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Post by topbilled on May 15, 2023 13:55:32 GMT
I should point out that MASSACRE, released in June '56 by 20th Century Fox, was the first Lippert film from Fox, as part of the studio's new deal with indy producer Robert Lippert. From 1957 forward, we will see a lot of cheaper 'B' fare for the drive-in crowd, made by Lippert and released through Fox. These will include westerns, action flicks and teen oriented dramas.
RKO continues its decline. After being mired in several huge lawsuits and basically running the studio into the ground, Howard Hughes has finally sold off his interest in the studio. The new owners, who are more interested in using the catalogue of films for television broadcast, start to halt production of newer films. A few of the "new" films at the end will be remakes of earlier hits, probably because those were proven properties and could also be sold easily to television.
When Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball buy RKO in 1957, it is for the sole purpose of using the facilities to produce Desilu's slate of television shows...as well as to rent out sound stages to other TV production companies. The last few RKO feature films are auctioned off to other studios for distribution...but as they have the RKO logo on them, I will still list them under RKO.
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Post by I Love Melvin on May 15, 2023 14:42:52 GMT
I wish Sirk had done more "tinkering"; there was such an obvious attempt to recreate his style that any input of his could only have helped. I didn't know that there was an earlier source for Never Say Goodbye. Thanks for the heads-up and I'll definitely look for it. Merle Oberon seems to be very right for this kind of material. I think they were trying to turn Borchers into another Ingrid Bergman, but it just wasn't the same.
Cantinflas as Best Actor GG? A thousand times no! That's a supporting role for sure. Cantinflas was OK, but never one to build a movie around, in my opinion. Columbia's Pepe (1960) had its moments, mostly in the star cameos, but overall it was plodding, way too long and his scenes came across as pretty sappy.
I checked the production dates of the two musicals. Carousel was filmed August, 1955 - November, 1955 and The King and I was filmed December, 1955 - January, 1956, so there wouldn't have had to be any overlap between crews, etc. So with only 4 -5 months between their release dates it appears they were simply treated like any other films with the standard amount of post-production time and released accordingly, without a particular strategy. I would have thought there would be an extended "roadshow" release for each, but apparently not. Both had New York premieres and then a general release. In 1956 High Society, Helen of Troy, War and Peace, Around the World in 80 Days and The Ten Commandments had roadshow releases, but neither of those two major musicals.
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Post by I Love Melvin on May 15, 2023 14:53:10 GMT
RKO continues its decline. After being mired in several huge lawsuits and basically running the studio into the ground, Howard Hughes has finally sold off his interest in the studio. The new owners, who are more interested in using the catalogue of films for television broadcast, start to halt production of newer films. A few of the "new" films at the end will be remakes of earlier hits, probably because those were proven properties and could also be sold easily to television.
I was surprised to see such a healthy release slate from Allied Artists. Quality aside, they had about as many releases as some of the majors. This seems to have been a relatively prosperous moment for them. Or no?
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Post by topbilled on May 15, 2023 14:57:58 GMT
RKO continues its decline. After being mired in several huge lawsuits and basically running the studio into the ground, Howard Hughes has finally sold off his interest in the studio. The new owners, who are more interested in using the catalogue of films for television broadcast, start to halt production of newer films. A few of the "new" films at the end will be remakes of earlier hits, probably because those were proven properties and could also be sold easily to television.
I was surprised to see such a healthy release slate from Allied Artists. Quality aside, they had about as many releases as some of the majors. This seems to have been a relatively prosperous moment for them. Or no? Yes, the execs at Allied Artists were making money after dropping its sister label Monogram and focusing more on what I would call B+ fare. They will soon discontinue the Bowery Boys series, a throwback to Monogram.
Films like FRIENDLY PERSUASION and LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON (to be released in '57) were decidedly "A" budget affairs, both titles produced by Allied Artists and starring Gary Cooper. So you can see they are trying to become more of a major studio...in a way this is commendable, since like everyone else, they were dealing with the effects of television on the feature film market.
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Post by Swithin on May 15, 2023 23:08:44 GMT
1956 also brings back memories of being taken to the movies to see films that I couldn’t fully understand, but I enjoyed many of them. I remember liking The Lieutenant Wore Skirts, The First Traveling Saleslady, The Solid Gold Cadillac, The Benny Goodman Story, and The King and I.
I remember seeing the newspaper adverts for some of the other films, particularly Lust for Life and Baby Doll. In those days, new releases would play for ages downtown (meaning in Manhattan) before they came to the Bronx.
In later years, I would see many 1956 films, including one I consider to be one of Hitchcock's greatest: The Man Who Knew Too Much.
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