British Film Stills

[thedarkavenger]

Can any of the members here lead me to any archives of British film stills. I know the BFI have a selection of stills but having looked them over they seem to be a little limited in what I am looking for. Are there other archive sources available? Or any other avenues of finding rarer British film stills.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Paul Waines]

Maybe try the Cinema museum in london..? I thought the BFI would have a good selection.

What are you looking for as you may need to get in touch with some collectors, who have/collect material your looking for.

[Steve Crook]

Yes, it depends on what genre and/ or which era you are interested in. The BFI does have some good collections of stills, but some of those are in the private collections.

Steve

[cornershop15]

Hello,

Count me out as far as visits to film libraries and buying photographs are concerned. Not only am I housebound but most of my collection of film stills were taken from me eight years ago. The trauma put me off making any more purchases, even by post. There was a brilliant seller named James Ager, based in Essex, who I bought a lot of good stuff from in the 1980s. Is he still around? I know that Flashbacks isn't but what about The Vintage Magazine Shop (both in London's West End)? They had a great range of film memorabilia when I went there. Again in the 1980s.

I only collect from Internet sites these days and am a fanatical researcher of photo sites, often coming up with unique discoveries. Regarding British films, one that continues to surprise me is Alamy. Hope these links work - and that the watermarks are not too distracting:

Search results for 'tunes of glory'

Best to add the name of a director or actor in some cases (e.g. 'rembrandt charles laughton'), or a year with more common words and titles - like 'kaleidoscope 1966'

A more generous website has this selection for one of my favourite British films:

The Wrong Box at MovieGoods

Sometimes I have more success at eBay than anywhere else. You may even find the best online copies of photographs, both familiar and rare. Try your luck but prepare yourself for a lot of disappointment, either because of the watermarks or the inability to gain proper access to those sites which only allow visitors to look at their 'thumbnails'. Like Rex Features, who have stills from Peeping Tom and Night Train to Munich (a couple of random searches there!). Another good place to look is, of course, Getty Images.

Best of (British) luck

[Steve Crook]

If you're buying online, watch out. Caveat Emptor and all that.

A lot of the stills sold online are modern prints from old negatives. Not worth anywhere near as much as original prints but often sold as if they were. It might help you to read this article that I put together after many years experience of buying them online and elsewhere

Steve

[thedarkavenger]

Thanks Paul. The BFI do have a good selection but they don't seem to have what I am looking for. I am looking for photographs that feature the actress Rosamund John and specifically candid photographs from 'The Way to the Stars'. If you happen to know of any collectors that may have anything that I am looking for, would it be possible to put me in touch with them?

I have looked over the Cinema Museum website but there is nothing showing there. Thanks again for the help, Paul.

[thedarkavenger]

Thanks Steve, I did read your article! I have been collecting film stills for a few years now but have only recently (the last year or so) started to stretch my collection to British film stills. For years, I have been collecting Errol Flynn photographs, built up a collection of over 3000. So all my contacts have been over the other side of the pond. I am working on a couple of Rosamund John projects (both in the early stages) but I am trying to put out the feelers and see if I can start to build up a collection of photographs on the actress. I have access to the BFI collection and there are some good images of Rosamund there that I will be purchasing but their selection is limited to less than twenty images - which surprised me!
If you know of any collectors or any other avenues that may be able to help I would really appreciate being steered in that direction. Thanks again, Steve!

[thedarkavenger]

Cornershop - You hit the jackpot with the RexFeatures site! I have been looking for a cast shot from The Way to the Stars for the past few months and there it is! And a couple of great candids with John Mills and Michael Redgrave. Fantastic stuff.... only problem seems to be that they will not deal with individual collectors! I'll have to see if I can work around that - those images are the Holy Grail, as it were!! Thank you so much... the Alamy site was fantastic too.

I read the story of you losing your collection of stills on another post. So sorry to hear that... must have been heartbreaking!

[tarapeel]

darkavenger, do the BFI have a website where you can view their catalogue? I tried to contact them last year but never got a reply and gave up. I'd be interested if so. I went to their London office a few times in the eighties when they charged about £5 for a print. I hear they are a lot more expensive now.
Flashbacks are still going I believe. In East London now. Vintage magazine shop is still there but not a great range of stills.

[scenesixty]

Can any of the members here lead me to any archives of British film stills. I know the BFI have a selection of stills but having looked them over they seem to be a little limited in what I am looking for. Are there other archive sources available? Or any other avenues of finding rarer British film stills.

Any help would be much appreciated.

BFI while a great source for original press-stills are very exorbitant indeed! They did about 5 copies that I wanted-but they are ridiculously expensive!

[orpheum2]

there was a film book shop next door to the TUC and YMCA off Tottenham court Road that used to sell film stills.i used to buy them there and through ads in Exchabge & Mart.I have over 500 all of which are original .Some were printed during the war on the back of wall paper.Others have the distributors stamps on them.Up till the 70s these stills always were on display at the front of the cinema to try and entic e you in.

[mulberrybushfilmfan]

depends what you want but on e-bay there is a seller called vintageworldimages who i have had a few things of and been very happy!