Brent Walker Film Distributors Limited

Background

Brent Walker Film Distributors Limited was the film division of the UK-based gambling and beverages company, Brent Walker Group.

1st Logo (Early 1970s?-1978)

Visuals: On a 2x3 grid of clips of casinos and bars (possibly those owned by Brent Walker Group), the yellow serif text "Brent Walker Film Distributors Inc." zooms up towards the screen. After a few seconds, it's wiped away from up to down, and the clips shift to 3 tall ones of a golf course, a tennis practice room, and a greyhound stadium. The Brent Walker logo, an abstract "BW" made of shapes, zooms up and "A Member Of The Brent Walker Group" in Arial wipes in below. This is wiped away from left to right, and it cuts to a fullscreen shot of a brick office building (possibly the Brent Walker headquarters), where "Presents" zooms out in a serif font. The shot zooms out to a full view of the building, and we later fade out.

Technique: Live-action and 2D animation.

Audio: A 14-note fanfare at first, then four percussion liners. The fanfare repeats with three extra notes without the percussion. This was excerpted from "Horizontal Hold" by "Jack Trombey" (a.k.a. Jan Stoeckart), a De Wolfe stock track that was also used as CBS's The NFL Today theme in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Availability: Used in conjunction with the next logo below until at least 1978-9. It was seen on productions such as Big Banana Feet, and American International Pictures films theatrically distributed by Brent Walker in the UK. It has recently turned up on the UK Directors Cut of Satan's Slave (1976), which can be found on the UK Indicator Norman J. Warren Blu-Ray set.

2nd Logo (Late 1976-1982)

Note: For proper viewing of the logo, skip to 0:22.

Visuals: On a black background, there is a red arrow rise up from the screen. At that time, "Brent Walker", in white, along with "Film Distributors Limited", fade in. After that, an red-orange arrow overlaps the red arrow, along with orange, yellow, and beige arrows. When the beige arrow comes in, the logo fades out, and the arrows start to rotate. 2 arrows with shades of green and blue start to overlap as well. An upside-down triangle, in orange, pans down to reveal the Brent Walker logo. The "B" in Brent Walker's logo is revealed. More shades of red, green, blue, and yellow pass inside the logo. Suddenly, they freeze frame, and become white. The text "A Member of the Brent Walker Group" fades in, and the B&W logo zooms out. The byline fades out, the B&W logo freeze-frames, and the text "Presents", in white, fades in.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: "Caption 1" by Dave Richmond is played throughout the logo. In some cases, it is replaced with disco music.

Availability: Used in conjunction with the previous logo. It was seen on productions such as The B*tch, 1978 UK prints of Quadrophenia, and other films theatrically distributed by Brent Walker in the UK. It has recently turned up on the uncut Export Version of Satan's Slave (1976), which can be found on the US Vinegar Syndrome Blu-Ray and on UK Indicator Norman J Warren Blu-Ray set.

3rd Logo (1982-1987)

Visuals: On a black background, there is the same beginning text from the previous logo, but all set in white. Eight green lines form a grid, causing the horizon to lighten up in a blue color. More lines appear in the opposite vertical direction, coming towards the camera. The BW logo, transparent with blue outlines, zooms out of the screen, causing the text to fade out. When it hits the horizon, it starts to speedily zoom towards the camera, causing the outlines to thin out, and the logo to flash. The same text from the previous logo appears, also in white.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: An electronic theme that starts to rise in resonance. It later ascends in pitch, causing a "BANG!" to occur.

Availability: Seen on several UK theatrical and video releases by the company. An example is Fanny Hill.