145-621: Final Appointment (U.S. title: The Last Appointment ) is a 1954 British second feature ('B') comedy thriller film directed by Terence Fisher , and starring John Bentley , Eleanor Summerfield and Hubert Gregg . It also features Arthur Lowe , later to become famous for his portrayal of Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army , in an early role. The film was produced by Francis Searle for ACTFilms . A sequel, Stolen Assignment , also featuring sleuthing journalists Mike Billings and Jenny Drew,
290-463: A newsreel , a short and/or serial , and a cartoon , followed by a double feature. The second feature, which actually screened before the main event, cost the exhibitor less per minute than the equivalent running time in shorts. The majors' "clearance" rules favoring their affiliated theaters prevented timely access to top-quality films for independent theaters; the second feature allowed them to promote quantity instead. The additional movie also gave
435-433: A "balanced" or entirely youth-oriented double feature as a matinee and then a single film for a more mature audience at night. In the words of one industry report, afternoon moviegoers, "composed largely of housewives and children, want quantity for their money while the evening crowds want 'something good and not too much of it. ' " Series films are often unquestioningly consigned to the B movie category, but even here there
580-406: A "programmer capable of occupying either half of a neighbourhood theatre's double-bill, [it was] budgeted at approximately $ 400,000. [Its] distributor, United Artists, released around twenty-five programmers with production budgets between $ 100,000 and $ 400,000 in 1955." The film's length, 106 minutes, is A level, but its star, Ralph Meeker , had previously appeared in only one major film. Its source
725-418: A $ 125,000 purchase price, Levine then spent $ 1.5 million on advertising and publicity, a virtually unprecedented amount. The New York Times was not impressed, claiming that the movie would have drawn "little more than yawns in the film market ... had it not been [launched] throughout the country with a deafening barrage of publicity". Levine counted on first-weekend box office for his profits, booking
870-399: A 'warning bell' so the sensitive can 'close their eyes. ' " That year, Roger Corman took AIP down a new road: "When they asked me to make two ten-day black-and-white horror films to play as a double feature, I convinced them instead to finance one horror film in color." The resulting House of Usher typifies the continuing ambiguities of B picture classification. It was clearly an A film by
1015-407: A 1953 RKO release, is the only film noir from the genre's classic period directed by a woman. That year, RKO released Split Second , which concludes in a nuclear test range, and is perhaps the first "atomic noir". The most famous such movie, the independently produced Kiss Me Deadly (1955), typifies the persistently murky middle ground between the A and B picture, as Richard Maltby describes:
1160-443: A Ride . Ten B noirs that year came from Poverty Row's big three: Republic, Monogram, and PRC/Eagle-Lion, and one came from tiny Screen Guild. Three majors beside RKO contributed a total of five more. Along with these eighteen unambiguous B noirs, an additional dozen or so noir programmers came out of Hollywood. Still, most of the majors' low-budget production remained the sort now largely ignored. RKO's representative output included
1305-452: A Western, Man of the West (1958) for United Artists. Filming began on February 10, 1958, and ended later that same year. When it was released, Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote the film was "good, lean, tough little Western" that was "[w]ell-acted and beautifully photographed in color and Cinema-Scope". Elsewhere, Jean-Luc Godard , then a critic for Cahiers du Cinéma , gave
1450-511: A Zombie (1943), and The Body Snatcher (1945), directed by Jacques Tourneur , Robert Wise , and others who became renowned only later in their careers or entirely in retrospect. The movie now widely described as the first classic film noir, Stranger on the Third Floor (1940), a 64-minute B, was produced at RKO, which released many additional melodramatic thrillers in a similarly stylish vein. The other major studios also turned out
1595-465: A bounty hunter intent on bringing a fugitive back to Kansas. When faced with the choice to kill the fugitive, Kemp reins in his murderous impulse. Corliss observed: "It happens over and over in these movies: the hero's recognition that his old self is his own worst enemy." Mann and Stewart had a falling out during pre-production of Night Passage (1957), in which Gary Cooper assumed the lead role in Man of
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#17327974616581740-432: A clever young journalist solves a crime in the intervals of exchanging back-chat with his reporter girl friend and a police inspector." Kine Weekly described the film as an "inconsequential crime melodrama." The Radio Times gave the film two out of five stars, calling it a "capable thriller." B movie A B movie , or B film , is a type of cheap, poorly made commercial motion picture . Originally, during
1885-576: A considerable number of movies now identified as noir during the 1940s. Though many of the best-known film noirs were A-level productions, most 1940s pictures in the mode were either of the ambiguous programmer type or destined straight for the bottom of the bill. In the decades since, these cheap entertainments, generally dismissed at the time, have become some of the most treasured products of Hollywood's Golden Age. In one sample year, 1947, RKO produced along with several noir programmers and A pictures, two straight B noirs: Desperate and The Devil Thumbs
2030-524: A feature film, Mann went to Republic Pictures where he directed Nobody's Darling (1944) and My Best Gal (1944). He next directed Strangers in the Night (1944). The film tells of Hilda Blake ( Helene Thimig ) who creates an imaginary "daughter" for Sgt. Johnny Meadows (William Terry) who is injured in the South Pacific. After being discharged and returning to the U.S., Meadows searches for
2175-402: A few filmmakers began making nudies with greater attention to plot. Best known was Russ Meyer , who released his first successful narrative nudie, the comic Immoral Mr. Teas , in 1959. Five years later, Meyer came out with his breakthrough film, Lorna , which combined sex, violence, and a dramatic storyline. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), made for about $ 45,000, ultimately became
2320-686: A few months, Mann was working full-time at the Triangle Theater in Greenwich Village . Using the name "Anton Bundsmann", he appeared as an actor in The Dybbuk (1925) with an English translation by Henry Alsberg , The Little Clay Cart (1926), and The Squall (1926) by Jean Bart . Towards the end of the decade, Mann appeared in the Broadway productions of The Blue Peter and Uncle Vanya (1929). In 1930, Mann joined
2465-460: A few more years, but Republic Pictures, long associated with cheap sagebrush sagas, was out of the filmmaking business by decade's end. In other genres, Universal kept its Ma and Pa Kettle series going through 1957, while Allied Artists stuck with the Bowery Boys until 1958. RKO, weakened by years of mismanagement, exited the movie industry in 1957. Hollywood's A product was getting longer,
2610-601: A film about pioneers trekking to the Donner Pass ; and The Canyon , a film about a young Native American becoming a Brave . In 1936, Mann married Mildred Kenyon, who worked as a clerk at a Macy's department store in New York City. The marriage produced two children, Anthony and Nina. The couple divorced in 1956. A year later, Mann married actress Sara Montiel , who had starred in Serenade (1956). In 1963,
2755-399: A flat rate, they were rented out on a percentage basis, like A films. The success of I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) thus brought AIP a large return, made for about $ 100,000, it grossed more than $ 2 million . As the film's title suggests, the studio relied on both fantastic genre subjects and new, teen-oriented angles. When Hot Rod Gang (1958) turned a profit, hot rod horror was given
2900-497: A fledgling studio founded by Arthur B. Krim and Robert Benjamin . There, he directed Railroaded! (1947). According to Mann, the film was shot in ten days. A film review in Variety noted the film was "an old-type, blood-and-thunder gangster meller that's better than its no-name cast would indicate," and particular praised Mann for directing "with real acumen in developing maximum of suspense." That same year, T-Men (1947)
3045-500: A fully bared, unpainted breast, but flirts with nudity throughout. The Meyer and Corman lines were drawing closer. Anthony Mann Anthony Mann (born Emil Anton Bundsmann ; June 30, 1906 – April 29, 1967) was an American film director and stage actor. He came to prominence as a skilled director of film noir and Westerns , and for his historical epics . Mann started as a theatre actor appearing in numerous stage productions. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood where he worked as
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#17327974616583190-454: A hostage, and a femme fatale, Pat ( Claire Trevor ), who helped release him. Both women are doomed to be in love with him. The film review magazine Harrison's Reports wrote: "Fast-paced and packed with action, this gangster-type melodrama should go over pretty well with adult audiences, in spite of the fact that the plot is not always logical"; it also noted "Anthony Mann's taut direction has squeezed every bit of excitement and suspense out of
3335-403: A low-cost noir style, using low lighting levels and omnipresent shadows on minimal decor, high-angled camera shots, and rear projection for wide crowd shots. The resulting film was titled Reign of Terror (1949). After filming had begun, Mann was brought in to direct several scenes for He Walked by Night (1948), which also starred Basehart. Mann again collaborated with Higgins and Alton on
3480-400: A matter of course: for an A picture, along with the trailers , or screen previews, that presaged its arrival, "[t]he new film's title on the marquee and the listings for it in the local newspaper constituted all the advertising most movies got", writes Epstein. Aside from at the theater itself, B films might not be advertised at all. The introduction of sound had driven costs higher: by 1930,
3625-581: A multi-picture contract with MGM. Beforehand, in July 1947, Mann and Francis Rosenwald had written a script for Follow Me Quietly (1949). It was first purchased by Jack Wrather Productions for Allied Artists , with Don Castle in the lead role. According to Eddie Muller , of Turner Classic Movies , Mann was slated to direct the film, but was enticed by Edward Small to instead direct T-Men and Raw Deal . Months later, in December, RKO had purchased
3770-485: A new Monogram production house. Into the 1950s, most Republic and Monogram product was roughly on par with the low end of the majors' output. Less sturdy Poverty Row concerns, with a penchant for grand sobriquets like Conquest, Empire, Imperial, and Peerless, continued to churn out dirt-cheap quickies. Joel Finler has analyzed the average length of feature releases in 1938, indicating the studios' relative emphasis on B production ( United Artists produced little, focusing on
3915-541: A period thriller with Dick Powell , The Tall Target (1952). After the success of Winchester '73 (1950), Universal Pictures wanted another collaboration between Mann and Stewart. After a recommendation from one friend, Stewart proposed adapting the novel Bend of the River by Bill Gulick to Universal. The studio agreed and purchased the film rights. The actor and director made a contemporary adventure film, Thunder Bay (1953) at Universal. Feeling dissatisfied with
4060-467: A profit through whatever bookings they could pick up in the gaps left by the larger concerns. With the widespread arrival of sound film in American theaters in 1929, many independent exhibitors began dropping the then-dominant presentation model, which involved live acts and a broad variety of shorts before a single featured film. A new programming scheme developed that soon became standard practice:
4205-466: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6229 Hollywood Boulevard. The Mann western hero has learned wariness the hard way, because he usually has something to hide. He is a man with a past: some psychic shadow or criminal activity that has left him gnarled and calcified. Not so long ago he was a raider, a rustler, maybe a killer. If a movie were made of some previous chapter in his life, he'd be
4350-563: A studio's more important productions, while also breaking in new personnel. Studios in the minor leagues of the industry, such as Columbia Pictures and Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), focused on exactly those sorts of cheap productions. Their movies, with relatively short running times, targeted theaters that had to economize on rental and operating costs, particularly small-town and urban neighborhood venues, or "nabes". Even smaller production houses, known as Poverty Row studios, made films whose costs might run as low as $ 3,000, seeking
4495-463: A subsequent-run A film had largely disappeared from American theaters. The AIP-style dual genre package was the new model. In July 1960, the latest Joseph E. Levine sword-and-sandals import, Hercules Unchained , opened at neighborhood theaters in New York. A suspense film, Terror Is a Man , ran as a "co-feature" with a now familiar sort of exploitation gimmick: "The dénouement helpfully includes
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4640-582: A talent scout and casting director. He also directed screen tests for a number of films, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), Intermezzo (1939), Gone with the Wind (1939), and Rebecca (1940). One of the unknown actresses he tested was Jennifer Jones . After a few months at Selznick, Mann moved to Paramount Pictures to serve as an assistant director for several film directors, most particularly for Preston Sturges on Sullivan's Travels (1941). Mann recalled, "[Preston] let me go through
4785-448: A talent scout and casting director. He then became an assistant director , most notably working for Preston Sturges . His directorial debut was Dr. Broadway (1942). He directed several feature films for numerous production companies, including RKO Pictures , Eagle-Lion Films , Universal Pictures , and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). His first major success was T-Men (1947), garnering notable recognition for producing several films in
4930-521: A theatre review for The New York Times , Brooks Atkinson dismissed the play, writing "its medley of realism and fantasy grows less intelligible scene by scene, and some of the acting is disenchantingly profane." He later directed Cherokee Night (1936), So Proudly We Hail (1936), and The Big Blow (1938). He worked for various stock companies, and in 1934, he established his own, which later became Long Island's Red Barn Playhouse. In 1937, Mann began working for Selznick International Pictures as
5075-526: A try: Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959). David Cook credits AIP with leading the way "in demographic exploitation , target marketing , and saturation booking, all of which became standard procedure for the majors in planning and releasing their mass-market 'event' films" by the late 1970s. In terms of content, the majors were already there, with films about juvenile delinquency such as Warner Bros.' Untamed Youth (1957) and MGM's High School Confidential (1958), both starring Mamie Van Doren . In 1954,
5220-476: A young filmmaker named Roger Corman received his first screen credits as writer and associate producer of Allied Artists' Highway Dragnet . Corman soon independently produced his first movie, Monster from the Ocean Floor , on a $ 12,000 budget and a six-day shooting schedule. Among the six films he worked on in 1955, Corman produced and directed the first official ARC release, Apache Woman , and Day
5365-927: Is also now used loosely to refer to some higher-budget, mainstream films with exploitation-style content, usually in genres traditionally associated with the B movie. From their beginnings to the present day, B movies have provided opportunities both for those coming up in the profession and others whose careers are waning. Celebrated filmmakers such as Anthony Mann and Jonathan Demme learned their craft in B movies. They are where actors such as John Wayne and Jack Nicholson first became established, and they have provided work for former A movie actors and actresses, such as Vincent Price and Karen Black . Some actors and actresses, such as Bela Lugosi , Eddie Constantine , Bruce Campbell , and Pam Grier , worked in B movies for most of their careers. The terms "B actor and actress" are sometimes used to refer to performers who find work primarily or exclusively in B pictures. In 1927–28, at
5510-596: Is ambiguity: at MGM, for example, popular series like the Andy Hardy and the Dr. Kildare – Dr. Gillespie chronicles had leading stars and budgets that would have been A-level at most of the lesser studios. For many series, even a lesser major's standard B budget was far out of reach: Poverty Row's Consolidated Pictures featured Tarzan, the Police Dog in a series with the proud name of Melodramatic Dog Features. By 1940,
5655-534: Is pure pulp , one of Mickey Spillane 's Mike Hammer novels, but Robert Aldrich 's direction is self-consciously aestheticized. The result is a brutal genre picture that also evokes contemporary anxieties about what was often spoken of simply as the Bomb. The fear of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, along with less expressible qualms about radioactive fallout from America's own atomic tests, energized many of
5800-545: The American Civil War . Principal photography began on August 15, 1949, and lasted until mid-October. MGM initially withheld the film because of its topical subject, but released the film after Delmer Daves ' Broken Arrow (1950), which starred James Stewart , had become successful. When it was released, the film was neither a critical or commercial success. He followed this with a Western at Universal, starring James Stewart, Winchester '73 (1950). The film
5945-683: The Golden Age of Hollywood , this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature , somewhat similar to B-sides in recorded music. However, the production of such films as "second features" in the United States largely declined by the end of the 1950s. This shift was due to the rise of commercial television, which prompted film studio B movie production departments to transition into television film production divisions. These divisions continued to create content similar to B movies, albeit in
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6090-643: The Mexican Spitfire and Lum and Abner comedy series, thrillers featuring the Saint and the Falcon , Westerns starring Tim Holt , and Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller . Jean Hersholt played Dr. Christian in six films between 1939 and 1941. The Courageous Dr. Christian (1940) was a standard entry: "In the course of an hour or so of screen time, the saintly physician managed to cure an epidemic of spinal meningitis, demonstrate benevolence towards
6235-712: The Theatre Guild , as a production manager and eventually as a director. Nevertheless, he continued to act, appearing in The Streets of New York, or Poverty is No Crime (1931), and The Bride the Sun Shines On (1933) portraying the "Duke of Calcavalle". In 1933, Mann directed a stage adaptation of Christopher Morley 's Thunder on the Left , which was performed at the Maxine Elliott's Theatre . In
6380-550: The U.S. Air Force and pushed for a cinematic portrayal. With the cooperation of the Air Force, Mann agreed to direct the film, wanting to film the Convair B-36 and Boeing B-47 in action as the human characters, in his words, "were papier-mâché". During its release, the film earned $ 6.5 million at the box office. Mann's last collaboration with Stewart was The Man from Laramie (1955) at Columbia Pictures . The film
6525-431: The film noir genre through modest budgets and short shooting schedules. As a director, he often collaborated with cinematographer John Alton . During the 1950s, Mann shifted to directing Western films starring several major stars of the era, including James Stewart . He directed Stewart in eight films, including Winchester '73 (1950), The Naked Spur (1953), and The Man from Laramie (1955). While successful in
6670-564: The "Premiere" rubric. In 1947 as well, PRC was subsumed by Eagle-Lion , a British company seeking entry to the American market. Warners' former "Keeper of the Bs", Brian Foy, was installed as production chief. In the 1940s, RKO stood out among the industry's Big Five for its focus on B pictures. From a latter-day perspective, the most famous of the major studios' Golden Age B units is Val Lewton 's horror unit at RKO. Lewton produced such moody, mysterious films as Cat People (1942), I Walked with
6815-542: The 1930s, the average U.S. feature production cost had essentially doubled over the 1940s, reaching $ 1 million by the turn of the decade—a 93% rise after adjusting for inflation. The first prominent victim of the changing market was Eagle-Lion, which released its last films in 1951. By 1953, the old Monogram brand had disappeared, the company having adopted the identity of its higher-end subsidiary, Allied Artists. The following year, Allied released Hollywood's last B series Westerns. Non-series B Westerns continued to appear for
6960-467: The 1950s. Early B movies were often part of series in which the star repeatedly played the same character. Almost always shorter than the top-billed feature films, many had running times of 70 minutes or less. The term connoted a general perception that B movies were inferior to the more lavishly budgeted headliners; individual B films were often ignored by critics. Latter-day B movies still sometimes inspire multiple sequels , but series are less common. As
7105-418: The 1960s saw a major expansion in the commercial viability of a variety of B movie subgenres that became known collectively as exploitation films . The combination of intensive and gimmick-laden publicity with movies featuring vulgar subject matter and often outrageous imagery dated back decades. The term had originally defined truly fringe productions, made at the lowest depths of Poverty Row or entirely outside
7250-750: The American Civil War. With unwanted help from a gold prospector and an Army deserter, Kemp captures the outlaw and the girlfriend who accompanies him. With the film's release in 1953, Mann fulfilled his contract with MGM. Mann and Stewart had their biggest success with The Glenn Miller Story (1954). During its release, the film earned $ 7 million in distributor rentals in the United States and Canada. That same year, he filmed The Far Country with James Stewart and Walter Brennan . The film would be Mann's last collaboration with Borden Chase. Mann and Stewart paired for one more non-Western film, Strategic Air Command (1955). Stewart had served with
7395-586: The Big Five over to A-film production, making the smaller studios even more important as B movie suppliers. Genre pictures made at very low cost remained the backbone of Poverty Row, with even Republic's and Monogram's budgets rarely climbing over $ 200,000. Many smaller Poverty Row firms folded as the eight majors, with their proprietary distribution exchanges, now commanded about 95% of U.S. and Canadian box office receipts. In 1946, independent producer David O. Selznick brought his bloated-budget spectacle Duel in
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#17327974616587540-535: The Body Snatchers (1956), released by Allied Artists, treats conformist pressures and the evil of banality in haunting, allegorical fashion. The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), directed by Bert I. Gordon , is both a monster movie that happens to depict the horrific effects of radiation exposure and "a ferocious cold-war fable [that] spins Korea , the army's obsessive secrecy, and America's post-war growth into one fantastic whole". The Amazing Colossal Man
7685-611: The Hollywood system. Many graphically depicted the wages of sin in the context of promoting prudent lifestyle choices, particularly " sexual hygiene ". Audiences might see explicit footage of anything from a live birth to a ritual circumcision. Such films were not generally booked as part of movie theaters' regular schedules but rather presented as special events by traveling roadshow promoters (they might also appear as fodder for " grindhouses ", which typically had no regular schedule at all). The most famous of those promoters, Kroger Babb ,
7830-785: The Republic Westerns with John Wayne and the Three Mesquiteers achieved a uniquely American perfection of the well-made story." At the far end of the industry, Poverty Row's Ajax put out oaters starring Harry Carey , then in his fifties. The Weiss outfit had the Range Rider series, the American Rough Rider series, and the Morton of the Mounted "northwest action thrillers". One low-budget oater of
7975-684: The Roman Empire (1964). Both films were produced by Samuel Bronston . Mann then directed the war film The Heroes of Telemark (1965) and the spy thriller A Dandy in Aspic (1968). In 1967, Mann died from a heart attack in Berlin before he had finished the latter film; its star Laurence Harvey completed the film, albeit uncredited. Mann was born Emil Anton Bundsmann in San Diego, California. His father, Emile Theodore Bundsmann, an academic,
8120-616: The Roman Empire near the front window at the Hatchards bookshop. Mann then read the book, and after a flight trip to Madrid , he pitched a film adaptation of the book to Bronston, to which the producer agreed. The film was intended to reunite Heston and Loren, but Heston departed the project to star in 55 Days at Peking (1963), another Bronston production. His role was subsequently assumed by Stephen Boyd . Filming began on January 14, 1963, and wrapped in July 1963. Released in March 1964,
8265-457: The Sun to market with heavy nationwide promotion and wide release. The distribution strategy was a major success, despite what was widely perceived as the movie's poor quality. The Duel release anticipated practices that fueled the B movie industry in the late 1950s; when the top Hollywood studios made them standard two decades after that, the B movie was hard hit. Considerations beside cost made
8410-564: The United States, these films became appreciated and studied among French film critics, several of whom would become influential with the French New Wave . In 1955, Jacques Rivette hailed Mann as "one of the four great directors of postwar Hollywood". The other three were Nicholas Ray , Richard Brooks , and Robert Aldrich . By the 1960s, Mann turned to large-scale filmmaking, directing the medieval epic El Cid (1961), starring Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren , and The Fall of
8555-429: The West (1958). Mann biographer Jeanine Basinger writes Cooper's character is a "man with a guilty secret. He was once an evil outlaw, a member of the notorious Dock Tobin gang. He was responsible for robberies, raids, and the murders of innocent victims." In the film, Link Jones (Cooper) is confronted by his outlaw uncle Dock Tobin ( Lee J. Cobb ), a figure of his past. In the narrative, Link realizes he must kill all
8700-630: The World Ended , half of Arkoff and Nicholson's first twin-bill package. Corman directed over fifty feature films through 1990. As of 2007, he remained active as a producer, with more than 350 movies to his credit. Often referred to as the "King of the Bs", Corman has said that "to my way of thinking, I never made a 'B' movie in my life", as the traditional B movie was dying out when he began making pictures. He prefers to describe his metier as "low-budget exploitation films". In later years Corman, both with AIP and as head of his own companies, helped launch
8845-406: The average U.S. feature film cost $ 375,000 to produce. A broad range of motion pictures occupied the B category. The leading studios made not only clear-cut A and B films, but also movies classifiable as "programmers" (also known as "in-betweeners" or "intermediates"). As Taves describes, "Depending on the prestige of the theater and the other material on the double bill, a programmer could show up at
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#17327974616588990-465: The average production cost of an American feature was $ 400,000, a negligible increase over ten years. A number of small Hollywood companies had folded around the turn of the decade, including the ambitious Grand National , but a new firm, Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), emerged as third in the Poverty Row hierarchy behind Republic and Monogram. The double feature, never universal, was still
9135-442: The average running time of top-of-the-line films increased, so did that of B pictures. In its current usage, the term has somewhat contradictory connotations: it may signal an opinion that a certain movie is (a) a "genre film" with minimal artistic ambitions or (b) a lively, energetic film uninhibited by the constraints imposed on more expensive projects and unburdened by the conventions of putatively serious independent film . The term
9280-511: The bottom line. Poverty Row studios, from modest outfits like Mascot Pictures , Tiffany Pictures , and Sono Art-World Wide Pictures , down to shoestring operations, made exclusively B movies, serials, and other shorts, and also distributed totally independent productions and imported films. In no position to directly block book, they mostly sold regional distribution exclusivity to " states rights " firms, which in turn peddled blocks of movies to exhibitors, typically six or more pictures featuring
9425-482: The careers of Francis Ford Coppola , Jonathan Demme , Robert Towne , and Robert De Niro , among many others. In the late 1950s, William Castle became known as the great innovator of the B movie publicity gimmick. Audiences of Macabre (1958), an $ 86,000 production distributed by Allied Artists, were invited to take out insurance policies to cover potential death from fright. The 1959 creature feature The Tingler featured Castle's most famous gimmick, Percepto: at
9570-465: The cast and the cinematography. At the box office, the film earned $ 12 million in distributor rentals from the United States and Canada. Mann next directed The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964). The project's genesis began when Mann, who had recently finished filming El Cid (1961), had spotted an Oxford concise edition of Edward Gibbon 's six-volume series The History of the Decline and Fall of
9715-420: The classic double feature vanished from many American theaters during the 1950s. The major studios promoted the benefits of recycling, offering former headlining movies as second features in the place of traditional B films. With television airing many classic Westerns as well as producing its own original Western series, the cinematic market for B oaters in particular was drying up. After barely inching forward in
9860-591: The decade, more than four thousand pictures, are classifiable as Bs. The Western was by far the predominant B genre in both the 1930s and, to a lesser degree, the 1940s. Film historian Jon Tuska has argued that "the 'B' product of the Thirties—the Universal films with [Tom] Mix , [Ken] Maynard , and [Buck] Jones , the Columbia features with Buck Jones and Tim McCoy , the RKO George O'Brien series,
10005-446: The disenfranchised, set an example for wayward youth, and calm the passions of an amorous old maid." Down in Poverty Row, low budgets led to less palliative fare. Republic aspired to major-league respectability while making many cheap and modestly budgeted Westerns, but there was not much from the bigger studios that compared with Monogram " exploitation pictures " like juvenile delinquency exposé Where Are Your Children? (1943) and
10150-416: The distribution of prestigious films from independent outfits; Grand National , active 1936–40, occupied an analogous niche on Poverty Row, releasing mostly independent productions ): Taves estimates that half of the films produced by the eight majors in the 1930s were B movies. Calculating in the three hundred or so films made annually by the many Poverty Row firms, approximately 75% of Hollywood movies from
10295-512: The double feature prevailed. At the larger local venues controlled by the majors, movies might turn over on a weekly basis. At the thousands of smaller, independent theaters, programs often changed two or three times a week. To meet the constant demand for new B product, the low end of Poverty Row turned out a stream of micro-budget movies rarely much more than sixty minutes long; these were known as "quickies" for their tight production schedules—as short as four days. As Azam Patel describes, "Many of
10440-414: The double feature remained a popular exhibition mode. It was standard policy at 25% of theaters and used part-time at an additional 36%. The leading Poverty Row firms began to broaden their scope; in 1947, Monogram established a subsidiary, Allied Artists , to develop and distribute relatively expensive films, mostly from independent producers. Around the same time, Republic launched a similar effort under
10585-435: The drive-in movie became one of the defining symbols of American popular culture in the 1950s. At the same time, many local television stations began showing B genre films in late-night slots, popularizing the notion of the midnight movie . Increasingly, American-made genre films were joined by foreign movies acquired at low cost and, where necessary, dubbed for the U.S. market. In 1956, distributor Joseph E. Levine financed
10730-432: The end of the silent era , the production cost of an average feature from a major Hollywood studio ranged from $ 190,000 at Fox to $ 275,000 at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . That average reflected both "specials" that might cost as much as $ 1 million and films made quickly for around $ 50,000. These cheaper films (not yet called B movies ) allowed the studios to derive maximum value from facilities and contracted staff in between
10875-417: The end of the year, Ulmer had also made the teen-themed musical Jive Junction as well as Isle of Forgotten Sins , a South Seas adventure set around a brothel. In 1948, a Supreme Court ruling in a federal antitrust suit against the majors outlawed block booking and led to the Big Five divesting their theater chains. With audiences draining away to television and studios scaling back production schedules,
11020-460: The entire production, watching him direct – and I directed a little. I'd stage a scene and he'd tell me how lousy it was. Then I watched the editing and I was able gradually to build up knowledge. Preston insisted I make a film as soon as possible." He served three years in the position. Meanwhile, Mann did notable, but mostly lost, work as a director for NBC 's experimental television station W2XBS from 1939 to 1940. This included condensations of
11165-776: The era's genre films. Science fiction, horror, and various hybrids of the two were now of central economic importance to the low-budget end of the business. Most down-market films of the type—like many of those produced by William Alland at Universal (such as Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)) and Sam Katzman at Columbia (including It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955))—provided little more than thrills, though their special effects could be impressive. But these were genres whose fantastic nature could also be used as cover for mordant cultural observations often difficult to make in mainstream movies. Director Don Siegel 's Invasion of
11310-411: The era, made totally outside the studio system, profited from an outrageous concept: a Western with a cast consisting of only little people , The Terror of Tiny Town (1938) was such a success in its independent bookings that Columbia picked it up for distribution. Series of various genres, featuring recurrent, title-worthy characters or name actors in familiar roles, were particularly popular during
11455-435: The expanding second-feature market. Block booking became standard practice: to get access to a studio's attractive A pictures, many theaters were obliged to rent the company's entire output for a season. With the B films rented at a flat fee (rather than the box office percentage basis of A films), rates could be set virtually guaranteeing the profitability of every B movie. The parallel practice of blind bidding largely freed
11600-410: The fall of 1950, Mann was sent to Cinecittà to do second-unit work on Quo Vadis (1951). There, Mann worked 24 nights, filming the burning of Rome sequence with assistant cinematographer William V. Skall . Side Street (1950) was the final film noir that Mann directed. The film starred Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell , reteaming after They Live by Night (1948). He next directed
11745-502: The film "into as many cinemas as he could for a week's run, then withdrawing it before poor word-of-mouth withdrew it for him". Hercules opened at a remarkable 600 theaters, and the strategy was a smashing success: the film earned $ 4.7 million in domestic rentals. Just as valuable to the bottom line, it was even more successful overseas. Within a few decades, Hollywood was dominated by both movies and an exploitation philosophy very much like Levine's. Also playing rounds during this time
11890-675: The film a raving review when it was released in France. Mann was hired by Universal Pictures to direct Spartacus (1960), much to the disagreement of Kirk Douglas who felt Mann "seemed scared of the scope of the picture". Filming started on January 27, 1959, in Death Valley , California for the mine sequence. As filming continued, Douglas felt Mann had lost control of the film, writing in particular: "He let Peter Ustinov direct his own scenes by taking every suggestion Peter made. The suggestions were good—for Peter, but not necessarily for
12035-699: The film earned $ 1.9 million in box office rentals in the United States and Canada, against an estimated production budget of $ 16 million. That same year, in July, Mann served as the head of the jury at the 14th Berlin International Film Festival . In March 1963, Mann and producer S. Benjamin Fisz had reportedly begun development on The Unknown Battle , a historic re-telling of Norwegian resistance soldier Knut Haukelid 's sabotage mission to prevent Nazi Germany from developing an atomic bomb during World War II . Barzman had been hired to write
12180-508: The film rights to Lion Feuchtwanger 's novel This is the Hour , which told a fictionalized account of painter Francisco Goya . Montiel was set to portray Maria Teresa de Cayetana, Duchess of Alba . By February 1958, Mann had abandoned the project as a rival film titled The Naked Maja (1958) was in production. He then purchased the film rights to John McPartland 's then-recently published novel Ripe Fruit , with Montiel set to star. However,
12325-423: The film's climax, buzzers attached to select theater seats unexpectedly rattled a few audience members, prompting either appropriate screams or even more appropriate laughter. With such films, Castle "combine[d] the saturation advertising campaign perfected by Columbia and Universal in their Sam Katzman and William Alland packages with centralized and standardized publicity stunts and gimmicks that had previously been
12470-517: The film, observed: "He [Mann] also brought out something in James Stewart that hadn't been really been seen before. It was an almost manic rage that would suddenly explode ... And then Stewart's character would just go into a violent rage which was a fresh approach, not just for Stewart but also for the Western. Here was a hero with flaws." In The Naked Spur (1953), Howard Kemp (Stewart) is
12615-501: The film. However, Alfred L. Werker was given the official director's credit. While researching on T-Men (1947), Higgins and Mann had come across the topic of Border Patrol agents along the Mexico–United States border . Border Incident (1949) was initially developed at Eagle-Lion, but in December 1948, MGM's Dore Schary purchased the script for $ 50,000 and hired Mann to direct the film. Schary had also signed Mann onto
12760-400: The film." With the studio's approval, Douglas was permitted to fire Mann. According to Douglas's account, Mann graciously exited the production on February 13, to which Douglas promised he "owe[d]" a film to him. In 1967, Mann stated: "Kirk Douglas was the producer of Spartacus : he wanted to insist on the message angle. I thought the message would go over more easily by showing physically all
12905-408: The final film, Mann stated, "We tried but it was all too fabricated and the story was weak. We were never able to lick it ...It didn't get terribly good notices but of course it made a profit." In 1952, MGM approached Mann to direct The Naked Spur (1953). The story told of bounty hunter Howard Kemp who wants to collect a $ 5,000 reward on an outlaw's head so he can buy back land lost to him during
13050-432: The first decade of sound film. Fox's many B series, for instance, included Charlie Chan mysteries, Ritz Brothers comedies, and musicals with child star Jane Withers . These series films are not to be confused with the short, cliffhanger -structured serials that sometimes appeared on the same program. As with serials, however, many series were intended to attract young people—a theater that twin-billed part-time might run
13195-502: The form of low-budget films and series. Today, the term "B movie" is used in a broader sense. In post-Golden Age usage, B movies can encompass a wide spectrum of films, ranging from sensationalistic exploitation films to independent arthouse productions. In either usage, most B movies represent a particular genre : the Western was a Golden Age B movie staple, while low-budget science-fiction and horror films became more popular in
13340-442: The gang members not only to save himself but also to restore the world which he has made for himself. Mann's portrayal of the American landscape in his Westerns have been observed by film academics. In a 1965 interview, Mann expressed his preference for location filming, stating: "Well, the use of the location is to enhance the characters who are involved in it, to enhance the characters who are involved in it, because somebody who
13485-487: The hit Western play The Missouri Legend and the melodrama The Streets of New York . A five-minute silent clip of the latter show survives in the Museum of Television and Radio , including noted actors Norman Lloyd and George Coulouris . Through the efforts of his friend MacDonald Carey , Mann made his directorial debut with Dr. Broadway (1942) at Paramount, which starred Carey. Decades later, Mann remembered he
13630-440: The horrors of slavery. A film must be visual, too much dialogue kills it ... From then, we disagreed: I left." On February 17, 1959, Stanley Kubrick was hired to direct. Shortly after, Mann went to MGM to direct Glenn Ford in a remake of Cimarron (1960). During production, Mann had filmed on location for twelve days, but the shoot had experienced troublesome storms. In response, studio executives at MGM decided to relocate
13775-537: The imaginary woman. He is informed of the truth by Dr. Leslie Ross ( Virginia Grey ), who is later murdered by Blake; in turn, Blake plans to murder Meadows. The film was notable for its noirish mise-en-scène and psychological depth that appeared in Mann's latter films. Mann then directed The Great Flamarion (1945), starring Erich von Stroheim and Mary Beth Hughes . During principal photography, Mann clashed with von Stroheim, describing him at length as "difficult. He
13920-419: The industry's top product, the A films, premiered at a small number of select first-run houses in major cities. Double features were not the rule at these prestigious venues. As described by Edward Jay Epstein , "During these first runs, films got their reviews, garnered publicity, and generated the word of mouth that served as the principal form of advertising." Then it was off to the subsequent-run market where
14065-465: The latter school, he portrayed the title role in Alcestis ; one of his friends and classmates was future Hollywood studio executive Dore Schary . After his father's death in 1923, Mann dropped out during his senior year to help with the family's finances. Back in New York, Mann took a job as a night watchman for Westinghouse Electric, which enabled him to look for stage work during the day. Within
14210-565: The lead role to which he declined and instead cast Victor Mature . In 1956, Mann was handed the script for Night Passage (1957) by Aaron Rosenberg , intending to reunite him with Stewart for a potential ninth collaboration. Before filming was set to begin on September 4, Mann withdrew from the project. Contemporary accounts reported that Mann withdrew because he had not yet finished editing Men in War (1957). However, latter accounts state Mann had developed creative differences with Chase over
14355-593: The line between A and B movies ambiguous. Films shot on B-level budgets were occasionally marketed as A pictures or emerged as sleeper hits : one of 1943's biggest films was Hitler's Children , an RKO thriller made for a fraction over $ 200,000. It earned more than $ 3 million in rentals, industry language for a distributor's share of gross box office receipts. Particularly in the realm of film noir , A pictures sometimes echoed visual styles generally associated with cheaper films. Programmers, with their flexible exhibition role, were ambiguous by definition. As late as 1948,
14500-484: The lower end of the industry, "exploitation" became a way to refer to the entire field of low-budget genre films. The 1960s saw exploitation-style themes and imagery become increasingly central to the realm of the B. Exploitation movies in the original sense continued to appear: 1961's Damaged Goods , a cautionary tale about a young lady whose boyfriend's promiscuity leads to venereal disease , comes complete with enormous, grotesque closeups of VD's physical effects. At
14645-409: The majors from worrying about their Bs' quality; even when booking in less than seasonal blocks, exhibitors had to buy most pictures sight unseen. The five largest studios: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , Paramount Pictures , Fox Film Corporation ( 20th Century Fox as of 1935), Warner Bros. , and RKO Radio Pictures (descendant of FBO), also belonged to companies with sizable theater chains, further securing
14790-536: The marriage was annulled in Madrid. His third marriage was to Anna Kuzko, a ballerina formerly with Sadler's Wells , who had one son named Nicholas. On April 29, 1967, Mann died from a heart attack in his hotel room in Berlin. He had spent the two weeks prior to his death filming A Dandy in Aspic . The film was completed by the film's star Laurence Harvey . For his contribution to the motion picture industry, he has
14935-516: The material at hand." Variety noted: "Though a medium budgeter, [ Raw Deal ] is dressed tidily with a good production and some marquee weight furnished by" the cast. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave the film a negative review, writing it is "a movie—and a pretty low-grade one, at that—in which sensations of fright and excitement are more diligently pursued than common sense." Mann's success with Desperate and T-Men made him Eagle-Lion's most valuable director. In February 1948, Mann
15080-479: The most famous of Meyer's sexploitation pictures. Crafted for constant titillation but containing no nudity, it was aimed at the same "passion pit" drive-in circuit that screened AIP teen movies with wink-wink titles like Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1966), starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon . Roger Corman's The Trip (1967) for American International, written by veteran AIP/Corman actor Jack Nicholson , never shows
15225-403: The novel's controversial subject matter heightened resistance from city leaders and local farmers. As a result, the production was denied permission to film in the state. In October 1957, they eventually selected Stockton , California. On both films, Yordan was given the official screenwriter credit, but Ben Maddow stated he had written both screenplays. Mann later directed Gary Cooper in
15370-445: The poorest theaters, such as the 'grind houses' in the larger cities, screened a continuous program emphasizing action with no specific schedule, sometimes offering six quickies for a nickel in an all-night show that changed daily." Many small theaters never saw a big-studio A film, getting their movies from the states rights concerns that handled almost exclusively Poverty Row product. Millions of Americans went to their local theaters as
15515-426: The prevailing exhibition model: in 1941, fifty percent of theaters were double-billing exclusively, and others employed the policy part-time. In the early 1940s, legal pressure forced the studios to replace seasonal block booking with packages generally limited to five pictures. Restrictions were also placed on the majors' ability to enforce blind bidding. These were crucial factors in the progressive shift by most of
15660-627: The prison film Women in Bondage (1943). In 1947, PRC's The Devil on Wheels brought together teenagers, hot rods , and death. The little studio had its own house auteur : with his own crew and relatively free rein, director Edgar G. Ulmer was known as "the Capra of PRC". Ulmer made films of every generic stripe: his Girls in Chains was released in May 1943, six months before Women in Bondage ; by
15805-406: The production indoors. Mann disagreed, remarking the production had become "an economic disaster and a fiasco and the whole project was destroyed." Mann left the production, and was replaced by Charles Walters . In July 1960, Mann was hired to direct El Cid (1961) for Samuel Bronston . The film starred Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren . In November 1960, before filming was to begin, Loren
15950-438: The program "balance", the practice of pairing different sorts of features suggested to potential customers that they could count on something of interest no matter what specifically was on the bill. The low-budget picture of the 1920s thus evolved into the second feature, the B movie, of Hollywood's Golden Age. The major studios , at first resistant to the double feature, soon adapted; all established B units to provide films for
16095-730: The project failed to materialize. Mann directed a Western starring Henry Fonda and Anthony Perkins titled The Tin Star (1957). Mann then teamed with Philip Yordan on two films starring Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray ; the first being Men in War (1957) was about the Korean War . The film was the first of three Mann had directed for United Artists . His second project was a 1958 film adaptation of Erskine Caldwell 's then-controversial novel God's Little Acre . Mann and producer Sidney Harmon had intended to film in Augusta , Georgia, but
16240-422: The purview of the local exhibitor". The postwar drive-in theater boom was vital to the expanding independent B movie industry. In January 1945, there were 96 drive-ins in the United States; a decade later, there were more than 3,700. Unpretentious pictures with simple, familiar plots and reliable shock effects were ideally suited for auto-based film viewing, with all its attendant distractions. The phenomenon of
16385-409: The same star (a relative status on Poverty Row). Two "major-minors", Universal Studios and rising Columbia Pictures had production lines roughly similar to, though somewhat better endowed than, the top Poverty Row studios. In contrast to the Big Five majors, Universal and Columbia had few or no theaters, though they did have top-rank film distribution exchanges. In the standard Golden Age model,
16530-561: The same time, the concept of fringe exploitation was merging with a related, similarly venerable tradition: " nudie " films featuring nudist-camp footage or striptease artists like Bettie Page had simply been the softcore pornography of previous decades. As far back as 1933, This Nude World was "Guaranteed the Most Educational Film Ever Produced!" In the late 1950s, as more of the old grindhouse theaters devoted themselves specifically to "adult" product,
16675-484: The same time, the realm of the B movie was becoming increasingly fertile territory for experimentation, both serious and outlandish. Ida Lupino , a leading actress, established herself as Hollywood's sole female director of the era. In short, low-budget pictures made for her production company, The Filmakers, Lupino explored taboo subjects such as rape in 1950's Outrage and 1953's self-explanatory The Bigamist . Her best known directorial effort, The Hitch-Hiker ,
16820-524: The script from Wrather and assigned Martin Rackin write a new script. Due to Mann's absence, Richard Fleischer was hired to direct Follow Me Quietly , and there has been speculation suggesting Mann did uncredited filming. However, Muller has disagreed. Mann and Rosenwald wrote another script titled Stakeout , which told of a police detective attempting to expose a corrupt political machine. In October 1949, independent film producer Louis Mandel purchased
16965-488: The script, which Mann considered to be weak. In 1967, Mann had also accused Stewart of only doing the film so he can play his accordion. Mann asked to be replaced, and James Neilson was hired to direct the film. Stewart and Mann never collaborated on another project again. Mann directed a musical starring Mario Lanza titled Serenade (1956). During filming, he worked with actress Sara Montiel , who became his second wife. In August 1957, Mann announced he had acquired
17110-470: The script, with Larry Parks cast in the lead role. Joseph H. Lewis was set to direct the film until he left due to a contractual dispute. By March 1950, Parks's wife Betty Garrett was cast in the femme fatale role, but the project never went into production. The 1950s marked a notable turn in Mann's career, in which he directed a total of ten Western films throughout the decade (three of which were released in 1950). After Border Incident (1949), Mann
17255-444: The script, with Allied Artists as a distributor. By February 1964, Boyd and Elke Sommer had been hired to portray the leading roles. However, in July, Kirk Douglas was hired to portray the lead role. In his memoir, Douglas accepted the role after receiving an unexpected phone call from Mann, fulfilling his earlier promise that he "owed" him a film. The film was then re-titled The Heroes of Telemark (1965). In October 1966, Mann
17400-523: The shooting of new footage with American actor Raymond Burr that was edited into the Japanese sci-fi horror film Godzilla . The British Hammer Film Productions made the successful The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958), major influences on future horror film style. In 1959, Levine's Embassy Pictures bought the worldwide rights to Hercules , a cheaply made Italian movie starring American-born bodybuilder Steve Reeves . On top of
17545-493: The standards of both director and studio, with the longest shooting schedule and biggest budget Corman had ever enjoyed. But it is generally seen as a B movie: the schedule was still a mere fifteen days, the budget just $ 200,000 (one tenth the industry average), and its 85-minute running time close to an old thumbnail definition of the B: "Any movie that runs less than 80 minutes." With the loosening of industry censorship constraints ,
17690-413: The top or bottom of the marquee." On Poverty Row, many Bs were made on budgets that would have barely covered petty cash on a major's A film, with costs at the bottom of the industry running as low as $ 5,000. By the mid-1930s, the double feature was the dominant U.S. exhibition model, and the majors responded. In 1935, B movie production at Warner Bros. was raised from 12 to 50% of studio output. The unit
17835-681: The top ten box-office releases of 1940 had averaged 112.5 minutes; the average length of 1955's top ten was 123.4. In their modest way, the Bs were following suit. The age of the hour-long feature film was past; 70 minutes was now roughly the minimum. While the Golden Age-style second feature was dying, B movie was still used to refer to any low-budget genre film featuring relatively unheralded performers (sometimes referred to as B actors ). The term retained its earlier suggestion that such movies relied on formulaic plots, "stock" character types, and simplistic action or unsophisticated comedy. At
17980-681: The troubled past in Mann's several films have included "the death of a loved one (a father in Winchester '73 and The Furies , a brother in The Man from Laramie , a wife in The Tin Star ), and the hero is out to punish the responsible party or, as in the case of The Tin Star , resents society as a whole for what happened." By the 1950s, Mann had shifted to directing Western films, with Winchester '73 (1950) as his first collaboration with James Stewart. Aaron Rosenberg , who had produced
18125-450: The villain, and he might be gunned down before he had the chance at redemption that Mann's films offer. — Richard Corliss Mann's filmography has been observed for his depiction of antiheroes . In 2006, Richard Corliss observed that Mann's antiheroes typically have a troubled past, leaving them jaded or cynical at the start of the film, and are presented with a path to redemption. Jean-Pierre Coursodon and Pierre Sauvage noted
18270-410: Was K. Gordon Murray , known for distributing international matinee fare like the 1959 Mexican kids' movie Santa Claus . Despite all the transformations in the industry, by 1961 the average production cost of an American feature film was still only $ 2 million —after adjusting for inflation, less than 10% more than it had been in 1950. The traditional twin bill of B film preceding and balancing
18415-650: Was a commercial success, earning $ 2.25 million in distributor rentals becoming Universal Pictures' second-most successful film of 1950. At the invitation of Hal Wallis , Mann directed the Western The Furies (1950) at Paramount starring Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston . Also released in summer 1950, the film grossed $ 1.55 million in distributor rentals in the United States and Canada. Mann reflected, "It had marvellous characters, interesting notices, but it failed because nobody in it cared about anything—they were all rudderless, rootless, and haters." In
18560-571: Was a personality, not really an actor ... He drove me mad. He was a genius. I'm not a genius: I'm a worker." Mann moved to RKO to direct Two O'Clock Courage (1945), itself a remake of the 1936 film Two in the Dark , with Tom Conway and Ann Rutherford in the leading roles. That same year, he also directed Sing Your Way Home . Mann returned to Republic Pictures for Strange Impersonation (1946). He directed The Bamboo Blonde (1946) at RKO. By 1946, Mann had signed with Eagle-Lion Films ,
18705-628: Was an adaptation from a serial by Thomas T. Flynn, first published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1954. The film was shot on location in Coronado, New Mexico , and in Sante Fe . The film was the favorite of Stewart's of the films they made together. After the film's release, Harry Cohn asked Mann to direct another Western film for Columbia. Mann agreed and decided to direct The Last Frontier (1955). Mann offered Stewart
18850-539: Was announced to direct and produce the spy thriller A Dandy in Aspic (1968) for Columbia Pictures. By December, filming was set to begin in February 1967 where it would film on location in Austria , Germany , and London . At the time of his death, Mann was developing three projects: a Western film titled The King , which was loosely adapted from King Lear , with sons replacing the daughters; The Donner Pass ,
18995-471: Was approached by Nicholas Nayfack , who asked him: "How would you like to direct a Western? I've a scenario here that seems interesting." He was handed the script for Devil's Doorway (1950), deeming it "the best script I had ever read." The film starred Robert Taylor , portraying a Shoshone native who faces prejudice after returning home in Medicine Bow , Wyoming following his decorated service in
19140-768: Was born in the village of Rosice , Chrudim , Bohemia to a Sudeten-German Catholic family. His mother, Bertha (née Waxelbaum/Weichselbaum), a drama teacher from Macon , Georgia, was an American of Bavarian Jewish descent. At the time of his birth, Mann's parents were members of the Theosophical Society community of Lomaland in San Diego County . When Mann was three, his parents moved to his father's native country Austria to seek treatment for his father's ill health, leaving Mann behind in Lomaland. Mann's mother did not return for him until he
19285-439: Was displeased with her dialogue in the script, and requested for blacklisted screenwriter Ben Barzman to rewrite it. On an airplane trip to Rome , Mann retrieved Barzman and handed him the latest shooting script, to which Barzman agreed to rewrite from scratch. Filming began on November 14, 1960, and lasted until April 1961. Released in December 1961, El Cid was released to critical acclaim, with praise towards Mann's direction,
19430-489: Was fourteen, and only then at the urging of a cousin who had paid him a visit and was worried about his treatment and situation at Lomaland. In 1917, Mann's family relocated to New York where he developed a penchant for acting. This was reinforced with Mann's participation in the Young Men's Hebrew Association . He continued to act in school productions, studying at East Orange Grammar and Newark's Central High School . At
19575-541: Was headed by Bryan Foy , known as the "Keeper of the Bs". At Fox, which also shifted half of its production line into B territory, Sol M. Wurtzel was similarly in charge of more than twenty movies a year during the late 1930s. A number of the top Poverty Row firms consolidated: Sono Art joined another company to create Monogram Pictures early in the decade. In 1935, Monogram, Mascot, and several smaller studios merged to establish Republic Pictures . The former heads of Monogram soon sold off their Republic shares and set up
19720-474: Was hired to direct a dramatization of the storming of the Bastille , with Richard Basehart to portray an aide to General Lafayette . With Walter Wanger preoccupied with Joan of Arc (1948), he handed off supervisory duties to production designer William Cameron Menzies . Principal photography lasted 29 days, from August to September 1948, and cost $ 850,000. Reteaming with Alton, he and Mann developed
19865-420: Was in the vanguard of marketing low-budget, sensationalistic films with a "100% saturation campaign", inundating the target audience with ads in almost any imaginable medium. In the era of the traditional double feature, no one would have characterized these graphic exploitation films as "B movies". With the majors having exited traditional B production and exploitation-style promotion becoming standard practice at
20010-434: Was loaned out from Republic for the job, marking T-Men as their first collaboration. During its release, the film earned $ 2.5 million worldwide. He went back to RKO for Desperate (1947), which he also co-wrote with Dorothy Atlas. A review in Variety positively wrote it was "a ripsnorting gangster meller, with enough gunplay, bumping off of characters and grim brutality to smack of pre-code days "; Mann's direction
20155-500: Was more complimentary, stating the film was a "fairly good program entertainment" with "colorful characters, human interest, fast action, and situations that hold one in suspense." His follow-up film was Moonlight in Havana (1943) at Universal Pictures . The film featured Allan Jones and Jane Frazee . In August 1944, it was reported Mann might return to Broadway to direct Mirror for Children . After nine months without directing
20300-421: Was noted as "being done skillfully". Mann returned to Eagle-Lion to direct Raw Deal (1948), reteaming with screenwriter John C. Higgins , screenwriter Leopold Atlas and actor Dennis O'Keefe . The film centers on Joe (O'Keefe), who has been wrongly imprisoned and fingered by his old friends. He escapes from prison and goes on the run with two women, a nice social worker, Ann ( Marsha Hunt ), whom he takes as
20445-476: Was originally set to be directed by Fritz Lang , but he felt Stewart was unsuitable for the lead role and dropped out. When Stewart had seen a rough cut of Devil's Doorway (1950), he suggested Mann as a replacement. Mann readily accepted, but threw out the script calling Borden Chase for a rewrite. Principal photography began on February 14, 1950, in Tucson , Arizona for a thirty-day shooting schedule. The film
20590-479: Was released by a new company whose name was much bigger than its budgets. American International Pictures (AIP), founded in 1956 by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff in a reorganization of their American Releasing Corporation (ARC), soon became the leading U.S. studio devoted entirely to B-cost productions. American International helped keep the original-release double bill alive through paired packages of its films: these movies were low-budget, but instead of
20735-546: Was released the following year. A former soldier who was court-martialled during the Second World War sets out to murder the officers who passed sentence on him. After the lawyer who acted for the prosecution at the court martial receives threatening letters a newspaper reporter and his wisecracking girlfriend try to track down the killer. The film was shot at Walton Studios outside London . The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Formula crime melodrama, in which
20880-519: Was released. According to Elmer Lincoln Irey , the film originated from a rejected offer to dramatize the U.S. Treasury's investigation of Al Capone on tax evasion charges. Instead, Irey brought forward three cases related to the investigation. Initially budgeted at $ 400,000, T-Men was shot within three weeks from July 31 to August 23, with four days of reshoots in September. For the film, Mann specifically requested cinematographer John Alton , who
21025-438: Was told to complete shooting the film in eighteen days. Upon its release, Herman Schoenfeld of Variety was dismissive of the film writing, "The dialog could have just as well have been written in baby talk, and Anton Mann's direction just wasn't. The photography is spotty and the production looks inexpensive. Acting is weak, only Edward Ciannelli as the killer who gets killed, turning in an adequate job." Harrison's Reports
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