J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank

Religious challenge

Rank was a devout member of the Methodists and in his middle age he taught at Sunday School to which he began to show religious films. This practice expanded to other churches and schools and it led to his formation of the Religious Film Society in 1933 to which he then distributed films that he had also made. His first production was called Mastership.

When the Methodist Times newspaper began to complain about the negative influence that British and American films shown in Britain were having on family life, their editorial was answered by the London Evening News who suggested that instead of complaining, the Methodist Church should provide a solution. Rank took up the challenge and via an introduction by a young film producer named John Corfield, he discussed both the problem and a solution with Lady Yule of Bricket Wood. The net result of these meetings was the formation of the British National Films Company.

The first commercial production by this company was Turn of the Tide (1935), a film based upon a 1932 novel by Leo Walmsley called Three Fevers. Having created their film, British National then had to get it distributed and exhibited, but this proved to be more difficult. Some commercial screens began showing Turn of the Tide as a second feature, but this was not enough exposure for the company to make a profit.

Family

In 1917, Rank married Hon. Laura Ellen ("Nell"; 1890–1971), daughter of the publisher and newspaper distributor Horace Brooks Marshall, 1st Baron Marshall of Chipstead. They had two daughters, Shelagh (who was married first to Fred Packard who lived in Hollywood, and then to Robin Cowen) and Ursula (born 1920). When he died in March 1972, aged 83, his barony became extinct.