Hell Drivers

N.p. Associated British Picture Corporation, 1955. Original ribbon copy typescript two-page reader's summary and report for the 1955 short story by John Kruse. Made for the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) by ABPC reader J. Ekbery, dated "February 55." Unique.

One of the most powerful media conglomerates in British cinema history, the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) was founded in 1927 when John Maxwell acquired British National Pictures Studios and its Elstree Studios complex, first named British International Pictures (BIP).

The company was renamed ABPC in 1933 after acquiring British Pathé, enabling the company to become a fully vertically integrated studio capable of producing, distributing, and exhibiting its own pictures. Following Maxwell's death in 1940, Warner Bros. purchased a large stake in the company, allowing ABPC to distribute its films into the lucrative US market, as well as taking an active stake in television by launching the Associated British Corporation (ABC). Amid the downturn in the British film industry by the late 1960s, EMI staged an aggressive takeover of ABPC in 1969, and by 1970 the name was officially retired.

At the height of ABPC's success in the 1950s and 1960s, its readers reviewed nearly everything being published, from established authors to those with recent screen success, to emerging new authors, in search of material for film adaptation. The resulting reader's summary and reports are an extraordinary record of mid-twentieth century literature never intended for public consumption and unseen since their composition.

The two-page reader's summary and report, written in the ABPC house style, includes a breakdown of the source material and publication information at the top of the first page (noted as sourced from a short story published in 'Argosy' magazine), followed by a summary, a list of characters names and descriptions, then a detailed synopsis followed by the reader's comments on the material's quality and filmic possibilities. ABPC reader Ekbery highly recommended the story as "an exciting short film," with "plenty of drama and tension" and an "emphasis on action," noting "some resemblance to 'The Wages of Fear'."

Originally published as a short story in the February 1955 issue of "Argosy" magazine, it was produced as a film in 1957 by ABPC's rival, the "Rank Organization," directed by Cy Endfield, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kruse, starring Stanley Baker and Sean Connery.

8 x 13 inches, perforation binding. Near Fine.

[Book #172971]