Children's Film Foundation Star Is After His Films

[Film Man]

Michael Maguire, young child actor in many CFF productions has just phoned me (now 68) and would love to see his films again. I have helped with 'Adventure In The Hopfields'1953 but he is after 'The Dog And The Diamonds' 1953 and 'The Stolen Airliner' 1959. As usual the BFI who has the originals can't help the poor guy...can any of you kind soles help the chap?

Film Man.

[Number Six]

name='Film Man' timestamp='1281289278' post='461950']

Michael Maguire, young child actor in many CFF productions has just phoned me (now 68) and would love to see his films again. I have helped with 'Adventure In The Hopfields'1953 but he is after 'The Dog And The Diamonds' 1953 and 'The Stolen Airliner' 1959. As usual the BFI who has the originals can't help the poor guy...can any of you kind soles help the chap?

Film Man.

I'm probably being niaive, but what prevents the BFI from helping out here?

[theuofc]

name='Number Six' timestamp='1281352494' post='462209']

I'm probably being niaive, but what prevents the BFI from helping out here?

Hi, Film Man and Number Six,



Is it possible that the BFI have the films on reels, and they don't have the extra budget for person-power to transfer them to dvd (or even vhs) for Mr McGuire? unless it's a matter of not releasing them in another format due to copyright? Although a different medium, yet this may pertain, there are documents the BFI is not allowed to xerox for members.



Shame, really. I suspect someone here or on the internet will have the fims he wants.

[Number Six]

name='theuofc' timestamp='1281356213' post='462247']

Hi, Film Man and Number Six,



Is it possible that the BFI have the films on reels, and they don't have the extra budget for person-power to transfer them to dvd (or even vhs) for Mr McGuire? unless it's a matter of not releasing them in another format due to copyright? In a different medium yet this may pertain, there are documents the BFI is not allowed to xerox for members.



Shame, really. I suspect someone here or on the internet will have the fims he wants.

Thanks Barbara - I knew someone would know!

[Film Man]

Rubbish!!! Have you ever tried to get and pay for material from the BFI???? Genuine collectors now only deal with The American Film Institute, who treat them with respect.Thank goodness for pirate copies either digital or on proper film...otherwise everything would be gathering dust and rotting in so called archives!

Film Man.

[theuofc]

name='Film Man' timestamp='1281356738' post='462251']

Rubbish!!! Have you ever tried to get and pay for material from the BFI???? Genuine collectors now only deal with The American Film Institute, who treat them with respect.Thank goodness for pirate copies either digital or on proper film...otherwise everything would be gathering dust and rotting in so called archives!

Film Man.

Hi, Barry,

Tell us how you really feel. I'm sorry to hear that you've had unhappy dealings with the BFI. Is it that the staff was rude in refusing your offer to pay? or just that they refused because of copyright ...or what?



I am with you in wanting films to be released, but what reasons did the BFI (or was it the BFI Library) give you? Was it copyright infringement? If so, we should change the laws then. The BFI people are never going to go against rules and lose their jobs. Perhaps the American Film Institute is under different constraints?



Best,



Barbara

[Film Man]

As they (BFI) have 'lost' many of the films I (and other collectors) have lent them in the past...plus they won't sell DVD copies of films from the CFF to private individuals, even the actors (can't think why as the films were made for a foundation..so they don't own them)...can you blame us for giving them the cold shoulder? Anyway we are getting off the point...can anyone help Michael? Or does the guy go to his grave never ever seiing his films because of red tape?

Film Man.

[theuofc]

name='Film Man' timestamp='1281360796' post='462288']

As they (BFI) have 'lost' many of the films I (and other collectors) have lent them in the past...plus they won't sell DVD copies of films from the CFF to private individuals, even the actors (can't think why as the films were made for a foundation..so they don't own them)...can you blame us for giving them the cold shoulder? Anyway we are getting off the point...can anyone help Michael? Or does the guy go to his grave never ever seiing his films because of red tape?

Film Man.

Barry,

I'm sorry to hear the films you've lent have been lost! I note that people searching for CFF films in the past have had some success by posting in the "Looking for a film" thread. It's worth a try. I just tried searching the forums for the two titles Michael wants, but the search function shuts out words that have less than four letters, so that's a wash.



Good luck in the search,



Barbara

[JamesM]

Which materials of your have they 'lost'?

[Film Man]

As they are 'lost' JamesM there isn't much point in mentioning them...it just winds me up when they say the films are missing only to find them on some TV doco with a credit to the BFI! Film collectors never ever 'leak' what they have hidden away. Thanks Barbara, a positive feed from a person I respect...will try the E-Bay route, have had lots of 'finds' over the years through them.

Film Man.

[Steve Crook]

name='Film Man' timestamp='1281360796' post='462288']

As they (BFI) have 'lost' many of the films I (and other collectors) have lent them in the past...plus they won't sell DVD copies of films from the CFF to private individuals, even the actors (can't think why as the films were made for a foundation..so they don't own them)...can you blame us for giving them the cold shoulder? Anyway we are getting off the point...can anyone help Michael? Or does the guy go to his grave never ever seiing his films because of red tape?

Film Man.

Isn't all that red tape a shame. Do away with all laws and all income derived from making works like films, books etc. That'll teach 'em

It'll also stop anyone making any films, music or books in the future

As you (should) know full well



An actor has no particular rights to a film they've worked on. Those rights are held by the director and producers.



The people you should be angry with are whoever has the distribution rights to these films. Why don't you find out who that is? It certainly isn't the BFI. Your anger is drastically misdirected



Steve

[Film Man]

Even more rubbish...from a man who uses The Archers logo on his thread heading...who do you pay for it's use Steve???? If I want a book I pay for it and read it...if I want music I pay for a CD and listen...why should a film be locked away in an archive when it could make money by being available to whoever wants to see it. We don't want to show it at the local cinema for our own gain. If Tom Cruise can go to blockbusters and rent 'War Of The Worlds' why can't Michael Maguire rent any of his films?

Film Man

[Steve Crook]

name='Film Man' timestamp='1281368026' post='462340']

Even more rubbish...from a man who uses The Archers logo on his thread heading...who do you pay for it's use Steve???? If I want a book I pay for it and read it...if I want music I pay for a CD and listen...why should a film be locked away in an archive when it could make money by being available to whoever wants to see it. We don't want to show it at the local cinema for our own gain. If Tom Cruise can go to blockbusters and rent 'War Of The Worlds' why can't Michael Maguire rent any of his films?

Film Man

I don't pay anyone because I have permission to use it from the rights holder



You can only read a book if it's published. You can only hear a piece of music if it's been recorded. It's the same with films, as you (should) well know. It's only available to people if the rights holder makes it available. They are under no obligation to make it available to you - or even to anyone who was in it. There can be many reasons why a rights holder wouldn't release a film. The main one is usually that although a few people would be interested in it, not enough would be interested in it to justify the expense of getting DVDs made, having the artwork created and printed for the covers and then getting them distributed.



Tom Cruise can rent War of the Worlds because it's been published/released in a form where he can rent it.

Is it really that hard to understand?



Steve

[BFINationalArchive]

name='Film Man' timestamp='1281360796' post='462288']

As they (BFI) have 'lost' many of the films I (and other collectors) have lent them in the past...plus they won't sell DVD copies of films from the CFF to private individuals, even the actors (can't think why as the films were made for a foundation..so they don't own them)...can you blame us for giving them the cold shoulder? Anyway we are getting off the point...can anyone help Michael? Or does the guy go to his grave never ever seiing his films because of red tape?

Film Man.

I suggest that the anonymous 'Film Man' approaches me with details of exactly what films have been lent to the BFI and then 'lost'. I suspect that the quote marks around 'lost' are meant to indicate that we have, in fact, incorporated them into the BFI National Archive. With that information I'm happy to post here exactly what I discover. We do in fact value our relationships with private collectors and some of the films showing at BFI Southbank that have been re-discovered since the Missing Believed Lost project of 1992 come to us via the generosity of collectors. In addition, material from collectors frequently plays a part in our restoration work, as in the recently restored 'Penny Points to Paradise'.



We have had to suspend the provision of copies to individuals who were involved in the relevant films owing to pressure on our limited resources, which need to meet the increasing demands of both donors and rightsholders. The 'red tape' is the small issue of rights as the Archive does not hold rights, as most of you will recognise, to the majority of films in the Archive. It would be a happy day if we did..



Nigel Algar

Senior Curator (Fiction)

BFI National Archive

[barrule]

Michael Maguire, young child actor in many CFF productions has just phoned me (now 68) and would love to see his films again. I have helped with 'Adventure In The Hopfields'1953 but he is after 'The Dog And The Diamonds' 1953 and 'The Stolen Airliner' 1959. As usual the BFI who has the originals can't help the poor guy...can any of you kind soles help the chap?

Film Man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bUnNvBav_U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX6OzMt4OOE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKB1Jfcs1XA