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33-452: Allied Filmmakers was a British film production company, founded by Jake Eberts in London in 1985 as a film branch from Pathé . After the closure of the company Pathé held the rights to most of the companies output with a few exceptions. This article about a British film distributor or production company is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Jake Eberts Eberts

66-493: A candle, starting a blaze that quickly engulfs the library. William insists that Adso flee, as he manages to collect an inadequate armload of invaluable books to save; the volume of Poetics , Jorge, and the rest of the library are lost. Meanwhile, Salvatore and Remigio have been burned at the stake. The girl has been slated for the same fate but local peasants take advantage of the chaos of the library fire to free her and turn on Gui. Gui attempts to flee but they throw his wagon off

99-545: A cliff, to his death. William and Adso later take their leave of the Abbey. On the road, Adso is stopped by the girl, silently appealing for him to stay with her, but Adso continues on with William. In his closing narration, a much older Adso reflects that he never regretted his decision, as he learned many more things from William. Adso also states that the girl was the only earthly love of his life, yet he never even learned her name. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud told Umberto Eco that he

132-649: A co-executive producer (with Jeffrey Katzenberg ) of Chicken Run . Other animated films Eberts produced include The Nutcracker Prince (1990), The Princess and the Cobbler , James and the Giant Peach , Doogal and Renaissance , and The Illusionist . In 2002, Eberts became chairman of National Geographic Feature Films (NGFF) and executive produced such titles as the live action animal feature Two Brothers by Jean-Jacques Annaud. He also branched out into documentaries including Prisoner of Paradise , which

165-619: A day in the life of three teenagers, a Jew, a Muslim and a Christian, in the Holy City. He had also been developing The Last Empress , a $ 60 million joint Sino-American venture about the ruthless Empress Dowager Cixi , who effectively controlled the Qing dynasty in the late 19th century. In 1992 Eberts became an Officer of the Order of Canada . He was also awarded honorary doctorates by McGill University in 1998 and by Bishop's University in 1999. He served on

198-470: A slump. Christian Slater was cast through a large-scale audition of teenage boys. (His mother, Mary Jo Slater , was also a prominent casting director who consulted on the film.) For the wordless scene in which the Girl seduces Adso, Annaud allowed Valentina Vargas to lead the scene without his direction. Annaud did not explain to Slater what she would be doing in order to elicit a more authentic performance from

231-684: A start-up engineer for L'Air Liquide in Spain, Italy, Germany and France. He then spent three years as a Wall Street investor, including working at Laird Incorporated . He moved to London, England in 1971, where he joined Oppenheimer & Co. , rising to the position of managing director of the UK brokerage and investment company in 1976. With no apparent prior interest in film, about 1977 he turned to film financing, and joined David Puttnam in founding Goldcrest Films , an independent film production company, for which he served as president and CEO . His first venture

264-453: A year later to attempt to rescue it financially. From its early success of just a few years earlier, when it was seen as a possible saviour of the British film industry, the company had been brought to the brink of bankruptcy by the failure of three high-budget films – Revolution , The Mission and Absolute Beginners , all in 1985–1986. Eberts continued on until 1987 when he resigned for

297-473: The Abbot into concurring with his judgment of heresy. But William, also "invited" by Gui to serve on the panel of judges, refuses to confirm the accusations of murder, pointing out that the murderer could read Greek, a skill that Remigio doesn't possess. Gui resorts to extracting a confession from Remigio by the threat of torture, and clearly plans to take care of William for good. When the head Librarian succumbs like

330-567: The Oscar for Best Documentary. In Bishop's College School , the tennis court is named "Jake and Fiona Eberts Memorial Tennis Court". Eberts was diagnosed in late 2010 with uveal melanoma , a rare cancer of the eye, which spread to his liver. He died at the age of 71 in Montreal on September 6, 2012. He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted. The Name of the Rose (film) The Name of

363-658: The Rose is a 1986 historical mystery film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud , based on the 1980 novel of the same name by Umberto Eco . Sean Connery stars as the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville , called upon to solve a deadly mystery in a medieval abbey. Christian Slater portrays his young apprentice, Adso of Melk , and F. Murray Abraham his Inquisitor rival, Bernardo Gui . Michael Lonsdale , William Hickey , Feodor Chaliapin Jr. , Valentina Vargas , and Ron Perlman play supporting roles. This English-language film

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396-422: The Rose , based on the best-selling novel by Umberto Eco . He since produced or executive produced John Boorman's Hope and Glory , his second pair of back-to-back Oscar winners Driving Miss Daisy , Dances with Wolves , Robert Redford 's A River Runs Through It and Henry Selick 's adaptation of Roald Dahl 's James and the Giant Peach . During this period Eberts was also responsible as executive for

429-498: The actors. Although U.S. casting agencies proposed only white actors for his medievalist film, Director Annaud insisted on including a black monk to play the translator Venantius. The Swiss actor Urs Althaus, who had previously been a model for the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Calvin Klein, Valentino, Armani, Gucci, and Kenzo, was hired in an effort to reach maximum authenticity (including the presence of people of color in medieval Italy and

462-569: The board of the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Channel . He was also co-founder and CEO of MPI International, which provides high-speed, two-way video transmission capabilities to telcos , cable companies, hotels, hospitals, and schools. By 2005, Eberts had been associated with films garnering 66 Oscar nominations, including nine for Best Picture. In 2006, March of the Penguins won

495-409: The book's ending. In 2011, Eco was quoted as giving a mixed review for the adaptation of his novel: "A book like this is a club sandwich, with turkey, salami, tomato, cheese, lettuce. And the movie is obliged to choose only the lettuce or the cheese, eliminating everything else – the theological side, the political side. It's a nice movie." Ron Perlman has commented that The Name of

528-425: The deaths. The two men clashed in the past, and the zealous inquisitor has no time for theories outside his own. Salvatore and the girl are found fighting over a black cockerel while in the presence of a black cat. Gui presents this as irrefutable proof that they are in league with Satan and tortures Salvatore into a false confession . Salvatore, Remigio, and the girl are dragged before a tribunal, where Gui intimidates

561-590: The expensive flop, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , which went on to some popular success in home videocassette and DVD rentals. Eberts moved to Paris in 1991. Dances with Wolves was an early picture of Eberts to feature a Native American theme. Later productions included (as producer or executive producer), Bruce Beresford 's Black Robe (1991), The Education of Little Tree (1997), and Richard Attenborough 's Grey Owl (1999). The latter three pictures were all produced in Canada. He also served as

594-414: The film a positive review: "As intelligent a reductio of Umberto Eco's sly farrago of whodunnit and medieval metaphysics as one could have wished for ... the film simply looks good, really succeeds in communicating the sense and spirit of a time when the world was quite literally read like a book." John Simon stated that The Name of the Rose misfired due to its ending, which was slightly happier than

627-438: The film holds a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 12 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of a possible 4, writing: "What we have here is the setup for a wonderful movie. What we get is a very confused story... It's all inspiration and no discipline." Time Out gave

660-547: The killings. Meanwhile, Adso encounters a peasant girl who snuck into the abbey to trade sexual favors for food, and has sex with her, thus losing his virginity. Investigating and keen to head off accusations of demonic possession , the protagonists discover and explore a labyrinthine library in the abbey's forbidden principal tower. William finds that it is "one of the greatest libraries in all Christendom," containing dozens of works by Classical masters such as Aristotle , thought to have been lost for centuries. William deduces that

693-424: The last time. The company would continue on under new ownership. Eberts detailed the disaster in his 1990 memoir, My Indecision Is Final: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Goldcrest Films (co-authored with Terry Ilott ). Meanwhile, in 1985 he founded Allied Filmmakers , with Jean Gontier and became an affiliate of Pathé . With this company, in 1986 he made his debut as executive producer for Annaud's The Name of

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726-487: The library is kept hidden because such advanced knowledge, coming from pagan philosophers, is difficult to reconcile with Christianity. William further deduces that all of those who died had read the only remaining copy of Aristotle's Second Book of Poetics . His investigations are curtailed by the arrival of Bernardo Gui of the Inquisition , summoned for the conference and keen to prosecute those he deems responsible for

759-599: The others, William and Adso ascend the forbidden library, and come face to face with the Venerable Jorge, the most ancient denizen of the abbey, with the book, which describes comedy and how it may be used to teach. Believing laughter and jocularity to be instruments of the Devil, Jorge has poisoned the pages to stop the spread of what he considers dangerous ideas: those reading it would ingest the poison as they licked their fingers to aid in turning pages. Confronted, Jorge throws over

792-399: The part of William because he felt the character, who was already an amalgam of Sherlock Holmes and William of Occam , would become too overwhelming with " 007 " added. Later, after Annaud failed to find another actor he liked for the part, he was won over by Connery's reading, but Eco was dismayed by the casting choice, and Columbia Pictures pulled out because Connery's career was then in

825-421: The period from 1977 to 1983 the company's films received 30 Oscar nominations and won 15. He developed a reputation as an astute and shrewd financier. Rather than seek new talent, he chose to support established directors such as Sir Richard Attenborough , Roland Joffé , Jean-Jacques Annaud , John Boorman , many of whom have worked with him on several pictures. He resigned from the company in 1984, but returned

858-458: The rest of Europe). The exterior and some of the interiors of the monastery seen in the film were constructed as a replica on a hilltop outside Rome and ended up being the biggest exterior set built in Europe since Cleopatra (1963). Many of the interiors were shot at Eberbach Abbey , Germany. Most props, including period illuminated manuscripts, were produced specifically for the film. The film

891-453: The worried Abbot and gains permission to investigate the death. Over the next few days, several other bizarre deaths occur. William and Adso make the acquaintance of Salvatore, a hunchback who speaks gibberish in various languages, and his handler and protector, Remigio da Varagine. William deduces from Salvatore's penitenziagite that he had once been a member of a heretical sect and infers that Salvatore and Remigio may have been involved in

924-958: Was an international co-production between West German, French and Italian companies and was filmed in Rome and at the former Eberbach Abbey in the Rheingau . It received mixed to positive reviews from critics and won several awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Sean Connery . Another adaptation was made in 2019 as a television miniseries for RAI . Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and his novice, Adso of Melk , arrive at an early 14th century Benedictine abbey in Northern Italy. A mysterious death has occurred ahead of an important theological Church conference—a young illuminator appears to have committed suicide. William, known for his deductive and analytical mind, confronts

957-544: Was born John David Eberts in Montreal , Quebec , Canada, the son of Elizabeth (MacDougall), an interior decorator, and Edmond Eberts, who worked for an aluminum manufacturer. Eberts grew up in Montreal and Arvida . He attended Bishop's College School in Lennoxville , Quebec and graduated from McGill University (Bachelor of Chemical Engineering 1962) and Harvard Business School (MBA 1966). Eberts' working career began as

990-524: Was convinced the book was written for only one person to direct: himself. He was intrigued by the project due a lifelong fascination with medieval churches and a great familiarity with Latin and Greek . Annaud spent four years preparing the film, traveling throughout the United States and Europe, searching for the perfect cast, focusing on a multi-ethnic cast and actors with interesting and distinctive faces. He resisted suggestions to cast Sean Connery for

1023-574: Was nominated for Best Picture in the feature documentary category at the 2003 Academy Awards, and America's Heart and Soul (2004). Under his direction, NGFF had an enormous success in 2005 by distributing the sleeper documentary March of the Penguins (original French title, La Marche de l'empereur ) and he was working again recently with the Chariots of Fire director Hugh Hudson on a nature epic to be shot in Canada. His final project, Jerusalem , an Imax 3D production due for release in 2013, chronicles

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1056-630: Was the animated movie Watership Down . While with the company in 1979, he made a disastrous personal investment of US$ 750,000 in Zulu Dawn , which took him almost a decade to recover from. He learned a great deal from this setback, as the output of the company was for the most part exceptional and financially rewarding, with such other films to its credit as The Howling , Chariots of Fire , Local Hero , Gandhi , The Killing Fields and The Dresser . Chariots of Fire and Gandhi won back-to-back Oscars in 1981 and 1982 respectively, and in

1089-564: Was very successful in Germany with a gross of $ 25 million. However, it did poorly at the box office in the United States, where it played at 176 theaters and grossed $ 7.2 million. At the same time, it was popular in other parts of Europe (including Italy, France and Spain). Decades later, Sean Connery recalled that the film grossed over $ 60 million worldwide. The film holds a score of 76% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. On Metacritic ,

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