Steve Crook

By the IMDb's rules, where they were shot, who was in it, who directed it etc. etc. all makes no difference. The only thing that determines it is "who paid for it?".
The Third Man - London Film Productions. So it's a British film
I Was a Male War Bride - 20th C. Fox. Si it's an American film
It does simplify tghings, even if you don't always agree with the results.

Steve

Steve Crook

The distributors shouldn't really count for anything. A film can have hundreds of distributors. There may have been a person of Hungarian origin in charge of London Films but he was British and it was a British company.

Who claims The Third Man isn't British?

Steve

Wolfgang

Sometimes though you get ghost companies that are set up just for one particular production, so on IMDB you get spurious results like Kubrick's films being categorized as British. With something like Superman, Warner financed it but are just listed as distributors. Giving nationality over to production companies does make categorizing clean and convenient, but if you go down that path I think you have to check they are real companies.

Steve Crook

I didn't mean to imply that it's a perfect way of doing it. But it does help to have some rules and that is a very simple and mainly effective rule.

So why shouldn't Kubrick's later films be classified as British? Or at least as UK / USA joint "nationality"? He did move here in 1962 because he couldn't get the films he wanted made in the States.

Steve

Wolfgang

Lolita maybe, but all his subsequent films were fully funded by Hollywood studios. 2001 is about as British as Harry Potter.

Steve Crook

But he couldn't get them made in Hollywood :

Steve

Third Man

I would never go so far as to say films like 'Full Metal Jacket', 'Eyes Wide Shut', 'The Shining' and 'Dr Strangelove' are British the overall feeling of them is of a American production at large but 'Barry Lyndon' and 'A Clockwork Orange' the overiding feeling is of a British film.

What is a bit confusing for me is, is '2001 A Space Odyssey' really a British film ?

It does have Rupert Rigsby roaming about in a space station, that part just seems so surreal.

Simon

DB7

I think that method is flawed and open to abuse, hence the Treasury recently closed tax the loophole and factored in the cultural identity of a film.

DB7

Strangelove I've always felt is intrinsically British. The author, Sellers, Shepperton and the crew aside, the story was discovered by Kubrick whilst reading The Observer.

Wolfgang

Using my points system on Kubrick's films:

Lolita - UK(2), US(2), Russia(1)
Dr Strangelove - US(3.5), UK(1.5)
2001 - UK(2), US(2), Jupiter(1)
Clockwork Orange - UK(2.5), US(2.5)
Barry Lyndon - US(2.5), UK(2), Europe(0.5)
The Shining - US(4), UK(1)
Full Metal Jacket - US(4), UK(1)
Eyes Wide Shut - US(3.5), UK(1), Austria(0.5)


Lolita, 2001, Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon can all be put down as UK-US co-productions. Dr Strangelove, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut all weigh in as US productions.

ChristineCB

Not overwhelming. But that is why I had written "Obviously, not in this case..." in reference to "only needing Trevor and Brit unis". The key British contributions are listed elsewhere. But "overwhelmingly"? I'd argue something like this:

The principal two characters are not British but American. The romantic female lead is protrayed as Czech (??) but is actually played by a Croatian/Italian actress. The entire story is set not in Britain, although the British Zone was considered "sovereign", yes? And arguably one of the most distinctive musical theme isn't British (although perhaps Karas had lost his lute that day?? ha ha).

So, no, not overwhelmingly. That's why I think it's a perfect film to stretch the limits of British Film claims.

ChristineCB

I have never pondered such a notion, but the lampooned characters played so straight seem out of place in other American comedies of that era, yet rather tailored to the British comedic styles. This should prompt some upraised eyebrows over here - ! Thanks! Nothing like a little kettle-stirring...

Moor Larkin

So was 'The Passion' a Jewish, Palestinian or Jordanian movie..........
And what about 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'? US, Italian or Spanish?
'Lord of the Rings'.... New Zealand?
'Zulu'? ........... oh never mind.......

I was tempted to think this problem was a language thing. I mean French films are in French and so on...... The commonality of English to Britain and America and our constant emi- and immi- gration confuses the mind.......

But then I got to thinking about Australian/New Zealand films........ I have an impression in my mind that they all seem pretty much to take place in their country of origin and seem concerned with their 'issues'.........

What about Canadian and Australian movies? They have made some fairly major initiatives over the years. The Canadian Film Development Board and the Australian Film Development Board used to make quite clearly defined Canadian and Aussie pictures - clearly defined because the actors always seemed to have the appropriate accent.

Early commercial British TV seems to have been pretty much run by Canadians and Australians but does that make it anything other than British?....... possibly, as defined by the BBC at that time........

Britain seems to have become great by being a sponge society. We'll soak up almost anything. The Americans seem to have reciprocal feelings. Maybe that's the thing that makes both our films seem sometimes interchangeable.

If the Yanks would like to take full posession of that 'Brit-movie' where Liverpool was used as a substitute for Los Angeles (51st State) they're more than welcome.

Have a Noice Day.

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DB7

The money originated from the US but came via Germany for tax purposes.

How to finance a Hollywood blockbuster. - By Edward Jay Epstein - Slate Magazine

Moor Larkin

ASDA have the answer:
ASDA-Entertainment.co.uk - ASDA DVDs, ASDA CDs and ASDA Games. All at great prices plus free delivery

My local ASDA had slapped a Union Jack on Braveheart, which was a moot choice I felt...........

Now, get shopping.

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