Maurice Ostrer

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Maurice Ostrer (born May 9, 1896 in London - † December 3, 1975 in Cannes , France ) was a British film company manager, head of production at Gainsborough Pictures , film producer and line producer who made a name for himself in the 1940s with commercially highly profitable costume dramas.

Live and act

Maurice Ostrer was one of five brothers - Isidore, Mark, Harry and David also worked in the family's film business - whose parents once immigrated to Great Britain as the Ostravitch family from Eastern Europe (Ukraine). Ostrer began his career in the family-owned Ostrer Brothers Merchant Bank, which he founded with his two older brothers Isidore and Mark. The bank was, among other things, the financier and company controller of the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation, which also included around 350 British cinemas. The Ostrer family now switched to the film production business and, with Maurice Ostrer as head of production (“In Charge of Production”) at the helm, produced a number of box office hits in the 1940s. In this role, from the eve of the Second World War until the end of 1944, he supervised the production of a large number of entertainment films, mostly studio-made films - melodramas, costume films, romances - which received mostly poor reviews, but enjoyed great popularity among war-weary audiences. His greatest achievements in his last three years of service included The Lord in Gray , Madonna of the Seven Moons , Gaslight and Shadow, and Cornwall Rhapsody .

The company empire J. Arthur Ranks , which took care of the distribution of the Gainsborough films, was unimpressed by the rather narrow output of Ostrer's production range and ultimately ensured that Maurice Ostrer had to leave his place. When his contract expired in 1946, Maurice Ostrer only produced a few films as an independent producer until he finally left the film business in 1948 and from then on ran a textile company.

Familiar

Maurice Ostrer's relatives all worked temporarily in the family-owned company. His brother Isidore Ostrer was president of Gaumont-British Picture Corporation Limited, his brother Mark (1892-1958) the chairman of the board of this family company. The former teacher Harry Ostrer (1890-1972) wrote and revised for the Gaumont-British scripts and David Ostrer (1886-1967) worked in the distribution. Isidore Ostrer's daughter Pamela Ostrer appeared in front of the camera as Pamela Kellino (1916–1996) and was the wife of Gainsborough star James Mason . David Ostrer's son Bertram (1913–1986) worked as a film producer in the 1950s and 1960s.

Filmography

Until 1944 as head of production, then as producer or line manager:

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ostrer, Maurice
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British film company manager, head of production and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH 3rd December 1975
Place of death Cannes , France