When their father died in 1943, J. Arthur Rank became director of General Film Distributors. John returned from the Army as joint managing director. However, neither John or James enjoyed working for a large corporation. James Woolf's obituary in
The Times stated that John "was the main financial brain and James primarily in charge of artistic policy." According to John Woolf, "Independent [the distribution arm] started by putting up seventy per cent of the cost of a number of films, most of which weren't very successful. In fact I started off as badly as my father [CM Woolf] had with General Film Distributors." He said he had more success with films in which they produced directly as Romulus.
Filmink magazine later wrote: From the beginning, the Woolfs ued a two-prong attack in their movie making career – they would produce lower budgeted films aimed primarily at the British domestic market, and big international pictures with Hollywood stars and finance from major studios. They didn’t have a particular preference for any kind of film but worked in commercial genres – comedies, thrillers, war/adventure, sexy melodramas. Their films were almost always based on some pre-existing IP – a novel, a play – and almost always constructed as star vehicles. This was followed by two co-productions with Hollywood: ''
I'll Get You for This (1951) (or Lucky Nick Cain
) with George Raft and Coleen Gray, and Pandora and the Flying Dutchman'' (1951) with
James Mason and
Ava Gardner. The latter was produced and directed by
Albert Lewin who had begun to prepare the film for MGM, but James Woolf discovered on a Hollywood visit that the studio had cancelled the project because of Lewin's problems with the
House Un-American Activities Committee; Romulus stepped in to co finance. John Woolf recalled "
Pandora wasn't all that successful, although it covered its costs eventually. It was a rather turgid film but we didn't have much experience as film producers then... It was too long and I couldn't get Lewin to agree to cut it, but in many ways it was a brilliant film." The film was one of the most popular films at the British box office 1951. Romulus' next three films were more British-based efforts: two thrillers,
She Shall Have Murder (1950) and
The Late Edwina Black (1951), and a comedy directed by
Henry Cornelius,
The Galloping Major (1952). These did not perform particularly well commercially and resulted in the brothers deciding to concentrate on transatlantic projects. The brothers wanted to make another film with Huston and suggested
Moulin Rouge (1952) starring
Jose Ferrer. Made for a budget of over $1 million, it was another large hit at the box office. A third collaboration with the director,
Beat the Devil (1953), was less successful - John Woolf called it a "disaster" on release although the film subsequently developed a cult reputation. A key figure on both behind the scenes was
Jack Clayton, who became an important executive for Romulus. During this period, Romulus continued to finance other films such as the comedy
Treasure Hunt (1952). The Woolfs formed a relationship with producer
Daniel Angel which resulted in the social drama films
Women of Twilight (1952), directed by
Gordon Parry, and
Cosh Boy (1952), directed by
Lewis Gilbert. Angel recalled, "Jimmy Woolf had these two stories, we made the films with the idea of showing them in cinemas together on the one programme. They turned out better than we'd expected and we showed them separately."
Women of Twilight featured Laurence Harvey who Romulus put under contract, due to the enthusiasm of James Woolf who became a great champion of the actor. Romulus then invested in the comedy
Innocents in Paris (1953), directed by Parry, and the crime film,
The Good Die Young (1954), directed by
Gilbert. Gilbert says James Woolf found the original book and insisted Laurence Harvey be cast; there were some American actors in the cast to appeal to American audiences. Romulus did two films based on stage plays: the courtroom drama
Carrington V.C. (1955) starring
David Niven, and
I Am a Camera (1955), directed by Cornelius from the stories of
Christopher Isherwood, with Harvey in a key role. The latter was popular at the British box office. In January 1955 James Woolf announced: Although there are a number of cases where pictures bring in large grosses in Europe and fail in America, the single common denominator for boxoffice success throughout the world seems to be the comedy feature. One of the main reasons our company embarked upon ‘I Am a Camera’ was the simple fact that we found an acute shortage of adult comedy films.
Alex Korda and Room at the Top In the mid '50s the Woolf brothers helped provide almost £1 million to help finance four films for Alex Korda:
Richard III (1955) from
Laurence Olivier,
A Kid for Two Farthings (1955) from
Carol Reed,
Summertime (1955) from
David Lean and
Storm Over the Nile (1956) from Terence Young and
Zoltan Korda. All four were successful, ending Korda's career on a note of triumph prior to his death in 1956. The popularity of
A Kid for Two Farthings led to Romulus financing a short,
The Bespoke Overcoat (1956), which launched Jack Clayton's career as a director and won an Oscar for Best Short Film. Romulus made some more parochial comedies based on stage successes:
Sailor Beware (1956) directed by Gordon Parry (a huge hit at the British box office),
Dry Rot (1956) and
Three Men in a Boat (1956), starring Harvey. It also financed
The Iron Petticoat (1956), an attempt at a comedy with international appeal starring Katharine Hepburn and
Bob Hope); this was a difficult production of producer
Harry Saltzman but was profitable at the box office. According to Sue Harper and Vince Porter: Outwardly modest and shy, John Woolf generally made films from successful and well-received novels or plays. He and James both had a keen sense of what might be popular in both the British and the American markets. Their films have no recurrent theme, unless it be that of a determined individual, usually a man, who is at odds with his immediate milieu. Once he had bought the story rights, John normally packaged the screenplay with internationally recognized stars and an established director.
Dry Rot featured the actress
Heather Sears, who was put under contract to Romulus. The studio created a vehicle for her,
The Story of Esther Costello (1957) co-starring Joan Crawford. Romulus financed three movies for producer Peter Rogers:
After the Ball (1957) a biopic of
Vesta Tilley starring Harvey;
Time Lock (1957) from an Arthur Hailey TV play; and
The Vicious Circle (1957) a thriller with
John Mills. Other projects included
The Silent Enemy (1958), a biopic of
Lionel Crabb starring Harvey, and
The Whole Truth (1958) a thriller with
Stewart Granger and
Donna Reed. In December 1957, Romulus announced a program worth $5.6 million the following year including
The Night Comers (ultimately never made) and
Room at the Top. John Woolf became interested in
Room at the Top after seeing an interview conducted by
Woodrow Wyatt with the novel's author
John Braine on
Panorama on 8 April 1957. He bought a copy of the book the next day, and quickly purchased the film rights. There were two strong roles for actors under contract to Romulus, Laurence Harvey and Heather Sears, and the job of directing was given to
Jack Clayton. The movie was an enormous critical and commercial success, Romulus' biggest since
The African Queen; it established Harvey as a bona fide film star and Jack Clayton as a key director. By the end of 1959, the company celebrated its tenth anniversary. It estimated it had invested $18 million in films, and had borrowed (and returned) $2.1 million from the National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC). Romulus claimed it had earned $8.5 million in foreign currency and that its films had played for 40,000 weeks in British cinemas and won more than 20 international awards. Individually, John was instrumental in the formation of
Anglia Television in 1958 and James wrote novels. In 1958, John Woolf was briefly on the board of
British Lion but he resigned in a few months.
Clash with FIDO In the early 1960s, the Woolf brothers and Daniel Angel ran into trouble from the film distributors' Defence Organisation owing to their refusal to withhold the rights to their old cinema films from the sale to television. There was some talk that their new films would be boycotted by British cinemas, but that did not happen.
Death of James Woolf During the early 1960s, the brothers worked increasingly separately. James Woolf produced
Term of Trial (1962) for director
Peter Glenville, which introduced
Sarah Miles. He developed
The L-Shaped Room (1963) for Jack Clayton but ended up making it with
Bryan Forbes. Romulus invested in two popular
Peter Sellers comedies,
The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963) and
Heavens Above! (1963). James Woolf also produced
The Pumpkin Eater (1964) with Anne Bancroft and Peter Finch for director Jack Clayon. Forbes and James Woolf reunited on
Of Human Bondage (1964), starring Kim Novak and Laurence Harvey; Forbes briefly took over directing after Henry Hathaway quit. During the making of
Of Human Bondage, James went to hospital after an overdose of barbiturates that was possibly a suicide attempt. James Woolf then went to Hollywood to produce
King Rat (1965), directed by Forbes. Back in England he made
Life at the Top (1965) a sequel to
Room at the Top, with Harvey reprising his role. In 1964, John Woolf was part of a short lived attempt to take over British Lion. In May 1966, James Woolf was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel when he failed to keep a dinner arrangement with director
Lewis Gilbert about making a film version of the musical
Oliver!. A hotel employee found him dead, sitting up in bed with an open book on his lap; the cause was reported to be a heart attack. He was 46 years old.
Bryan Forbes later claimed the heart attack was brought on by an accidental overdose of painkillers. Gilbert had to pull out of the
Oliver! project shortly before filming began because of his Paramount contract. John Woolf remembered
The Fallen Idol (1948), which suggested to him that its director,
Sir Carol Reed, had the requisite skills to work with children. ==John Woolf==