Republic Pictures
| Republic Entertainment, Inc. | |
|---|---|
| Type | subsidiary |
| Founded | 1935 |
| Headquarters | |
| Owner | Viacom |
| Parent | Paramount Motion Pictures Group |
Republic Pictures (aka Republic Entertainment, Inc.) is an independent film, television, and video distribution company that was originally a movie production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, best known for its specialization in quality B pictures, westerns and movie serials.
They were also responsible for one notable
Corporate History
Created in 1935 by Herbert J. Yates, a long-time investor in film and music properties, Republic was the result of a union of five smaller Poverty Row studios. In its early years Republic was itself sometimes labeled a "Poverty Row" company. But the studio, created at the time major companies were withdrawing from the B-picture market, showed more ambition than such a label would indicate. By the mid-1940s Yates was producing better-quality pictures, even mounting big-budget fare like The Quiet Man, Sands of Iwo Jima, Johnny Guitar, and The Maverick Queen. The heart of the company was its franchise in westerns, and many western-film stars, among them John Wayne, Gene Autry, Rex Allen, and Roy Rogers, began at Republic.
In the depths of the 1930s depression, Yates foreclosed on five small production companies, each heavily in debt to his Consolidated Film Laboratories. The largest of the five was Monogram Pictures, run by Trem Carr and W. Ray Johnston, specializing in B-films, and controlling a nation-wide distribution system. Carr and Johnston soon left Republic, and before long Johnston would relaunch Monogram as an independent company. The most advanced technically was Nat Levine's Mascot Pictures, which had been making serials and westerns since the mid-1920s. Mascot also had a first-class studio, the former Mack Sennett - Keystone lot in Studio City. Acquiring these companies allowed Republic to begin life with a skilled production staff, a complete distribution system, and a functioning studio. The others were M. H. Hoffman's Liberty Films, from which Republic took its original "Liberty Bell" logo (and not to be confused with the Liberty Films that produced Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, ironically now owned by Republic), Chesterfield Pictures, and Invincible Pictures.
While taking on feature production, the new company also continued to produce numerous serials; while sometimes fantastically plotted, they were technically first-rate, with production values far better than those of others' serials. Fast-paced and well staged, Republic's serials featured choreographed fight scenes, and superb model-work, explosions and other effects by the Lydecker brothers. Republic produced serials until 1955, long after rivals had abandoned the field.
Republic was the first Hollywood studio to offer its film library to television, in 1951 creating a subsidiary, Hollywood Television Service, to peddle its vintage westerns and action thrillers. Also, in 1952 the Republic studio lot became the first home of MCA's series factory, Revue Productions. While it would appear that Republic was well-suited for television-series production, it did not have the finances or vision to do so. Yet by the mid-fifties, thanks to its sale of old features and leasing of studio space to MCA, television was the prop holding up Republic Pictures. During this period, Republic produced Commando Cody; unsuccessful as a theater release, the 12-part serial was later sold for to NBC for television distribution. Talent-agent MCA exerted influence at the studio, bringing some high-paid clients in for occasional features, and it was rumored at various times that either MCA or deposed MGM head Louis B. Mayer would buy the studio outright.
From the mid-1940s onward, occasional Republic films featured Vera Hruba Ralston, a former Czechoslovakian ice-skater who had won the heart of the studio boss, becoming the second Mrs. Yates in 1949. Billed as "the most beautiful woman in films," her charms were lost on the movie-going public, as well as some of her co-stars. Years later, John Wayne allowed that the reason he left Republic in 1952 was the threat of having to make another picture - he had endured two - with Miss Ralston.
Although Republic made most of its films in black and white, it very occasionally would produce a higher-budget film, such as
The Red Pony (1949) and The Quiet Man
(1952), in
As the demand and market for B-pictures declined, Republic began to cut back, slowing production from forty features annually in the early 1950s to about eighteen in 1957. A tearful Herbert Yates informed shareholders at the 1958 annual meeting that feature-film production was ending; the distribution offices were shut down the following year. In the early 1960s, Republic sold its library of films to National Telefilm Associates (NTA). Having used the studio for series production for years, CBS bought Republic's studio lot; today it is known as CBS Studio Center, and in 2006 is to become home to the network's Los Angeles stations, KCBS and KCAL.
The studio's parent company, Republic Corporation, survived for some years on Yates's other interests, among them Consolidated Film Laboratories and the manufacture of household appliances. Other than producing a 1966 package of 26 "Century 66" 100 minute made-for-TV movies edited from some of the Republic serials to cash in on the popularity of the Batman (TV series), its role in Hollywood ended with the sale of the studio lot.
Aftermath
During the early 1980s, NTA re-syndicated most of the Republic film library for use by then-emerging cable television, and by 1986 found itself so successful with these product lines that it bought the Republic Pictures name and logo. A television-production unit was set up under the Republic name, and offered, among other things, the CBS series Beauty and the Beast and game show Press Your Luck (the rights to the latter series have since reverted to FremantleMedia). There were also a few theatrical films, including Freeway, Ruby in Paradise, and Bound. The "new" Republic also began marketing the original's serial library on videotape.
Bought by Aaron Spelling's Spelling Entertainment, Republic won a landmark legal decision re-activating the copyright on Frank Capra's 1946 RKO film It's a Wonderful Life; (under NTA, they had already acquired the film's negative, music score, and the story on which it was based, "The Greatest Gift").
Soon after, Spelling consolidated its many divisions, reducing Republic Pictures to a marketing brand-name. Republic's video division shut down in 1995, allowing the video rights to the Republic library to be leased to Artisan Entertainment, while the library itself continued to be released under the Republic name and logo. By the end of the decade, Viacom bought the portion of Spelling it did not own previously, thus Republic became a wholly owned division of Paramount. Artisan (later sold to Lions Gate Home Entertainment) continued to use the Republic name, logo, and library under license from Paramount.
Republic Pictures' holdings consists of a catalog of 3,000 films and TV series, including the original Republic library (except for the Roy Rogers and Gene Autry catalogs, owned by their respective estates), and the holdings of Worldvision Enterprises, which includes in its library the pre-1973 NBC catalog (including Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie, the latter premiering in 1974), most of the Quinn Martin (The Fugitive, The Streets of San Francisco, etc.) and Aaron Spelling (The Love Boat, Twin Peaks, Beverly Hills 90210, etc.) catalogs, select pre-1952 UA (High Noon, Copacabana, etc.) and NTA holdings (Fleischer cartoons, It's a Wonderful Life, etc.).
Today, as a result of the Viacom/CBS corporate split of 2006, Republic's holdings are divided. As is the case with the Paramount film libraries, CBS Paramount Television owns Republic's television output, while the theatrical side is owned by Viacom's Paramount Pictures.
Lions Gate Home Entertainment's home video rights initially expired in late 2005, but have since regained video rights to Republic's theatrical film library (except It's a Wonderful Life--the video rights to that film and Republic's TV library now are with CBS Paramount Television, with the TV shows released through the CBS DVD label). Television distribution is now the responsibility of CBS Television Distribution.
As of 2007, Republic remains an in-name-only distribution company under Paramount Motion Pictures Group, a division of Viacom.
Notable Republic Pictures
1930s and 1940s
- Under Western Skies (1938)
- Melody Ranch (1939)
- Dark Command (1940)
- Ice Capades (1941, the debut of Vera Hruba)
- Flame of the Barbary Coast (1944)
- Angel and the Badman (1947)
- Macbeth (1948), directed by and starring Orson Welles
- Wake of the Red Witch (1948)
- The Fighting Kentuckian (1949)
- Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
- The Red Pony (1949)
1950s
- Rio Grande (1950)
- The Wild Blue Yonder (1951)
- The Quiet Man (1952)
- Johnny Guitar (1954)
- The Last Command (1955)
- Track the Man Down (1955)
- Maverick Queen (1956)
1990s
- Ruby in Paradise (1993)
- The Tin Soldier (1995)
- Bound (1996)
- Freeway (1996)
Republic Serials
References
| Cinema of the United States | |
|---|---|
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A-Z of films • Films by year • Academy Awards • Actors • Animators • Box office • Cinematographers • Critics • Directors • Editors • Festivals • Film series • Golden Globes • Hollywood • Movie theatres • Producers • Production companies • Score composers • Screenwriters • Silent films • Stunt performers • AFI 100 Years |
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