Nat Cohen

Nat Cohen was a British film producer and executive. For over four decades he was one of the most significant figures in the British film industry, particularly in his capacity as head of Anglo-Amalgamated and EMI Films; he helped finance the first Carry On movies and early work of filmmakers such as Ken Loach, John Schlesinger, Alan Parker and David Puttnam. In the early 1970s while head of EMI Films he was called the most powerful man in the British film industry. He's been called "an unsung giant of British film who never got his due from the establishment in part because of anti-Semitism... the ability to be a successful studio head is very rare and most only last a few years. Cohen did it successfully at various companies for over two decades."

Early life

Cohen was the only son of Jessie and Jacob Cohen who had emigrated from Poland. Jacob Cohen was a kosher butcher from the east end of London who was president of the Jubilee Street synagogue. He was a silent partner in a cinema in the east end. Cohen attended a local LCV school and then joined his father's business. However he was more interested in being involved in cinema and his father agreed.

Cinema owner

In 1932, Cohen bought a 650-seat cinema, the Savoy, in Teddington which he later called a "flea pit. I paid £5 for fourth and fifth reissues for three days. It was a modest living but one couldn't survive on that. I wanted to get into production and distribution." Later on the same year he headed a syndicate that converted the Regent Theatre into a cinema. Cohen's partner was Jerry Rafer, who was later killed in the war.
Over three years Cohen built up a circuit of three cinemas in London and four in the regions. One of the cinemas was the Mile End Empire, where Cohen ran talent quests before the movies commenced; among the artists who featured were a young Tommy Trinder and Bernard Delfont.
Cohen later said "the exhibition side wasn't exciting enough for me. I wanted to get into the production and distribution side." He turned to distribution, starting with re-releases of the Hal Roach comedies. "I was a loner," he said. "I mortgaged everything I had. If it had gone wrong I could not have bailed myself out."
During World War II, Cohen distributed and exhibited military instruction films in England. His wife and daughter were sent to stay with his friend Sam Goldwyn.

Anglo Amalgamated

With Stuart Levy he co-founded Cohen and Levy Films in 1945 which eventually became Anglo-Amalgamated. His first film was an £800 documentary called Horse and Country.
Cohen produced some films with Dan Angel that were directed by Val Guest, Mystery at the Burlesque and Miss Pilgrim's Progress.

Early features

Anglo-Amalgamated began to produce half hour featurettes at a cost of £10,000 then moved into features which were generally made out of Merton Park Studios. Their early films included Ghost Ship, Crow Hollow, and Wide Boy. They started to make films with American stars such as Street of Shadows which had Cesar Romero. They also had success with comedies such as Glad Tidings, adaptations of Edgar Wallace and travelogues. Many of these films were sold to television.
Cohen's first film of note was The Sleeping Tiger, starring Alexis Smith and Dirk Bogarde, and directed by Joseph Losey, an American expatriate who had moved to Britain because he had been greylisted. Losey later said he was "very grateful to people like Nat Cohen, whom I don't very much like. He was prepared to employ me and it was essential for me to work." Losey later made The Intimate Stranger for Cohen.
Other movies included Portrait of Alison, Johnny You're Wanted and Assignment Abroad.
Cat Girl began relationship between Anglo-Amalgamated and American International Pictures. In 1958 Cohen returned from the US with a deal to distribute 28 films.
The relationship with AIP resulted in British shot films such as Horrors of the Black Museum, The Headless Ghost, Circus of Horrors, and Konga.

Box-office success

Cohen had a big box office success with The Tommy Steele Story, one of the most popular movies of the year in Britain. They followed it with The Duke Wore Jeans and Tommy the Toreador. "We've got to make films for teenagers these days," he said. These included a film version of Six-Five Special.
Even more popular was Carry On Sergeant, a huge box office success in Britain and very profitable due to its low cost. It led to a series of films, starting with Carry On Nurse which were even more popular - Cohen helped make fifteen Carry On movies before the series moved to Rank. Cohen later described these as "a giggle and a few innuendos" movies".
For the company, Cohen produced Peeping Tom, directed by Michael Powell, and The Criminal from Joseph Losey. Peeping Tom was badly received at the time of its release although it is now highly regarded. Cohen and Levy distributed some popular Italian films such as Goliath.
In January 1961 Anglo Amalgamated announced it was going to spend £2 million to make 12 first features and ten second features, making it the most prolific filmmaking company in Britain. He said and Levy had made £750,000 in profit from the Carry On films alone. "The thing is not to go in for being artistic," he said. "I make fine pictures - pictures which make money - that's fine pictures. Artistic films are... well films about poets and composers and songs and artists." He was going to make Operation Overlord about D-Day but withdrew when Zanuck made The Longest Day.

Associated British

In April 1962 it was announced Associated British Picture Corporation had bought 50% of Anglo Amalgamated. The following month Levy's daughter died falling from a window.
Anglo-Amaglmated was approached by producer Joseph Janni who wanted to produce two films, A Kind of Loving and Billy Liar, both of which would be directed by John Schlesinger. Cohen later said "by the time we got to the Schlesinger films people realised we were bona fide. I have always counted goodwill as the most valuable thing I have." Cohen was impressed by Janni's track record as a producer and the projects. "I felt they had something which would get across to audiences — though how well and how rewardingly it was hard to tell," said Cohen. "But I did feel the change in audiences’ tastes taking place at that time." A Kind of Loving was one of the most popular British films of the year.
Cohen went on to finance the first features of John Boorman and Ken Loach,. He made some less successful films such as I've Gotta Horse.
Cohen continued to back films directed by John Schlesinger: Darling, which won several Oscars, and Far from the Madding Crowd.
Levy died in June 1966. After this Cohen ended his association with the Carry On films.

EMI Films

In early 1969 EMI Films took over Associated British, which was the majority owned of Anglo Amalgamated. Cohen became a director on the board of Associated British in March 1969. Bernard Delfont called Cohen "the sort of filmmaker who knew all there was to know about popular demand". He said "Nat's track record was strong enough to make one believe that he was just what we needed to beef up our production schedule" so they bought out his company and made him chief executive although "there was a limit to what one man could achieve" so he hired Bryan Forbes as well.
Cohen continued to have his own unit. Among the films made by Associated British-Anglo Amalgamated were:

Spring and Port Wine - this would be the first film issued under the EMI banner
The Body
Entertaining Mr Sloan
All the Way Up - co production with Granada Films
Eyewitness - with Associated Television Corporation

Eventually Cohen's unit became "Anglo-EMI".
The actual head of production at EMI Films was Bryan Forbes but Cohen had autonomy over his own unit. EMI were going to spend $36 million on 28 films, 13 of which would be from Cohen's Anglo-Amalgamated unit with a budget of £7 million. Cohen:

Right from the start of Bryan Forbes joining the company, there was a sharp distinction between his films and mine. If Bryan had a cocktail party to announce his programme, then I had a cocktail party a few weeks later for mine, too. I had all I needed to keep me at full strength.

"We now have a great opportunity for British productions by British people", said Cohen. Bryan Forbes later accused Cohen of being Forbes' "in built enemy" at EMI.
In November 1969 Nat Cohen and Bernard Delfont announced a slate of eight more films including:

The Impotent starring Carol White and Malcolm McDowell
The Practice from the novel by Stanley Winchester
The Burden of Proof from a novel by James Barlow - this became Villain
Percy the story of a penis transplant
Jam Today from a novel by Susan Baratt to be called The Last Virgin Alive
My Family and Other Animals from a book by Gerald Durrell produced by Michael Medwin
Wise Child from Simon Gray's stage play
a film starring Julie Christie
a film directed by John Schlesinger.

Among the films Cohen made for Anglo-EMI included Get Carter, Percy, and several big screen adaptations of popular TV series. On the whole Cohen's movies for EMI outperformed those of Bryan Forbes financially. They were less well received critically, although Cohen's unit was the one that initiated the highly acclaimed The Go-Between. It has been argued that Cohen, in contrast with Forbes, produced a slate that was "inexpensive, sellable and varied. It has some junk but also attempts to make some decent films and promote new talent. He backed as many newbie directors as Forbes but gave them safer material to work on. There are no huge production challenges, more co-productions to spread risk, and stars were cast in the sort of roles that made them stars."