Ned Sherrin to Stephen Murphy (30 September 1971). London: BBFC.
16.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to Ned Sherrin (5 October 1971). London: BBFC.
17.
Letter from Ned Sherrin to Stephen Murphy (6 October 1971). London: BBFC.
18.
Letter from Ned Sherrin to Stephen Murphy (12 October 1971). London: BBFC.
19.
Up the Chastity Belt (17 October 1971). London: BBFC.
20.
Letter from Ned Sherrin to Stephen Murphy (4 July 1972). London: BBFC.
21.
Letter from EMI to Stephen Murphy (30 January 1973). London: BBFC.
22.
Never Mind the Quality Feel the Width (11 October 1971). London: BBFC.
23.
Letter from Michael Havas to Stephen Murphy (22 January 1973). London: BBFC.
24.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to Michael Havas (24 January 1973). London: BBFC.
25.
Harper, S. and Smith, J. (2013), ‘Cross-over’, in Harper, S. and Smith, J. (ed.) British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 201.
26.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to Beryl Vertue and Aida Young (12 October 1971). London: BBFC.
27.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to EMI Films (20 February 1973). London: BBFC.
28.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to EMI Films (21 May 1973). London: BBFC.
29.
Villain (Undated, c. July 1970). London: Film Finances Archive
30.
Villain (4 August 1970). London: Film Finances Archive.
31.
Villain (27 July 1970). London: Film Finances Archive.
32.
Villain (1 September 1970). London: Film Finances Archive.
33.
Villain draft script (20 August 1970). London: BFI.
34.
Barber, S. (2009). ‘“Blue is the pervading shade”: Re-examining British film censorship in the 1970s.’ Journal of British Cinema and Television, 6(3), p. 354.
35.
John Trevelyan to Alan Ladd Jr. (18 March 1971). London: BBFC.
36.
Villain (22 October 1970). London: Film Finances Archive.
37.
Newland, P. (2009). ‘On location in 1970s London: Gavrik Losey.’ Journal of British Cinema and Television, 6(2), p. 303.
38.
Brunsdon, C. (2010). ‘Towards a history of empty spaces.’ The City and the Moving Image. London: Palgrave, p. 226.
39.
Walker, A. (1986). National Heroes. London: Harrap, p. 27.
40.
Walker, A. (1986) National Heroes. London: Harrap, p. 28.
41.
Fear is the Key (13 March 1972). London: Film Finances Archive.
42.
Fear is the Key (21 April 1972). London: Film Finances Archive.
43.
Letter from John Croydon to R.E.F. Garrett (3 May 1972). London: Film Finances Archive.
44.
Letter from John Croydon to R.E.F. Garrett (3 May 1972).
45.
Fear is the Key (15 May 1972). London: Film Finances Archive.
46.
Smith, J. (2013), ‘Cinema statistics, box office and related data’, in Harper, S. and Smith, J. (eds.) British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 264.
47.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to consultant psychiatrist (12 December 1972). London: BBFC.
48.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to Joe Janni (25 April 1972). London: BBFC.
49.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to Joe Janni (25 April 1972).
50.
Letter from Joe Janni to Stephen Murphy (15 May 1972). London: BBFC.
51.
Sconce, J. (1995). ‘“Trashing” the academy: Taste, excess, and an emerging politics of cinematic style’, Screen, 36(4), pp. 371–393.
52.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to David Puttnam (1 February 1973). London: BBFC.
53.
Letter from David Puttnam to Stephen Murphy (26 March 1973). London: BBFC.
54.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to Phillip Crome (23 October 1973). London: BBFC.
55.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to Phillip Crome (23 October 1973).
56.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to Phillip Crome (23 October 1973).
57.
Smith, J. (2013), p. 270.
58.
Barber, S. (2013), ‘Government aid and film legislation: “An elastoplast to stop a haemorrhage”’, in Harper, S. and Smith, J. (ed.) British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 14.
59.
Stardust (4 July 1974). London: BBFC.
60.
Stardust (18 July 1974). London: BBFC.
61.
Stardust (18 July 1974).
62.
Smith, J. (2013), p. 271.
63.
Letter from Stephen Murphy to Mary Whitehouse (17 September 1974). London: BBFC.
64.
James Ferman to Guy Phelps (7 December 1976). London: BBFC.
65.
Stephen Murphy to Sandy Lieberson (29 November 1974). London: BBFC.
66.
Letter from EMI to Gavrik Losey (10 May 1984). Gavrik Losey Collection. Exeter: Bill Douglas Cinema Museum.

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Brunel University London, London, UK
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Moody, P. (2018). The Likely Lad. In: EMI Films and the Limits of British Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94803-4_6

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94803-4_6
Published: 20 October 2018
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94802-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94803-4
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