Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures Corporation (aka
Republic Entertainment) 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
Shakespeare film, the Orson Welles "Macbeth".
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 three 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 three small production companies, each heavily in debt to his
Consolidated Film Laboratories. The largest of the three was
Monogram Pictures, run by
Trem Carr and
W. Ray Johnston, specializing in B-films, and controlling a nation-wide distribution system. The others were
M. H. Hoffman's
Liberty Films, from which Republic took its original "Liberty Bell" logo, and
Nat Levine's
Mascot Pictures. The most advanced technically, Mascot 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. As a result, Republic began life with a skilled production staff, a complete distribution system, and a functioning studio.
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.
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 Labratories and the manufacture of household appliances. Other than producing a package of 26
made-for-TV movies edited from some of the Republic serials, 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 the CBS daytime game show
Press Your Luck. 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.
As of 2006, Republic Pictures' holdings consist 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); the pre-1973
NBC library (including
Bonanza), 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.).
Lions Gate Home Entertainment's home video rights expired in late 2005, and now Paramount holds home video and theatrical-distribution rights, while television distribution is now the responsiblity of
CBS Paramount Television (since the Viacom/CBS corporate split that took effect at the beginning of 2006).
Notable Republic Pictures
1930s and 1940s
*
Under Western Skies (1938)
*
Melody Ranch (1939)
*
The Long Voyage Home (1940)
*
Dark Command (1940)
*
Ice Capades (1941, the debut of Vera Hruba)
*
Flame of the Barbary Coast (1944)
*
The Purple Monster Strikes (1945)
*
Angel and the Badman (1947)
*
Macbeth (1948 film), directed by and starring
Orson Welles*
Wake of the Red Witch (1948)
*
The Fighting Kentuckian (1949)
*
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
1950s
*
Rio Grande (1950)
*
The Wild Blue Yonder (1951)
*
The Quiet Man (1952)
*
Johnny Guitar (1954)
*
The Last Command (1955)
*
Maverick Queen (1956)
1990s
*
Ruby in Paradise (1993)
*
The Tin Soldier (1995)
*
Bound (1996)
*
Freeway (1996)
