I thought it would be interesting to hear from members as to what they consider to be the gems of their collection, and why. So , I'll start the ball rolling. Most of my films are special to me, but the real gem of the collection has to be a British comedy from 1956, starring Ronald Shiner and Ted Ray , in 'My Wife's Family'. This was last seen on UK television in 1969; and even then as a 15 to 16 year old, I thought how wonderful it would be if I could own this print just watched on BBC, so that I could see it again any time I chose. Never in all my wildest dreams could I have thought than one day I would own a copy. I'd been a fan of Ronald Shiner ever since I saw him in 'Reluctant Heroes' and 'Worm's Eye View'. DCR brought out two of his films 'Not Wanted on Voyage' and 'Carry on Admiral', and I bought these early on in my film collecting.
Once I moved up into 16mm I never came across any of his films, and would Google regularly. Then one day, a copy of 'My Wife's Family' came up in the U.S, and I bought it without delay; strangely, after waiting about 11 years to find one, a second Shiner film came up in Phil Sheard's list, it was 'Keep it Clean'. It's been shown a few times on the Talking Pictures channel. An added bonus was that this print has the BBFC Certificate at the front. Both are very rare. When I got my first, something that I had last seen 48 years ago, I thought 'This is the cherry on the icing'. It's a rare print, even in the US, as the distributor Seven Arts, was only distributing for about two years, before they went into partnership with Warner Brothers for film production. Actually a 3rd film showed up about the same time from a seller in Canada, another Ronald Shiner film that I had not seen before , 'See How they Run', but unfortunately I had missed it, as I'd missed looking on Ebay for a week or two, and it was just my luck that it appeared during that time.
'My wife's Family' was originally shot in Eastmancolor; my print is B&W, which suits me. I only ever saw it on TV in B&W. I enclose some publicity stills, the mother in law from Hell is played by Fabia Drake, who seemed to have made a career playing this type of role.