Ged Jones

  • The Charlie Chase Comedies

    The Charlie Chase Comedies

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    Unlike Edgar Kennedy, I was familiar with the name of Charlie Chase as I’d seen ‘Another Wild Idea’ which had featured a ray which had temporarily rid him of his  inhibitions and landed him in hilarious trouble. This was another small group of titles Derek decided to issue along with the Edgar Kennedy, Leon Errol…

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  • The Legend of Dracula

    The Legend of Dracula

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    This was just one of the many titles we picked up from Norman Salter at his one man business Viscom, in Wardour Street.  Originally titled ‘In Search of Dracula’, it was an 82 minute documentary exploring the legends of vampires, using books, paintings and early films on the subject. It was actually an eerie, but…

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  • G.I. Blues

    G.I. Blues

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    This was the second most popular of the Elvis Presley features we picked up from Grand National, whose contract also included the western ‘Last Train from Gun Hill’ and five additional Elvis Presley musicals: ‘Blue Hawaii’, ‘Girls! Girls! Girls!’, ‘Paradise Hawaiian Style’,  ‘Fun in Acapulco’ and ‘King Creole’, all originally released by Paramount Pictures and…

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  • The Edgar Kennedy Comedies

    The Edgar Kennedy Comedies

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    I wasn’t familiar with the name of Edgar Kennedy and his ‘slow burning anger’ comedy  when Derek decided to issue a number of the many comedy shorts he’d made for RKO. What I do recall is that Derek was able to use 16mm lavender prints as the master material and that the quality was first…

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  • One Way Out

    One Way Out

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    This was an episode from the American TV series ‘Four Star Theatre’ which was first aired in 1955. Derann had purchased a private collection of 16mm and this was among them, so after viewing the 30 minute programme Derek decided to edit it to fit on a 400′ spool and the end result was more…

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  • Radar Men From the Moon

    Radar Men From the Moon

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    This was the second of the serials we picked up from Sidney Tagar at Ivy Film in New York. The first had been the highly successful ‘Captain Marvel’ and any serial would have been poor by comparison, but with ‘that’ title it was worth the chance. CHAPTER TITLES: 1. Moon Rocket; 2. Molten Terror; 3.…

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  • The Norman Wisdom Shorts

    The Norman Wisdom Shorts

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    Norman Wisdom’s ‘Trouble in Store’ was as popular with our customers in 1976, as it was with the cinema going public in 1954, when it was Britain’s second most popular film at the box office. As a feature it sold very well and was easily edited to produce two very appealling 200′ shorts “The Window…

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  • Island of Terror

    Island of Terror

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    This was one of a number of titles that Derek had picked up from producer Tom Blakeley, in the early 70s. It starred Peter Cushing, Edward Judd and Carol Gray and had been available on standard 8 for some time.  Shortly after I joined Derann in 1975 he had had a super 8 neg made.…

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  • Cinema Trailers (Generic Label)

    Cinema Trailers (Generic Label)

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    Derann had been issuing trailers for its own titles and others for many years, although as far as I can determine they were all just single trailers. However in 1976 we released three trailers (The Creeping Flesh, The Sorcerers and Blood Beast Terror) on one 200′ reel and we gave it the clever title of…

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  • Blue Hawaii

    Blue Hawaii

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    This was the best seller of the Elvis Presley features we picked up from Grand National, whose contract also included the western ‘Last Train from Gun Hill’ and five additional Elvis Presley musicals: ‘G.I. Blues’, ‘Girls! Girls! Girls!’, ‘Paradise Hawaiian Style’,  ‘Fun in Acapulco’ and ‘King Creole’, all originally released by Paramount Pictures and  produced…

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