Producers Releasing Corporation: Difference between revisions

Producers Releasing Corporation
	Logo in 1945
Industry	Film studio
Predecessor	Producers Distributing Corporation
Founded	1939
Defunct	1946
Fate	Folded
Successor	Eagle-Lion Films (1950); United Artists (1955)
Headquarters	Poverty Row
Key people	Sigmund Neufeld; Sam Newfield
Owner	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; (MGM Holdings); (Amazon)
Parent	United Artists Corporation; (MGM Holdings); (Amazon)

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Producers Releasing Corporation was one of the smallest and least prestigious Hollywood film studios of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoestring film producers based their operations. However, PRC was more substantial than the usual independent companies that made only a few low-budget movies and then disappeared. PRC was an actual Hollywood studio – albeit the smallest – with its own production facilities and distribution network, and it even accepted imports from the UK. PRC lasted from 1939 to 1947, churning out low-budget B movies for the lower half of a double bill or the upper half of a neighborhood theater showing second-run films. The studio was originally located at 1440 N. Gower St. (on the lot that eventually became part of Columbia Pictures) from 1936 to 1943. PRC then occupied the former Grand National Pictures physical plant at 7324 Santa Monica Blvd.,^[1] from 1943 to 1946. This address is now an apartment complex.^{[citation needed]}

PRC produced 179 feature films^[2] and almost never spent more than $100,000 on any of them; most of its films actually cost considerably less. Only the 1944 musical Minstrel Man had enhanced production values; it showed such excellent progress during filming that its planned $80,000 budget was nearly tripled.^[3]

History[edit]

The company evolved from the earlier Producers Distributing Corporation (PDC), begun in 1939 by exhibitor Ben Judell (né Benjamin Nathaniel Judell; 1890–1974), who had hired producer Sigmund Neufeld and his brother, director Sam Newfield, to make the studio's films. After the collapse of PDC, Judell became an independent producer and the company was reorganized as Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) under former Pathé executive O. Henry Briggs. Briggs was succeeded in January 1941 by George R. Batcheller Jr.,^[4] son of former Chesterfield Pictures president George R. Batcheller. The studio relied on Sam Newfield to direct most of its early features; Newfield actually adopted two other names ("Peter Stewart" and "Sherman Scott") to create the illusion that the PRC had an entire staff of directors.^[5]

Most of PRC's movies made were within the genres of other studios of the 1940s, but at a much lower budget, and each generally took a week or less to shoot. They included westerns, action melodramas, and horror movies.

PRC president Batcheller followed the Chesterfield business model that had served his father successfully during the Depression years. Chesterfield had catered to small-town owners of neighborhood theaters, who couldn't afford the big studios' first-run movies. Chesterfield product was made on low budgets with actors who had been dropped from the rosters of larger studios, but still had name value. A few then-current stars worked for PRC (Bela Lugosi, Buster Crabbe, Bob Steele, Frances Langford, Ralph Byrd, Edward Everett Horton). Still, generally the company couldn't afford star salaries and had to make do with less expensive "name" talent. PRC cast its starring roles with featured players (J. Edward Bromberg, George Zucco, Neil Hamilton, Lyle Talbot, Gladys George, Mary Carlisle, Noel Madison, Douglas Fowley, Iris Adrian, Patsy Kelly, Virginia Vale, Frank Albertson, Wallace Ford, Ralph Morgan, Henry Armetta, Chick Chandler, Pauline Moore, Bruce Bennett, John Carradine, Frank Jenks, Eddie Dean); stars who were idle (Harry Langdon, Lee Tracy, Anna May Wong, Mary Brian, Glenda Farrell, Freddie Bartholomew, Fifi D'Orsay, El Brendel, Slim Summerville, Armida); or celebrities from other fields (burlesque queen Ann Corio, Broadway headliner Benny Fields, animal hunter Frank Buck, radio announcer Harry Von Zell, radio comedian Bert Gordon, Miss America (of 1941) Rosemary LaPlanche).

Some of PRC's hits were The Devil Bat with Bela Lugosi and a sequel, Devil Bat's Daughter; Misbehaving Husbands with silent-comedy star Harry Langdon; and Jungle Man and Nabonga, Buster Crabbe jungle thrillers with Julie London in the latter.

During World War II, PRC made several war films such as Corregidor, They Raid by Night, A Yank in Libya, a pair of films set in China — Bombs over Burma and Lady from Chungking, both starring Anna May Wong — and a patriotic musical, The Yanks Are Coming.

A notable film for the studio was Baby Face Morgan, a tongue-in-cheek gangster epic with Mary Carlisle, Robert Armstrong and Richard Cromwell, directed by German émigré Arthur Dreifuss. According to B Movies by Don Miller, "Most of the remainder of the 1942 PRC product dealt with gangsters, crime or whodunit puzzles, reliable standbys of the indie companies catering to action and grind theater houses. Baby Face Morgan played it for laughs, with Cromwell as a rube posing as a tough racketeer. Armstrong, [co-star] Chick Chandler and Carlisle lent strong support, and while it never scaled any heights it was a passable spoof of the genre."^[6]

Growth and recognition[edit]

In 1943, Robert R. Young, a railroad magnate who also owned American Pathé's film processing laboratory,^[7] acquired the studio, and the films generally became more substantial. PRC grew in standing, with the company securing big-city exposure and critical praise for many of its features. The Benny Fields musical Minstrel Man was a watershed event: it was the first elaborately mounted PRC picture, and the first to receive Academy Award nominations (Ferde Grofé and Leo Erdody for best musical score, and Harry Revel and Paul Francis Webster for best original song). Theater chains that formerly would not play PRC pictures were now showing Minstrel Man first-run across America, opening the door for PRC to book more of its features into first-run situations. The children's fantasy The Enchanted Forest, filmed in Cinecolor, was a surprise hit for the studio, and led to several major studios filming their own movies in the process.^[8]

Austrian director Edgar G. Ulmer directed three film noir classics for PRC: Bluebeard (1944), Strange Illusion (1945), and Detour (1945). All three — especially Detour — have acquired reputations as artistic achievements.

PRC was purchased by Pathé Industries, and the films were now labeled "The New PRC Pictures." The company continued to flourish within its own element until after World War II. Two new detective series were launched: Hugh Beaumont as Michael Shayne (five entries) and William Wright or Alan Curtis as Philo Vance (three entries), as well as a comedy series, The Gas House Kids, an attempt to create its own version of The Bowery Boys (three entries).

PRC also engaged in transactions with other studios. Its 1944 exploitation film Hitler's Madman (1944), directed by Douglas Sirk, was topical enough to be picked up by MGM for distribution. The 1946 thriller The Brute Man had been filmed by Universal but two factors clouded its release: its star, acromegaly victim Rondo Hatton, had just died; and Universal was then undergoing a corporate shakeup and discontinuing all B-picture production.^[9] Universal, preferring not to publicize a deceased star and no longer bothering with low-budget films, sold The Brute Man to PRC.

Since PRC's inception, the studio had always produced inexpensive westerns, and there was a definite market for them. Among PRC's westerns were the Lone Rider series starring operatic and Broadway star turned singing cowboy George Houston; a Billy the Kid film series with the lead alternating between Buster Crabbe and Bob Steele; and The Frontier Marshals, similar to Republic Pictures' and Monogram Pictures' cowboy trio series.^[10] Buster Crabbe was PRC's leading western star until he quit in 1945, alarmed by the budgets sinking to new lows. He was succeeded by singing cowboy Eddie Dean in the first B-western series filmed in Cinecolor. Dean was sometimes co-starred with Lash LaRue, who went on to his own starring series. The PRC westerns were so popular that they actually outlasted the studio, which was absorbed by Eagle-Lion. Although the studio's feature films would now bear the Eagle-Lion trademark, the low-budget westerns continued to be marketed with the PRC logo into 1948.

Eagle-Lion took over the distribution arm of the company in 1946; the production arm (and with it the entire company) followed suit shortly thereafter. PRC's final release was The Gas House Kids in Hollywood on August 23, 1947.

Legacy[edit]

Madison Pictures Inc. released PRC's products for both television showings and theatrical re-releases until 1955. Madison, formed in late December 1945, was headed by Armand Schenck, a former supervisor of PRC's branch operations^[11] and previously an executive with Commonwealth Film Corporation and later Pathé Laboratories, a subsidiary of Pathé Industries. Madison was bought by United Artists.^[12]

As early as 1950, the CBS Television network was screening PRC films on television for the bargain-basement price of $1,750 per title.^[13] Many PRC films are now in the public domain and appear on budget DVDs. Eighty-one films from the PRC library were acquired by National Telefilm Associates; they are currently owned by TV syndicator and video dealer Films Around The World, Inc. Strange Holiday, originally released by PRC, is now owned by Paramount Pictures.

References[edit]

^ Variety, August 10, 1945.
^ Gary Rhodes, Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row, Rowman & Littlefield, 2009, p. 8.
^ Variety, "PRC's 'Minstrel Man' Reaching Epic Stage", Mar. 1, 1944, p. 9.
^ Film Daily, June 19, 1941, p. 8.
^ Don Miller, B Movies. New York: Curtis Books, 1973.
^ Don Miller, B Movies. New York: Curtis Books, 1973.
^ Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company that Changed the Film Industry, Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1987, p. 16.
^ Gene Fernett, Hollywood's Poverty Row 1930-1950 Coral Reef Publications, 1973, p. 114.
^ Scott MacGillivray and Jan MacGillivray, Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven, iUniverse, Bloomington, IN, 2005, p. 203. ISBN 978-0-595-67454-1.
^ Anderson, Chuck. "PRC's Frontier Marshals with Bill 'Cowboy Rambler' Boyd, Art Davis, and Lee Powell". www.b-westerns.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
^ "Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1942)". New York [Motion picture daily, inc.] 1 January 1942. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018 – via Internet Archive.
^ "Producers Releasing Corporation Early Television Rights". dukefilmography.com. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
^ Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn, Kings of the Bs, E. P. Dutton, 1975. ISBN 978-0-525-14090-0.

Dixon, Wheeler W. Producers Releasing Corporation: A Comprehensive Filmography and History. McFarland, 1987.
Miller, Don. B Movies. New York: Curtis Books, 1973.

External links[edit]

The History of PRC on (re)Search my Trash

[1] Variety, August 10, 1945.

[2] Gary Rhodes, Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row, Rowman & Littlefield, 2009, p. 8.

[3] Variety, "PRC's 'Minstrel Man' Reaching Epic Stage", Mar. 1, 1944, p. 9.

[4] Film Daily, June 19, 1941, p. 8.

[5] Don Miller, B Movies. New York: Curtis Books, 1973.

[6] Don Miller, B Movies. New York: Curtis Books, 1973.

[7] Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company that Changed the Film Industry, Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1987, p. 16.

[8] Gene Fernett, Hollywood's Poverty Row 1930-1950 Coral Reef Publications, 1973, p. 114.

[9] Scott MacGillivray and Jan MacGillivray, Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven, iUniverse, Bloomington, IN, 2005, p. 203. ISBN 978-0-595-67454-1.

[10] Anderson, Chuck. "PRC's Frontier Marshals with Bill 'Cowboy Rambler' Boyd, Art Davis, and Lee Powell". www.b-westerns.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018.

[11] "Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1942)". New York [Motion picture daily, inc.] 1 January 1942. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018 – via Internet Archive.

[12] "Producers Releasing Corporation Early Television Rights". dukefilmography.com. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018.

[13] Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn, Kings of the Bs, E. P. Dutton, 1975. ISBN 978-0-525-14090-0.

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+{{short description|Hollywood film studio}}
 {{For|the Cecil B. DeMille film studio (1925–27)|Producers Distributing Corporation}}
 {{Infobox company
@@ Line 15: / Line 16: @@
 | products =
 | num_employees =
-| owner = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]<br />([[MGM Holdings]])
+| owner = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]<br />([[MGM Holdings]])<br />{{small|([[Amazon (company)|Amazon]])}}
-| parent = [[United Artists Corporation]]<br />([[MGM Holdings]])
+| parent = [[United Artists Corporation]]<br />([[MGM Holdings]])<br />{{small|([[Amazon (company)|Amazon]])}}
 | subsid =
 }}
-'''Producers Releasing Corporation''' was one of the less prestigious of the Hollywood [[film]] studios. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row", a term originally applied to a stretch of [[Gower Street (Los Angeles)|Gower Street]] in Hollywood known for being the headquarters of a plethora of low-budget production companies, mainly because the rents were cheap. Many of these companies would make only a few low-budget "B" pictures, then disappear; others, like PRC and Monogram, lasted for a longer period of time and some even had their own studio facilities (though most only rented studio space on larger studios' lots). PRC lasted from 1939-47, churning out low-budget [[B-movies]] for the lower half of a [[double bill]] or the upper half of a [[neighborhood cinema]] showing second-run films. The company was substantial enough to not only produce but distribute its own product and some imports from the UK, and operated its own studio facility, first at 1440 N. Gower St. (on the lot that eventually became [[Columbia Pictures]]) from 1936–43, then the complex used by the defunct [[Grand National Pictures]] from 1943-46, located at 7324 Santa Monica Blvd.<ref>Variety, August 10, 1945</ref> This address is now an apartment complex.
+'''Producers Releasing Corporation''' was one of the smallest and least prestigious Hollywood [[film]] studios of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "[[Poverty Row]]": a low-rent stretch of [[Gower Street (Los Angeles)|Gower Street]] in Hollywood where shoestring film producers based their operations. However, PRC was more substantial than the usual independent companies that  made only a few low-budget movies and then disappeared. PRC was an actual Hollywood studio – albeit the smallest – with its own production facilities and distribution network, and it even accepted imports from the [[United Kingdom|UK]]. PRC lasted from 1939 to 1947, churning out low-budget [[B movies]] for the lower half of a [[double bill]] or the upper half of a [[neighborhood theater]] showing second-run films. The studio was originally located at 1440 N. Gower St. (on the lot that eventually became part of [[Columbia Pictures]]) from 1936 to 1943. PRC then occupied the former [[Grand National Pictures]] physical plant at 7324 Santa Monica Blvd.,<ref>''Variety'', August 10, 1945.</ref> from 1943 to 1946. This address is now an apartment complex.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}
-PRC produced 179 feature films<ref>p.8 Rhodes, Gary ''Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row'' Rowman & Littlefield, 30/12/2009</ref> and almost never spent more than $100,000 on any of them; most of its films actually cost considerably less. Only ''[[Minstrel Man (1944 film)|Minstrel Man]]'' had enhanced production values; the musical showed such excellent progress during filming that its $80,000 budget was tripled.
+PRC produced 179 feature films<ref>Gary Rhodes, ''Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2009, p. 8.</ref> and almost never spent more than $100,000 on any of them; most of its films actually cost considerably less. Only the 1944 musical ''[[Minstrel Man (1944 film)|Minstrel Man]]'' had enhanced production values; it showed such excellent progress during filming that its planned $80,000 budget was nearly tripled.<ref>''Variety'', "PRC's 'Minstrel Man' Reaching Epic Stage", Mar. 1, 1944, p. 9.</ref>
 ==History==
-The company evolved from the earlier Producers Distributing Corporation begun in 1939 by exhibitor Ben Judell ''(né'' Benjamin Nathaniel Judell; 1890–1974), who had hired producer [[Sigmund Neufeld]] and his brother, director [[Sam Newfield]], to make the studio's films. After the collapse of PDC the brothers established PRC. Most of the movies made were within the genres of other studios of the 1940s, but at a much lower budget, and each generally took a week or less to shoot. They included [[Western movie|western]]s or action [[melodrama]]s, plus a number of [[horror movies]]. In 1943 [[Robert R. Young]], a railroad magnate who also owned the American [[Pathé]] film processing laboratory,<ref>p.16 Balio, Tino ''United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry''
+The company evolved from the earlier Producers Distributing Corporation (PDC), begun in 1939 by exhibitor Ben Judell (''né'' Benjamin Nathaniel Judell; 1890–1974), who had hired producer [[Sigmund Neufeld]] and his brother, director [[Sam Newfield]], to make the studio's films. After the collapse of PDC, Judell became an independent producer and the company was reorganized as Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) under former [[Pathé]] executive O. Henry Briggs. Briggs was succeeded in January 1941 by George R. Batcheller Jr.,<ref>''Film Daily'', June 19, 1941, p. 8.</ref> son of former [[Chesterfield Pictures]] president [[George R. Batcheller]]. The studio relied on Sam Newfield to direct most of its early features; Newfield actually adopted two other names ("Peter Stewart" and "Sherman Scott") to create the illusion that the PRC had an entire staff of directors.<ref>Don Miller, ''B Movies''. New York: Curtis Books, 1973.</ref>
-Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1987</ref> acquired the studio.
+Most of PRC's movies made were within the genres of other studios of the 1940s, but at a much lower budget, and each generally took a week or less to shoot. They included [[Western movie|western]]s, action [[melodrama]]s, and [[horror movies]].
-Few then-current stars worked for PRC: [[Bela Lugosi]], [[Buster Crabbe]], [[Bob Steele (actor)|Bob Steele]], [[Frances Langford]], and [[Ralph Byrd]]. Budget constraints forced the studio to make do with featured players ([[Neil Hamilton (actor)|Neil Hamilton]], [[Eddie Dean (singer)|Eddie Dean]], [[Lyle Talbot]], [[Gladys George]], [[Mary Carlisle]], [[Noel Madison]], [[Iris Adrian]], [[Frank Albertson]], [[Wallace Ford]], [[Ralph Morgan]], [[Henry Armetta]], [[Chick Chandler]]); stars who were idle ([[Harry Langdon]], [[Lee Tracy]], [[Benny Fields]], [[Mary Brian]], [[Freddie Bartholomew]], [[Patsy Kelly]], [[El Brendel]], [[Slim Summerville]]); or celebrities from other fields (burlesque queen [[Ann Corio]], animal hunter [[Frank Buck (animal collector)|Frank Buck]], radio announcer [[Harry Von Zell]], [[Miss America]] (of 1941) [[Rosemary LaPlanche]]).
+PRC president Batcheller followed the Chesterfield business model that had served his father successfully during the Depression years. Chesterfield had catered to small-town owners of neighborhood theaters, who couldn't afford the big studios' first-run movies. Chesterfield product was made on low budgets with actors who had been dropped from the rosters of larger studios, but still had name value. A few then-current stars worked for PRC ([[Bela Lugosi]], [[Buster Crabbe]], [[Bob Steele (actor)|Bob Steele]], [[Frances Langford]], [[Ralph Byrd]], [[Edward Everett Horton]]). Still, generally the company couldn't afford star salaries and had to make do with less expensive "name" talent. PRC cast its starring roles with featured players ([[J. Edward Bromberg]], [[George Zucco]], [[Neil Hamilton (actor)|Neil Hamilton]], [[Lyle Talbot]], [[Gladys George]], [[Mary Carlisle]], [[Noel Madison]], [[Douglas Fowley]], [[Iris Adrian]], [[Patsy Kelly]], [[Virginia Vale]], [[Frank Albertson]], [[Wallace Ford]], [[Ralph Morgan]], [[Henry Armetta]], [[Chick Chandler]], [[Pauline Moore]], [[Herman Brix|Bruce Bennett]], [[John Carradine]], [[Frank Jenks]], [[Eddie Dean (singer)|Eddie Dean]]); stars who were idle ([[Harry Langdon]], [[Lee Tracy]], [[Anna May Wong]], [[Mary Brian]], [[Glenda Farrell]], [[Freddie Bartholomew]], [[Fifi D'Orsay]], [[El Brendel]], [[Slim Summerville]], [[Armida (actress)|Armida]]); or celebrities from other fields (burlesque queen [[Ann Corio]], Broadway headliner [[Benny Fields]], animal hunter [[Frank Buck (animal collector)|Frank Buck]], radio announcer [[Harry Von Zell]], radio comedian [[Bert Gordon (comedian)|Bert Gordon]], [[Miss America]] (of 1941) [[Rosemary LaPlanche]]).
-Typical PRC efforts include ''[[The Devil Bat]]'' with Bela Lugosi and a sequel, ''[[Devil Bat's Daughter]]''; ''[[Misbehaving Husbands]]'' with silent-comedy star Harry Langdon; and ''[[Jungle Man (film)|Jungle Man]]'' and ''[[Nabonga]]'', jungle thrillers with Buster Crabbe and [[Julie London]] in the latter. Much like other studios of the time, PRC released a wide variety of westerns, including 17 films in the ''Lone Rider'' series, a [[Billy the Kid (film series)|Billy the Kid film series]] and ''The Frontier Marshals'', similar to Republic Pictures' and Monogram Pictures' cowboy trio series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.b-westerns.com/trio5.htm|title=PRC's Frontier Marshals with Bill 'Cowboy Rambler' Boyd, Art Davis, and Lee Powell|first=Chuck|last=Anderson|website=www.b-westerns.com|accessdate=24 April 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914070312/http://www.b-westerns.com/trio5.htm|archivedate=14 September 2017}}</ref> During World War II PRC made several [[war film]]s such as ''[[Corregidor (1943 film)|Corregidor]]'', ''[[They Raid By Night]]'', ''[[A Yank in Libya]]'', a pair of films set in China — ''[[Bombs over Burma]]'' and ''[[Lady from Chungking]]'', both starring [[Anna May Wong]] — and a flag-waving patriotic musical, ''[[The Yanks Are Coming (1942 film)|The Yanks Are Coming]]''.
+Some of PRC's hits were ''[[The Devil Bat]]'' with Bela Lugosi and a sequel, ''[[Devil Bat's Daughter]]''; ''[[Misbehaving Husbands]]'' with silent-comedy star Harry Langdon; and ''[[Jungle Man (film)|Jungle Man]]'' and ''[[Nabonga]]'', Buster Crabbe jungle thrillers with [[Julie London]] in the latter.
-A notable film for the studio was ''[[Baby Face Morgan]]'', a tongue-in-cheek gangster epic with [[Mary Carlisle]], [[Robert Armstrong (actor)|Robert Armstrong]] and [[Richard Cromwell (actor)|Richard Cromwell]], directed by German emigre [[Arthur Dreifuss]]. According to ''B Movies'' by Don Miller, "Most of the remainder of the 1942 PRC product dealt with gangsters, crime or whodunit puzzles, reliable standbys of the indie companies catering to action and grind theater houses. ''Baby Face Morgan'' played it for laughs, with Cromwell as a rube posing as a tough racketeer. Armstrong, [co-star] [[Chick Chandler]] and Carlisle lent strong support, and while it never scaled any heights it was a passable spoof of the genre."<ref>p. 305 Miller, Don. ''B Movies''. New York: Ballantine Books, 1988</ref>
+During [[World War II]], PRC made several [[war film]]s such as ''[[Corregidor (1943 film)|Corregidor]]'', ''[[They Raid by Night]]'', ''[[A Yank in Libya]]'', a pair of films set in China — ''[[Bombs over Burma]]'' and ''[[Lady from Chungking]]'', both starring [[Anna May Wong]] — and a patriotic musical, ''[[The Yanks Are Coming (1942 film)|The Yanks Are Coming]]''.
-Beginning in 1944, PRC grew in standing, with the company securing big-city exposure and critical praise for many of its features. Austrian director [[Edgar G. Ulmer]] directed three [[film noir|films noir]] classics there: ''[[Bluebeard (1944 film)|Bluebeard]]'' (1944), ''[[Strange Illusion]]'' (1945) and ''[[Detour (1945 film)|Detour]]'' (1945). All three — especially ''Detour'' — have acquired reputations as artistic achievements. The PRC production ''[[Hitler's Madman]]'', directed by [[Douglas Sirk]], was picked up by [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.|MGM]] for distribution. The Benny Fields musical ''[[Minstrel Man (1944 film)|Minstrel Man]]'' earned the studio its first Academy Award nominations ([[Ferde Grofé]] and [[Leo Erdody]], for best musical score). The studio's westerns received a boost when singer [[Eddie Dean (singer)|Eddie Dean]] starred in the first cowboy series filmed in [[Cinecolor]]. The children's fantasy ''[[The Enchanted Forest (film)|The Enchanted Forest]]'', also in Cinecolor, was a surprise hit for the studio, and led to several major studios filming their own movies in the process.<ref>p.114 Fernett, Gene ''Hollywood's Poverty Row 1930-1950'' Coral Reef Publications, 1973</ref>
+A notable film for the studio was ''[[Baby Face Morgan]]'', a tongue-in-cheek gangster epic with [[Mary Carlisle]], [[Robert Armstrong (actor)|Robert Armstrong]] and [[Richard Cromwell (actor)|Richard Cromwell]], directed by German émigré [[Arthur Dreifuss]]. According to ''B Movies'' by Don Miller, "Most of the remainder of the 1942 PRC product dealt with gangsters, crime or whodunit puzzles, reliable standbys of the indie companies catering to action and grind theater houses. ''Baby Face Morgan'' played it for laughs, with Cromwell as a rube posing as a tough racketeer. Armstrong, [co-star] [[Chick Chandler]] and Carlisle lent strong support, and while it never scaled any heights it was a passable spoof of the genre."<ref>Don Miller, ''B Movies''. New York: Curtis Books, 1973.</ref>
-PRC was purchased by [[Pathé|Pathe Industries]], though the only noticeable change was of the name of the company's production arm to PRC Pictures Inc. The company otherwise continued to flourish within its own element until after World War II. Two new detective series were launched: [[Hugh Beaumont]]'' as [[Michael Shayne]]'' (six entries) and [[William Wright (actor)|William Wright]] or [[Alan Curtis (American actor)|Alan Curtis]] as ''[[Philo Vance]]'' (three entries), as well as a comedy series, ''[[Gas House Kids]]'', an attempt to create its own version of ''[[The Bowery Boys]]'' (three entries).
+==Growth and recognition==
-The distribution arm of the company was disbanded with the formation of [[Eagle-Lion Films|Eagle-Lion Films Inc.]] in 1946; the production arm (and with it the entire company) followed suit shortly thereafter in 1947. PRC's final production was [[James Flood]]'s ''[[The Big Fix (1947 film)|The Big Fix]]'' (1947).
+In 1943, [[Robert R. Young]], a railroad magnate who also owned American Pathé's film processing laboratory,<ref>Tino Balio, ''United Artists: The Company that Changed the Film Industry'', Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1987, p. 16.</ref> acquired the studio, and the films generally became more substantial. PRC grew in standing, with the company securing big-city exposure and critical praise for many of its features. The Benny Fields musical ''Minstrel Man'' was a watershed event: it was the first elaborately mounted PRC picture, and the first to receive Academy Award nominations ([[Ferde Grofé]] and [[Leo Erdody]] for best musical score, and [[Harry Revel]] and [[Paul Francis Webster]] for best original song). Theater chains that formerly would not play PRC pictures were now showing ''Minstrel Man'' first-run across America, opening the door for PRC to book more of its features into first-run situations. The children's fantasy ''[[The Enchanted Forest (1945 film)|The Enchanted Forest]]'', filmed in [[Cinecolor]], was a surprise hit for the studio, and led to several major studios filming their own movies in the process.<ref>Gene Fernett, ''Hollywood's Poverty Row 1930-1950'' Coral Reef Publications, 1973, p. 114.</ref>
+Austrian director [[Edgar G. Ulmer]] directed three [[film noir]] classics for PRC: ''[[Bluebeard (1944 film)|Bluebeard]]'' (1944), ''[[Strange Illusion]]'' (1945), and ''[[Detour (1945 film)|Detour]]'' (1945). All three — especially ''Detour'' — have acquired reputations as artistic achievements.
+PRC was purchased by Pathé Industries, and the films were now labeled "The ''New'' PRC Pictures." The company continued to flourish within its own element until after World War II. Two new detective series were launched: [[Hugh Beaumont]] as [[Michael Shayne]] (five entries) and [[William Wright (actor)|William Wright]] or [[Alan Curtis (American actor)|Alan Curtis]] as [[Philo Vance]] (three entries), as well as a comedy series, ''[[Gas House Kids|The Gas House Kids]]'', an attempt to create its own version of ''[[The Bowery Boys]]'' (three entries).
+PRC also engaged in transactions with other studios. Its 1944 [[exploitation film]] ''[[Hitler's Madman]]'' (1944), directed by [[Douglas Sirk]], was topical enough to be picked up by [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.|MGM]] for distribution. The 1946 thriller ''[[The Brute Man]]'' had been filmed by [[Universal Pictures|Universal]] but two factors clouded its release: its star, [[acromegaly]] victim [[Rondo Hatton]], had just died; and Universal was then undergoing a corporate shakeup and discontinuing all B-picture production.<ref>[[Scott MacGillivray]] and Jan MacGillivray, ''Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven'', iUniverse, Bloomington, IN, 2005, p. 203. {{ISBN|978-0-595-67454-1}}.</ref> Universal, preferring not to publicize a deceased star and no longer bothering with low-budget films, sold ''The Brute Man'' to PRC.
+Since PRC's inception, the studio had always produced inexpensive westerns, and there was a definite market for them. Among PRC's westerns were the ''Lone Rider'' series starring operatic and Broadway star turned singing cowboy [[George Houston (actor)|George Houston]]; a [[Billy the Kid (film series)|Billy the Kid film series]] with the lead alternating between [[Buster Crabbe]] and [[Bob Steele (actor)|Bob Steele]]; and ''The Frontier Marshals'', similar to [[Republic Pictures]]' and [[Monogram Pictures]]' cowboy trio series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.b-westerns.com/trio5.htm|title=PRC's Frontier Marshals with Bill 'Cowboy Rambler' Boyd, Art Davis, and Lee Powell|first=Chuck|last=Anderson|website=www.b-westerns.com|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914070312/http://www.b-westerns.com/trio5.htm|archive-date=14 September 2017}}</ref> [[Buster Crabbe]] was PRC's leading western star until he quit in 1945, alarmed by the budgets sinking to new lows. He was succeeded by singing cowboy [[Eddie Dean (singer)|Eddie Dean]] in the first B-western series filmed in Cinecolor. Dean was sometimes co-starred with [[Lash LaRue]], who went on to his own starring series. The PRC westerns were so popular that they actually outlasted the studio, which was absorbed by [[Eagle-Lion Films|Eagle-Lion]]. Although the studio's feature films would now bear the Eagle-Lion trademark, the low-budget westerns continued to be marketed with the PRC logo into 1948.
+Eagle-Lion took over the distribution arm of the company in 1946; the production arm (and with it the entire company) followed suit shortly thereafter. PRC's final release was ''[[The Gas House Kids in Hollywood]]'' on August 23, 1947.
 ==Legacy==
-Madison Pictures Inc. released PRC's product for both television showing and cinema re-releases until 1955.  Madison was formed in late December 1945 and, headed by Armand Schenck, a former supervisor of PRC's branch operations<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai51unse|title=Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1942)|date=1 January 1942|publisher=New York [Motion picture daily, inc.]|accessdate=24 April 2018|via=Internet Archive|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318014600/https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai51unse|archivedate=18 March 2017}}</ref> and previously an executive with Commonwealth Film Corporation and later Pathé Laboratories, a subsidiary of Pathé Industries. Madison was bought by [[United Artists]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dukefilmography.com/producers_releasing_corporation_tv_rights.html|title=Producers Releasing Corporation Early Television Rights|website=dukefilmography.com|accessdate=24 April 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629080212/http://dukefilmography.com/producers_releasing_corporation_tv_rights.html|archivedate=29 June 2017}}</ref>.
+Madison Pictures Inc. released PRC's products for both television showings and theatrical re-releases until 1955. Madison, formed in late December 1945, was headed by Armand Schenck, a former supervisor of PRC's branch operations<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai51unse|title=Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1942)|date=1 January 1942|publisher=New York [Motion picture daily, inc.]|access-date=24 April 2018|via=Internet Archive|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318014600/https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai51unse|archive-date=18 March 2017}}</ref> and previously an executive with Commonwealth Film Corporation and later Pathé Laboratories, a subsidiary of Pathé Industries. Madison was bought by [[United Artists]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dukefilmography.com/producers_releasing_corporation_tv_rights.html|title=Producers Releasing Corporation Early Television Rights|website=dukefilmography.com|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629080212/http://dukefilmography.com/producers_releasing_corporation_tv_rights.html|archive-date=29 June 2017}}</ref>
-As early as 1950 the [[CBS Television]] network was screening PRC films on television.<ref>p. 162 Dick, Bernard F. ''Engulfed:  The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood'' University Press of Kentucky, 2001</ref> Many PRC films are now in the [[public domain]] and appear on budget DVDs.
+As early as 1950, the [[CBS|CBS Television]] network was screening PRC films on television for the bargain-basement price of $1,750 per title.<ref>Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn, ''Kings of the Bs,'' E. P. Dutton, 1975. {{ISBN|978-0-525-14090-0}}.</ref> Many PRC films are now in the [[public domain]] and appear on budget DVDs. Eighty-one films from the PRC library were acquired by National Telefilm Associates;
+they are currently owned by TV syndicator and video dealer Films Around The World, Inc. ''[[Strange Holiday (1945 film)|Strange Holiday]]'', originally released by PRC, is now owned by [[Paramount Pictures]].
 ==See also==
-*[[List of Producers Releasing Corporation films]]
+* [[List of Producers Releasing Corporation films]]
 ==References==
 {{Reflist}}
-*Dixon, Wheeler W. ''Producers Releasing Corporation: A Comprehensive Filmography and History.'' McFarland, 1987.
+* Dixon, Wheeler W. ''Producers Releasing Corporation: A Comprehensive Filmography and History.'' McFarland, 1987.
-*Miller, Don. ''B Movies.'' New York: Ballantine Books, 1988. {{ISBN|0345347102}}.
+* Miller, Don. ''B Movies.'' New York: Curtis Books, 1973.
 ==External links==
-*[http://www.searchmytrash.com/articles/prc(8-05).shtml The History of PRC] on (re)Search my Trash
+* [http://www.searchmytrash.com/articles/prc(8-05).shtml The History of PRC] on (re)Search my Trash
-*{{IMDb company|0013124}}
 [[Category:Producers Releasing Corporation films| ]]
-[[Category:Cinema of Southern California]]
+[[Category:Film studios in Southern California]]
 [[Category:Defunct American film studios]]
 [[Category:Defunct film and television production companies of the United States]]
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 [[Category:Film distributors of the United States]]
 [[Category:Film production companies of the United States]]
-[[Category:Hollywood history and culture]]
+[[Category:Defunct organizations based in Hollywood, Los Angeles]]
 [[Category:Companies based in Los Angeles]]
-[[Category:Media companies established in 1939]]
+[[Category:Mass media companies established in 1939]]
-[[Category:Media companies disestablished in 1946]]
+[[Category:Mass media companies disestablished in 1946]]
 [[Category:1939 establishments in California]]
 [[Category:1946 disestablishments in California]]
-[[Category:Defunct companies based in the Greater Los Angeles Area]]
+[[Category:Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles]]