Seven Arts Productions was a production company which made films for release by other studios. It was founded in 1957 by Eliot Hyman, Ray Stark, and Norman Katz.[1]
Formation
The company was formed in 1957. It came out of the company, Associated Artists Productions (AAP), run by Stark and Eliot Hyman, which would buy old movies and resell them to television. Stark and Hyman wanted to move into production but AAP's main stockholder, Louis Chesler, did not, leading to the formation of Seven Arts. Chesler was a Toronto industrialist.
Stark said the company's goal was to remake old Warner Bros films or present previously filmed stories as stage plays. Hyman was a private partner but also remained as president of AAP. Hyman's son Kenneth was liaison between Seven Arts and AAP.[2] Chesler remained involved in Seven Arts as chairman. David Stillman was president.
Initial Productions: United Artists
Seven Arts' first film was The Gun Runners, released by United Artists. A review by Variety said Seven Arts "by reputation has become one of Hollywood’s major independents before canning a single picture."[3] Its second official film was Ten Seconds to Hell a co production with Hammer Films shot in Germanany and Seven Arts played a crucial (though often uncredited) role in co-financing Hammer's early horror movies such as Curse of Frankenstein and The Horror of Dracula.[4] Seven Arts also had early success with an early production on Broadway, The World of Suzie Wong which it helped finance.[5]
In September 1958 Seven Arts signed a five-year deal with Jacques Bergerac.[6] In December 1958, the company signed a three-picture deal with John Huston to make Freud, Montezuma and Lysistrata.[7] However the first film Huston made for Seven Arts was The Misfits (1961) for United Artists.
Seven Arts clashed with United Artists over a series of matters which led to the end of the relationship between the companies. It was agreed that three properties originally owned by Seven Arts would instead be produced by the Mirsch Corporation - West Side Story, By Love Possessed and Two for the Seesaw. The first of these in particular was a huge hit.[9] In February 1961 Ken Hyman moved to London to head up Seven Arts operations in Europe.[10]
Seven Arts reported a loss of $1,090,212 in 1960 but a profit of $1.1 million in 1961.[9] In June 1961 the company issued its first annual report. This announced, among other things, formation of the Seven Arts-Bryanston Film company (see below), a $5 million investment in real estate in the Bahamas, and an acquisition of the Famous Artists Agency. The company had talent deals with people such as Fred Coe, John Patrick, John Huston, Mel Ferrer, and Isobel Lennart.[11]
Expansion
In July 1962 Seven Arts announced it would make twenty films for MGM over the next few years which it called "the largest single pact ever negotiated with a major distributor by an independent producing company." It also had a four-picture deal with 20th Century Fox, a three-picture deal with Warners and a two-picture deal with Columbia, along with the arrangement with the Mirsch Company to make films for United Artists.[9]
Not all the above films were made (or they were made eventually by other parties). However several were and they included some huge hits such as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? In May 1963 the Los Angeles Times claimed Seven Arts "remains a deep, dark mystery" in Hollywood. Some of its actors under contract included Nancy Kwan, Sue Lyon, Keir Dullea, Victor Buono, Alain Delon and Sandy Dennis.[12]
In October 1963 Seven Arts announced it would release three art house films, Gentleman's Companion, Les Mystifies and Sammy Going South. It was also developing No Strings, Reflections in a Golden Eye, Settled Out of Court, A Candle for St Jude, This Property is Condemned and Conspiracy of Silence.[13]
Seven Arts also distributed feature films and TV programs for television. Warner Bros. licensed the TV rights to its post-1949 library to Seven Arts in 1960. Seven Arts made similar deals with 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures.[1] Seven Arts also acquired theatrical reissue rights to some Fox films as well.[1]
Lou Chesler's involvement in the company had not been without controversy.[14] In April 1964 Chesler left the company (he was chairman and board member) to focus on his interests in the Bahamas. As part of this Seven Arts sold its interest in the Grand Bahamas Holding Company.[15] Hyman may have wanted to eject Chesler due to the latter's links with organised crime figures such as Meyer Lansky.[16]
Bryanston
Seven Arts signed a deal to co produce films with the British company, Bryanston. Two official co-productions resulted, Sammy Going South and The Small World of Sammy Lee, both of which were box office disasters. A Bryanston film that Seven Arts released in the US, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, was also a box office disappointment. Seven Arts and Bryanston discussed making Tom Jones together but decided not to due to the rising cost; this movie was picked up by United Artists and became a critical and box-office phenomenon.[17]
In his last year as head of production, Stark said he "hated ten" of the eleven films he made, the exception being Arrividerci Baby. He claimed his favourite films at Seven Arts were The World of Suzie Wong, The Night of the Iguana and Reflections in a Golden Eye "all of which I made away from Hyman" although he called Hyman "the smartest TV man in the business - and a financial wizard". Star said for most of his time at Seven Arts "what I have really been is a deal maker. When you turn out a lot of film I guess there's a certain security." Stark wanted to focus on producing.[20]
Other uses
Neither the later Seven Arts Pictures nor the defunct releasing company "Seven Arts", an early 1990s joint venture between Carolco Pictures and New Line Cinema (the latter which subsequently merged into Warner Bros.), is related to the original Seven Arts Productions.
Mrs 'arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico (1959) - meant to be musical and film[25]
Sundown at Crazy Horse
There was a Little Girl by Daniel Taradash (1961)
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearn from the novel by Brian Moore directed by John Huston
The Voyagers by Jacques Deval
A Candle for St Jude based on the novel Rumer Godden with a script by John Patrick, a vehicle for Nancy Kwan
The Singlehander (1961) to be directed by Louis Malle
Marco Polo produced by Raoul Levy starring Alain Delon (filming started but was abandoned)
The Man Who Would be King directed by John Huston from the story by Rudyard Kipling
Fifth Coin based on a script by Francis Ford Coppola
Unmade stage productions
Howell and Hummell - based on Richard Rovere's 1947 biography about two lawyers with book by Joseph Heller and music by Saul Chaplin, produced by Diane Krasny
The Legendary Mizeners abpout the Mizener Brothers by S.N. Behrman, produced by Diane Krasny
^Vincent L. Barnett (2014) Hammering out a Deal: The Contractual and Commercial Contexts of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958), Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 34:2, 231-252, DOI: 10.1080/01439685.2013.847650
^Vincent L. Barnett (2022) Syndicate at Bray: Hammer, Seven Arts, and The Big Fat Money Machine, Media History, 28:4, 560-575, DOI: 10.1080/13688804.2021.1926225
