Producers Releasing Corporation’s film library was always a mystery to me. The little studio, much maligned, just seemed like a staple of the public domain world, never defined like Republic and, to a lesser degree, Monogram.

Curious as I was, the best way to document what happened to the library was to follow the trail of television distributors.

The filmography presented is simple and yet convoluted because of corporate entanglements. Each title has the year of release and what company handled its distribution, with the odd comment here and there. These distributors are summarized by the following chains:

Ziv > Hygo > MC: Ziv Television Programs, Inc., then Hygo Television Films, Inc., then MC Pictures, Inc.

Wilton/AAP > MPTV > Western: Wilton Pictures, Inc./Associated Artists Productions, Ltd., then Motion Pictures for Television, Inc., then Western Television Corp.

Essex/Flamingo > MPTV > Western: Essex Films, Inc./Flamingo Films, Inc., then Motion Pictures for Television, Inc., then Western Television Corp.

MPTV is Motion Pictures for Television, Inc.

Madison is Madison Pictures, Inc., New York, which reissued the majority of the PRC library. Both Film Vision and MC Pictures were corporately related to Madison.

Formed in late December 1945, Madison was helmed by Hungarian-born Armand Schneck (1898–1973), a supervisor of branch operations for PRC from 1942–1944, and previously an executive with Pathé Laboratories, Inc. for five years.

Producers Releasing Corp., organized on March 20, 1940, became an official subsidiary of Pathé Laboratories in 1942, acquiring 85% of the company’s stock in early January for $750,000, and its entirety the next month.

Previous to the takeover, PRC was owned and operated by its franchise holders, Pathé helping out financially after each film was completed during its inception. The company was then reorganized in late December 1940 under the “financial interest” of Pathé Laboratories, which brought in its former president to run the fledgling studio.

Pathé Laboratories was related to the pioneering French company Pathé Frères, formed in 1896, which established an American branch in 1904 and was incorporated as Pathé Exchange, Inc. in 1914. Financial problems forced the company—acquired in 1921 by Merrill Lynch banking interests—to sell its American producing and distributing business to RKO in 1931, which became RKO Pathé.

Left over from Pathé Exchange, among other assets, was a laboratory—the oldest in the country—acquired in August 1935 by its newly reorganized successor, Pathé Film Corp., with Robert R. Young, future railroad magnate, a major factor in the enterprise.

With the formation of Pathé Film Corp., the company acquired control of Harry H. Thomas’ First Division Exchanges, Inc. which had become heavily indebted. Pathé then organized a holding company for its production and distribution activities, First International Pictures, Inc. which owned the majority of First Division’s stock.

First Division was dissolved into a new Pathé-sponsored producing and distributing organization in April 1936, Grand National Films, Inc. With mounting losses, however, Pathé had liquidated its GN holdings by November 1936, concentrating instead on its laboratory operation at Bound Brook, New Jersey, established by the original Pathé in 1907.

To keep its plant busy, Pathé supplied a $200,000 loan to aid Monogram’s reformation in 1937, and received a substantial share of its stock—sold back in mid-1941—along with a five-year printing contract. Lab work was Pathé’s bread and butter, the company outputting 51.5 million feet of film in 1936 and 78.7 million feet in 1937. A second lab opened in mid-1938.

RKO’s agreement with Pathé Film Corp. reportedly did not allow it to enter into production or distribution under its own name until January 1936, after the expiration of a five-year pact. Income from Pathé’s film rentals in 1936 almost rivaled its film developing and printing, but the company withdrew in earnest from distribution—never under the Pathé name—by year’s end.

In February 1939 the wholly-owned assets of Pathé Film Corp., including its Monogram stock, became part of a new company, Pathé Laboratories, Inc. which by January 1940 had three plants, excluding a 35% interest in a lucrative Dupont lab—inherited from Pathé Exchange, Inc. in 1935—still held by Pathé Film Corp. The latter, disposing of its Dupont stock to its namesake, was dissolved in December 1941.

In late 1942, PRC began identifying itself for a short time as “A Pathé Company” and calling itself PRC-Pathé, but under protest from RKO the latter was withdrawn. RKO used the name and rooster trademark on its Pathé News shorts, and only the laboratory division of the new Pathé was allowed to use the iconic Gallic rooster.

Producers Releasing Corporation of America, as it was known at the time, was officially renamed PRC Pictures, Inc. in late July 1943.

In June 1944 the various Pathé film-related subsidiaries, including those of PRC, were merged into a new holding company, Pathé Industries, Inc.

Pathé Industries and its subsidiaries were not corporately related in the strictest sense to the other companies bearing the Pathé name, notably Pathé Pictures, Ltd. and its successor, Associated British-Pathé, Ltd., PRC’s distributor in the United Kingdom.

Armand Schneck purchased from Pathé various distribution rights in perpetuity to PRC’s 1940–1941 and 1941–1942 programs in late 1945, just before the formation of Madison Pictures; the 1942–1943 and 1943–1944 programs in 1947; and the 1944–1945 and 1945–1946 programs in 1949, which unlike the first two contracts did not include TV rights.

Those rights were sold in perpetuity to Wilton Pictures, Inc., initially distributed exclusively by Eliot Hyman’s Associated Artists Productions, Ltd. (AAP).

In the late 1940s Hyman had formed Telinvest, Inc., a New York financing syndicate—backed by two Boston industrialists—created to acquire films for TV distribution by his soon-to-be-formed AAP, and Wilton Pictures was probably a Telinvest subsidiary.

A lawsuit filed in June 1951 divulged that Telinvest had indeed acquired from Pathé the TV rights to the 1944–1945 and 1945–1946 programs. In October 1949, George Frank and Walter Batchelor, the latter a New York agent who also handled radio and TV packages before his death in 1950, contended that an oral agreement was made to purchase the rights for $90,000, and shortly thereafter were sold to Telinvest instead. (An out-of-court settlement in favor of the plaintiffs was reached in early January 1954.)

In June 1951 Eliot Hyman sold the majority of Telinvest-AAP’s extensive film library to financier David Baird’s non-profit Lansing Foundation, Inc. for $1.5 million. Lansing then immediately sold it to Matthew Fox to form the core of Motion Pictures for Television, Inc. (MPTV), the company joining forces under its corporate umbrella with an established TV distributor, Flamingo Films, Inc.

Flamingo Films in conjunction with Essex Films, Inc. in 1950 had acquired from Pathé the TV and theatrical rights to the 1946–1947 and 1947–1948 programs, which would also be in the hands of Matthew Fox with the formation of MPTV in July 1951.

Matthew “Matty” Fox was a Universal vice-president who in 1947 was instrumental in the formation of the company’s 16mm subsidiary, United World Films, Inc., which made available some of its shorts to TV the same year.

Fox resigned from Universal at the start of 1951, soon to form MPTV with help from Erwin H. Ezzes, former vice-president in charge of sales of United World.

Previous to forming MPTV, Matthew Fox joined a syndicate headed by former Eagle-Lion president Arthur B. Krim to rescue the privately-held, near-bankrupt United Artists Corp., which in April 1951 had purchased Eagle-Lion Classics, Inc., a Pathé subsidiary encompassing the old PRC.

Stepping back in time, Eagle-Lion Distributors, Ltd. was created in February 1944 by the British company J. Arthur Rank as an outlet for releasing its films in the Eastern Hemisphere. At the same time it established an American subsidiary, Eagle-Lion Films, Inc.

In December 1945, J. Arthur Rank partnered with Pathé Industries, owner of PRC, in a reciprocal agreement for worldwide distribution of their Anglo-American product. Universal, however, would handle much of Rank’s top product in the U.S., the former being a major shareholder.

Pathé then created a subsidiary, Eagle-Lion Films, Inc., the corporate name taken over in February 1946, Rank’s previous subsidiary renamed the J. Arthur Rank Organization, Inc. The new Eagle-Lion Films, Inc. was 100% owned by the interests of Robert R. Young, chairman of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad and the Allegheny Corp., which controlled Pathé.

With the corporate changes, PRC Studios, Inc., formed in 1943 with the purchase of their own studio, was renamed Eagle-Lion Studios, Inc. PRC Pictures, Inc. and PRC Productions, Inc., both formed in 1943, would live on.

In June 1950, Eagle-Lion joined forces with the privately-owned Film Classics, Inc., an abortive merger that, while consummated on many levels, was contested at length in litigation. The de facto merger gave the company more films to distribute and a new name, Eagle-Lion Classics, Inc., although still wholly-owned by Pathé.

In a preliminary inventory of what United Artists acquired from Eagle-Lion, published in Motion Picture Daily, April 18, 1951, there were 226 films: 177 American and 49 foreign, with Pathé retaining ownership to about 20 of the total. The foreign features included over 40 J. Arthur Rank features which Eagle-Lion had six- or seven-year domestic theatrical rights. UA officials stated six films had yet to be released and six more were committed.

Note that the mutual releasing agreement with Rank and Eagle-Lion was terminated in February 1951, but both companies would continue to distribute those pictures already delivered. With the termination, the name Eagle-Lion Distributors, Ltd. was changed to J. Arthur Rank Overseas Film Distributors, Ltd.

United Artists purchased the library as an immediate source of revenue since their exchanges had little product, causing severe losses—over $40,000 per week—for the floundering company. Fifty of the films still had distribution potential, a bargain considering the purchase price of $500,000, the money not due until the spring of 1954, with no installments in the interim to allow UA a financial head start.

The acquired distribution and exhibition contracts immediately stemmed UA’s losses in the first phase of the new management’s plan to be profitable. About half of the company’s 1951 releases were sourced from Eagle-Lion.

The purchase was successful for UA, allowing the company to bridge the gap as new product was being readied for release. By year’s end they were in the black.

The deal, which did not include any other notable physical assets, entailed much of Eagle-Lion’s inventory of features, past, present and future. The total, however, was greatly diminished since Madison Pictures and the corporate Flamingo-Essex Films combo already owned PRC’s large backlog.

Pathé did retain ownership to what was described as a batch of Eagle-Lion “oldies” that were left over after the sale, but these were not PRCs. Evidently a few were not even from Eagle-Lion, the films owned through liens from Pathé Laboratories.

Ten Eagle-Lion titles made between 1946–1949 that were still owned by Pathé Industries’ successor, Chesapeake Industries, Inc., were sold in 1954 for $300,000 in a five-year deal with Hygo Television, including theatrical rights: “The Amazing Mr. X” (“The Spiritualist”), “The Big Cat,” “The Black Book” (“Reign of Terror”), “Down Memory Lane,” “Lost Honeymoon,” “Man from Texas,” “Mickey,” “Port of New York,” “Trapped,” and “Tulsa.”

Hygo was absorbed into Screen Gems, Columbia’s TV subsidiary, which continued to distribute seven of the films after their initial lease. These are owned by Sony (Columbia) although, oddly, the copyrights were never renewed.

Four other Eagle-Lion titles made between 1947–1948 were acquired by the Bank of America in foreclosures on the indie companies that made them: “Hollow Triumph” (“The Scar”), “Let’s Live a Little”, “Northwest Stampede”, and “Ruthless.” Favorite Attractions, Inc. reissued the films in 1953 on a five-year lease. These are now owned by Paramount.

It was reported that UA’s rights included television wherever Eagle-Lion contracts so specified, but at the time the company was not interested in that medium—it was sink or swim for UA at the box-office. UA was not distributing feature films to TV at the time anyway, adopting a hands-off policy like the other major outfits.

In late 1950, Eagle-Lion stated that all contracts with producers would carry clauses for TV rentals, with the company’s cut being around 10%. This after 18 months to two years following theatrical runs. The lucrative, ever-growing TV market at the time now made the inclusion of TV clauses normal practice.

In early 1951, Eagle-Lion president, William C. MacMillen, said he was disappointed that Flamingo Films, to which he had sold a group of negatives, decided to sell them to TV instead of reissuing them. He said a no-TV clause will be put into the sale of negatives in the future.

With Eagle-Lion initially holding on to a number of “oldies,” and with all the PRCs previously sold and most of the other titles produced by independents whose rights would eventually revert, UA ended up with a very small permanent film library.

A major factor in UA’s small TV library is outlined in this item from Variety, February 13, 1952:

UA DROPS RIGHTS TO 150 PIX

MAKES WAY FOR
NEW PIC DEALS

In an unprecedented move by a distributor, United Artists shortly will return to producers releasing rights to about 150 pictures. These are films which the company has had in release for two years or more, but on which part of the seven-year term of the original distribution contracts is still valid.

UA maintains that the move is advantageous both to it and the producers involved, as well as to the makers of new films now going through the company’s distribution mill. Many of the indie pix being handed back to producers started into release via Eagle Lion, Film Classics and Eagle Lion Classics, and were added to the UA roster when it absorbed the product of ELC and its predecessor companies last spring.

Pix being turned back by UA not only have been in release for a considerable period of time, but are bringing in only negligible income, if any, each week. UA feels that it will be to the producers’ advantage in retrieving distribution rights in that the owners then can make new deals with indie or reissue outfits that might be able to give the product more attention. Also, the producers will be free to get what money they can through television deals.

UA’s idea in laying off the films is twofold. First point is the company’s claim that it is costing it money merely to keep these films on the books. Records on them must be carried on them by accounting and other departments week after week, while there’s no income or prospect of income to merit such continued attention.

Help on New Product

Distrib’s second point in getting rid of the excess baggage is that it will help producers of more recent films and upcoming new product. Reason is that the sales force will not be bogged down with a lot of old and minor pix and thus will be able to concentrate more on the recent stuff.

Producer will have the option in each case as to whether he wants to accept UA’s offer to abrogate the distribution contract. Pacts naturally will remain in force unless both parties agree to cancel them. However, it appears there would be little advantage to a producer to leave his pix with UA, since it is obvious that the distrib would hang on to them if it thought there was any coin left in them.

“Operation shelf-clearing”—as it has been dubbed—has been going on for some weeks as UA execs go through contracts and lists to determine which pix should be handed back. Process is not simple, since UA got a tremendous bulk of films from ELC. Other than that, in the past seven years UA has probably taken no more than 200 pix.

Move is part of the scheme of UA’s new management, headed by Arthur B. Krim, to scale the company down to essentials and streamline its distribution for top results.

UA-TV—a generic company name to simplify things—released nine Eagle-Lion features in 1956 and one in 1957. Six others were released in 1958, these coming into their possession through another distributor absorbed the same year, although first released to TV in 1954.

Three other titles came to UA-TV between 1960–1963, otherwise the Eagle-Lion films were in the hands of various independent TV distributors.

Some of the films released by UA-TV and other distributors were committed at the time of UA’s purchase and were never actually branded as Eagle-Lion, since they had not been released or were still to be completed.

An example of this is “The Big Night” which started production over a month after the sale, and was probably the last Eagle-Lion film to be made at their own studio. UA inherited the indie, which was slated to be an Eagle-Lion release.

Matthew Fox testified in a lawsuit, initially filed in 1952, that television rights were not mentioned in his negotiations with Pathé during the Eagle-Lion sale. The lawsuit was started by four independent companies charging inadequate distribution of their films by Eagle-Lion and “wrongful” assignment to Fox’s MPTV. The lawsuit was settled in 1958, although the films disappeared from TV for many years after MPTV handled them.

In late 1948 Eagle-Lion closed its studio, which briefly reopened in the summer of 1949 to make three films. The company then ceased production, relying solely on independents, usually with some in-house financing. A few later Eagle-Lion films were made at the studio, but it was operating as a rental plant, used more for office space and storage than actual film production. In late 1951, with the facility tidied up, all six stages were being used exclusively for TV production.

PRC’s 1945–1946 and PRC/Eagle-Lion’s 1946–1947 programs, and a good portion of its 1947–1948 program, would eventually be in the hands of Matthew Fox, who personally negotiated the UA deal with Pathé over a period of three days, which was signed on April 11, 1951. UA officially assumed ownership on April 28, 1951.

But, as mentioned, the entire PRC library was already disposed of previous to UA’s purchase.

Not touched upon, however, is that 16mm domestic rights to the entire PRC library were still with Pictorial Films, Inc., a Pathé subsidiary at the time of the sale. Pictorial was sold to the newly formed Motion Pictures Unlimited, Inc., helmed by Pictorial’s former president, in November 1951 but retained the company name. Pictorial had rights to about 375 features and 250 shorts at the time.

Motion Picture Daily’s preliminary inventory, citing 177—untitled—American features acquired from Eagle-Lion Classics, appears to be accurate, the source obviously including the smaller library of the former Film Classics.

With the creditors of Film Classics embroiled in a lawsuit with Eagle-Lion Classics, not settled until 1959, many of the former’s films were not available to UA after the sale. The older films were “liquidated” anyway, having little or no box-office value to UA.

Essex Films, Inc. was a short-lived company formed in early 1950, helmed by former PRC president Harry H. Thomas who left the company in August 1947, when PRC was absorbed by Eagle-Lion. Thomas left to pursue independent production for Eagle-Lion—under his Equity Pictures banner—and, with his theater interests, distribution.

The firm had 51 PRC/Eagle-Lion titles, 40 of which are listed herein as PRC. Essex initially planned to reissue the films but there was more money to be made with TV, especially with the increasing prices for broadcast rights.

The 51 films were actually purchased outright from Eagle-Lion by Flamingo Films in 1950 for $250,000, Essex apparently operating as a subsidiary company of Joseph Harris, a millionaire-industrialist who bankrolled and was advisor of MPTV during its inception and a co-founder of Flamingo in March 1949.

Included were PRC/Eagle-Lion’s entire 1946–1947 program of American-made films except two titles, and almost half the American 1947–1948 program; three were from the 1948–1949 program which had no PRCs.

Part of the film package, which started appearing on TV in January 1951, included 23 PRC Eddie Dean and Lash LaRue westerns, most produced by Harry H. Thomas’ son, Jerry Thomas.

The Eagle-Lion, non-PRC titles in the Flamingo-Essex block were: “Adventures of Casanova,” “Assigned to Danger,” “Behind Locked Doors,” “The Cobra Strikes,” “In This Corner,” “It’s a Joke, Son!,” “Love from a Stranger,” “Out of the Blue,” “The Red Stallion,” “Red Stallion in the Rockies,” and “Repeat Performance.”

Flamingo’s origins go back to 1946 with the formation of Film Highlights, Inc., which acquired domestic 16mm rights to 50 features, four serials and a large number of shorts and cartoons from Universal Pictures. In 1948, with Joseph Harris as board chairman, Film Highlights set up a TV division, Television Highlights, Inc.

Helmed by Seymour Weintraub, Television Highlights initially acquired a group of British shorts that Joseph Harris was planning to sell in the 16mm field. Along with Weintraub’s friends, David Wolper and James Harris (Joseph’s son), they sold the films to the 15 stations operating at the time. By mid-1950, besides features, Flamingo also had 10 serials and various shorts and cartoons.

Film Highlights, it should be noted, was formed by Martin Ross, who co-founded National Television Associates, Inc. in 1954.

Not part of the Eagle-Lion sale was their Hollywood studio, which PRC had purchased in August 1943 from a subsidiary of Western Electric, the plant previously known as the Fine Arts Studio and before that the Grand National Studio. Chesapeake Industries, the new name for Pathé Industries in April 1952, would sell the 4½-acre, six-stage plant in late 1953.

The Grand National Studio in 1937, purchased by PRC in 1943 for $305,000 in cash. William C. MacMillen, Eagle-Lion president, in 1950: “Our company is going to avoid the errors of the past. It is foolish to make pictures just because you have a studio which is costing money. All you do is multiply your losses.”

Previous to selling their studio, the company incorporated a subsidiary in February 1952, Pathé TV Corp., with plans of producing, distributing and financing syndicated film programs. Tentative production plans were announced but the company quickly faded.

In December 1953, MPTV bought out Flamingo and the two companies parted ways. Eliot Hyman revived AAP—which had earlier formed the core of MPTV—on his own in August 1954, the company’s film library now greatly diminished.

Matthew Fox’s MPTV now owned Flamingo-Essex’s PRCs and much of AAP’s former library, including the Telinvest PRCs, the films all part of his Western Television Corp., a holding company formed in 1952.

The founders of Flamingo, who reportedly made a bid to take over Eliot Hyman’s Telinvest in 1951 before merging with AAP, aligned themselves for a few months in 1954 with the fledgling National Telefilm Associates. Flamingo was then revived in April as a subsidiary of Joseph Harris’ newly formed Essex Universal Corp., or The Harris Group as it was also known.

MPTV’s name would more or less disappear when Guild Films Company, Inc. became the sub-distributor of the library in February 1955, through its MPTV Films, Inc. subsidiary, under license by Western Television Corp. The latter was sold outright to C. & C. Super Corp. in April 1955, and in 1958 Western became a division of Matthew Fox’s Television Industries, Inc., formerly C. & C. Television Corp.

Incorporated in August 1950, Film Vision Corp. was run by Jerome Balsam, the son-in-law of Armand Schneck. Very much a family affair, Balsam was also supervisor of Madison Pictures’ state rights exchanges, formed to reissue the company’s 230 PRC titles.

Other companies involved in the corporately entwined family of Schneck-Balsam, which included Jules B. Weill and Alexander J. Beck (another son-in-law of Armand Schneck): B. & B. Pictures Corp., J. & J. Pictures Corp., and Commodore Pictures Corp.

In early 1948 Balsam assigned TV rights to the 1940–1941 and 1941–1942 PRC programs to Budd Rogers, who leased them to Ziv Television Programs, Inc., a newly formed subsidiary of the Frederic W. Ziv Company, which previously handled only radio transcriptions.

Radio Daily Tenth Annual Edition of “Shows of Tomorrow” — 1949–50:

An attractive list of 42 [sic] Features and 35 Western films produced since 1941. All processed by Ziv exclusively for TV on 16 mm. film. The list offers comedy, mystery, thrillers, dramatic selections—such as “Reg’lar Fellers,” with Roscoe Ates, Sarah Padden, Billy Lee and Carl Switzer—“Law of the Timber” with Marjorie Reynolds, Monte Blue and J. Farrell McDonald, etc. Western group include 35 films such as “Billy the Kid” series, Lone Rider, Frontier Marshalls [sic]. Each film has been carefully selected and processed and offers good family entertainment, for an excellent programming selection.
Availability: Film.
Running Time: 60 minutes.
Client Suitability: All types.
Cost: Based on market.
Number of Episodes Available: 42 Feature films & 35 Western films.
Audition Facilities: Film.
Date Created and/or Produced or Filmed: Produced exclusively for TV.
Submitted by: Ziv Television Programs, Inc., 1529 Madison R., Cincinnati 6, O.

Radio Daily, March 1, 1948, reported Ziv’s acquisition of the PRCs in one short sentence, devoid of any fanfare, stating the company “acquired tele rights to 76 full-length movie features.” Film Daily, February 27, 1948, erroneously reported Ziv’s 76-film acquisition as “from several distributors.”

Ziv granted ABC the right to “transmit” 41 of the films to their stations on an 18-month lease, the first film debuting at 8:30pm, October 2, 1948, on WJZ-TV, New York, ABC’s first owned-and-operated station.

In 1952 Ziv, which was concentrating on TV production, then turned the leased rights over to the newly formed Hygo Television Films, Inc.

With the agreement’s seven-year expiration the films returned from Hygo to Jerome Balsam, who formed MC Pictures, Inc. by at least 1953 with Jules B. Weill, a seasoned TV distributor. Billboard, February 19, 1955, unbiased by the little studio, called it “One of the history-making packages of features and Westerns in TV.”

For accuracy all the Madison Pictures reissue dates have been culled from an updated National Screen Service Poster and Accessories Number Log, referenced as NSS herein.

Beware of the IMDb—“a modern source” as the American Film Institute likes to call it—for these reissue dates since, for example, it lists “The Fighting Vigilantes” with a 1949 reissue by Madison but the film was from the 1947–1948 program, part of the Essex/Flamingo package; Madison had no rights.

The NSS Log is much more accurate.

After “Texas Renegades” was completed in late December 1939, productions by Producers Pictures Corp. ceased due to a financial crisis, and resumed as Sigmund Neufeld Productions, Inc. in mid-April 1940 with “I Take This Oath.”

Producers Distributing Corp. became Producers Releasing Corp., although in no way corporately connected with its predecessor. Pathé Laboratories held first lien for laboratory work and negative costs on the seven features made by the bankrupt company, with Pathé and other creditors paid from the films’ income at the box-office.

Listed in order of production, initially released by Producers Distributing Corp., the films are “Torture Ship,” “Hitler—Beast of Berlin” (and its variants, “Goose Step,” “Beast of Berlin” and “Hell’s Devils”), “Buried Alive,” “The Invisible Killer,” “Mercy Plane,” “The Sagebrush Family Trails West,” and “Texas Renegades.”

Four titles were listed in the NSS log as Armand Schneck instead of Madison: “Hell’s Devils,” “Mercy Plane,” “The Sagebrush Family Trails West,” and “Texas Renegades.” Of these all but “Hell’s Devils” were listed in the NSS log with their original release dates for some reason. The other three films, “Torture Ship,” “Buried Alive” and “The Invisible Killer,” were not listed but the NSS Log is far from complete; these have been confirmed as Madison reissues.

A 1963 edition of the TV Feature Film Source Book, published by the Broadcast Information Bureau, lists the distributors of “Torture Ship,” “Buried Alive,” “The Invisible Killer,” “Mercy Plane,” “The Sagebrush Family Trails West,” and “Texas Renegades” with question marks or the films are not included.

A 1971 edition lists all seven films as being handled by Trans America Film Corp., which acquired Madison’s film library, what was left of it, in 1966. Their inclusion, however, is clouded because by 1971 all the films were in the public domain and any distributor could lay claim to them.

The only other edition I have access to, from 1972, creates more confusion: three of the titles are listed with question marks; two as TAFC; one omitted; and one handled by Winters/Rosen Distribution Corp.

Although the copyrights were never registered, without a copyright renewal a film’s true owner can get murky. But TAFC was the successor-in-interest to the early PRC library, and evidence suggests a valid claim to the seven films.

Note that Trans America Film Corp. never renewed the copyrights on what it acquired from Madison, the films due for renewal under the former’s ownership. TAFC was run by Clarence Elvin Feltner, Jr., who amassed a huge film library for his broadcasting interests—most of it with expired copyrights.

After Madison acquired the first block of films in 1945, Film Daily reported, “Included among the product are the 1940–1941 and the 1941–1942 programs of PRC,” perhaps inferring there were other titles. But this first contract did not include the seven films, nor were they included in Madison’s two subsequent contracts with Pathé.

When the 1940–1941 and 1941–1942 programs—41 features and 35 westerns according to the contract—returned to Jerome Balsam in 1955, the trades reported 80 titles in the package: 45 features and 35 westerns.

The four additional titles were “Convention Girl,” “Flirtation,” “White Heat,” and “Hell’s Devils,” the first three released in 1934, unrelated to PRC of course. “Hell’s Devils” was the retitled “Hitler—Beast of Berlin,” which Armand Schneck reissued in 1947.

The Billboard, June 21, 1952:

Three Motion Pix Are
Made Available for TV

NEW YORK, June 14.—Three motion picture feature films, independently produced between 1934 and 1936, are being made available for TV for the first time via A.S. Productions here. At the same time, the firm is issuing for general release the Alan Ladd film “Hell’s Devils.” This full-length theatrical feature was edited down to one-hour length and shown on the Schlitz Playhouse series last fall. Three films being made available for TV for the first time are “Flirtation,” “Convention Girl,” and “White Heat.”

A.S. Productions would have been Armand Schneck Productions, another one of his corporate entities, although apparently never mentioned in any other trade journal.

A 1963 edition of the TV Feature Film Source Book lists the four releases by A.S. Productions as part of the MC Pictures library. The total, 80 features, is reflected in the advert above, published in the 1956 International Television Almanac.

As listed in the advert, 39 of the PRC titles were edited into 30-minute featurettes.

Most of the 1939–1940 program was on TV by 1950, and all by 1951, coinciding with the formation of Film Vision Corp.

Film Vision is listed in the 1952 Motion Picture Production Encyclopedia, published by The Hollywood Reporter, with 51 features and 37 westerns. The contract, however, was for 40 features and 34 westerns.

Sponsor’s Fall Facts Basics, July 1956, lists Film Vision with 48 features and 36 westerns, those numbers repeated in the 1965 International Television Almanac. Yet the 1963 TV Feature Film Source Book lists, with titles, only the 40 features and 34 westerns in the contract.

So Film Vision was distributing at least 10 additional titles, which I suspect were the other six features in the 1939–1940 program. But TV rights could have been with a company not affiliated with Schneck.

Their ownership and TV distribution remains a gray area. There is, however, strong evidence that Armand Schneck did acquire all seven films in Producers Distributing Corporation’s 1939–1940 program.

Film Vision’s two-page advert in the September 1950 issue of Television Magazine, which listed many of the company’s PRC titles. The contract was for 40 features and 34 westerns. Sponsor, September 2, 1950, stated the company had 36 westerns, and I can not help but think the extra two were “The Sagebrush Family Trails West” and “Texas Renegades.”

An advert for Associated Artists Productions, Ltd. in the April 17, 1950 issue of Broadcasting-Telecasting. The fine print states “Also sole distributor for WILTON PICTURES, INC.,” the holding company for the TV rights of Madison Pictures’ third contract, although corporately unrelated.

The majority of AAP’s library was from Monogram and PRC, advertised in February 1950 as “the largest catalog of Hollywood-produced-film for television.” Sponsor, July 17, 1950, listed the company with 270 features and 98 westerns, a number that would grow to about 500 features by early 1951.

In April 1950, WPTZ, Philadelphia, purchased over 200 features from AAP, in what Billboard called “the largest film deal ever consummated by a local television station.” The total was 232 features (32 were westerns), excluding 66 westerns previously sold to the station by AAP.

Associated Artists was formed in 1949 by Eliot Hyman, but he had been making sales to New York stations previously under the Eliot Hyman, Inc. name. Hyman entered the motion picture business through International Theatrical and Television Corp., formed in 1944 by George Hirliman in association with a group headed by the former.

ITTC was created to exploit what would be a post-war boom in 16mm activities, with plans of forming a state rights exchange system, manufacturing projectors and pre-fabricated theaters, and acquiring various film libraries for TV and their 16mm outlets.

In January 1946 the company was advertised as having “the largest 16mm sound library in the world,” with 3,000 titles of shorts, serials and features.

In 1945 ITTC acquired Walter O. Gutlohn, Inc., formed in 1933, a prominent 16mm distributor which handled Monogram and a few other studios’ product. With the Gutlohn purchase, ITTC renamed the new subsidiary Film-Tel, Inc., both companies providing early TV stations with film product. They would weather financial problems early on and disappear in 1948.

Eliot Hyman’s initial library was 18 Monogram westerns from the 1930s, featuring Bob Steele, Bill Cody and Rex Bell, the TV rights purchased for $12,000. Coincidentally, perhaps, almost all the films were handled on 16mm by the former Walter O. Gutlohn, Inc.

Hyman, a friend of Steve Broidy, Monogram president, would soon purchase domestic and theatrical rights to a total of 199 Monogram titles, all owned outright by 1955. Hyman’s Telinvest would also acquire short-term TV rights to other films from Monogram before the studio pursued TV distribution in late 1951 through its Interstate Television Corp.

Much of the PRC library played on New York television years before Ziv acquired the first block in 1948. These early broadcasts are not related to the distributors listed herein.

Steve Broidy, former Allied Artists president, stated in a 1974 interview that PRC “sold 171 negatives for $1,750 apiece,” which has to be related to the Armand Schneck deals. The 230 PRC pictures, however, cost Schneck $850,000—about $3,695 apiece.

Even before the April 21, 1949 contract for the 1944–1945 and 1945–1946 programs, many of the films were on TV, as reported in this news item from the Television Daily section of Radio Daily, December 29, 1948:

Did Not Release Films
To CBS—Eagle-Lion

Deals by which Producers Releasing Corp. features and westerns for the 1944–45 and 1945–46 distribution years are finding their way to CBS outlets are not being made by Eagle Lion, although the latter absorbed the original Robert R. Young film company, it was said by an E-L spokesman yesterday.

Eagle Lion, it was pointed out, was definitely committed to a policy of not making its pictures available to tele stations. Further, it was said, those PRC pix which have been scanned by CBS in New York, were regarded by E-L as out of release.

Film sources noted yesterday that PRC distributed a variety of indie product under varying deals, and that undoubtedly in some cases rights had reverted to the original producers.

However, it was evident that CBS had negotiated with a single source for the 22 features and 24 westerns reportedly involved in the leasing deal covering its own affiliates. Presumably, each station constitutes a separate rental.

And this item from Variety, December 29, 1948:

EL’s 46 Features
For Video Stir
Exhibitors’ Ire

Disclosure that Eagle Lion has booked a group of 46 features for transmission on CBS television stirred up a hornet’s nest of exhibitor resentment this week. Irate exhibs were uncertain of the steps they could take to combat the deal but were vociferous in their charges that EL had done them dirt.

What sparked the exhib fire mostly was the fact that the deal represents the biggest to date for the use of Hollywood product on video and also marks the first time any established film company has sold pix for TV. All feature films made available previously to tele came either from indie producers, British producers (such as Sir Alexander Korda), or were oldies that were completely played out theatrically.

Such is not the case, though, with the EL group, exhibs claim. While all the pix were turned out originally under the Producers Releasing Corp. banner, some of them are still being played around. They pointed out that “Enchanted Forest,” which was transmitted by CBS-TV only Sunday (26) night, was released as recently as 1945 and still has plenty of theatre life left. Exhibs threatened to boycott the film entirely, pointing out that EL would only have cut its own throat if they decided on that course of action.

Package was sewed up several weeks ago, EL fearing at that time the exhibitor antipathy that has now exploded, made the network agree to keep it under wraps. Even when CBS officials last week confirmed the contract, EL execs both at the studio and the homeoffice still denied it. Pact calls for CBS to pay a flat rental for each of the films, with rental based on the number of stations showing each. In addition to “Forest,” the web has already played two others, including “Dixie Jamboree,” released by PRC in 1944 and starring Frances Langford and Guy Kibbee.

CBS emphasized it hasn’t bought the films outright for syndication, as was the case when the N.Y. Daily News’ WPIX bought a group of 24 Korda oldies. CBS has leased them only for its own affiliate stations. Pix include 22 features and 24 westerns.

April 21, 1949 was the execution date of Madison’s third contract, but was signed on December 31, 1948, the only one where it did not receive TV rights. With the contract’s execution in 1949, Pathé had assigned such rights earlier to KTTV, Inc., and then in perpetuity to Wilton Pictures, Inc.

At the time KTTV was co-owned by CBS.

Note the Variety item stating it was the first time any any established film company had sold pix for TV. ABC, however, had acquired 41 earlier PRCs (see above), the first film debuting on October 2, 1948. But the first national distributor was Monogram, which released a large block of films to the first commercially licensed station in the U.S., NBC’s WNBT, New York, in 1941.

Feature films on early television was summarized by Television Daily, April 3, 1947:

Western feature films released through the Producers Releasing Corporation, British made feature[s] handled by independent organizations and short subjects obtained through government sources here and abroad have comprised a great deal of television’s film fare. In New York, Advance Television Pictures, a distributing and booking organization representing many independent films, has done the bulk of the booking of television motion pictures.

Advance Television Picture Service, Inc., New York, incorporated in 1941 (but advertised itself as “serving the television industry since 1936”), was probably the first distributor created specifically for TV.

In 1942 the company, representing various film entities, had over 500 features—many of them silent—and 1,000 shorts available for telecasting, including at least two from PRC: “Billy the Kid Outlawed” and “Hold That Woman!”

Another early distributor was Equity Film Exchanges, Inc., formed in 1940 by Bernard H. Mills, a former Republic franchise holder in Upstate New York and Michigan. Equity operated as a state rights theatrical distributor, with exchanges in New York, Albany and Buffalo, but made some of its library available to what were experimental stations at the time.

The first Hollywood studio to release its backlog to TV was Monogram Pictures, which in November 1941 contracted with NBC’s WNBT, New York, for the company’s entire 1937–1938 program of 42 features. More would follow.

There were an estimated 5,000 sets—half of the 10,000 in the country—in use within the area served by WNBT, with between 450 and 600 in public places. The audience was estimated at 40,000 people in the New York metropolitan area.

PRC would follow Monogram in early 1945, the films likely handled directly through New York’s PRC exchange, a common practice at the time, since many features were booked to television through standard film exchanges. Except for Monogram, none of the companies were Hollywood studios. WNBT was equipped with both 16mm and 35mm projection.

Although a TV distributor, MC Pictures also dabbled theatrically in at least two pictures: “The Ghost of Rashmon Hall” in 1953, originally released in the U.K. in 1948 as “Night Comes Too Soon.” And “Code of the Underworld” in 1956, the film edited by David J. Cazalet from what was evidently an Italian production lensed with new scenes in English. The poster shown has the NSS number 55/211, and was initially previewed as “Murder in Villa Capri.” Tudor Pictures had taken over distribution of the film by 1958. MC Pictures’ sister company, Madison Pictures, also handled a non-PRC title in 1953, “The Big Break.”

Insight into feature film programming on early TV:

Television, May 1946:

Programming with film is certainly easier on the television station’s budget and facilities than live shows. But the problem of securing entertaining film, particularly of feature length, is exceptionally difficult. Understandably so, the major Hollywood motion pictures are not available to television. Other sources, such as film libraries run by smaller companies, independent releases, and shorts and documentaries have been used. But even while these companies offer an extensive and impressive list of short subjects, only a small percentage are available to television. And according to Worthington C. Minor of CBS, “Of the films that are available to television, only about one in ten is really interesting. A lot of the stuff that is offered is hardly worthwhile if one maintains high standards.”

[...]

NBC’s thinking along these lines was also reflected in John Royal’s trip to Hollywood to line up movie studios—and the apparent fact that the majors are not interested in competing with their theatre outlets by furnishing films for the home viewers.

[...]

Most full length features are not available until a time period of at least ten years has elapsed—and even then most of the majors will not release their output to tele[vision]. This creates an instant problem of dating, in fashions, buildings, vehicles, etc.

However Western films are quite cheap and plentiful. Even the modern ones follow the same themes and background and fashions in clothes are not too obviously dated. Period pictures, done in costume, also have this same advantage.

The Televiser, November-December 1946:

Interesting Facts & Figures
About Films For Television

The booking of films for television is a haphazard, “catch-as-catch-can” operation, it was found in a survey conducted by The Televiser. The result: poor choice of films; uncertainty over distribution sources; a total lack of standards.

The survey disclosed that television stations are booking feature length films (60 minutes to 2½ hours) at rentals ranging from $50 to $300, depending on a film’s age, the skill and experience of the film booker, the urgency of the distributor to realize what he can on the film, but very often on how good a deal the station makes with the distributor for a block of pictures, often holding out a promise—or hope—for the future.

Of film shorts (running 7 to 10 minutes), it was found that the stations are paying $10 to $25 (one station is said to have paid $100 for a 9-minute short). Many shorts, however, are included, at little or no charge, in picture deals involving feature films.

Film Distributors

The survey revealed that the stations are willing to buy from any and all film distributors. Some distributors are beginning to specialize in television films or are setting up special television departments. A majority however, are unmoved by television’s emoluments and prefer waiting until they can obtain better rentals for their products.

A majority of the film is booked through film exchanges and distributors in New York, Chicago, and Hollywood. WRGB in Schenectady, N.Y., reports that it also obtains films through Buffalo and Albany distributors. Station WBKB, Chicago, owned by an affiliate of Paramount Pictures, Balaban & Katz, strangely enough, receives no pictures, not even stock shots, from its parent companies. The station depends almost entirely upon Ideal Film Company, Chicago, for what little film it uses, paying rentals of $17.50 for pictures running approximately 20 minutes.

Principal distributors of films for television in New York City are: Hoffberg Production[s], 620 9th Ave.; Film Equities Corp., 1600 Broadway; International Film Foundation, 1600 Broadway; Television Film Industries Corp., 340 3rd Ave.; Nu-Art Films, Inc., 145 W. 45th St.; Advance Television Pictures Service, 729 7th Ave.; Astor Exchange, 630 9th Ave.; and RKO-Television Corp., 1270 Avenue of the Americas.

For stock shots, used in 1-minute commercials, transitional and mood-setting scenes, the principal source is the General Film Production Corp., 1600 Broadway, New York City. They boast “the largest stock shot library in the country, with millions of feet of indexed negative and positive films, with scenes of almost every conceivable description.” The rate for 16mm. film is 40 cents a foot.

For cartoon animation, animated maps, technical animation, three dimensional photography, titles and trailers, the services of Cineffects, Inc., 1600 Broadway, are available to television producers.

For news shots and shots of historical events, Pathe News (affiliated with RKO Film Corp.), at 625 Madison Avenue, has footage available.

Types Preferred

Regarding types of film, NBC reported that period pictures are preferred. It seems that the vintage of such film, with its period costumes and settings, is not as strikingly apparent to the television audience as others produced five to ten years ago, typical of those booked by most television stations. Mystery dramas, because of their abundance of closeups, also rate highly.

WABD-DuMont, on the other hand, leans heavily toward westerns, especially for Friday nights, with musicals a close second. Shorts are also popular, with the station using three a week.

All stations agreed that pictures with plenty of closeups are preferred to those with long shots. On today’s small screen, long-shots look like subjects viewed through the wrong end of a telescope.

Age of Films Obtainable

How ancient are most pictures on television today? Too ancient, it seems. NBC reported that few standard American films under five years of age were obtainable at rentals present budgets would allow. As a result, the average feature picture televised is from five to ten years old. British pictures of recent release, however, are more readily obtainable and are often used, they stated.

This is also the condition at WRGB, Schenectady, and other stations. The film booker at WABD-DuMont, however, reported progress is being made with small independent producers in obtaining pictures released under five years. One picture, Beware, featuring Louis Jordan, in fact, was shown on the DuMont network simultaneous with its being shown over Loew’s circuit in New York City. Deals of a similar nature, covering future releases, have also been concluded, it was reported.

Other Sources of Film

In addition to commercial distributors, the television stations obtain film through U.S. and State government sources, travel agencies, steamship companies, trade associations, colleges, foreign information bureaus, and produce some of their own film footage.

Available free to all stations are scores of good industrial films showing industry at work, turning out products for the American home and people. DuMont, however, has a policy of not showing industrial films, as they consider them advertising and do not want to set precedents that may prove embarrassing in the future.

WNBT, on the other hand, shows industrial films on its American Business on Parade series, a vehicle conceived by NBC to make use of interesting industrial films, and at the same time to derive revenue. WNBT receives from the producers regular airtime fees for the privilege of having their pictures televised in the series.

Radio Daily, May 20, 1947:

A check of the three New York stations [WNBT, WABD, WCBS] shows that film occupies about 30 per cent of the total air time, which includes, on the average, two feature films each per week. Remainder of the film schedule is made up of newsreels, sports shorts, etc.

The Televiser, July-August 1947, published a survey of film distributors and film production organizations of New York, Chicago, Detroit and Hollywood. In part, the article stated:

The survey reveals that there is a wide range of film rental figures now in effect, each distributor or film company getting what it can for its motion pictures although there is a trend to establish rental rates based on “sets in area” and “quality of motion picture.” Equity Film Exchange, which has been renting theatre motion picture type films to television stations since 1939, believes that rental fees depend upon the local station situation. In other words, a station serving an area with 500 sets with a potential viewing audience of 1,500 persons, should not pay the same fee as a station in an area with 3,000 sets and a potential audience of 9,000 persons. (Ed: Company assumes 3 viewers per set; television survey figures show 5 to 6 viewers per set). Rental fees, according this company also depend upon type of film, the star, and other factors which make a motion picture more or less desirable than the next film. Finally, rental fees depend upon the quantity bought, whether a single film is occasionally used or whether a package deal for film is set up.

Boxoffice, March 24, 1951, in an article titled “TV Using Films Too Fast; 1,300 Discards in 2 Years,” shown in part:

Now, as to those approximately 1,300 films telecast during 1949 and 1950. The total is based on a number of estimates and is pretty accurate. A breakdown shows comparatively few films that were once distributed by the majors. Leading the list numerically are played-out Monogram films with a total of 278. Old Producers Releasing Corp. films total 185 and old United Artists films total 126. That’s 589 out of the 1,300—a big representation for just three companies. Some of the original releasing dates of the films go back as far as 1929, many are in the 1930s and 1940s. There is only one 1949 film known. That is a British film originally released by Eagle Lion.

139 FILMS SINCE JANUARY 1

From January 1 to March 9, 139 additional films were shown by television stations. Of them, 33 were PRC releases, 22 were Monogram and only four United Artists. Eagle Lion, which had hardly figured in the past, was represented by ten. It has sold the rights to some old films to Flamingo Films, which is re-selling them to television.

John Mitchell, who handles special television advertising production for United Artists, told the writer a little over a year ago:

“Selling these old films to video is a dying business. When a station gets rid of them, it is just like getting rid of a worn-out suit of clothes.”

With the proliferation of new TV stations, feature film availability blossomed. Before the Hollywood majors began to release their backlogs to TV, the Broadcast Information Bureau, October 1954, reported the numbers. Sponsor, December 13, 1954:

3,046 features for tv: There are enough feature films available for television that a station could run one feature every day of the year for eight years without duplication. This is indicated in the latest issue of Tv Film Program Directory—Feature Film, published by Broadcast Information Bureau, which list 3,046 titles not counting Westerns. There are enough Westerns to run one daily for three years skipping Sundays—992 available for tv use.

The current directory does not list 500 feature film titles which have appeared in previous editions. Their quality, says Julienne (Judy) Dupuy, editor, is now judged insufficient for telecasting.

The directory, besides listing film titles, also lists the length of the film, a brief description of the plot, stars, whether in monochrome or polychrome, the distributor, whether 16 mm. or 35 mm., price and other data. Every film listed in the directory has been cleared for tv use, according to Miss Dupuy. BIB also publishes directories of free films available to tv, film serials, series and film packages, other directories.

At the end of 1963, BIB reported 10,427 features available to TV, including 1,228 westerns and 149 tele-features.

BIB was formed in 1951 by Joseph M. Koehler and his wife, Judy Dupuy, its various publications available only to those in the TV industry.

In mid-August 1947, Eagle-Lion acquired all of the exchanges of PRC, the name retained solely as a production trademark for Pathé’s lower-budgeted productions. Earlier, in April, E-L and PRC’s publicity and advertising departments were merged, the first move in their consolidation.

Ultimately some of PRC’s last films were released under the E-L banner but PRC appeared on the prints and advertising accessories. Conversely, four films were released as E-L but made for PRC, with no known reference to the company on the prints and accessories. These were made during or before the August 1947 transition and are listed in an addendum.

PRC would continue on into 1948, with Film Bulletin, January 5, 1948, commenting:

PRC, while still an autonomous group, recedes more and more into the background as Eagle-Lion expands its program. This unit may disappear altogether, or will finally come to be the permanent unit for the programmers which will be needed to fill out E-L’s schedule of releases.

Although “The Tioga Kid” is regarded as PRC’s final production, “Prairie Outlaws” appears to be the company’s swan song. Showmen’s Trade Review, November 1, 1947, reported PRC had started work on the film; Daily Variety, November 3, 1947, reported it had a record fast shoot, noting it as the final Eddie Dean for PRC.

The fast shoot for “Prairie Outlaws” was because additional scenes were filmed for inclusion into PRC’s “Wild West” (1946), a 71-minute Cinecolor production. The 57-minute, colorless “Prairie Outlaws”—which is not listed in the AFI Catalog or the IMDb—was always treated as an entirely separate film, with no mention of its origins in its copyright registration, press book and accessories.

Variety, March 3, 1948, gives insight into these productions:

Practical method in slicing production costs of westerns was shown the trade press last week in New York at a screening of an Eddie Dean oater, “The Hawk of Powder River.” At least three scenes, it was agreed by the reviewers, were lifted out of earlier Dean films and inserted in “The Hawk.” Same picture also uses four musical numbers, all of which were warbled by Dean in previous pix.

Dean westerns were made by Jerry Thomas for PRC release, but distribution was taken over several months ago by Eagle Lion. Late last year is was reported that one of the final Dean pix made for PRC was turned out in one shooting day with the footage padded out from other stock already on hand.

Western expert Boyd Magers sheds more light: “Prairie Outlaws” has about 13 minutes of new footage and “The Tioga Kid” about 15 minutes, the remainder taken from “Driftin’ River” (1946). Magers also notes that “The Hawk of Powder River” has quite a bit of footage from previous episodes in the series.

“The Hawk of Powder River” started production in early October 1947, followed by “The Tioga Kid” on October 17 under the working title “Prairie Outlaw.” Film Bulletin, November 10, 1947, reported that PRC put an Eddie Dean western into work this week, which must have been “Prairie Outlaws.”

“Prairie Outlaws” was released on May 12, 1948, and “The Tioga Kid” on June 16, 1948. Despite the confusion, and what exactly is fact, these were the final films under the PRC name.

PRC Productions, Inc. would continue on as a Pathé subsidiary into the 1950s.

Trans America Film Corporation, formed in 1965 by Elvin Feltner, purchased a majority of the PRC library in 1966 from the Armand Schneck-Jerome Balsam affiliate, B & B Pictures Corp. The deal involved 156 films.

Sold were the 1940–1944 programs, which totaled 150 features according to Madison’s first two contracts with Pathé. Included in the 156-film total were the six westerns reissued by PRC in 1947 as retitled four-reel featurettes known as Bronco Buckaroos.

Madison’s third contract, which did not include TV rights, was not part of the Trans America deal. The films therein were no longer with any Schneck-related company, the TV rights a deciding factor in the block’s ultimate ownership.

The Exhibitor, March 7, 1956:

Ruling Sets Precedent
In Theatre, TV Battle

New York—A State Supreme Court edict last fortnight, regarded as a precedent-making decision, guarded theatrical distribution rights from television exploitation by ruling that screening a film on TV, after granting theatre rights to another firm, is a violation of the latter’s contract.

The case in question involved an action brought by Madison Pictures, Inc., and its affiliates against Chesapeake Industries, Inc., in which Justice Samuel Joseph awarded $102,500 damages to the plaintiff, which had sued on the basis of its distribution contracts with former affiliates of the defendant, granting Madison theatrical rights to 228 films. The jurist ruled that, by selling the same films to television, Chesapeake had impaired the theatre value of the product contracted for by Madison. The decision was made despite a contract provision granting Madison all rights except TV ones, apparently recognizing the dilution of theatrical rights, when the same films are available on television.

The court held also that Chesapeake was responsible for damages for 16mm. exploitation by its former subsidiary, Pictorial Films, Inc., through sales to foreign territories in which the rights had been granted to Madison and by outright sales of 16mm. prints without restrictions as to territory. Also involved in the dispute were P.R.C. Pictures, Inc., Eagle-Lion Films, Inc., and Eagle-Lion Classics, Inc., all former affiliates of the defendant. Murray I. Gurfein represented the plaintiff.

The television portion of the lawsuit concerned Madison’s third contract with Pathé, whereby Wilton Pictures, Inc. and its successors owned the domestic TV rights in perpetuity.

Although the trades reported 228 titles were involved under the three contracts, the true number was 230 titles. Madison never had TV rights to the films “Follies Girl” and “Strange Holiday” but handled both for reissue, their rights expired by the time of the lawsuit.

National Telefilm Associates had 116 of the 296 titles listed herein as PRC, acquired under lease in 1965, all once owned by Matthew Fox’s Western Television Corp.

Despite reports that the entire PRC library is in the public domain, 81 of the PRC titles acquired by NTA in 1965 had their copyrights renewed. They are all now owned by Films Around the World, Inc.

NTA also renewed the copyright of “Strange Holiday,” now owned by Paramount.

As I summarized in my John Wayne filmography, slightly modified here:

Martin J. Robinson, vice-president and domestic sales manager of Matthew Fox’s Television Industries, Inc., was owed a great deal of money from Western Television. As payment, Robinson acquired outright a library of films from Western in May 1963, which included much of the PRC library.

Francis B. Robinson, presumably Martin’s brother, was also involved in the company—Link Industries, Inc.—which acquired the library from Western. The package of films was referred to in all of Films Around the World’s early notes as the “Link-Harris Library.”

Martin J. Robinson, who began his television career in 1953 as account executive with MPTV Syndication Corp., became executive vice-president in charge of operations for Western Television in 1956.

In June 1964, Harris Associates, Inc., helmed by Joseph Harris, purchased for $188,000 all rights to the library that the Robinsons had acquired from Western, with distribution rights sold to NTA in February 1965.

Note that Associated Artists Productions, Inc. briefly distributed these PRCs just before being acquired by NTA.

The library was sold outright to NTA by Harris Associates in mid-1972, forming the basis of what Classics Associates, Inc.—now Films Around the World—would own in 1985.

NTA’s rights expired on April 6, 1984.

Foreign rights to most, if not all, of Western Television’s PRC library were owned by Bon Ami Film Distributing Corp. How Bon Ami acquired those rights is a convoluted story related to the household cleaner.

Foreign rights to 170 films (not all PRCs) were acquired by Chatham Corp. from foreign interests represented by Satiris G. Fassoulis, whose Panamanian corporation, Icthyan Associates, S.A., purchased them from Matthew Fox in 1955.

Chatham Corp. was controlled by Alexander L. Guterma, a Siberian-born industrialist who purchased the Hal Roach Studios in 1958, including its TV and film properties.

In a series of complicated transactions involving TV spot time with Guild Films Company, which handled Matthew Fox’s MPTV library beginning in early 1955, Bon Ami Company ended up owning the foreign rights. Those did not include the U.S. and Canada, which Western Television held in perpetuity.

Bon Ami Film Distributing Corp. was run by Jackson E. Dube, someone previously experienced in TV distribution. In 1959 he was in charge of TV and radio time-buying for the advertising agency representing Bon Ami Company, and acquired their film interests.

Dube’s foreign and remake rights, later handled under his J.E.D. Productions Corp., were purchased by Films Around the World in 2010 from his widow and children.

Note that Elvin Feltner claimed—falsely to some—foreign TV rights to at least 45 of NTA’s PRC titles.

Foreign rights to the Schneck (B & B Pictures Corp.) titles were not sold, those handled in-house by Commodore Pictures Corp.

An advert for Guild Films—which was bankrupt by 1961—from October 20, 1956. The inset is enlarged for legibility, showing the extent of MPTV Films’ library at the time. The Johnny Mack Brown westerns, 21 in all, belonged to Vitapix, Inc., along with six starring Whip Wilson (not mentioned), the TV and theatrical rights purchased from Monogram. All the other features were MPTV’s, including the John Wayne westerns made for Monogram in the 1930s. The 65 WOMEN’S FEATURES are actually weight-loss half-hours. With the PRC and Eagle-Lion titles, MPTV’s library had 323 features in the advert’s generalized account.

The actual films in MPTV’s library was always somewhat of a secret, although Matty Fox stated in 1952 that the company had 750 films altogether, likely citing features. The exact total was revealed—at least at the time—in Western Television’s notice previous to a special meeting of stockholders in June 1955. Variety, May 11, 1955:

Notice contains a detailed description of Western’s film library, a matter about which [Matthew] Fox has been vague in the past. There are over 800 films in the library, of which 642 are full-length westerns and features, others being serials and shorts. Of these, Western owns 202 features outright and in perpetuity, 98 of them for tv and theatrical, 104 for tv only. Rights to 240 of the remainder, however, will expire during 1955 and 1956, with one package of 218 which expires in 1956 making the bulk of these. Rights for others run as far into the future as 1973.

All those set to expire in 1956 were from Monogram, acquired through Eliot Hyman’s company, Telinvest, Inc., previous to the formation of MPTV. The majority, 199 titles, would revert to Hyman who had owned them outright since 1955, but acquired earlier under lease. The other 19 films to expire in 1956 were all released theatrically in 1946.

Western still held on to a large block of post-1946 and—requiring compensation to the Screen Actors Guild—post-1948 Monogram titles acquired in 1951, through Telinvest on a seven-year lease, the 52 films to reach stations three years after their theatrical runs. Rights to the last film in the block, “Joe Palooka in Triple Cross,” expired in late 1961.

Western’s rights running up to 1973 were 16 Alexander Korda titles.

As Billboard, March 21, 1953, reported:

The complete list of feature films owned and distributed by Motion Pictures for Television has long been an industry “secret,” since the firm chooses not to reveal its full list to anyone.

Why MPTV was so secretive is open to speculation, but it could have been because so much of its library was comprised of films from two active studios, Allied Artists (Monogram) and Eagle-Lion (PRC), with very strong exhibitor resistance to television. At its peak, MPTV was distributing about 350 Monogram titles. Together with its 118 PRC titles, more than half of the library was from those two outfits.

By 1963, Western Television, a division of Television Industries, Inc., had only 189 features left in its library, of which 116 were PRC and 12 were Eagle-Lion, including “Two Lost Worlds.” Two PRCs that Western handled previously were not part of the package, “Swing Hostess” and “Danny Boy.”

Also included were 15 John Wayne starrers—one was missing—made by Lone Star Productions for Monogram; 11 former Republic indies from Walter Colmes and W. Lee Wilder; five from Film Classics and 14 other various features, notably two early Technicolor films, “Becky Sharp” and “Dancing Pirate.”

Guild Films relinquished the MPTV feature film library in November 1957, Matty Fox selling all his stock in the former which continued to fulfill contracts into 1958. Fox resigned as president and director of Television Industries—formerly C. & C. Television Corp., owner of RKO’s TV rights—in March 1961, devoting his full time to Tolvision of America, Inc., a subscription television company, formerly Skiatron of America, Inc.

As an interesting side note, Alexander J. Beck, who was involved in the Schneck-Balsam companies, also had his own entity: Alexander Beck Films, Inc. The company, formed no later than 1956, would eventually have TV rights to most of Grand National Pictures’ library.

Those rights were acquired from a group of companies helmed by Patrick E. Shanahan: Skibo Productions, Inc., Acus Pictures Corp., and International 16mm Corp. Shanahan, who headed the creditors’ committee for Grand National’s bankruptcy in 1940, ended up owning TV and theatrical rights to the former Mohawk Film Corp., created for disposing of Grand National’s assets.

Almost all the films handled by Alexander Beck Films would later be in the hands of Elvin Feltner’s Trans America Film Corp.

Alternate 16mm titles used by Pictorial Films, Inc., a Pathé subsidiary from 1945–1951, are included. Pathé announced in early 1947 that the sales and distribution of its 16mm product would be handled through PRC’s exchange system, which by that time the company owned outright its 31 domestic outlets.

Above is a poster from Pictorial Films showing PRC’s retitled “Frontier Crusader.” Generally associated with home users, most people saw 16mm releases in institutions or communities not served by a local theater, the films often presented by itinerant roadshowmen.

Six films appear without a post-1960 TV distributor: “Blonde Savage,” “Danny Boy,” “Follies Girl,” “Rodeo Rhythm,” “Swing Hostess,” and “The Return of Rin Tin Tin.”

Discounting the 1980s, when the copyrights had long-expired, and omissions on my part, “Blonde Savage” disappeared from TV after 1958; “Danny Boy” was edited into a half-hour 16mm release, “Adventures of Danny Boy”; “Follies Girl,” made at the Ideal Studios, New Jersey, seems to have never been released to TV; “Rodeo Rhythm” disappeared after 1953; “Swing Hostess” disappeared after 1959; and “The Return of Rin Tin Tin” disappeared after 1960.

Post-1960, however, Elvin Feltner claimed “Danny Boy,” “Rodeo Rhythm,” and foreign rights to “Swing Hostess,” which has a number of songs still under copyright, not unusual for the few PRC musicals but perhaps a factor.

Five of the nine Edward Small reissues announced in January 1947 for release by PRC are included; the number was actually ten since they were double-billed. Only six were released in 1947: “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Kit Carson,” “The Corsican Brothers,” “South of Pago Pago,” “The Man in the Iron Mask”—all branded PRC on their accessories—and “A Gentleman After Dark.” Slated for release in May 1947, “International Lady” was withdrawn. That film, “My Son, My Son!,” “The Son of Monte Cristo” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” had the NSS numbers 47/266, 47/297, 47/298 and 47/299, respectively, branded as PRC but assigned different numbers when first released in 1948, under the Eagle-Lion banner. Although “A Gentleman After Dark” has the NSS number 48/619, the film was released in November 1947, under the Eagle-Lion banner.

Such detail over reissues may seem pedantic but the corporate branding should be noted, as those cited were the only non-company reissues under the PRC name. The studio omitted their logo and simply branded them as “Re-released by Producers Releasing Corporation.”

Reports that “Hitler’s Madman” was produced by PRC are simply not true. The film, started as “The Hangman” in 1942, was made independently for $268,000 at a rental lot, the Fine Arts Studio, without any agreement for PRC to handle its distribution.

This myth was likely propagated by the fact that the production company, Angelus Pictures, Inc., used the Fine Arts Studio—which PRC rented in part and eventually purchased—along with some key production personnel associated with PRC.

MGM acquired the film’s distribution rights and shot retakes and additional scenes with several new players, briefly releasing it as “Hitler’s Hangman” before being retitled “Hitler’s Madman.”

“Voice in the Wind,” on the other hand, was made for PRC as “Strange Music” in 1943, by a contracted independent, Arthur Ripley-Rudolph Monter Productions, Inc.; filmed at the Talisman Studio—PRC’s main rental lot at the time.

Turned down for distribution by PRC as “too arty,” it was sold to United Artists—sans sound effects and music—through a bidding process with two other major studios. The film, retitled “Two Worlds” by PRC soon after completion, was expensive by their standards—$140,000 according to the company. UA purchased only the distribution rights, the film sold years later in a bank foreclosure.

Title changes for those PRC features edited to 15- and 30-minute shorts—or variations thereof—for early television or narrow-gauge are not included. In mid-1943, PRC acquired majority stock control of Official Films, Inc., which released on narrow-gauge some abridged films with new titles. As examples, “Seven Doors to Death” became “Vanishing Corpses”; “The Flying Serpent” became “Killer with Wings”; “Murder Is My Business” became “Occupation Murder”; and “Today I Hang” became “Seconds to Live,” among others. Otherwise television, reissue, U.K. and unabridged 16mm titles are included. (It appears that by 1949 Pathé had disposed of its stock in Official Films.)

The far-right column is the TV distributor in the 1960s and/or 1970s: TAFC (Trans America Film Corp.); NTA (National Telefilm Associates, Inc.); Prime (Prime TV, Inc.); SG (Screen Gems, Inc.); and TVCSC (TV Cinema Sales Corp.).

The second-to-last column is the U.K. distributor. PRC’s official distributor there was Pathé Pictures, Ltd., but other than five Eddie Dean titles—all in Cinecolor—the company did not handle PRC westerns. The other, non-Pathé, companies listed were the original distributors and had nothing to do with reissues; they were premieres in the U.K., some released ten years or more after their U.S. debuts. U.K. reissues are included only if the films were retitled.

A few films were submitted to the U.K. censor but never released; these have an asterisk (*) following the distributor. One film from Grand National and three films from Pathé were submitted but ultimately released by other companies years later; these have two asterisks (**) following the distributor.

For accuracy, the distributors have been culled from various editions of The Kinematograph Yearbook, Kine Weekly and The Monthly Film Bulletin; also used to verify releases were U.K. newspaper searches. Titles without a distributor were not known to have been released in the U.K., all of which are westerns.

The U.K. distributors other than Pathé Pictures, Ltd. are as follows: Adelphi Films, Ltd.; Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors, Ltd.; Associated British Picture Corporation, Ltd. (ABPC, which controlled Pathé Pictures, Ltd. Some sources erroneously credit distribution to Associated British Film Distributors, Ltd., a company unrelated to ABPC which at the time had its own distribution department besides Pathé Pictures); Butcher’s Film Service, Ltd.; Equity British Films, Ltd.; Eros Films, Ltd.; Exclusive Films, Ltd.; General Film Distributors, Ltd. (GFD); Grand National Pictures, Ltd. (GN); International Film Distributors, Ltd. (IFD, the successor to IFR); International Film Renters, Ltd. (IFR); Monarch Film Corp., Ltd.; New Realm Pictures, Ltd.; Jack Phillips Film Distributors, Ltd.; Renown Pictures Corp., Ltd.; Twentieth Century-Fox Film Co., Ltd. (Fox); and United Artists Corp., Ltd. (UA).

Note that most of these companies handled the PRC films after Pathé Industries had sold them.

There are 296 titles listed in the first table, including five Edward Small reissues and eight British productions whose copyright info and TV distributors are not included. All films noted as 1948 were made in 1947. Color productions are noted, and those with copyright renewals, excluding reissues and foreign films, have the copyright symbol (©).

The following list comprises the Eagle-Lion library, with 1947 and 1948 PRC titles in the main section included to illustrate how they were interspersed.

Titles are listed in order of their National Screen Service numbers which, as a rule of thumb, reflects the year of a film’s general release. This sorting method avoids the often messy and conflicting use of release dates, but does not reflect the literal order of distribution.

Some of the initial Eagle-Lion films were made for PRC but released under the former’s banner.

“The Red Stallion” was completed in late 1946 as a PRC production, but additional scenes went into production in late February 1947, the film then to be handled by her sister company.

“Linda, Be Good” and “Open Secret,” both made for PRC by contracted independents, have their accessories devoid of a distribution company, as if it was not yet decided whose banner the films would fly under.

“The Return of Rin Tin Tin,” listed in the main section, has Eagle-Lion on the print but PRC appears on its accessories. In the same section, “Heading for Heaven” lacks a distribution company on most of its accessories but Producers Releasing Corporation appears on its print.

The latter film, which started production as a contracted indie at the Motion Picture Center Studios on July 24, 1947, appears to be the last non-western credited to PRC on celluloid.

As Film Bulletin wrote on November 11, 1946: “The tie-up between this outfit [PRC] and Eagle-Lion still continues to provide confusion to all concerned, including the people within the two companies.”

“Sword of the Avenger,” filmed in Hollywood in English and Tagalog versions, seems to have disappeared from TV after 1958, so has no post-1960 distributor listed. The same for “Linda, Be Good,” which was re-edited with new scenes in 3-D and released in 1954 as “I Was a Burlesque Queen.” Also disappearing from TV after the 1950s was “The Return of Rin Tin Tin” and “Blonde Savage.” There were others.

Films under production during or after—those contracted previously—the United Artists purchase in April 1951 are included. The library is made all the more confusing with the absorption of Film Classics and Eagle-Lion’s demise soon after.

Film Classics titles are included only if they were not in release when the de facto merger with Eagle-Lion took place on June 12, 1950, although Eagle-Lion Classics was incorporated in New York state on June 7, and took over all of FC’s distribution contracts on June 10.

FC had eight new films lined up just previous to the combination, and not all the indie producers were willing to have their distribution agreements reassigned.

The titles “Black Jack” (“Captain Black Jack,” made in France), “Time Running Out” (made in France) and “The Wind Is My Lover” (“Gypsy Fury,” made in Sweden) were withdrawn and E-L never handled them. “The Vicious Years” was in release for a short time by FC but the producer pulled it after the merger, assigning the rights to Monogram.

Three of the eight titles ended up with E-L: “St. Benny the Dip,” “The Second Face” and “Mister Universe,” the latter still under production during the merger. The last film was the British-made “The Interrupted Journey,” which was handled by Lopert Films, Inc.

Another film slated for FC was the Mexican co-production, “Stronghold,” released in 1952 by Lippert Pictures.

“Time Running Out,” released in the U.K. as “Gunman in the Streets,” is listed in Film Bulletin as being released by E-L on October 31, 1950. There seems, however, to be no evidence whatsoever of an American release, although it was shown in Canada as “Gangster at Bay.” Initially slated to be handled by FC as “It Happened in France,” it is excluded from the list.

The group of new films was the major stumbling block holding the two sides from negotiating a corporate merger, as opposed to the physical merger which took place.

Near its demise, Film Classics was about to put out four Universal reissues which Realart Pictures owned—there were hundreds—under a ten-year lease, with two of those released three days after the merger. FC also had two reissues from producer Benedict Bogeaus lined up for June 30, 1950 but were pulled: “The Bridge of San Luis Rey” and “Captain Kidd,” both reissued in 1951 and 1952 by Astor Pictures and Lippert Pictures, respectively.

“The Bridge of San Luis Rey” was acquired by Astor from TV Pic, Inc., owned by Eliot Hyman, who also passed along two of his other Benedict Bogeaus pictures to the outfit for reissue in 1951, “Mr. Ace” and “Dark Waters.” All three would soon be owned by Matthew Fox and eventually end up in the library sold to Classics Associates (Films Around the World) in 1984, which included the latter PRC films. The reissue rights to “Captain Kidd” were acquired by Sol Lesser in 1952 and passed on to Lippert.

The two Universal reissues released three days after the merger, “One Night in the Tropics” and “The Naughty Nineties,” were the last films with Film Classics’ name on accessories. The other two Universal reissues, “Arabian Nights” and “Sudan,” were released on June 1, 1950.

Realart cancelled FC’s contract shortly after the merger, declaring the company in default because an assignment to creditors was made in court. Realart then signed a new deal with E-L for what was described as a flock of reissues. Most of them were acquired by FC in August 1947, comprising “approximately” 50 titles in a five-year distribution deal. FC would soon also acquire from Realart the reissue rights to six Universal serials.

Because of the new contract with EL in 1950, the two reissues released on June 1 are included. E-L did release six Universal reissues from Realart beginning in early 1948, in a deal initially signed with PRC around the same time as FC’s in 1947. PRC, however, did not put them into release.

Based on viewing accessories to verify their release by the company, Film Classics reissued at least 53 features and six serials from Universal-Realart, excluding the four titles released in June 1950. Besides 24 westerns starring Johnny Mack Brown, Ken Maynard and Bob Baker, and a number of other minor pictures, some were worthy of further exploitation by E-L. The titles:

“Back Street” (1941), “Badlands of Dakota” (1941), “Border Wolves” (1938), “Boss of Bullion City” (1941), “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935), “Broadway” (1942), “Buck Privates” (1941), “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie” (1941), “California Straight Ahead” (1937), “Cheyenne Roundup” (1943), “Cobra Woman” (1944; Technicolor), “Courage of the West” (1937), “Deep in the Heart of Texas” (1942), “Diamond Jim” (1935), “Eagle Squadron” (1942), “The Fiddlin’ Buckaroo” (1933), “The Flame of New Orleans” (1941), “Gang Busters” (1942; serial), “Gun Justice” (1933), “Gung Ho!” (1943), “Hit the Road” (1941), “Honor of the Range” (1934), “Idol of the Crowds” (1937), “Jungle Woman” (1944), “Junior G-Men” (1940; serial), “Keep ’Em Flying” (1941), “King of the Arena” (1933), “The Last Stand” (1938), “Law of the Range” (1941), “The Lone Star Trail” (1943), “The Man Who Reclaimed His Head” (1934), “Mob Town” (1941), “Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1932), “The Oregon Trail” (1939; serial), “Outlaw Express” (1938), “Overland Mail” (1942; serial), “Pony Post” (1940), “Raiders of San Joaquin” (1943), “The Raven” (1935), “Rawhide Rangers” (1941), “Ride ’Em Cowboy” (1942), “Riders of Death Valley” (1941; serial), “Scarlet Street” (1945), “The Singing Outlaw” (1937), “Smoking Guns” (1934), “Son of Frankenstein” (1939), “South of Tahiti” (1941), “The Spoilers” (1942), “Stormy” (1935), “Strawberry Roan” (1933), “Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground” (1943), “Tower of London” (1939), “Trail Drive” (1933), “Trail of the Vigilantes” (1940), “Western Trails” (1938), “Wheels of Destiny” (1934), “White Savage” (1943; Technicolor), “Winners of the West” (1940; serial), and “The Wolf Man” (1941).

With the demise of E-L, UA likely inherited the former’s reissue rights which expired probably in August 1952, since FC’s cancelled contract still had two years to run. Rights then reverted to Realart which re-released a number of the films beginning in 1953. William J. Heineman, UA’s distribution vice-president, stated there was a two-year limitation on contracts for the E-L reissues acquired, but did not specify if it was related to Realart.

Film Classics had five-year reissue rights to 24 Alexander Korda films, acquired in July 1946, which E-L distributed for a few months before 22 of them were contracted to Classic Pictures, Inc. in a three-year deal. The Korda reissues by FC: “Catherine the Great” (1934), “The Challenge” (1938), “Clouds Over Europe” (U.K.: “Q Planes”; 1939), “The Divorce of Lady X” (1938; Technicolor), “Drums” (U.K.: “The Drum”; 1938; Technicolor), “Elephant Boy” (1937), “The Four Feathers” (1939; Technicolor), “The Ghost Goes West” (1935), “The Jungle Book” (American-made; 1942; Technicolor), “Lydia” (American-made; 1941), “The Man Who Could Work Miracles” (1936), “Men Are Not Gods” (1936), “Murder on Diamond Row” (U.K.: “The Squeaker”; 1937), “The Private Life of Don Juan” (1934), “The Private Life of Henry VIII” (1933), “Rembrandt” (1936), “The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel” (1937), “Sanders of the River” (1935), “The Scarlet Pimpernel” (1934), “The Spy in Black” (formerly titled “U-Boat 29”; 1939), “That Hamilton Woman” (American-made; 1941), “The Thief of Bagdad” (1940; Technicolor), and “Things to Come” (1936). Although reported as part of the FC package, “Over the Moon” (1939; Technicolor) was never reissued by the company.

Film Classics also had eight-year reissue rights to much of the Hal Roach library, in a deal signed in August 1943, which included hundreds of the company’s shorts. With the contract expiring in 1951, E-L may have taken over distribution for a short time. The features, seven starring Laurel & Hardy: “Block-Heads” (1938), “The Bohemian Girl” (1936), “Pack Up Your Troubles” (1932), “Pardon Us” (1931), “Sons of the Desert” (1933), “Swiss Miss” (1938), “Topper” (1937), and “Way Out West” (1937).

A reissue outfit since its inception in April 1943, Film Classics distributed its first non-reissue in 1943, “Our Lady of Paris,” a documentary initially released by George Hirliman just before he co-founded the company with Irvin Shapiro and producer Edward L. Alperson. “I Was a Criminal,” made in 1941 as “The Captain of Koepenick,” was released in January 1945, although acquired by FC months earlier.

Also “A Boy, a Girl and a Dog” followed the same year, seeing limited distribution previous to being picked up in a few of the company’s exchanges and then shortly in all but two. And in 1947, “The Patient Vanishes,” a 1941 British picture starring James Mason, which technically was a reissue since Monogram gave it a limited release in 1942 as “Death Cell.” (Astor Pictures reissued “A Boy, a Girl and a Dog” in 1951 as “Lucky, the Outcast.”)

The producers and companies of which Film Classics handled their reissues, followed by the number of films: Walter Futter, 1; Gaumont-British, 36; Samuel Goldwyn, 31 (another, “Bulldog Drummond,” although announced was never reissued); Alexander Korda, 23 (another, “Over the Moon,” although announced was never reissued); Jules Levey, 2; Hal Roach, 8 features and 350–400 shorts; Selznick-Whitney, 7; and Universal (sub-licenced through Realart), 59 including six serials.

The Goldwyn reissues, acquired in 1944: “The Adventures of Marco Polo” (1938), “Arrowsmith” (1931), “Barbary Coast” (1935), “Beloved Enemy” (1936), “Bulldog Drummond” (1929; never reissued by FC), “Come and Get It” (1936), “Condemned to Devil’s Island” (formerly titled “Condemned!”; 1929), “The Cowboy and the Lady” (1938), “Dead End” (1937), “The Devil to Pay!” (1930), “Dodsworth” (1936), “The Goldwyn Follies” (1938; Technicolor), “The Hurricane” (1937), “I Was Faithful” (formerly titled “Cynara”; 1932), “The Kid from Spain” (1932), “Kid Millions” (1934; Technicolor sequence), “The North Star” (1943), “One Heavenly Night” (1931), “Palmy Days” (1931), “Raffles” (1939), “Ragged Angels” (formerly titled “They Shall Have Music”; 1939), “Resurrection” (formerly titled “We Live Again”; 1934), “Roman Scandals” (1933), “Splendor” (1935), “Stella Dallas” (1937), “Strike Me Pink” (1936), “These Three” (1936), “The Unholy Garden” (1931), “The Wedding Night” (1935), “The Westerner” (1940), “Woman Chases Man” (1937), and “Wuthering Heights” (1939).

The Selznick-Whitney titles, acquired in 1943: “Lady of Fortune” (formerly titled “Becky Sharp”; 1935; Technicolor), “Dancing Pirate” (1936; Technicolor), “Little Lord Fauntleroy” (1936), “Made for Each Other” (1939), “Nothing Sacred” (1937; Technicolor), “A Star Is Born” (1937; Technicolor), and “The Young in Heart” (1938).

The Gaumont-British reissues reported in the trades varied in number from 24, 30, 34 and 36 pictures. Accessories with Film Classics’ name on them are rare and, except for a few titles, it appears the company did not exploit most of them on a national level.

Notable of the G-B reissues, and FC’s first major bookings after being formed, were two Alfred Hitchcock films, “The Lady Vanishes” and “I Married a Murderer.” FC also reissued another Hitchcock title, “The Girl Was Young.”

An incomplete list of 29 G-B titles reissued by FC: “Climbing High” (1938), “The Clairvoyant” (1935), “Diamond Empire” (formerly titled “Rhodes”; U.K.: “Rhodes of Africa”; 1936), “Doctor Maniac” (formerly titled “The Man Who Lived Again”; U.K.: “The Man Who Changed His Mind”; 1936), “Dr. Syn” (1937), “Everything Is Thunder” (1936), “First a Girl” (1935), “The Girl Was Young” (U.K.: “Young and Innocent”; 1937), “Hara Kiri” (formerly titled “Thunder in the East”; U.K.: “The Battle”; 1934), “I Married a Murderer” (formerly titled “The Woman Alone”; U.K.: “Sabotage”; 1936), “I Was a Spy” (1933), “The Iron Duke” (1934), “It’s Love Again” (1936), “King of the Damned” (1935), “The Lady Vanishes” (1938), “Lisbon Clipper Mystery” (formerly titled and U.K.: “Non-Stop New York”; 1937), “Man of Affairs” (U.K.: “His Lordship”; 1936), “Man of Aran” (documentary; 1934), “The Man with 100 Faces” (U.K.: “Crackerjack”; 1938), “Nine Days a Queen” (U.K.: “Tudor Rose”; 1936), “Seven Sinners” (1936), “Silent Barriers” (U.K.: “The Great Barrier”; 1937), “Strange Boarders” (1938), “Strangers on a Honeymoon” (1936), “Three on a Weekend” (U.K.: “Bank Holiday”; 1938), “To the Victor” (U.K.: “Owd Bob”; 1938), “Transatlantic Tunnel” (U.K.: “The Tunnel”; 1935), “Waltz Time” (1933), and “You’re in the Army Now” (U.K.: “O.H.M.S.”; 1937).

The Jules Levey reissues, acquired in 1948: “The Hairy Ape” (1944) and “Jacaré” (documentary; 1942). And from Walter Futter, acquired the same year, “India Speaks” (documentary; 1933).

Despite reports to the contrary, FC did not reissue domestically a number of Hopalong Cassidy pictures. Film Classics International, however, had overseas theatrical rights to 35 of the 41 titles produced by Harry Sherman for Paramount. These were acquired from the films’ owner, George Hirliman, former president of FC, through his Western Pictures Corp. The 35 Hopalongs were reissued domestically by Screen Guild Productions, Inc.; the other six by Goodwill Pictures Corp.

International Optima Corp. took over the assets of Film Classics International in April 1947, the new company helmed by former FC executives. FCI also handled “Enemy of Women,” which explains why Film Classics’ name appears on the print in circulation.

By early August 1950, only 11 films—excluding reissues—were left of the group turned over to EL by FC. About another 12 were yanked from the latter and passed on to EL by the Chemical Bank & Trust Co., New York, which financed the pictures, only one of them new product.

Almost half of Film Classics’ ‘original’ library ultimately was owned by entertainment attorney Milton M. Gettinger who formerly was on the company’s board of directors and handled motion picture loans made by the Chemical Bank. Beverly Pictures, Inc. reissued 18 former FC films in 1953, all but three owned by Gettinger’s PC Corporation.

Gettinger reported that the films were all acquired “directly from the producers,” although Chemical Bank foreclosed chattel mortgages held on most of them. PC Corporation also owned “The Vicious Years” and “Mister Universe” at the time but were not re-released by Beverly.

Not all the Beverly re-releases had creditor issues. “Good-Time Girl,” for example, a J. Arthur Rank film originally planned as a 1948 Universal release, was not involved with the bank. Oliver A. Unger, co-partner in Beverly Pictures, owned the American theatrical rights.

The number of Beverly re-releases was announced in late 1952 as 16 titles, with two more brought onboard later, including “Alaska Patrol” which E-L continued to handle after August 1950, as it did with “Good-Time Girl.”

Earlier, in January 1952, Chemical Bank turned over five FC titles to WCBS-TV, New York, the films being handled by the newly formed TV Exploitation, Inc., a subsidiary of Beverly Pictures, with Gettinger as principal partner in the former. The films were “Blonde Ice,” “Four Days Leave,” “Inner Sanctum,” “The Lovable Cheat,” and “Sofia.” Even earlier, in August 1951, KLAC-TV acquired the films for the Los Angeles area in a one-year deal with Quality Films, Inc., the bank doing everything it could to recoup its losses.

Matthew Fox owned five FC titles, part of his Western Television Corp. package which included the newer PRCs: “I Was a Criminal,” “The Spirit of West Point,” “Appointment With Murder,” “Search for Danger,” and “Unknown Island.”

Half of the new FC titles (“Captain Black Jack,” “Time Running Out,” “The Vicious Years,” and “The Wind Is My Lover”), where the producers did not want the rights reassigned to E-L, were handled in the U.K. by International Film Distributors, Ltd. The company acquired the FC franchise in late August 1949, at the same time it took over International Film Renters, Ltd. (established in 1938) and renamed the company shortly thereafter.

IFD was helmed by the former managing director of UA in England, David Coplan, who was also involved in the Canadian company of the same name, which had the PRC and Hollywood E-L franchise for two years. That ended, coincidently, at the same time Coplan—a Canadian—and his partners formed IFD in England. Astral Films, Ltd. acquired the Canadian FC franchise in mid-1947, but the Canadian IFD would soon handle FC.

In January 1949, arrangements were made for 20th Century-Fox to distribute 12 FC features in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa: “Appointment With Murder,” “Blonde Ice,” “Daughter of the West,” “Devil’s Cargo,” “Inner Sanctum,” “Miraculous Journey,” “Money Madness,” “Sofia,” “State Department File 649,” “The Argyle Secrets,” “Unknown Island,” and “Will It Happen Again?”

The remainder of FC’s small library follows, reflecting the company under the helm of Joseph Bernhard, a former Warner Bros. executive, who bought into FC and became its president in January 1947. The company soon adopted a policy of new product, along with its staple of reissues, intending to “become a major distributing organization, offering complete facilities on a nationwide and foreign basis for top independent producers.”

Cinecolor Corp. acquired FC on October 14, 1947, and within a month the company owned all of its 26 exchanges, a process begun earlier. FC then set up offices at a rental lot, the Nassour Studios, with plans of full-scale production. Joseph Bernhard became FC’s sole owner on September 1, 1949, although had abandoned its lofty goals of in-house production in favor of indie product.

Joseph Bernhard’s son, Jack, directed six films for the company, including “The Second Face,” released by E-L. This was another title tied up in litigation as to ownership, with Sunset Securities Co. the ultimate winner in 1953.

The 36 films are listed in order of their NSS numbers although three are unknown. Following the notes with each film is the U.K. distributor: IFD: International Film Distributors, Ltd.; ABFD: Associated British Film Distributors, Ltd.; GFD: General Film Distributors, Ltd. (a J. Arthur Rank subsidiary); GN: Grand National Pictures, Ltd.; and NR: New Realm Pictures, Ltd. Those films owned at the time by PC Corporation are noted.

“The Spirit of West Point” (re-released in 1952 by Classic Pictures; 47/566; IFD [1952]) • “For You I Die” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 48/799; PC Corp.; ABFD) • “Women in the Night” (U.S.-Mexico; re-released in 1951 by Exploitation Film Distributors as “When Men Are Beasts”; 1960, by Tudor Pictures as “Curse of a Teenage Nazi”; TV title: “Captured”; ABFD) • “Furia” (Italy—in Italian; 48/811; IFD) • “Discovery” (documentary; 48/957; NR) • “Devil’s Cargo” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 48/982; PC Corp.; ABFD) • “The Argyle Secrets” (48/984; ABFD) • “Money Madness” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 48/1014; PC Corp.; ABFD) • “Blonde Ice” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 48/1078; PC Corp.; ABFD) • “Will It Happen Again?” (documentary; U.K.: “It Must Not Happen Again”; 48/1103; NR) • “Sofia” (U.S.-Mexico; Cinecolor; re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 48/1257; PC Corp.; ABFD) • “Miraculous Journey” (Cinecolor; re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 48/1258; PC Corp.; IFD) • “Inner Sanctum” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; PC Corp.; IFD) • “Unknown Island” (Cinecolor; re-released in 1952 by Classic Pictures; 48/1451; IFD) • “Appointment With Murder” (48/1466; IFD) • “State Department File 649” (Cinecolor; re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; U.K.: “Assignment in China”; 49/39; PC Corp.; IFD) • “Alaska Patrol” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 49/47; IFD) • “Daughter of the West” (Cinecolor; re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 49/75; PC Corp.; IFD) • “The Judge” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; U.K.: “The Gamblers”; 49/115; PC Corp.; IFD) • “Amazon Quest” (re-released in 1952 by M. & A. Alexander Productions as “White Bride of the Jungle”; U.K.: “Amazon”; 49/211; IFD) • “Search for Danger” (49/235; IFD) • “The Lovable Cheat” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 49/269; PC Corp.; IFD) • ““C”-Man” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 49/304; PC Corp.; IFD) • “Not Wanted” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 49/332; IFD) • “Lost Boundaries” (re-released in 1955 by Associated Artists Productions; 1961, by Mantle Pictures; 49/333; IFD) • “Project X” (49/582; IFD) • “The Pirates of Capri” (Italy-U.S.; re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; U.K.: “The Masked Pirate”; U.K. reissue: “Pirate Ship”; TV title: “Captain Sirocco”; 49/667; PC Corp.; GN) • “Frustration” (“Skepp till India land”; Sweden—in Swedish; 49/668) • “Guilty Bystander” (re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 50/44; PC Corp.; IFD) • “Cry Murder” (50/94; IFD) • “The Flying Saucer” (re-released in 1953 by Realart Pictures; 50/128; IFD) • “Four Days Leave” (Switzerland-U.S.; accessories were later branded as a Selznick release; re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 50/129; PC Corp.; IFD) • “The Vicious Years” (handled by Monogram Pictures after a short release by FC; U.K.: “The Gangster We Made”; 50/228; PC Corp.; IFD) • “Rapture” (Italy-U.S.; re-released in 1955 by Associated Artists Productions; U.K.: “Forbidden Rapture”; IFD) • “Congolaise” (documentary; re-released in 1952 by Lippert Pictures as “Savage Africa”; 50/362; IFD) • “Good-Time Girl” (U.K.; re-released in 1953 by Beverly Pictures; 50/363; GFD), released by FC on May 11, 1950—its last non-reissue.

The convoluted physical merger makes it difficult to accurately document all the FC titles involved, but at least 22 of the 36 films listed above were distributed by E-L. Since all were in release previous to the merger, E-L was doing mostly tail-end selling and servicing contracts already sold by FC. However, on August 4, 1950, E-L discontinued distribution of all FC product which the company had contracts, leaving about 22 films from those producers who reassigned the rights and those handed over through the intervention of Chemical Bank.

As such, the effective merger date of the two companies is the benchmark used for inclusion of FC’s product, which precludes the 36 films listed above.

“Slaughter Trail” was completed and slated as an E-L release, but with the sale new scenes were lensed afterwards to give it added production value. RKO handled its distribution instead of UA.

“The Man with My Face” was disputed between E-L and UA before the sale, the latter winning out. It was planned as a May 1951 release by E-L.

Also planned as a May 1951 release was the Italian-made “Volcano” starring Anna Magnani and Rossano Brazzi, helmed by Hollywood director William Dieterle. Reports that the film was also made in an English-language version are not true, although was expertly dubbed at a cost of $35,000.

All the other known films in the pipeline for release by E-L are included, a number of them yet to be made at the time of the UA purchase.

There is no evidence of the 47-minute documentary, “Death of a Dream,” being on TV.

“The Young Lovers” (“Never Fear”) was briefly released to TV by Artists Distributors, Inc. before Atlas picked it up.

“When I Grow Up” was on TV beginning in 1959 but the distributor is unknown. In the 1980s it was handled by Crystal Pictures. “Two Gals and a Guy” was on TV beginning the same year but the distributor is also unknown.

The early 1970s distributor of “Chicago Calling” is unknown. In 1963 it was being handled by UAA, but Warner Bros. purchased the film and renewed its copyright.

Some of the titles listed as MPTV ended up being pulled from distribution in 1953. The films were mired in litigation, charging inadequate theatrical distribution and “wrongful” assignment to television: “Alimony,” “The Cowboy and the Prizefighter,” “The Enchanted Valley,” “The Fighting Redhead,” “Heading for Heaven,” “An Old-Fashioned Girl,” “Parole, Inc.,” “Ride, Ryder, Ride!,” “Roll Thunder Roll!,” “Shamrock Hill,” and “Shed No Tears.”

All the films were related to producer Jack Schwarz, who won a settlement on five of the titles in 1958. The outcome on the other six is unknown; two were produced by Harry Thomas’ and Schwarz’s Equity Films, Inc. in which Vinson Corp. held half interest; the other four were the Red Ryder series which never appeared on television after MPTV handled them.

The far-right column is the TV distributor in the early 1970s unless noted; the preceding column, the earliest known distributor. The early 1970s is an ideal time because all the copyrights were still valid, the distributors handling protected rights not in the public domain.

The TV distributors: AAP‡: Associated Artists Productions, Ltd. (the original AAP before being reformed in 1954); AAP: Associated Artists Productions, Inc.; AA-TV: Allied Artists Television Corp.; ABC: ABC Films, Inc.; AE: Alan Enterprises, Inc.; Atlantic: Atlantic Television Corp.; Atlas: Atlas Television Corp.; Bagnall: George Bagnall & Associates, Inc.; Crystal: Crystal Pictures, Inc.; Flamingo: Flamingo Films, Inc.; Governor: Governor Television Attractions, Inc.; GT: Film Division of General Teleradio; Guild: Guild Films Company, Inc. (handling MPTV Films, Inc.); Hygo: Hygo Television Films, Inc.; Interstate: Interstate Television Corp. (Allied Artists’ TV subsidiary); Jayark: Jayark Films Corp.; M. & A.: M. & A. Alexander Productions, Inc. (‡ denotes the film was handled by M. & A., an NTA subsidiary, in 1971 but rights lapsed the following year and was not part of the NTA library); Medallion: Medallion TV Enterprises, Inc.; MPTV: Motion Pictures for Television, Inc.; NTA: National Telefilm Associates, Inc.; NTA‡: National Telefilm Associates, Inc., handled in 1971 by M. & A. Alexander Productions, Inc., an NTA subsidiary; Peerless: Peerless Television Productions, Inc.; Prime: Prime TV, Inc.; Quality: Quality Films, Inc.; Reade: Walter Reade Organization, Inc.; SATC: Schnur Appel Television Corp.; SG: Screen Gems, Inc. (Columbia’s TV subsidiary); Standard: Standard Television Corp.; TDC: Teledynamics Corp.; Telewide: Telewide Systems, Inc.; TVCSC: TV Cinema Sales Corp.; UA: United Artists Corp.; UAA: United Artists Associated, Inc.; UA-TV: United Artists Television Corp.; Unity: Unity Television Corp.; Video-Cinema: Video-Cinema Films, Inc.

The U.K. theatrical distributors: Adelphi: Adelphi Films, Ltd.; Anglo: Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors, Ltd.; Apex: Apex Film Distributors, Ltd.; BL: British Lion Film Corp., Ltd.; Butcher’s: Butcher’s Film Service, Ltd.; ELD: Eagle-Lion Distributors, Ltd. (a J. Arthur Rank subsidiary which merged with Rank’s General Film Distributors, Ltd. in October 1946); Eros: Eros Films, Ltd.; Exclusive: Exclusive Films, Ltd.; GCT: General Cinema Theatres, Ltd.; GFD: General Film Distributors, Ltd. (a J. Arthur Rank subsidiary); GN: Grand National Pictures, Ltd.; IFD‡: Independent Film Distributors, Ltd.; IFD: International Film Distributors, Ltd.; Monarch: Monarch Film Corp., Ltd.; Pathé: Pathé Pictures, Ltd.; Pathé‡: Associated British-Pathé, Ltd. (the successor to Pathé Pictures, Ltd.); RKO: RKO-Radio Pictures, Ltd.; Renown: Renown Pictures Corp., Ltd.; UA: United Artists Corp., Ltd.; Vigilant: Vigilant Films, Ltd.; WB: Warner Bros. Pictures, Ltd.

Pathé Pictures, Ltd., the distribution subsidiary of Associated British Picture Corp., Ltd., PRC’s U.K. distributor since 1940, was renamed Associated British-Pathé, Ltd. in January 1949. The company continued to handle Eagle-Lion until 1950, with “It’s a Small World” the last film released under the existing deal.

Eagle-Lion Distributors, Ltd. was merged with General Film Distributors, Ltd., a J. Arthur Rank subsidiary, on October 1, 1946, the new setup affecting only the U.K.’s distribution activities. GFD became the sole British distributor of Rank’s pictures, while Eagle-Lion remained as a Rank vehicle for Eastern Hemisphere distribution outside the U.K. In January 1951, Eagle-Lion Distributors, Ltd. was renamed J. Arthur Rank Overseas Film Distributors, Ltd.

In Canada, being part of the Dominion, Eagle-Lion operated differently than in the U.S. Empire-Universal Films, Ltd., the Canadian distributor for Universal and Republic, acquired the franchise for Eagle-Lion in July 1944, long before the latter became associated with Pathé Industries in December 1945.

Eagle-Lion Films of Canada, Ltd., a Rank subsidiary, was formed in July 1945, to handle the company’s British product while Producers Releasing Corp., Ltd. continued to handle PRC. In November 1947, the recently-formed International Film Distributors, Ltd. superceded the latter with all of its exchanges and personnel remaining intact to handle PRC and Hollywood Eagle-Lion.

In September 1949, all Hollywood and British Eagle-Lion product would then be handled by Rank’s Eagle-Lion Films of Canada, the company having assumed control of IFD’s franchise, likely on its inception in 1947. With the amalgamation, the latter’s president, David Griesdorf, then became general manager of the Rank-owned Odeon circuit in Canada.

With the sale of Eagle-Lion Classics, Inc. to United Artists in 1951, Eagle-Lion Films of Canada became J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (Canada), Ltd.

Hollywood Eagle-Lion, it is important to note, was never a Rank subsidiary like its Canadian counterpart. And Rank never owned any theaters in the U.S., unlike in Canada where the company acquired full control of the Odeon circuit in 1946.

Eagle-Lion Canada handled many of Rank’s films differently than in the U.S. What was handled there by Universal was released in Canada by Eagle-Lion, with the films likely playing at Rank-owned Odeon houses. The Canadian company released 43 British features in 1946 and 1947, the country more accepting of such product.

PRC in Canada also operated differently than its U.S. cousin, the country’s small population and vastness dictating the handling of other product in the company’s six exchange centers. Initially handling only PRC, soon it would take on the franchises of Film Classics, Screen Guild and British National Films, among others. As a general rule, PRC exchanges in the U.S. distributed only its own films.

With the formation of International Film Distributors, Ltd. in 1947, the Film Classics and Screen Guild franchises would go to the newly formed Astral Films, Ltd., helmed by former PRC Canada president, Harry J. Allen.

In February 1941, PRC signed a deal with British Empire Films Pty., Ltd. for the distribution of the company’s product in Australia and New Zealand. Rank, on a worldwide expansion program, acquired 50% ownership of British Empire Films and its theater circuit, Greater Union, in 1946 and the same interest in the Kerridge circuit, among other circuits and houses in both countries.

Other than Ealing Studios, an independent Rank affiliate releasing through BEF, Rank product in Australasia was physically distributed by 20th Century-Fox until early 1950, in a four-year deal signed—but implemented later—in 1944, when Fox was tentatively planned to be Eagle-Lion’s American partner. Fox co-owned the Hoyts circuit, Australia, and the Amalgamated circuit, New Zealand.

In June 1948, the first of Eagle Lion’s Hollywood product began being distributed by British Empire Films.

The first Eagle-Lion film to be handled in the U.K. by General Film Distributors under the reciprocal releasing deal was “Lost Honeymoon,” while the first in the U.S. by Eagle-Lion was the British-made “Bedelia.”

Eagle-Lion’s U.S. distribution deal with J. Arthur Rank, set to expire on December 31, 1951, was terminated by mutual agreement on February 6, 1951. Eagle-Lion then contracted with Eros Films.

“Behind Locked Doors,” submitted by Pathé Pictures, was banned by the British censor and never released in the U.K. “Man from Texas” was submitted by GFD but handled by Renown; “The Sundowners,” by GFD but handled by Eros over a year later.

Eagle-Lion’s first production, “It’s a Joke, Son!,” although premiering in the U.S. on January 21, 1947, was not released in the U.K. until 1952. It was submitted to the U.K. censor by Pathé Pictures in 1948.

All but one of the titles distributed in the U.K. by Monarch Film Corp., Ltd. were related to producer Jack Schwarz and his two companies, Jack Schwarz Productions, Inc. and United International, Inc.

Included are the films Eagle-Lion handled for Selznick Releasing Organization, Inc. beginning in 1949, all released previously by the company, including the newest, “Portrait of Jennie.” In an agreement signed in June 1949, the film ended up being released concurrently with SRO, the British-made “The Fallen Idol” and “The Third Man” soon to follow.

SRO’s 26 American exchanges were all closed by early March 1949, the company then using those of E-L with the pared down SRO sales staff allotted office space in key exchanges to handle “Portrait of Jennie” and the forthcoming films, “The Fallen Idol” and “The Third Man.”

Physical distribution of both E-L and SRO’s product was handled nationwide by National Film Service, Inc., the company providing film inspection, shipping and storage, leaving sales and booking to the dual-outfit E-L/SRO exchanges.

Signing a three-year deal with NFS in November 1948, E-L was the first national distributor with its own facilities to use this form of distribution—a practice to become commonplace in the future. E-L had been using NFS on a test basis in a few exchanges shortly after the latter’s inception in early 1947, with SRO one of its first clients.

As reported in Motion Picture Daily, June 2, 1949: In the past several months Eagle-Lion has exclusively distributed major Selznick product, including “Duel in the Sun” [1946], “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” [1948], “The Paradine Case” [1947], “Since You Went Away” [1944], “Spellbound” [1945], “Intermezzo” [1939], “Prisoner of Zenda” [1937], “I’ll Be Seeing You” [1944], “Garden of Allah” [1936], “Rebecca” [1940], “Tom Sawyer” [1938] and “Bill of Divorcement” [1932].

It is unknown if E-L created new accessories for all the SRO reissues or used existing material. Five of the films definitely had new accessories with E-L’s name on them: “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “A Bill of Divorcement,” “The Garden of Allah,” “The Prisoner of Zenda” and “Spellbound.” There were likely others but such accessories appear to be rare.

Because of this, most of the SRO reissues and playbacks appear without NSS numbers from Eagle-Lion, although most are referenced to SRO’s.

Illustrating the unusual releasing arrangement, printed on accessories for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Spellbound,” for example, is AN SRO RELEASE, DISTRIBUTED by EAGLE LION FILMS.

Along with the 14 SRO titles, Eagle-Lion and PRC also handled 22 reissues unrelated to its own product or those acquired through Film Classics. All but two of these were either from indie producer Edward Small—who attempted to buy Eagle-Lion in 1949—or Universal, the latter through Realart Pictures which owned the reissue rights at the time.

In 1949, Eagle-Lion announced a number of J. Arthur Rank titles as part of its future release schedule, none of which it eventually handled: “The Bad Lord Byron,” “Boys in Brown,” “The Calendar,” “Cardboard Cavalier,” “Diamond City,” “Esther Waters,” “Floodtide” and “The History of Mr. Polly,” among others. Rank was a good backup if E-L could not acquire enough independent American productions to fulfill its schedules.

Illustrating Eagle-Lion’s heavy dependence on British films, with its studio shuttered, the company had 12 Rank titles in release in August 1949. Further showing its lack of product, there were a number of reissues.

Rank’s library was extensive, E-L and Universal-International handling only so many of its films, and only so many deemed commercially viable in American theaters. Pentagon Pictures Corp. acquired 132 Rank features for American distribution in 1950, but U-I and E-L had the pick of the litter.

Pentagon folded in late 1951, Rank repossessing their pictures and turning 27 of the more recent ones over to International Releasing Organization, Inc., a company which helped fill the void left with the termination of Rank and Eagle-Lion’s reciprocal releasing deal in February 1951.

In a likely case of corporate nepotism, most of IRO’s Rank films were submitted for New York censorship approval by Bell Pictures Corp., helmed by Bert Kulick who was one of PRC’s original founders and former owner of its New York exchange, which he sold in 1945. Bell itself would handle some Rank titles.

Other companies handling Rank included Allied Films, Inc. which acquired 15 titles in 1951, most released previously by Universal and E-L. Rogers and Unger Associates acquired 20 titles in 1953, most released by Universal and E-L also, along with one by UA, E-L’s first major American distributor of any volume; and one by 20th Century-Fox. Fine Arts Films, Inc. acquired six titles in 1950, with more to come. And Classic Pictures, Inc. acquired a handful of Rank pictures in 1952, three released by E-L and one from both Universal and UA.

Other distributors in the early 1950s included Astor Pictures Corp., Bell Pictures Corp., Continental Distributing, Inc., Ellis Films, Inc., Lippert Pictures, Inc., Mayfair Pictures, Inc., Oxford Films, Inc., Pacemaker Pictures, Inc., Union Film Distributors, Inc., and Zenith Features, Inc. With Rank’s increasing reliance on joint production, a few of the majors other than Universal also had a few films: Columbia, Paramount, RKO and UA.

This was a big change from the 1940s, when Universal and Eagle-Lion were more or less the exclusive distributors of Rank’s product.

There was a glut of films and many never saw theatrical release in the U.S.; many of those that did saw limited distribution. In December 1949, Rank sold 65 of its films to Standard Television Corp., New York, the majority never shown in the U.S.

A notable success for Eagle-Lion was Rank’s “The Red Shoes” which played at New York’s Bijou Theatre from October 21, 1948 to November 15, 1950, at the time the longest American run—756 days—of any film in a single house. By September 20, 1950, it had played to over 800,000 persons at the 596-seater. In early January 1950, the owner of the Bijou paid $100,000 for the right to run the picture as long as it chose, earning E-L a total of $419,000 in film rental by the end of its run there. The film also had a number of long-run engagements in other U.S. cities, bringing in a $3,400,000 distribution take by early March 1951.

PRC actually handled two of Rank’s films: “The Man at the Gate,” released as “Men of the Sea,” and “The Silver Fleet.”

Universal along with its Prestige Pictures, Inc. unit, which operated from July 1946 to March 1950, released 62 Rank films between the formation of American Eagle-Lion in February 1944—then without the involvement of Pathé Industries—to the time of its sale to United Artists in April 1951.

In June 1952, Rank sold its substantial stockholdings in Universal, which continued to distribute many of the former’s films in the U.S. through 1953, and then only a sprinkling afterwards. Filling the void for a while was mostly UA and Republic. Universal still had “first call” on distributing Rank films, in an agreement set to expire in 1961.

Unhappy with the marketing of their films in the U.S. by a disparate group of companies, Rank created its own distribution outfit in November 1956, Rank Film Distributors of America, Inc., which had its first release in April 1957. The company folded two years later with Lopert Films, Inc., an autonomous UA subsidiary, taking over distribution.

“Dédée d’Anvers” was in release by Vog Film Company, New York, before Eagle-Lion picked it up, one of only two foreign-language titles the company handled. A third, the documentary “L’Equateur aux cent visages,” was Americanized with English narration.

The last film released by Eagle-Lion was “Oliver Twist,” which had its American premiere in Houston, Texas, on April 25, 1951. Pathé also received a percentage of the distribution gross under UA’s release of the film.

Announced in December 1950 was “The Tinderbox” (“Fyrtøjet”), a 1946 animated production from Denmark based on the Hans Christian Andersen fable. There is no evidence of a release by Eagle-Lion. American rights were owned by Cavalcade Pictures, Inc., Hollywood, which had the color feature available in 1947 in both English and Spanish versions. Souvaine Selective Pictures, Inc. acquired the picture in September 1951; Cavalcade announced its availability on the state rights market in January 1953.

Also announced in February 1950 with no evidence of a release by Eagle-Lion was “Alice in Wonderland,” a color puppet and live action feature produced in France and England in association with J. Arthur Rank. The film was ultimately handled by Souvaine in July 1951. William C. MacMillen, Jr., president of Pathé Industries and former president of E-L, was Souvaine’s chairman of the board, with a number of other former E-L employees involved in the company.

The list that follows is specific only to PRC and Eagle-Lion, Hollywood.

To keep the National Screen Service numbers complete and uniform from the starting point, “Born to Speed,” released January 12, 1947, is followed by three films released in 1946, before “Lighthouse,” released January 10, 1947.

A film noted as released by UA, or another company, means Eagle-Lion did not have it in distribution before the official takeover date on April 28, 1951. Many of those released before then were later handled by UA but are not noted.

Foreign films where the U.S. release varies by more than one year of the original are noted.

Re-release titles are included, as opposed to reissue titles. Those with copyright renewals, excluding reissues and foreign films, have the copyright symbol (©).