The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company, eventually a conglomerate, formed during 1937 and folded in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities.
The company logo, the Gongman, remains a familiar emblem (and would be parodied at various times, including an episode of Gilligan's Island and Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny c...
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The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company, eventually a conglomerate, formed during 1937 and folded in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities.
The company logo, the Gongman, remains a familiar emblem (and would be parodied at various times, including an episode of Gilligan's Island and Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Bunny Hugged").
J. Arthur Rank was already a wealthy industrialist through his father's flour milling business, Joseph Rank Ltd, when he made his somewhat unlikely start in film-making, financing short religious subjects in line with his Methodist beliefs. From these modest origins, the British film company emerged in 1937 as Rank sought to consolidate his film-making interests.
The company grew quickly, largely through acquisition. Significant developments included:
By the late 1940s J Arthur Rank (or the Rank Organisation as it was...
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