John E. Blakeley

Who was John E. Blakeley?

John E. Blakeley was a British film producer, director and screenwriter, the founder of Mancunian Films.

Born Ardwick, Manchester, son of James Blakeley, and Margaret. His father had become an early film distributor in 1908 after previous work as a travelling draper. Blakeley joined his father's business and soon came to understand the tastes of the emerging cinema audiences in the northern industrial towns. By the 1930s, the younger Blakeley was making films starring the idols of northern music hall comedy: George Formby, Frank Randle and Sandy Powell.

Initially relying on London studios, rising costs encouraged him to found the Mancunian Film Studios in his hometown in 1947, on GBP 70,000 capital. The studios went on to produce a sequence of successful and profitable films, often on shoestring budgets, until Blakeley's retirement in 1953. He died in Stockport.