BFI Screenonline: Film Studios and Industry Bodies > HandMade Films (d. John Mackenzie, 1979) and Mona Lisa (d. Neil Jordan, 1986) breathed new life into the much-maligned gangster genre. And while not all of the 23 films that HandMade produced during its 1978-90 heyday were up to that exalted level, the quality threshold was often enviably high. HandMade was born in highly unusual circumstances. EMI had originally backed Life of Brian , but the company's chairman Lord Delfont got cold feet about the subject matter and pulled out just days before shooting was due to start. This left the Monty Python team faced with the prospect of writing off what was already a considerable investment. Eric Idle had recently struck up a friendship with the former Beatle George Harrison , a fan of Idle's affectionate parody The Rutles (1978), and as Harrison was by far the richest person that any of the Pythons knew, Idle asked him to bail out the film. Harrison read the script, loved it, and agreed to help, forming HandMade Films with his business manager Denis O'Brien in order to produce it.

It was a shrewd investment, as the film was an enormous success. HandMade was originally intended to produce that one film, but Harrison and O'Brien soon became involved in another salvage operation. In this case, The Long Good Friday had already been completed, but its production company Black Lion Films (owned by Lew Grade , Lord Delfont's brother) was nervous about its prospects, due to the level of violence and a key subplot involving the IRA. Severe cuts were proposed, along with the redubbing of lead actor Bob Hoskins, whose strong Cockney accent was felt to be a liability. HandMade agreed to buy the rights for £700,000, and released the film in its originally intended form. A solid critical hit, if not the commercial triumph of Life of Brian , it made Hoskins (previously best known for the BBC's Pennies from Heaven , 1978) a bona fide star. Harrison and O'Brien next agreed to back Time Bandits (1981), Terry Gilliam's second solo feature. The first film HandMade had funded from the start, this elaborate fantasy achieved impressively lavish production values on a relatively small investment of £4 million.

More importantly, it was a surprise hit in the US, grossing over $40 million, and ensuring HandMade's future as a going concern. The Python connection was maintained with The Missionary (d. Richard Loncraine, 1981), written by and starring Michael Palin as a naively well-meaning cleric administering to "fallen women". 1982 saw a stepping-up of HandMade's production ambitions. Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (d. Terry Hughes) was a filmed record of a live show, and Privates On Parade in an adaptation of Peter Nichols' stage hit about an Army light entertainment troupe in Singapore in the late 1940s. Against this comedic backdrop, the relentlessly harsh Scrubbers (d. Mai Zetterling) seems out of place, but this study of life in a women's borstal came in the wake of the success-cum-notoriety of its male counterpart Scum (d. Alan Clarke, 1979), with which it shared a screenwriter. After this, HandMade's output slowed to one release per year. Bullshot (d.

Dick Clement, 1983) was the company's first serious critical and commercial failure, an only intermittently amusing spoof of Sapper's Bulldog Drummond adventure stories of the 1920s and 30s. The underrated Water (d. Clement, 1985), revisiting colonial territory mined by the Boulting Brothers' Carleton Browne of the F.O. (1957), fared little better, but A Private Function (d. Malcolm Mowbray, 1984) was recognised from the start as a bona fide gem. Alan Bennett's first original script for the big screen was brought to life by a superlative cast, many of whom had starred in The Missionary fared far better, its quirky tale of the relationship between a high-class black prostitute ( Cathy Tyson ) and her middle-aged Cockney "chauffeur" ( Bob Hoskins ) adding unexpected warmth to what could otherwise have been a straightforward gangster film in the mould of Get Carter (d. Mike Hodges, 1971), whose star Michael Caine has a memorable supporting role as the chief villain.

HandMade's third 1986 production wasn't released until 1988. Initially a resounding commercial failure, Withnail & I went on to become the most enduring British cult film of its era, especially following its rediscovery on video in the 1990s. Though this was fuelled by the rise of "lad culture", and the film more than delivers in terms of boozing and swearing, at base it's a subtle, melancholy work, drawn strongly from writer-director Bruce Robinson's own disastrous experiences as a "resting" actor. Robinson and star Richard E.Grant reunited with HandMade for How To Get Ahead In Advertising (1989), but despite the originality of the premise - an arrogant advertising executive develops a talking boil that takes over his personality - it merely preached to the already converted. But by then, HandMade was in financial trouble, thanks partly to the mediocre-to-disastrous performance of several US co-productions (notably Cold Dog Soup , whose box-office performance was as unappetising as its title) and also to Harrison's discovery that O'Brien had been embezzling money from the company.

Though it continued to operate, HandMade effectively ceased production after Nuns on the Run (d. Jonathan Lynn, 1990) amid a welter of lawsuits between its founders, and the company was finally sold to a Canadian firm in 1994, a sad end to one of the British cinema's more inspiring success stories. However, four years after Harrison's death, the firm was relaunched in 2006 as HandMade plc, seemingly with the intent of recapturing past glories. Michael Brooke A History of George Harrison's HandMade Films | Den of Geek Search A History of George Harrison's HandMade Films George Harrison wanted to see Life of Brian but it hadn't been made. He bought a home theater but mortgaged his house to produce it. tumblr Today, or as some offiical biographies - yesterday, is or was George Harrison’s birthday. The Beatles' guitarist would have been 72. Besides the music, Harrison and the other bandmates were natural comedians who looked pretty good on film, inventing the music video and reinventing the rock and roll feature film.

Spike Lee, to this day, proclaims his love of the Richard Lester classic Help and he’s a pretty good judge of comedy. And of indie films. George created HandMade Films because he wanted to see a movie. The movie he wanted to see was Life of Brian, this thing the Monty Python crew was peddling all over London. George thought it would be funny. He knew funny. He liked to be amused. He figured, if it would amuse him, it would amuse other people. He’s an amusing guy. These Pythons were good for a chuckle too. So Hare Georgeson put out the cash for what might have been the most expensive home movie ever made. Well, it lost that honor because it was too funny to be ignored. It was also a little too controversial to be ignored. All the kings’ horses and men stomped on it as blasphemous and irreverent. Of course it was irreverent. It was also one of the most historically correct Jesus movies ever made. That didn’t stop it from being silly. It didn’t stop it from being a hit. It didn’t stop HandMade Films from making more movies.

I like to think Harrison hand-picked the movies made by HandMade Films. He made movies I wanted to see, just like he made music I wanted to hear. HandMade Films made anarchic comedies and crime movies, disrespectful Jesus Movies and even played with time. Harrison didn’t do it all, of course, he had Denis O’Brien on to tell him how to spend his money. George met O’Brien through Peter Sellers. Besides adopting Ringo Star in the film The Magic Christian, Peter Sellers was part of the seminal British comedy radio troupe The Goon Show, which was produced by George Martin, who produced the Beatles. Harrison played the Sue Me Sue You Blues for O’Brien in the mid-nineties for abusing that money trust. Before Sean Penn and Madonna crippled HandMade Films with Shanghai Surprise, and drove George back to smoking (Harrison died of cancer in 2001, which he blamed on cigarettes. I’m not saying Madonna and Sean Penn killed him, but they’ve driven me to light up more than once), it produced some classic, albeit underground movies. The films shared a skewered and subversive approach that set them apart from other movies. Nuns on the Run, for example, had nuns.

They ran. There weren’t that many nuns on the run from the London mob on screen at the time. Eric Idle looked pretty good in a habit, which covered his legs. I guess that’s better than when they put John Cleese’s Privates on Parade. Time Bandits launched the first of Terry Gilliam’s "Trilogy of Imagination" movies, which included the surrealistically hyperrealistic dystopia movie Brazil as well as The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen, by proxy of other studios. Time Bandits is fun for all ages. What with those little people falling on top of Shelly Duvall and that map to everywhere and the funniest, and most logical, Satan in cinema. Sean Connery’s heroism shines through whether he’s wielding a sword or fighting fires. Gilliam’s subversive intensity breaking up into historical hysterics. It’s a kid film at heart. Sweet with a nihilistic center that’s full of compassion. The darker than dark boozy comedy cult classic Whitnail and I launched a drinking game. It’s a fun game.

Try and match, glass for glass and pint for pint, what’s going down the gullets of the lead actors playing actors in 1969 London, when they really knew how to drink. That’s a legacy. My guitar weeps at the thought of it. The Long Good Friday is a good, solid British gangster film. I love gangster pictures and I like seeing Bob Hoskins in them. This was his breakthrough. Hoskins might have made me giggle with some of his New Yorkese in Cotton Club, which I watch over and over, and Who Fed Roger Ebert- I mean Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but he could be just as clever in his own tongue. The Long Good Friday is The British Connection, Hoskins wants to raise himself above his class by dealing with the American mob. Just like he’d raise his standing by playing American mobsters. Good on ya, Bob, for following the script. Hoskins would get nominated for a best actor Oscar and win a Best Actor BAFTA for his role in HandMade Film’s noir Mona Lisa. Michel Caine is also a joy in his old stomping ground.

Caine made some classic British underworld movies in the sixties where he could be suave and cockney. HandMade Films felt very personal. They could be maddening. HandMade Films’ movies could set out to be that way. The company nurtured talent and took chances. They didn’t only do this with content, they did it with style. Nicholas Roeg makes fascinating films that suspend the viewer into unreasonable cinematic realms. The Man Who Fell To Earth blew minds as David Bowie plucked more than his eyebrows as a visiting alien. What’s not to like? Track 29, made by HandMade Films in 1988, was made not to be liked. I’ve seen it a few times, mainly for the cast, which includes the always fine Theresa Russell, Taxi’s Christopher Lloyd, Sandra Bernhard and of course, Gary Oldman. It’s a trip, not a particularly good trip down south on the Chattanooga choo-choo line. Roeg is good at giving out bad acid. Performance, with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful in their prime, plumbed deep into depravity with a rock and roll soundtrack and raw performance and flesh.

The acting in Track 29 is fully internal, muted and realistic amidst another skewing of reality in a stark verite style. The subversion is that, real as it may look, the worse bits might be only imagination. After it was sold, HandMade Films made Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the Guy Richie mob movie, which floored me. Quentin Tarantino exploded into criminal cinema with the perfect debut Reservoir Dogs. Those shots were heard in England. Richie made crime look almost as much fun as Tarantino made it look, but with quick edits and fast pace to the point of whiplash. It was a gamble in a rigged game with a stacked deck and paid off in dividends that meant more than money. Influence. It knocked the London underworld down a notch. Now, according to Wiki, the rights to HandMade Films sits in a garage in New Jersey. It’s been sitting there since the summer of 2010 just waiting for something to do. There’s a website that says it’s taking advantage of its IP address, but I don’t see them making films right now. And I want to. George Harrison’s HandMade Films was very influential.

It showed how a personal vision could make universal films that were slightly ajar. By the door. With the face. Withnail and I > HandMade Films LIKE THIS SITE? Withnail & I - HandMade Films HandMade Films, the production company that made Withnail and I, has a fascinating history that is detailed in a book by Robert Sellers called Always Look on the Bright Side of Life which chronicles the rise and fall of the company. Handmade Films was established by George Harrison and Denis O'Brien to finance Monty Python's Life Of Brian after the original financers pulled out. Over the next 15 years, HandMade Films produced some of the most popular and critically acclaimed British films. See some other films by HandMade Films here. Harrison eventually sold HandMade Films in 1994 due to falling profits. It was bought by Canada's Paragon Entertainment Corporation for $8.5 million. Harrison went on to sue O'Brien over losses incurred by the latter in his capacity as manager of HandMade Films.

The Movie Life of George (TV Movie 1989) - IMDb IMDb 7 January 2017 5:00 AM, UTC NEWS There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error The Movie Life of George ( 1989 ) 52min When EMI refused to produce Monty Python's Life of Brian, George Harrison founded Handmade Pictures so that he could see the film. This is the story of him and Handmade Films. Director: "No Small Parts" IMDb Exclusive: 'Manchester by the Sea' Star Casey Affleck Ben Affleck 's younger brother Casey Affleck has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in critically-acclaimed drama Manchester by the Sea . Take a look at some of his earlier roles. Don't miss our live coverage of the Golden Globes beginning at 4 p.m. PST on Jan. 8 in our Golden Globes section.

Reference Library - Handmade Films - Internet Beatles Album (Hollywood Reporter - May 18, 1994) By Edwin Riddell CANNES -- Canada's Paragon Entertainment Corp. has acquired HandMade Films, the company created by former Beatle George Harrison and Denis O'Brien, for $8.5 million in cash in a deal that gives Paragon rights to evergreen titles including Monty Python's ''Life of Brian'' and John Mackenzie's ''The Long Good Friday.'' Although silent as a production entity for some time, HandMade has a library of some 23 films and various distribution rights. The company made a name for itself as the pick of the British independent production entities that flowered in the early 1980s. Created in 1978, HandMade launched its first feature, ''The Life of Brian,'' a year later with immediate success. The film grossed North American receipts of $21 million. Subsequent films, although confirming the company's reputation for innovative projects, failed to match that level of theatrical success for the most part but have had a long life on video.

Apart from ''The Long Good Friday,'' the best known of these works are ''Time Bandits'' (1981) by Terry Gilliam, which grossed $46 million in North America; ''Mona Lisa'' (1986) by Neil Jordan; and HandMade's last film, Jonathan Lynn's ''Nuns on the Run'' (1990). Although Harrison announced his retirement from involvement in the company some time ago, Paragon chairman and CEO John Slan said the acquisition was a key move that would ''maximize Paragon's strengths and extend its reach into international production and distribution markets.'' A publicly traded company, Paragon has its financial and production base in Los Angeles and a further development and production operation in Vancouver, British Columbia. Paragon's most recent feature in production is Kevin Costner's ''Wyatt Earp,'' due for release by Warner Bros. in June. ''This is a key move for Paragon,'' Slan said in Toronto. ''HandMade is a quality company with tremendous assets.'' The purchase signals yet another studio library snapped up as producers acquire film and TV inventory to exploit in emerging ancillary markets.

Slan explained that, at a time when governments everywhere are deregulating markets and allowing increased competition in a multichannel universe, Paragon saw a need to get ''closer to the end-user.'' That meant acquiring companies -- of which HandMade was only the first -- that would get Paragon into emerging markets such as video games, CD-ROM, pay-per-view and even broadcasting. Slan said Paragon would announce more acquisitions in the coming months. The company's worldwide distribution arm, Paragon International, will handle sales and distribution of the HandMade catalog. Slan added the Handmade facility in London would serve as a base from which Paragon might well develop and produce TV and film projects across the Atlantic, taking advantage of production treaties in place between Canada and Britain. Paragon added that HandMade Films director of business affairs Gareth Jones, based in London, will remain with the company under its new ownership. *********************** Harrison Suit Heading To Trial (Hollywood Reporter - July 14, 1995) By Carl DiOrio A motion to dismiss a $20 million-plus suit by former Beatle George Harrison against his longtime manager has been denied by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge.

Judge Kathryn Doi Todd rejected the contention of attorneys for former Harrison manager Denis O'Brien that the suit could only be filed in England, said Harrison's attorney, Brian Edwards of the Greenberg, Glusker, Fields, Claman & Machtinger law firm in Los Angeles. Attorneys for the defendant unsuccessfully argued that because Harrison's Handmade Films and Harrisong companies are incorporated in England, the litigation should have been filed there as well, Edwards said. Both Harrison, who lives in Oxfordshire, England, and O'Brien, now a director and vice chairman of Union Illinois Co. Bank in St. Louis, are scheduled for pre-trial depositions in Los Angeles in two weeks, Edwards said. An attorney for the defendant could not be reached. Edwards said the discovery-process depositions are considered critical and would not have been possible under British law. The legal dispute, filed in January, ``concerns the management of (Harrison's) assets -- among other things what happened to proceeds to certain of the films made by Handmade Films.'' O'Brien began his association with Harrison in 1973, Edwards said.

*********************** Harrison Wins $11 mil Award In Contract Suit (Hollywood Reporter - January 24, 1996) By Carl DiOrio George Harrison has been awarded $11 million in compensatory damages in Los Angeles Superior Court as a result of his lawsuit against a former manager over losses incurred in the operation of the former Beatle's HandMade Films production and distribution company, an attorney in the suit said Tuesday. There was no immediate word on whether defendant Denis O'Brien would appeal the judgment that was handed down last week. The suit, filed Jan. 20, 1995, involved allegations of breach of contract and fiduciary duty, and the disposition of certain assets from HandMade productions. Harrison's attorney, Brian Edwards of Century City law firm Greenberg, Glusker, Fields, Claman & Machtinger, said the award -- delivered within a year of Harrison's filing the suit -- demonstrates that speedy legal remedies are possible. "It shows that litigation is often more expeditious than people think it it," Edwards said.

"Look at it this way -- it's $1 million a month." A spokesman for Harrison, on the other hand, said although the ex-Beatle was pleased with the decision, "winning's one thing, collecting's another." HandMade Films, which is not currently producing movies, made films including "Life of Brian" and "Time Bandits."Airdate: Sunday, Jan. 21, 8-9:30 p.m. *********************** COURT AFFIRMS $11 MIL HARRISON JUDGMENT (Daily Variety - Tuesday, February 17, 1998) The California Court of Appeal has affirmed an $11 million judgment in favor of George Harrison two years ago, when the former Beatle successfully sued Denis O'Brien, his former manager and partner in HandMade Films. Harrison had asserted in his lawsuit that O'Brien backed out of a 1978 agreement to cover half of loses incurred by HandMade, their indie film production company. O'Brien appealed Harrison's trial court victory on the grounds that the case should have been tried in England and that, in any event, it was erroneously decided. The Court of Appeal disagreed, and last week affirmed the trial court's judgment.

...the Appeal Court affirmed... ...1995 judgment granting Harrison $10.9 million, which represented half of the amount of a debt incurred over a film called "Cold Dog Soup." ...The appellate court found that California was an appropriate jurisdiction because O'Brien spent a week each month in the state, had a California driver's license and owned a home in Encino, which was allegedly purchased with some of the disputed funds... Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) - Films - FILMS - Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) "Life of Brian" World Premiere: New York City, 17 August 1979 Running Time: 1:34 "Life of Brian" tells the story of a young contemporary of Jesus who through happenstance suddenly finds himself to be an adored holy figure. The film marked maturation for the group, for while "Brian" lacks the breezy innocence that "Holy Grail" exuded (and is much less self-conscious that it is a movie), it is a complex, thoughtful and ultimately moving portrait of a character and his period. It is also very funny.

Synopsis As the film opens to a choir of the heaven host, Three Wise Men follow a star and arrive at the modest abode of an infant and its mother, who gratefully accepts the gold and frankincense (and even the myrrh) that are presented to her child, named Brian. These gifts are then briskly confiscated when it's discovered that a certain Son of God is lying in the manger next door. The infant grows into a young man (played by Graham Chapman), who is initiated into a revolutionary group trying to free Judea from the Roman occupiers. Brian stumbles into the role of spiritual leader when he is mistaken for the promised Messiah, and the masses trail after seeking blessings and guidance. Burdened with the celebrity of his new position, and now a target of the ruling class, Brian tries to rid himself of his followers by professing that they do not need leaders for their faith. "You are all individuals!" he shouts. "Yes! We are all individuals!" they shout in unison. Imprisoned by the Romans and sentenced to crucifixion, Brian watches from the cross as in his coming death he becomes an object of admiration, parental scorn, and inspiration for a jaunty parting song.

"Life of Brian" is adorned with some surreal passages (Brian escapes certain death by being whisked aboard a passing spaceship), and filled with wildly eccentric characters: the Jewish Official (John Cleese) overseeing the community's stoning of a blasphemer; the Virgin Mandy (Jones), Brian's mother, who tells the assembled throngs that her son is "not the Messiah – he's a very naughty boy!"; Simon the Holy Man (Jones), who noisily celebrates the breaking of his vow of silence; Stan (Eric Idle), a revolutionary who wants to be known as Loretta; Ben (Michael Palin), an ultra-right-wing prisoner who loves his captors with a vengeance; Idle and Terry Gilliam as jailors creeping out the affable Roman officer (Palin) assigned to crucifixion duty; and Pontius Pilate (Palin), whose speech defect completely negates his authority among the masses. The Making of During a promotional tour for "Holy Grail," Eric Idle was asked what the group's next film would be.

His reply: "Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory." The ridiculous title set the gears in motion for thinking about what would be a brazen new direction for the group, involving a much more controversial subject matter than their previous film. "What attracted us [to the idea] was the freshness of the subject – nobody had made a Biblical comedy film," said Idle. "So we rented a lot of Hollywood Biblical films, and watch Charlton Heston's breasts and the sheer seriousness with which they treated everything, and this gave us a fresh look. Of course it became clear early on that we couldn't make fun of the Christ since what he says is very fine (and Buddhist), but the people around him were hilarious, and still are!" Michael Palin said, "We realized that the key thing – the way we'd done 'Holy Grail' – was to create the Biblical period so convincingly that if you put modern characters and modern attitudes in it, it would still convince as being part of that period." Terry Jones took on solo directing chores, with Terry Gilliam serving as production designer.

Arrangements were made to film in Tunisia, borrowing sets and locations that had been used for the Franco Zeffirelli mini-series, "Jesus of Nazareth." However, mere days before filming was to begin, EMI head Sir Bernard Delfont pulled out financing after reading the script and deeming it to be blasphemous. Riding to the rescue was Idle's friend George Harrison, who agreed to put up the budget (and even appeared in a cameo) to get the show before the cameras.

(Harrison said he'd done so because he really wanted to see the movie, quipping that his backing was the most expensive cinema ticket ever.) Thus was formed Handmade Films, a production company that would later produce such films as "Time Bandits," "The Long Good Friday," "The Missionary," "Mona Lisa," "How to Get Ahead in Advertising," "Withnail and I," and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels." Again taking center stage as the lead, Chapman had stopped drinking and was in much fitter form as Brian than he had been during the filming of "Holy Grail." He also took the bit part of the Roman Biggus Dickus, who – like Pontius Pilate – was afflicted with an unfortunate speech impediment. Reception Despite the fact that Christ was an obvious outside figure to the comic proceedings (He is spotted at the beginning giving the Sermon on the Mount, which those in the back of the crowd have a hard time hearing), many churchgoers took the Pythons to task for what they called a blatantly disrespectful and blasphemous take on the Son of God.

There were pickets and protests on opening day in New York, London and elsewhere, and it was banned in several locales, including Ireland and the Deep South of America, and even in two towns in Surrey that didn't have cinemas. A passionate TV debate about the film was aired on "Friday Night, Saturday Morning" between Cleese and Palin on one side, and moral campaigner Malcolm Muggeridge and Bishop Mervyn Stockwood on the other. With an allusion to Judas Iscariot, the Bishop warned the Pythons that they would get "their 30 pieces of silver." The controversy, however, merely confirmed that a central idea in "Life of Brian" – that religion or spirituality should not be left in the hands of a powerful few – was sharp enough to sting even when wrapped in the guise of a knockabout farce. In fact, Cleese defended "Life of Brian" by calling it "a perfectly religious film" that makes fun of the way some people follow religion, but not faith itself.

Idle said, "It really is an attack on Churches and pontificators and self-righteous assholes who claim to speak for God, of whom there are too many still on the planet." Today, "Life of Brian" is viewed by many as the Pythons' masterpiece, and its standing on critics' lists of film comedies is at, or near, the top. A footnote: Eric Idle's song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," performed during the final crucifixion scenes, has become a familiar tune at funerals and football matches, and has been covered by such artists as Green Day, Art Garfunkel, Tenor Fly, and the cast of "Coronation Street." It was also sung by British sailors on board the HMS Sheffield awaiting rescue after their ship had been hit by an Exocet missile during the 1982 Falklands War. By David Morgan, 2014 Life of Brian: facts and figures - Telegraph Culture Life of Brian: facts and figures More than 30 years after Monty Python gave us Life of Brian, the film continues to be seen as a cult comedy classic. Here are some of the more interesting facts and figures behind the 1979 hit.

Life of Brian was condemned as blasphemous when it was first released, with one Catholic group declaring it a "sin" to see the film Follow 1. The idea for Life of Brian came about on a promotional trip to Paris, when Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam flippantly decided that their next film should be called "Jesus Christ - Lust for Glory". The other Pythons were enthused by the working title and set about looking into a comedy about religion. 2. The film was financed by former Beatle George Harrison, who put up the required $4m after producer John Goldstone turned to him just days before filming was due to start. To thank him for his help, Harrison was given a brief cameo as Mr Papadopoulos, owner of the Mount, who shakes hands with Brian in a crowd scene. 3. Fawlty Towers star John Cleese was originally cast in the title role of Brian, but he was talked out of it by the other Pythons. Brian Cohen was eventually played by Cleese's close friend Graham Chapman. 4. Mindful of the potentially blasphemous nature of the script, the Pythons sent it to a canon at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for review.

The canon agreed that it was not blasphemous, but was "extracting the maximum comedy out of false religion and religious illusions". 5. Life of Brian was a huge box office success, grossing fourth-highest in the UK and becoming the most popular British film in the United States in 1979. It has since been named the "greatest comedy film of all time" by several magazines and television shows. Related Articles What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us? 29 Nov 2009 6. Thirty-nine local authorities in the UK imposed restrictions on the film when it was released, with an outright ban in Ireland and Norway. Not to be deterred, the Pythons used such notoriety in their marketing campaign, with slogans including: "So funny it was banned in Norway". 7. Religious institutions took the ban even further, with the Catholic Film Monitoring Office deeming it a "sin" to see the film. The Rabbinical Alliance said it was "foul, disgusting and blasphemous", while the Lutheral Film Council described it as a "profane parody". 8. Spike Milligan's cameo in the film was completely unplanned.

By chance, he was visiting the old World War Two battlefields in Monastir, Tunisia, where Life of Brian was being made, and was invited to join the scene that was currently being filmed. After playing a prophet, Milligan disappeared off set and could not be found for later scenes or promotional shots. 9. A number of scenes that were cut from the movie were lost in 1998 when they were destroyed by the group that brought Handmade Films, the original production company. The most controversial cuts involved Otto, a character with a thin black moustache and a German accent, who was accused of having Nazi tendencies. 10. Some of the best scenes from Life of Brian have made it into music videos (Anika's 'Yang Yang'), computer games (Terry Pratchett's Discworld II) and even political speeches - former Prime Minister Tony Blair made reference to the film during PMQs in the House of Commons in 2006. Here are three of the most memorable moments from Life of Brian: - The miracle: After spending the night with Judith, Brian wakes up to find hoardes of people outside his mother's house, proclaiming him to be Jesus Christ.

Then comes the iconic line from his mother Mandy, played by Terry Jones: "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy." - The prophets: The three bickering prophets - Blood and Thunder Prophet, False Prophet and Boring Prophet - perform an excellent parody of conflicting religious dogmas. Michael Palin, quoting from the book of Cyril, decrees: "At this time, a friend shall lose his friend's hammer and the young shall not know where lieth the things possessed by their fathers that their fathers put there only just the night before, about eight o'clock." - The crucifixion: Moments after Pilate agrees to "welease" Brian, others around him claim to be 'Brian of Nazareth', in a wonderful parody of the climax of Spartacus. As the others are released and Brian is condemned to a long and painful death, the crowd breaks into a rendition of "Always look on the bright side of life". Eunarchy in the UK: George Harrison's first movie | Film | The Guardian Movies Eunarchy in the UK: George Harrison's first movie Long before The Life of Brian, George Harrison funded an award-winning film stuffed with British talent – so why has it taken 40 years to surface?

Lost treasure … David Warner in Little Malcolm Share on Messenger Close In 1979 George Harrison purchased, almost on a whim, what Terry Jones would later call "the most expensive movie ticket of all time". After a single reading of the script of Monty Python's Life of Brian , he mortgaged his own luxury mansion and sank the resultant funds into a project that had been abandoned, days before shooting started, by its original backer, Bernie Delfont of EMI. Why did he do it? "Because I liked the script and I wanted to see the movie," said Harrison later. A Beatle can do that. From that almost informal exchange of favours between good friends sprang arguably the most interesting British production company of the 1980s, Handmade Films , backed by Harrison and his producing partner Denis O'Brien. Handmade gave us Brian and Withnail & I , The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa , and the early work of Terry Gilliam .

That legend is well known; less well known is that Brian was not Harrison's first foray into film production; that distinction belongs to Stuart Cooper's superb adaptation of David Halliwell's play Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs , retitled Little Malcolm. It was made in 1973, won the Silver Bear at Berlin in 1974, and then was lost to public view for nearly four decades as one of the many contested assets of what Cooper today calls "the Beatles' divorce". "George never said this to me," says Cooper, "but I definitely got the feeling that Little Malcolm may have been the first and last time George ever went to a play. But he was a big, big fan of it and also a big fan of [its star] Johnny Hurt , so he was in our corner already. Also, at the time, the other Beatles all had a film gig, John had done Imagine , Paul, I guess, directed Magical Mystery Tour , and Ringo was in Candy and The Magic Christian . So the only one without a film gig was George. He financed Malcolm through a company called Suba Films, which existed solely to receive profits from the animated Yellow Submarine .

It was financed entirely by Yellow Submarine! It wasn't a big budget, somewhere around a million, million and a half pounds – not expensive. He financed it top to bottom. He stepped up, wrote the cheque, and we made the movie." Cooper, then 31, hailed from wealthy Newport Beach, California, and had won a scholarship to Rada, one of six Americans chosen. Although Cooper always planned to become a director, among his classmates was Anthony Hopkins , and just graduating were Hurt and David Warner, soon to become friends, both of whom would later appear in Little Malcolm. Mike Leigh , who in 1965 would direct the first stage version of Little Malcolm (running five hours and starring the apparently cuts-averse Halliwell), was a little younger. The Leigh production flopped, but a two-hour version ran in the West End later that year starring Hurt. Harrison saw this one and loved it. It's easy to see why. Malcolm is an impotent, powerless nobody sustained by hopeless compensation-fantasies, a recently expelled art student who sees himself as at war with what he calls "the Eunarchy" of social conformists and the sexually timid.

All his art is self-portraiture while his pseudo-radical groupuscule, the toothsomely named Party of Dynamic Erection, is camouflage for the knock-kneed terror that its members – Wick, Irwin and Nipple (Warner) – all feel in the presence of women. Hurt's magnificently verbose, quasi-fascist ranting and his fondness for loyalty tests, public shaming and show trials ("Do you plead guilty or very guilty?") soar aloft on language that's part- Beckett , part "free love" advocate Wilhelm Reich , with more than a hint of the Beatles' beloved Goons . In some moments there are clear pre-echoes of David Thewlis in Naked and the mad squabbling of Withnail & I. This is a 40-year-old movie that hasn't dated an hour. After filming in Oldham in gas board buildings emptied out by a strike, using Kubrick's great cinematographer John Alcott , Cooper says it seemed only moments after the final cut was printed that the movie was impounded. "In the end, we got hung up by the Beatles' breakup, when all of the Apple and Beatles assets went into the official receiver's hands.

So Little Malcolm just basically sat there for a couple of years. Whatever heat and buzz we generated was all lost. It didn't diminish the movie but it stopped the momentum. George had to fight to get it back. "Berlin was the first airing we managed, but it won best direction and the response was incredible. We got great reviews from Alexander Walker and Margaret Hinxman , but by then it really didn't have any legs. It was a film that got lost, and I had to put it on a shelf and say to myself, well, there might be a day for that one day – and here we are now, after so many years." Little Malcolm won the Silver Bear at Berlin in 1974 (Cooper's next movie, the sombre and chastening Overlord, won another Silver Bear in 1975), and the post-ceremonial bacchanals were memorable indeed. "We partied with Fassbinder the night we won the Silver Bear in '74," laughs Cooper.

"He loved Malcolm, and watching him - I think everyone has a pretty clear idea of how Fassbinder looked at that point; scruffy, sunglasses, leather, unkempt beard - watching him drinking with Johnny Hurt with his horrible scruffy beard, and still dressed like Malcolm, really - they could have been twins! Fassbinder could have played Malcolm!" • Little Malcolm is out now on Blu-Ray. Martin Scorsese's documentary George Harrison: Living In The Material World is on BBC2 on 12 and 13 November.

Question: The Life of Brian was produced by Handmade Films. Who owned Handmade Films?
Answer: George Harrison