Danziger Films

[Moor Larkin]

Originally Posted by julian_craster Apparently the brothers rarely visited their New Elstree Studios - business and contracts were dealt with from their suite at the Mayfair Hotel in Berkeley Street, which must have impressed actors at the time.....

Where did these Americans come from? And where did they get their start-up capital from? Hannah Weinstein is another American who seems to have come from nowhere in particular and like the Danzigers appears to have shone like a movie-meteor and then burned away to nothing......... leaving little trace, at least until recently. Scrrenoline refers to her as being a Hollywood exile but so far as I've been able to ascertain she got no further west than New Jersey, before coming over here. I've seen one internet claim she was supported by the Communist party but that doesn't seem to make an enormous amount of sense because she became a very rich woman, by contemporary accounts. And why did Lew Grade trust half a million to her? I've seen his explanation in his autobiography But there must have been more to it than that.

Questions are a prison for others.........

[Shaun]

Personally I absolutely enjoy watching these Danziger films and TV series such as Man from Interpol. Big budgets and glossy productions are one thing but they seem to lack any degree of charm as compared to these more humble offerings. The familiar suburban locations - Morden/Merton perhaps? black police cars, Detectives who smile and speak with Oxbridge accents when they tell 'Johnny' that 'the Super' just wants a little chat down at the station and what are now increasingly period settings do it for me. The acting and scripts may not always have been 'top drawer' but I'm sure they must have given many people a lot of pleasure over the years. Have the Danziger Brothers ever received any recognition for their efforts? I doubt it but if they are still around they may draw some satisfaction that their films are subject of discussion - and appreciation.

Cheers

Shaun

[Ian Dickerson]

Brian Clemens tells of how he was hired as an almost rookie writer and met the brothers at their Mayfair offices. When asked if he wanted to pay a visit to the studio he eagerly said yes so they hopped out of the office door and caught a bus to take them there...

I know Harry Lee is still alive. He must be a font of stories.

Ian

[Wee Sonny MacGregor]

Films were not the only business the brothers were involved in - they also ran Transworld Hotels at one time before selling out to Trafalgar House in the 80s.