Lotsa 'B' movies and a question

[sethb]

I recently stumbled upon a trove of 1930's and 40's 'B' movies on YouTube, uploaded by someone named "PizzaFlix." Here's the link:



Lots of interesting stuff here, with plenty of fine actors on their way up or down the Hollywood ladder. Some of the plots are pretty good, while others seem to have been cobbled together from bits of other movies. [As the wit Wilson Mizner once said, "It's not plagiarism if you copy a little from a lot of different sources --- that's called "research."] The acting ranges from good to Amateur Night, and the sets range from decent to atrocious (like doors that continue to vibrate after they've been closed). And the quality of the prints ranges from very good to being so dupey that they're almost unwatchable. But it's all part of the fun.

I had heard of some of these second and third-rate outfits before, such as Tiffany Pictures, Educational Pictures, Monogram and ArtClass Pictures. But a lot of these "studios" were unknown to me --- names like Chesterfield, Majestic Pictures, Eminent Studios and Puritan Pictures. Has anyone done any research into these outfits, and are there any books about them? SETH P.S. Some of these company names reminded me of the gag in an Olsen & Johnson flick about a fictitious studio named Miracle Motion Pictures, with the tagline "If It's Worth Seeing, It's a Miracle!"

[Dave Pitts]

There are small-imprint books on some of the minor studios. I don't have that extensive a library on film titles, but I have a couple of books that are genre-specific that stick with the Hollywood boonies. Forgotten Horrors by Turner and Price covers the 30s and goes into the production styles of Mascot, Tiffany, Chesterfield, and even smaller companies. This book has a 2-page entry for Corruption, the film you posted above.
Poverty Row Horrors! by Tom Weaver covers horror films of the 40s from Monogram, Republic, and the illustrious PRC. The Weaver book is a fun read.
BTW, did you notice what happens in the last 30 seconds of Corruption, specifically at 59:29? One of the supporting players flips his middle finger at Tully Marshall. I can only assume this is less a case of PreCode madness than it is a lack of consensus on what the middle finger stands for. Maybe the GIs of WWII developed the definition for the country.

[R Michael Pyle]

BTW, did you notice what happens in the last 30 seconds of Corruption, specifically at 59:29? One of the supporting players flips his middle finger at Tully Marshall. I can only assume this is less a case of PreCode madness than it is a lack of consensus on what the middle finger stands for. Maybe the GIs of WWII developed the definition for the country.

The middle finger's meaning as we think of it today [vulgarly] actually goes back to the 4th century BC. It was certainly around during Henry VIII's time in England, as there are some references made to it by historians of that day.

[silentfilm]

Nitrateville has a whole thread of middle-finger examples in movies, but Corruption has not been included yet...

[Jim Roots]

And then there's the British two-finger version, to which American censors were totally oblivious.

Jim

[Dave Pitts]

Apropos of "If It's Worth Seeing, It's a Miracle", I always get a chuckle out of the slogan that Chadwick Pictures put on their end titles: "Every Picture an Achievement". A friend of mine added, "Yeah, just getting the thing shipped out in cans was a miracle."

[sethb]

BTW, did you notice what happens in the last 30 seconds of Corruption, specifically at 59:29? One of the supporting players flips his middle finger at Tully Marshall. I can only assume this is less a case of PreCode madness than it is a lack of consensus on what the middle finger stands for. Maybe the GIs of WWII developed the definition for the country.

I did catch that Pre-Code "third finger salute," pretty interesting!

And thanks for all the info and suggestions. It's amazing that most of this stuff has survived at all, given their lack of a major studio or distributor. I have a feeling that television, which helped to cut movie theater attendance, may actually have to get some of the credit. I'm guessing that many of these films were sold to TV stations in 16mm prints, when they were trying to fill all of their airtime with anything. I've seen a few of these flicks with a "C & C" or "NTA" (National Telefilm Associates) logo in place of whatever original credits were there. SETH

[Dave Pitts]

There's another (partial) explanation for the great quantity of indie product from the teens on up that has survived. It's discussed in Walter Kerr's The Silent Clowns. As a kid in the late 20s, he would visit film exchanges and buy copies of the features that had made the rounds and come to the end of their exhibition season. Most of this material would be from the dinky studios or the states rights distributors, who had neither the budget to recover their films or the facilities to store them. If you were a theater manager or projectionist, you would also develop an understanding of which films had be shipped back and which films would never be reclaimed. Or you might deal with a salesman who rented the titles out of the trunk of his car, and who might or might not need the films back, depending on how late in the run the title was. We owe a lot to the early collectors who took these films home, ran them a few times, and kept them in showable condition. There must be an interesting story to thousands of old films that ran in theaters 80 or 90 years ago and then vanished for half a century. Where was Corruption between 1933 and its reemergence as a 30s curio? I'm pretty sure it wasn't in the Imperial Distributing Archives. More likely it was in someone's closet, in a box of old co-features.

[FrankFay]

Some of the studios like Chesterfield and Tiffany went back to the silent era. Tiffany had their own studio facilities and was able to put out some product with a bit of gloss like MAMBA in technicolor, and The Death Kiss. The never did have a good distribution network and went bankrupt about 1932. It did not help matters that Tiffany & Co jewelers was suing them for misrepresentation- they had a good case: The studio used ad text like "Another GEM from TIFFANY!"

There was a market for these poverty row pictures, mostly as secondary films on a double bill. Still, there were second and third run theaters who were glad to have some new product to back up an old feature which has been around a bit.

[R Michael Pyle]

Some good books on "B" companies that I've got include:

1) The Vanishing Legion: A History of Mascot Pictures 1927-1935 by Jon Tuska
2) American Film Studios: An Historical Encyclopedia by Gene Fernett (covers a huge number!!)
3) The Monogram Checklist: The Films of Monogram Pictures Corporation, 1931-1952 by Ted Okuda
4) Grand National, Producers Releasing Corporation, and Screen Guild/Lippert: Complete Filmographies with Studio Histories by Ted Okuda
5) Balboa Films: A History and Filmography of the Silent Film Studio by Jean-Jacques Jura and Rodney Norman Bardin II
6) The Kindergarten of the Movies: A History of the Fine Arts Company by Anthony Slide (not necessarily about "B" silents, but something invaluable about the beginnings of movies with a relatively forgotten studio that shouldn't be)

You might also appreciate:

7) The "B" Directors: A Biographical Directory by Wheeler W. Dixon

[Jim Roots]

There's another (partial) explanation for the great quantity of indie product from the teens on up that has survived. It's discussed in Walter Kerr's The Silent Clowns. As a kid in the late 20s, he would visit film exchanges and buy copies of the features that had made the rounds and come to the end of their exhibition season. Most of this material would be from the dinky studios or the states rights distributors, who had neither the budget to recover their films or the facilities to store them. If you were a theater manager or projectionist, you would also develop an understanding of which films had be shipped back and which films would never be reclaimed. Or you might deal with a salesman who rented the titles out of the trunk of his car, and who might or might not need the films back, depending on how late in the run the title was. We owe a lot to the early collectors who took these films home, ran them a few times, and kept them in showable condition. There must be an interesting story to thousands of old films that ran in theaters 80 or 90 years ago and then vanished for half a century. Where was Corruption between 1933 and its reemergence as a 30s curio? I'm pretty sure it wasn't in the Imperial Distributing Archives. More likely it was in someone's closet, in a box of old co-features.

That's essentially the story behind Dawson City: Frozen Time, of course.

Yukon Jim

[sethb]

Thanks once again for all the additional information! Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do . . . . SETH

[Salty Dog]

Another good book is "B Movies" by Don Miller. If you have an e-reader, it's very reasonably-priced from Amazon.

[sethb]

Thanks for the "B Movies" tip! It was only $4 on Amazon as an e-book, and it looks like a really good reference. SETH

[Wm. Charles Morrow]

Another good book is "B Movies" by Don Miller. If you have an e-reader, it's very reasonably-priced from Amazon.

You beat me to the punch in recommending this one. A good read, with lots of solid info. I bought it new, as a 'Curtis Film Series' paperback. It set me back $1.50, but was well worth every penny. I used my copy as a reference source for decades, until the pages yellowed, the glue dried out, and the thing fell apart. Looks like it may be time for an upgrade . . .

[sethb]

The e-book I got from Amazon states that it's a reprint, with a new introduction by Leonard Maltin.

Apparently the original went out-of-print quite a while ago. Guess you can't keep a good book down! SETH

[Salty Dog]

There is a series of books edited by Leonard Maltin from several years ago, that have been reissued as e-books at the same price $3.99 per book, including Selected Short Subjects, Great Movie Comedians, and The Real Stars.

[FrankFay]

Also check out KINGS OF THE B's - 1975, but has been reprinted. Great when it came out, a bit outdated but some of the guys were still alive at the time. What was interesting to a young film buff was an extensive portrait gallery- like back then who knew what Christy Cabane looked like?

[dodonoseo]

I recently stumbled upon a trove of 1930's and 40's 'B' movies on YouTube, uploaded by someone named "PizzaFlix."

I had heard of some of these second and third-rate outfits before, such as Tiffany Pictures, Educational Pictures, Monogram and ArtClass Pictures. But a lot of these "studios" were unknown to me --- names like Chesterfield, Majestic Pictures, Eminent Studios and Puritan Pictures. Has anyone done any research into these outfits, and are there any books about them? SETH P.S. Some of these company names reminded me of the gag in an Olsen & Johnson flick about a fictitious studio named Miracle Motion Pictures, with the tagline "If It's Worth Seeing, It's a Miracle!"

There was a book called B MOVIES by Don Miller(I think)which I sure is out of print, but there must be used copies out there.

[dodonoseo]

OOPS, SOMEBODY ALREADY MENTIONED THAT ONE!

[Brooksie]

Another book that hasn't been mentioned yet: Poverty Row Studios, 1929-1940 by Michael R. Pitts. It's a potted history of over 50 smaller studios. I think plenty of people became curious about Chesterfield after seeing the surprisingly watchable Manhattan Tower (1933). It's amongst the companies covered.

[FrankFay]

Another book that hasn't been mentioned yet: Poverty Row Studios, 1929-1940 by Michael R. Pitts. It's a potted history of over 50 smaller studios. I think plenty of people became curious about Chesterfield after seeing the surprisingly watchable Manhattan Tower (1933). It's amongst the companies covered.

That is credited to Remington Pictures - though no one seems to know anything about that company


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[Brooksie]

Ah, my mistake. I seem to remember digging around about Remington; perhaps there is some connection between the two companies that I'm half-remembering.

Remington is covered very briefly in Poverty Row Studios, 1929-1940 - Manhattan Tower was their only picture (the company head died soon after the picture was made, which no doubt put a crimp in their forward plans). Interestingly, given the topic of the film, he was a Manhattan property developer.

There were so many independents that blinked in and out of existence in a blaze of glory like that, it would make for an interesting study in itself. George Hirliman's Condor Pictures was another. They went from having George O'Brien under contract and plans for colour pictures to oblivion in a few years.