Abstract
EMI’s dominance of the British film industry under Cohen had caused it problems, as its output had become stale and conservative in its pursuit of profits. Thus, Delfont gradually took more control, stepping in to co-produce some major Hollywood productions with Columbia, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But when the opportunity for a merger with an exciting British company presented itself, he saw an opportunity to extend this activity further. This chapter analyses EMI’s takeover of British Lion, and with it, the appointment of a new production team, Michael Deeley and Barry Spikings, who would turn the company into a major Hollywood player with films like Convoy and The Deer Hunter, which won EMI its first Oscar. This chapter charts EMI’s American adventure and analyses how this work can be viewed within the context of British cinema history.
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Notes
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Moody, P. (2018). American Adventure. In: EMI Films and the Limits of British Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94803-4_8
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