Random Harvest

N.p. Associated British Picture Corporation, 1941. Original ribbon copy typescript four-page reader's summary and report for the 1941 novel by James Hilton. Made for the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) by ABPC reader J. Heron Lepper, dated "5th November 1941," with a blue rubber stamp stating "RECEIVED / 12 Nov 1941." 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 ABPC reader's summary and report found here, from 1941, is one of the earliest we have seen.

The four-page reader's summary and report, written in the ABPC house style, includes a summary, a list of characters names and descriptions, followed by a detailed synopsis, and finally the reader's comments on the material's quality and filmic possibilities. ABPC reader Lepper's comments regarding the novel are enthusiastic, finding the "book simply bristles with opportunities for fine scenes and good acting," and closes with, "I believe a film would be just as successful [as the novel]."

Basis for the classic Academy Award nominated 1942 film, directed by Mervyn Le Roy, and starring Ronald Colman and Greer Garson. One of the dreamiest, most surreal romances ever to be committed to celluloid.

8 x 10 inches, perforation binding. Very Good plus, with light overall toning and two hole punches to the left margin.

[Book #172975]