African adventures : Film Finances Ltd and actor-producers on safari

The recent opening up to scholars of the archives of Film Finances, a British-based company that has been providing completion guarantees for films since 1950, has provided a rare opportunity to inspect confidential documents pertaining to the financing and production of a large number of films made between 1950 and 1979. This article is based on material located in the companys files relating to two films made on location in Africa by actors turned producers: Zulu (1964), starring and produced by Stanley Baker, in collaboration with the director/co-writer/co-producer Cy Endfield; and The Naked Prey (1965), starring, directed and produced by Cornel Wilde. In both cases, supervisors appointed by Film Finances clashed with the film-makers over what were seen as their unreasonable attempts to indulge their artistic impulses as the expense of fiscal responsibility and logistical practicality. The article looks at the ways in which Film Finances and its representatives attempted to exert a measure of control over the productions (not always successfully) in order to limit financial risk and ensure delivery of the films within budget and schedule. It also explores the degree to which the film-makers creative decision-making was influenced, constrained or enabled by the financial and practical constraints within which they were obliged to work.