Two Guys Abroad

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Two Guys Abroad
Directed by Don Sharp
Produced byIan Warren
exec
Maurie Suess
Starring George Raft
Maxie Rosenbloom
Diana Decker
Diane Todd
Production
company
Summit Films
Release date
  • 1962 (1962)(intended)
Running time
75 mins
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£20,000 [1]

Two Guys Abroad is an unreleased 1962 British film directed by Don Sharp and starring George Raft and Maxie Rosenbloom. [2] [3] [4] The screenplay was by Alex Gottlieb. It was intended as a pilot for a TV series or as a B movie. Neither eventuated. [5] [6]

Contents

Plot

A pair of Piccadilly Club owners continually get in trouble.

Cast

Production

The film was shot at Shepperton Studios in March 1962. [7] George Raft and Maxie Rosenbloom were old friends; Raft even once owned a share in Rosenbloom when the latter was a boxer. [8]

Director Don Sharp later recalled "at the time there was a fashion for these 'products'. They were made for a double purpose: as a pilot episode for a TV series; if that failed, for release as a B movie supporting the main feature. Very few of them even made the grade." [5]

Sharp said the film was made "on a very small budget in very minimal time... a terrible script." He said the film was made because Maurie Seuss had "come into money and wanted to make a movie"; Seuss had been George Raft's dresser. [9]

Sharp says he "got on very well with George – the complete Hollywood pro. He was amiable, always ribbing Maxie; constantly doing his coin-flipping act; and likely at any moment to break into a few dance steps – for no particular reason. There is a photo of me and my camera operator on the camera dolly with George doing the grip's job and pushing it because he said, he always wanted a real job." [5] Filming took three weeks. "We're just aiming to make a film that will entertain people for 75 minutes or so," said Suess. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 Champ, John (22 March 1962). "Production". Kine Weekly. p. 7.
  2. "Two Guys Abroad". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  3. Two Guys Abroad at BFI
  4. Vagg, Stephen (9 February 2020). "Why Stars Stop Being Stars: George Raft". Filmink.
  5. 1 2 3 Aaker, Everett (2013). The Films of George Raft. McFarland & Company. p. 183. ISBN   9780786466467.
  6. Vagg, Stephen (27 July 2019). "Unsung Aussie Filmmakers: Don Sharp – A Top 25". Filmink.
  7. "Two Guys Abroad".
  8. Share in Rosenbloom Bought by George Raft The Washington Post 7 Aug 1934: 13
  9. Sharp, Don (2 November 1993). "Don Sharp Side 3" (Interview). Interviewed by Teddy Darvas and Alan Lawson. London: History Project. Retrieved 14 July 2021.