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37-616: The film was released as Beta Som , the Italian language acronym meaning Bordeaux Sommergibile. Phonetically B (for Bordeaux) is Beta and SOM is an abbreviation for 'Sommergibile' which is the Italian for submarine. In the United States American International Pictures released it as a double feature with Commando (1964). An Italian submarine captain ( Gabriele Ferzetti ) tries to navigate his sub through enemy waters whilst being stalked by

74-517: A British commander ( James Mason ). The Italian sub manages to make it into the neutral port of Tangiers , Morocco followed by the British commander. During their stay, the two captains agree not to fight. They come to respect each other. Eventually the Italian sub leaves port after the Captain accuses his lover ( Lilli Palmer ) of spying. The British commander follows, but ends up losing his ship to

111-478: A double feature with Female Jungle (1955), a film noir . Other films released under the ARC banner include a British documentary Operation Malaya (1955) and Corman's Gunslinger (1956). Arkoff and Nicholson had always wanted to name their company "American International Pictures", but the name was unavailable. When the name became available, they changed over. There were three main production arms at AIP in

148-468: A film to support Day the World Ended , The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955), but lacked the money to make both films. They split the costs with Dan and Jack Milner, film editors who wanted to get into production. The resulting double bill was very successful at the box office. Gordon also produced The Oklahoma Woman (1955), a Western by Corman, made through Sunset Productions. It was put on

185-584: A girl will watch; therefore: to catch your greatest audience you zero in on the 19-year-old male. AIP began as the American Releasing Corporation, a new distribution company formed in 1954 by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff. They were interested in distributing a car chase movie produced by Roger Corman for his Palo Alto Productions, The Fast and the Furious (1955). Corman had received offers from other companies for

222-748: A new genre of beach party films featuring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon . The original idea and the first script were Rusoff's. The highly successful and often imitated series ended in 1966 with the seventh film, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini . Many actors from the beach films also appeared in AIP's spy-spoofs, such as Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) and car racing films like Fireball 500 (1966) and Thunder Alley . During this time, AIP also produced or distributed most of Corman's horror films, such as X: The Man with

259-558: A profit, Arkoff quizzed film exhibitors who told him of the value of the teenage market as adults were watching television. AIP stopped making Westerns with Arkoff explaining: "To compete with television westerns you have to have color, big stars and $ 2,000,000". AIP was the first company to use focus groups , polling American teenagers about what they would like to see and using their responses to determine titles, stars, and story content. AIP would question their exhibitors (who often provided 20% of AIP's financing ) what they thought of

296-495: A successful low-budget movie years later, during a 1980s talk show appearance. His ideas for a movie included: Later, the AIP publicity department devised a strategy called "the Peter Pan Syndrome": a) a younger child will watch anything an older child will watch; b) an older child will not watch anything a younger child will watch; c) a girl will watch anything a boy will watch; d) a boy will not watch anything

333-436: A victim of its own success when other companies started copying its double feature strategy. Costs were rising and were not compensated by increased box office grosses. AIP shut down most of their production arms and focused on distributing films from Italy, while they decided what to do next. In October 1959 AIP announced it had secured finance from Colonial Bank (who had financed three of their films to date) for ten films over

370-425: A year after its acquisition by Filmways in 1979. It was formed on April 2, 1954, as American Releasing Corporation ( ARC ) by former Realart Pictures Inc. sales manager James H. Nicholson and entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff and their first release was the 1953 UK documentary film Operation Malaya . It was dedicated to releasing low-budget films packaged as double features , primarily of interest to

407-525: The Anchor Bay DVD of Mario Bava 's Black Sabbath , Mark Damon claims that he first suggested the idea to Corman. Damon also says that Corman let him direct The Pit and the Pendulum uncredited. Corman's commentary for Pit mentions nothing of this and all existing production stills of the film show Corman directing. During the early 1960s, AIP produced a series of horror films inspired by

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444-605: The Billy Jack character. Steve Terrell Steven Terrell (born December 6, 1929) is an American actor who worked extensively on American films and television series in the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for his association with American International Pictures for whom he made Invasion of the Saucer Men and Runaway Daughters . He also played as Grove Nichols in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of

481-645: The teenagers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The company eventually became a part of Orion Pictures , which in turn, became a division of Amazon MGM Studios. On October 7, 2020, four decades after the original closure, MGM revived AIP as a label for acquired films for digital and theatrical releases, with MGM overseeing across streaming platforms and United Artists Releasing handling theatrical distribution in North America until 2023 when Amazon MGM Studios took over. Nicholson and Arkoff served as executive producers while Roger Corman and Alex Gordon were

518-614: The Blood Beast , She Gods of Shark Reef and The Brain Eaters (all released in 1958). The other key producer for AIP was Alex Gordon who mostly made films though his Golden State Productions outfit, usually written by Lou Rusoff . He made Girls in Prison (1956), with director Edward L. Cahn who would become one of AIP's most prolific directors. AIP released it on a double bill with Hot Rod Girl (1956). Cahn also directed

555-600: The Blushing Pearls" and as Nick Lacy in the Ripcord episode "Willie". Terrell and his wife Else Terrell later started a theatre troupe that came out of Minnesota and moved to San Diego in 1971 called "Lamb's Players Theatre" which still exists as of January 2022. This company has been in residence in Coronado, California as a regional theatre since 1994. Steve and Else left the company in 1981. Also appeared in

592-499: The Italian's torpedoes. This article about a film on World War II is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . American International Pictures American International Pictures LLC ( AIP or American International Productions ) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios . In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing films from 1955 until 1980,

629-678: The Lost City , Portrait of a Sinner (1959, West Germany), The Professionals (1960, Great Britain), and Escape to Paradise (1960, the Philippines). They also bought Why Must I Die? and The Jailbreakers (1960). In the early 1960s, AIP gained kudos by combining Roger Corman , Vincent Price and the stories of Edgar Allan Poe into a series of horror films, with scripts by Richard Matheson , Charles Beaumont , Ray Russell , R. Wright Campbell and Robert Towne . The original idea, usually credited to Corman and Lou Rusoff,

666-507: The Odd . In 1962, Arkoff said AIP was in a position similar to Columbia Pictures just before they made Submarine and Dirigible : Before that they were on poverty row. Our better position will enable us to obtain more important writers, perhaps more important producers as well. We're a privately owned company at the moment but perhaps within two or three years we will become a public company. Beginning with 1963's Beach Party , AIP created

703-671: The Poe cycle. Of eight films, seven feature stories that are actually based on the works of Poe. Seven of the films, with the exception of The Premature Burial , featured Vincent Price as the star. Occasionally, Corman's 1963 film The Terror (produced immediately after The Raven ) is recognized as being part of the Corman-Poe cycle, although the film's story and title are not based on any literary work of Poe. Some Poe films announced by AIP but not made include The Gold Bug , The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade , and The Angel of

740-485: The Western Outlaw Treasure (1955) starring Johnny Carpenter . ARC got Corman to direct another Western and science fiction double bill Apache Woman (1955) and Day the World Ended (1955). Both scripts were written by Arkoff's brother-in-law Lou Rusoff , who would become the company's leading writer in its early days. Apache Woman was produced by Alex Gordon, an associate of Arkoff's, Day

777-733: The World (1956) from a script by Rusoff that was rewritten by Charles B. Griffith . His films included Rock All Night (1956); Naked Paradise (1957), in which Arkoff had a small role; The Undead ; Sorority Girl ; The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957); Machine Gun Kelly with Charles Bronson ; and Teenage Caveman (1958), with Robert Vaughn . AIP also distributed films Corman helped finance, such as Night of

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814-545: The X-ray Eyes . In 1966, the studio released The Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda , based loosely on the real-life exploits of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. This film ushered in AIP's most successful year and kicked off a subgenre of motorcycle gang films that lasted almost 10 years and included Devil's Angels , The Glory Stompers with Dennis Hopper , and The Born Losers —the film that introduced

851-490: The burning roof of the Usher mansion reappears in most of the other films as stock footage ), making the series quite cost-effective. All the films in the series were directed by Roger Corman, and they all starred Price except The Premature Burial , which featured Ray Milland in the lead. It was originally produced for another studio, but AIP acquired the rights to it. As the series progressed, Corman made attempts to change

888-638: The documentary Naked Africa , The Screaming Skull (1957), The Cool and the Crazy , Daddy-O , Dragstrip Riot and Tank Battalion (1958). AIP developed a mutual relationship with Britain's Anglo-Amalgamated who would distribute AIP's product in the UK. In return, AIP would distribute their films in the U.S., such as The Tommy Steele Story (1957) and Cat Girl (1957). AIP also imported The White Huntress (1954, England), Pulgarcito (1958, Mexico) and The Sky Calls (1959, Russia). AIP became

925-442: The film, but ARC offered to advance money to enable Corman to make two other films. Corman agreed, The Fast and the Furious performed well at the box office and the company was launched. Corman's next two films for the company were a Western, Five Guns West (1955), which Corman directed, and a science fiction film, The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955). The title from the latter had come from Nicholson. ARC also distributed

962-683: The following for Gordon: The She-Creature (released as a double feature with It Conquered the World ); Flesh and the Spur , the last Western made by AIP; Shake, Rattle & Rock! , a rock musical with Mike Connors ; Runaway Daughters (1956); Voodoo Woman ; Dragstrip Girl (1957), with John Ashley ; Motorcycle Gang (1957), again with Ashley; Jet Attack and Submarine Seahawk (1958). Most of these were written by Rusoff and directed by Edward L. Cahn . Gordon left AIP and Rusoff alone produced Hot Rod Gang (1958) and Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959). Another key producer for AIP

999-409: The formula. Later films added more humor to the stories, especially The Raven , which takes Poe's poem as an inspiration and develops it into an all-out farce starring Price, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre ; Karloff had starred in a 1935 film with the same title. Corman also adapted H. P. Lovecraft 's short novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward in an attempt to get away from Poe, but AIP changed

1036-643: The late 1950s, AIP kept their company afloat by importing films from Italy. These included Sheba and the Gladiator (1959), Goliath and the Barbarians (1959) and Black Sunday (1960); the latter film proved to be one of the company's early successes. There was also Atomic Agent (1959, France), The Angry Red Planet (1959, Denmark), Tiger of Bengal (1959) and The Indian Tomb (1960) from Fritz Lang in Germany, edited together as Journey to

1073-407: The late 1950s: Roger Corman, Alex Gordon & Lou Rusoff, and Herman Cohen. Arkoff and Nicholson would buy films from other filmmakers as well, and import films from outside America. Corman continued to be an important member of AIP (though he also worked for Allied Artists and his own Filmgroup company during this period). He had a big hit for the company with the science fiction film It Conquered

1110-601: The next 12 months. The remaining 14 to 20 projects planned were paid by Pathe Laboratories. The ten films were Diary of a High School Bride , Drag Race , The Haunted House of Usher , End of the World , World Without Women , Bombs Away , Blood Hill , Take Me To Your Leader , She and Eve and the Dragon . Not all of these would be made. The company moved into rented office space at the former Chaplin Studios . In

1147-477: The principal film producers and, sometimes, directors. Writer Charles B. Griffith wrote many of the early films, along with Arkoff's brother-in-law, Lou Rusoff, who later produced many of the films he had written. Other writers included Ray Russell , Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont . Floyd Crosby , A.S.C. famous for his camera work on a number of exotic documentaries and the Oscar winner, High Noon ,

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1184-426: The success of a title, then would have a writer create a script for it. A sequence of tasks in a typical production involved creating a great title, getting an artist such as Albert Kallis who supervised all AIP artwork from 1955 to 1973 to create a dynamic, eye-catching poster, then raising the cash, and finally writing and casting the film. Samuel Z. Arkoff related his tried-and-true "ARKOFF formula" for producing

1221-518: The title to that of an obscure Poe poem, The Haunted Palace , and marketed it as yet another movie in the series. The last two films in the series, The Masque of the Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeia , were filmed in England with an unusually long schedule for Corman and AIP. Although Corman and Rusoff are generally credited with coming up with the idea for the Poe series, in an interview on

1258-605: Was Herman Cohen , who had a huge hit with I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) starring Michael Landon . He followed it with I Was a Teenage Frankenstein , Blood of Dracula (both also in 1957 as a double feature), How to Make a Monster (1958), The Headless Ghost and Horrors of the Black Museum (both in 1959). Other key collaborators who worked for AIP in the late 1950s included: AIP would flesh out their distribution schedule by buying films made by outside producers. These included The Astounding She-Monster ,

1295-503: Was chief cinematographer. His innovative use of surreal color and odd lenses and angles gave AIP films a signature look. The early rubber monster suits and miniatures of Paul Blaisdell were used in AIP's science fiction films . The company also hired Les Baxter and Ronald Stein to compose many of its film scores. In the 1950s, the company had a number of actors under contract, including John Ashley , Fay Spain and Steve Terrell . When many of ARC/AIP's first releases failed to earn

1332-401: Was produced by Corman. Both were made by Golden State Productions, ARC's production arm. Normally, B movies were made for the second part of a bill and received a flat rate. As television was encroaching on the B movie market, Nicholson and Arkoff felt it would be more profitable to make two low budget films and distribute them together on a double feature . Nicholson came up with a title for

1369-615: Was to take Poe's story " The Fall of the House of Usher ", which had both a high name-recognition value and the merit of being in the public domain , and thus royalty -free, and expand it into a feature film. Corman convinced the studio to give him a larger budget than the typical AIP film so he could film the movie in widescreen and color, and use it to create lavish sets as well. The success of House of Usher led AIP to finance further films based on Poe's stories. The sets and special effects were often reused in subsequent movies (for example,

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