Posts Tagged ‘“b movies”’
The Sprocket Vault
Posted on: June 20, 2016
Retire?
No way…I’m still finding too many interesting movies to release on DVD/Blu-ray.
Hard to believe Kit Parker Films is fast approaching its 50th year in the distribution of classic motion pictures! Back in 1971 the 16mm non-theatrical industry was thriving, but it was largely owned by corporations which were passionate about money, but dispassionate about films, and the quality of the film prints showed it. I saw a niche to be filled — renting out quality prints at affordable prices, and Kit Parker Films was born.
The 16mm library expanded throughout the years until home video made inroads into the industry — the quality of VHS was marginal at best, but the price was right. By the 90s I branched out into the 35mm theatrical arena, eventually becoming the go-to source for classics in that film format.
In the late 1990s I realized the days of projecting celluloid were going to be replaced by DVDs, so slowly phased out the “old” KPF, and in 2001 began purchasing the copyrights to vintage films. Over the next 15 years my collection grew to include hundreds of feature films, television programs, serials and shorts. Many of my acquisitions required a great degree of patience and detective work to clear rights and locate suitable film elements, but those efforts unearthed many films that had seen little or no exposure for decades.
Originally “The Sprocket Vault” was created a sales division to sell my own DVD/Blu-rays through our distributor, Music Video Distributors (MVD). Other producers have started approaching me to sell their movies…so my company is growing, and that means lots of new releases of interest for you.
I WANT YOU…
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OK, finally got enough requests to convince VCI release these two on DVD!
During the 1940’s – early 1950s before television killed “B” movies, army comedies, musicals (MGM or Monogram…didn’t matter,) themes about Tinsel town, and of course westerns, were guaranteed hits in small town and rural America.
Producer/distributor/exhibitor, Robert L. Lippert, decided to combine the genres for sure-fire hits. He did, and they were.
“G.I. JANE”, is a musical-comedy taking place at an army camp starring Jean Porter (sorry, not Demi Moore,) Tom Neal (Hollywood’s real-life bad-boy), Iris Adrian, Jimmie Dodd (“Jimmie” from the “Mickey Mouse Club,) and Jeanne Mahoney, with direction by B-movie stalwart Reginald LeBorg.
At a remote Army training camp in the desert, our boys in uniform want to do more than wave at the WAC’s, and a new recruit bets them $500 he can make this happen. A stern female lieutenant makes things tough but eventually it’s Mission Accomplished, the barracks filled with beauties and ballads.
“I Love Girls,” “Line-up and Sign-up in the Army Corps,” and “Nervous in the Service,” are a sampling of the musical numbers.
“GRAND CANYON,” a comedy with two songs (“Love Time in Grand Canyon” and “Serenade to a Mule”!) about Hollywood producers filming a western, staring Richard Arlen, Mary Beth Hughes, Reed Hadley, James Millican, Olin Howlin, Grady Sutton, and Joyce Compton, with Paul Landres in the director’s seat.
There’s grand fun, grand feudin’ and grand fightin’ in this spoof on low-budget Hollywood moviemaking. Assigned by Robert L. Lippert (who appears as himself in a pre-title sequence) to make a Western on indoor sets, Reed Hadley farcically tries and fails, and finally convinces the front office to allow him to shoot on “location.” Rural audiences howled when an Arizona cowboy showed them Hollywood types a thing or two about acting, and ends up with the starring role!
Here’s where the filmflimflam comes in:
The advertising claims the movie was filmed at the Grand Canyon, and a prologue to the movie even thanks the Department of the Interior for its cooperation. Sure, the exteriors are, but the scenes with actors, most of the movie, are filmed on sets, against process shots, or in a familiar location spot near L.A.…but who’d go see a movie called “Bronson Canyon?” There are a couple of scenes with “actors” filmed on location, but are in reality stand-ins, shot in such a way that the audience couldn’t tell.
The fight scene featured in “Mike’s” dream was taken from “The Return of Wildfire,” another Arlen/Lippert film. Arlen’s opponent in the fight is Reed Hadley, his “director” in “Grand Canyon.”*
Viewed today, these movies are fun to watch, but remember they were made for the Princess Theatre in Meredosia, Illinois, not the Radio City Music Hall.
*Thank you Bob Dickson for this tidbit.
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The Tall Lie (For Men Only)
Posted on: February 2, 2015
The subject was “hazing,” and no studio would touch it…
Paul Henreid (“Casablanca”) wanted a hard-hitting exposé of a problem he felt needed to be addressed…hazing. He pitched it to the studios, and each time was met with an emphatic “No.” So he financed, produced, directed, and starred in it. When he screened the completed picture for the studios it was the same story…none would touch it. With his options and money running out, he sold the movie outright to producer/distributor, Robert L. Lippert, known for small-town, family-friendly B movies, the exact opposite of “The Tall Lie.” Lippert also released it under the more familiar title “For Men Only.” Although the small towns were shocked by it, business was brisk in college towns.
“Tod” (Robert Sherman), a gentle pledge is forced to swim in freezing water until he almost drowns…and that’s before the main titles even start! In his screen debut, Russell Johnson, beloved captain of “Gilligan’s Island,” plays “Ky,” the sadistic president of the fraternity. Vera Miles (“Psycho”), also in her first film, appears as Tod’s girlfriend. Tod’s grades plummet because of the unrelenting abuse. His professor, played by Henreid, takes notice and ponders whether hazing and the forthcoming “Hell Night” might have something to do with it. Nonetheless, he recommends that Tod’s mother sign a release to let her son take part in the final initiation. Big mistake.
“Hell Night,” the fraternity initiation of all initiations, starts off with the relatively tame ripping of the pledges’ clothes and painting their faces. Then comes the final initiation…shoot a puppy; this is 1952! (His friend “Beanie” (James Dobson) wants to be inducted into the fraternity so bad he stoops to drinking blood drawn from a live puppy. Although Tod refuses, he is subsequently ostracized, hounded to his death as a coward. This prompts Henreid to push for an investigation and reforms, but is met with resistance and organized destruction of evidence, supported by college administrators and past pledges, bent on saving the good name of the college.
Censorship was an issue. Various state censor boards objected, but the distributors emphasized that it was an “exposé” and “educational,” an argument that generally had positive results. Then there was the UK where animal cruelty, real or implied, was strictly prohibited. Exclusive (Hammer) Films, the distributor throughout England, managed to get the picture passed without cuts by adding a lengthy written prologue (included in the DVD) revealing the evils of hazing.
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The following movies were eventually released on good quality DVD’s:
APACHE RIFLES (Admiral-Fox/1964)
Picture and sound track were a jumbled mess. Technician at VCI eventually matched everything up. (I still owe someone a steak dinner!)
THE COWBOY (Lippert/1954)
35mm color negative ruined by mold. Used 16mm color “EK” (print from the original color negative) for the DVD. Black and white duplicate negative and color “separation negatives” survive. BTW, I had a blast producing the commentary track with the authentic old cowboys who were the stars of the film.
THE GLASS TOMB (Hammer-Lippert/1955)
Original 35mm material missing. Used 35mm release print borrowed from the British Film Archive
THE GREAT JESSE JAMES RAID (Lippert/1954)
35mm color material missing. Used a 16mm color “EK.” 35mm black and white negative survives.
LIKE IT IS (Psychedelic Fever) (Lima/1968)
Missing sound track. Used audio from a bootleg VHS bought on eBay. Sometimes pirates serve a useful purpose!
MAN BEAST (API/1956)
Master 35mm material was cut for release in the UK and the excised scenes scrapped. Used missing footage found in a 35mm US release print. Scenes that were deleted prior to its US theatrical release were found in a Spanish dubbed print and are included as a Special Feature on the DVD.
MASSACRE (Lippert-Fox/1956)
Color camera negative survived – without titles. Used titles off a like-new 1956 16mm color print I bought from a collector on eBay. Not the first time a film collector has saved the day.
MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR (Palo Alto-Lippert/1954)
35mm sound track decomposed. Used track from 16mm Armed Forces negative, which was longer than the theatrical release version. Extra scenes are part of the DVD special features.
MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY (Republic/1941)
Nitrate picture and track negative decomposed. Used a “fine grain” master print borrowed from the British Film Institute
OUTLAW WOMEN (Howco/1952)
Original 35mm Cinecolor material decomposed. Used mint 35mm Cinecolor print
SEA DEVILS (Coronado-RKO/1953)
Combined 3-strip Technicolor negatives located at Technicolour in London and restored by Canal+, owner of Eastern Hemisphere distribution rights.
SHOTGUN (Champion-Allied Artists/1955)
Badly faded camera negative was all that survived. VCI technician was able to bring the color back to life in a tedious process of correcting the color scene by scene. (Another steak dinner, this one due Doug at Film and Video Transfers)
SINS OF JEZEBEL (Lippert/1954)
Original 35mm color negative missing. Used mint 35mm AnscoColor print labeled “Roadshow Version”. Could find no difference between the Roadshow and Regular release; not surprising given its penurious producer, Robert L. Lippert. Note: Fortunately AnscoColor, unlike widely used Eastman Color, does not tend to fade.
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK (Goldstein-UA/1955)
No color film elements known to exist. Used 35mm AnscoColor release print borrowed from the British Film Institute. 16mm black and white negative survives.
THUNDER IN CAROLINA (Howco/1962)
As with “Apache Rifles,” picture and sound track were a jumbled mess. Technician at VCI eventually matched everything up. (Guess I owe three steak dinners.)
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Missing in Action!
Posted on: October 8, 2014
There are movies which Kit Parker Films owns rights but cannot find suitable elements. Maybe you can help!
“God’s Country” (Lippert/1946)
Original Cinecolor nitrate negative decomposed in the 1960s. 35mm and 16mm black and white duplicate negative and sound track survive.
“Highway 13” (Lippert/1948)
Not really missing, but we had to use the 16mm negative which was less than optimal. I was told not to bother because the whole movie took less than 3 days to produce but, hey, it’s a mini-masterpiece!
“Rawhide Trail” (Terry and Lyon-Allied Artists/1958)
Nothing at all. The Allied Artists library was split between Warner Bros. and Paramount years ago, but this independent production was not among them.
“Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case” (Republic/1941)
Nitrate negative decomposed. Not released to television so no duplicate negatives produced.
“The Incredible Face of Dr. B”
and “House of Frights”
Mexican films from 1963 that were also released in English language versions. Although the Spanish negatives survive, the English versions apparently do not.
“Let’s Live Again” (Seltzer-Fox/1948)
Only a mediocre 16mm negative and print survive.
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“I’m Sorry I Ever Made B-Movies”
Posted on: July 11, 2014
“I’d like to see a big star shoot a movie with no retakes.” — Margia Dean
Margia (pron. Mar-Juh) Dean was born Marguerite Louise Skliris to Greek parents in Chicago on April 7, 1922.
Her hair is now white, but her charm, sophistication and sense of humor haven’t changed since the heyday of her film career.
By age seven she was earning money as a stage actress, playing Little Eva in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Becky Thatcher in “Tom Sawyer,” Mytle in “The Blue Bird,” and winning scholarships in two dramatic schools. In 1937, she won the Women’s National Shakespeare Contest for her role as Juliet in the production of “Romeo and Juliet.”
Margia became a model, and was named “Miss San Francisco,” “Miss California,” and a runner-up in the 1939 “Miss America Pageant” where she won first prize in the talent category for a dramatic reading (still has the trophy!) She appeared in several films in small roles and, played Police Officer Mary Faelb in the 1950 ABC TV series, “Dick Tracy,” had a featured role in the Columbia serial, “The Desert Hawk” (1944), and was Andy Clyde’s foil in “Love’s A-Poppin” (Columbia/1953).
In 1945, Margia scored the second lead in the stage version of Victor Herbert musical “The Only Girl,” which played at the then prestigious Biltmore Theater in Los Angeles. She received terrific reviews. Alfred Hitchcock came backstage and offered her a featured role in “Notorious” (Vanguard-RKO/1946), but she couldn’t accept due to a run of the play contract which necessitated her going on the road for several months.
In 1947, Margia’s controversial agent, Frank Orsatti, secured her a bit role in the Gene Kelly M-G-M musical, “Living in a Big Way” (1947). Orsatti convinced studio chief, Louis B. Mayer, to sign Margia to a contract. Unfortunately, Orsatti dropped dead of a heart attack the day of the appointment!
Margia was introduced to exhibitor and B-movie producer, Robert L. Lippert, in 1948 by a mutual producer-friend. Lippert gave her the female lead in “Shep Comes Home” (Screen Guild/1948.)
Subsequently, she appeared in a series of low-budget Lippert (I’m being redundant) productions, and mastered the “one take” 50 – 75 set-ups a day that were de rigueur for the Lippert organization.
Lippert became obsessed with Margia, and kept her working in his pictures where she became known as “Queen of Lippert.”
By the early 1950s Lippert and Margia began an on-again-off-again affair that lasted ten years. In an effort to keep her from straying from his studio and him, Lippert deliberately thwarted opportunities that would have allowed her to appear in major studio films.
Margia told me that she regrets being involved with a married man. However, he was already known as a womanizer. He didn’t get a divorce because he didn’t want to give up millions. She said that Lippert’s first love was money, and he would never have put her in a picture if it jeopardized ticket sales, and if he didn’t hire her he would have to find someone else to work for the same pay. Indeed, she generated respectable reviews from those critics who bothered to review B-movies. Margia was a competent actor and audiences liked her.
Producer, Hal Wallis, was interested in signing Margia and asked Lippert to send over footage of her for him to screen. Lippert provided outtakes, which ended the interest from the veteran producer. Margia didn’t know until later.
Fellow Greek, Spyros Skouras, recommended her to director Michael Curtiz, as “Nefir” in “The Egyptian” (Fox/1954), but Bella Darvi had just been cast. Skouras, was erroneously attributed as Margia’s lover in at least one blog, probably because she dated Plato Skouras, Spyros’ son.
Margia is best known as Judith Carroon in the Hammer Film Production, “The Quatermass Xperiment” (US title: “The Creeping Unknown”) (UA/1955), and her credits are readily available on IMDb.
She also made guest appearances on TV’s “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts,” “Conrad Nagel’s Celebrity Time,” “Public Prosecutor,” and others, plus various commercials including for Betty Crocker, Cadillac, and Phillips Milk of Magnesia.
Margia told me she appeared in one of the first coast-to-coast live dramas in the early 1950s, but can only recall that one of the “Bowery Boys” was in it. [Anyone know what it might have been?]
In 1958 she co-starred with Scott Brady in the RegalScope production, “Ambush and Cimarron Pass,” released through Fox, and received billing over a young Clint Eastwood, a subject she and Eastwood laughed about 40 years later at a Hollywood function.
Later in 1958, Lippert’s output was elevated to “A-“ CinemaScope pictures for Fox. Margia produced one of them, “The Long Rope” (1961), with Hugh Marlowe. According to Margia, the film’s director, William Witney, objected to having a female producer, but mellowed his stance when she brought it in on time and budget.
Margia co-starred in both “Villa!!” (Fox/1958), with Brian Keith, where she also sang two songs (and wrote additional lyrics), and “Secret of the Purple Reef” (Fox/1960), with Peter Falk.
In 1964, after associate-producing “The Horror of it All” (Fox/1964), directed by Terence Fisher, and starring Pat Boone, Margia met a Spanish architect who had been living in Brazil, Felipe Alvarez.
At the time, Felipe, who is fluent in four other languages, had limited English skills (Margia spoke Spanish) They met at a night club on the Sunset Strip where he sang. Subsequently, Margia invited him to perform at a party for Mexican celebrities. The couple fell in love and married later that year. They are happily married to this day, and he still occasionally sings professionally.
Lippert tried to get Margia to break off with Felipe, and offered her money and gifts, including a ruby brooch (all of which she returned), uncharacteristic of the penurious Lippert. He used to tell people he purchased a house for Margia, which is untrue. She sold her home and built a luxurious home above the Sunset Strip, which she completely paid for.
Although Walter Winchell praised her in his column, Lippert, who knew all of the producers and exhibitors, successfully blackballed her from making films.
Lippert used his considerable influence to concoct a scheme to deport Felipe, but was ultimately unsuccessful. However, he did succeed in getting Felipe fired from an architectural firm. Then he began a series of attempts to ruin the newlyweds financially. Margia lost a restaurant she owned in Beverly Hills, a dress shop in Brentwood, and he went so far as to have a “contract” put out on Felipe’s life! Through a very good friend (producer Jack Leewood) Margia discovered his nefarious plan, and called the police so fortunately it went no further.
Years later he told Margia, “I had no idea, my attorney must have done it!,” and “I have you in my will for $200,000,” both of which were lies.
By the mid-60s, Fox decided there was no need for the type of product Lippert produced, and didn’t renew his contract. His phone stopped ringing. Having lost both his producer position, and Margia, he headed back to the Bay Area and returned to his first love, his theatre circuit.
Upon his passing, Lippert’s secretary called Margia and said, “Mr. Lippert wanted you to be the first to know”.
Margia told me she was sorry to have made B-movies because it kept her from being assigned “A” roles. I disagree. Lots of A-list actors appeared in B-movies; it was a string of bad luck; the loss of the “Notorious” and “The Egyptian” roles, and especially Frank Orsatti’s death, the Hal Wallis sabotage and, of course, Lippert’s blackballing. The B-movie part of the equation was not the problem per se, it was the ones she was in were produced by Robert L. Lippert.
Fortunately, Margia went on to have successful careers, most notably in real estate, where she became vice-president of a major Los Angeles firm.
Margia Dean starring, or featuring Margia Dean in the cast and owned by Kit Parker Films.
(*) Available on DVD from http://www.sprocketvault.com
SHEP COMES HOME (1946)
I SHOT JESSE JAMES (1949) *
RIMFIRE (1949) *
GRAND CANYON (1949)
RINGSIDE (1949) *
TREASURE OF MONTE CRISTO (1949) *
TOUGHT ASSIGNMENT (1949) *
RED DESERT (1949)
THE BARON OF ARIZONA (1950) *
WESTERN PACIFIC AGENT (1950) *
MOTOR PATROL (1950) *
HI-JACKED (1950) *
THE RETURN OF JESSE JAMES (1950) *
THE BANDIT QUEEN (1950) *
FINGERPRINTS DON’T LIE (1951) *
MASK OF THE DRAGON (1951) *
TALES OF ROBIN HOOD (1951) *
PIER 23 (1951) *
KENTUCKY JUBILEE (1951) *
SAVAGE DRUMS (1951) *
LEAVE IT TO THE MARINES (1951) *
SKY HIGH (1951) *
F.B.I. GIRL (1951) *
LOAN SHARK (1952) *
FANGS OF THE WILD (1954) *
THE LONESOME TRAIL (1955) *
To order on DVD, visit our site –
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An Oklahoma Handshake (2006)
Posted on: June 6, 2014
I don’t remember not doing business with VCI.
Bill Blair, Rebecca Garza-Ortiz (nee Blair) [1976]
Betty Scott [1969]
Bob Blair [early 1970s]
Don Blair [1970s]
Our relationship began 40 years ago, after I started Kit Parker Films in 1971. I contacted VCI, then known as United Films, a 16mm film distributor like KPF, only larger, and I licensed my first studio films. Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United Films’ CEO was Bill Blair*, a consummate film buff who passed his love-of-film genes onto his children.
Over time I grew to know Bill, his son Bob and Genell (Bob’s wife) as I frequently called them in the days when I was distributing movies to the Pacific Islands. Another Blair son, Don, toiled in the shipping department. Betty Scott, worked behind the scenes and wrote the checks. Many years passed before I personally met everyone in the flesh.
In the late 1970s, United Films was one of the first to realize that the future was in selling pre-recorded VHS and Betamax (remember?) tapes. United Films became VCI Entertainment, a pioneer in what we now take for granted…”Home Video.” At first they only licensed movies from various producers and paid them a percentage of each video sold. Then they realized by producing their own movies they could keep all the money:
Voila…VCI’s first in-house production — “Blood Cult” (1985) (3.3 out of 10 on IMDb). During the days of “sell-through,” it retailed for $59.95 ($130 in 2014 dollars) and made a bundle because these tapes were primarily purchased by rental stores like Blockbuster, West Coast Video, and countless independents hungry for product. The era of inexpensive “sell through” DVD’s hadn’t blossomed as yet. Their other in-house low-budget video productions were also successful, although not among the AFI’s 100 greatest American movies of all time.
Today, VCI is one of the oldest independent home video companies, and its story is worthy of a book, but none of the Blair’s have time to write a chapter.
United/VCI left the 16mm business in the early 1980s, whereas I continued representing studios and independent producers non-theatrically and theatrically until 2001. I was one of the last men standing in that field before celluloid became obsolete.
That didn’t end my relationship with VCI, but revived it.
Hello DVD’s!
I began buying rights to old movies and licensed them to VCI for DVD distribution. Not sure if we wrote a formal contract…a handshake in Oklahoma is firmer than a written contract.
40 years later, who do I still work with with VCI? I’m on the phone with Bob Bair, Don Blair, and Betty Scott. Genell (she could write jokes for Don Rickles), and Don’s wife, Jill, figured one film nut in the family was enough. However, their “retirement” recently ended when they were recruited to caption the VCI library for the hearing impaired. Unfortunately, Bill Blair passed away in 2006.
Another Blair son, David, previously worked for Sony, and had a client so important he moved to its home town…Wal-Mart, in Bentonville, Arkansas. Now he’s in charge of VCI’s sales while living in Atlanta. I’ve only met him once, but there is no doubt he is the right man for the job.
OK, let’s take a tour of VCI in Tulsa Oklahoma:
It is an unassuming single-story building on the outskirts of Tulsa (trivia: the most inland seaport in the United States) with offices fronting a warehouse.
Entering VCI’s lobby you’re greeted by a display filled with DVD’s, posters, and a big photograph of VCI’s founder, Bill Blair, with the statement, “Our Leading Man.”
To the right is Betty Scott’s office, with a John Wayne standee to greet you. She and I are kindred spirits because we both started out in “show business” as film inspectors. I shudder at the thought of her retiring. Although I’ve never looked behind her desk, Bob and Don probably have affixed her leg to a ball and chain.
Next office: Bob, conductor of the “orchestra.” The Maestro sits at a desk stacked with teetering papers and DVDs. I can’t imagine how many emails he receives every day. Sometimes a dozen in one day from me! Maybe if Betty writes me an extra big royalty check, I’ll send him and Genell on a long vacation; they deserve one.
Next stop is the control room — similar to the space station. It’s where the restoration, authoring, and graphic design are created. There are computers and monitors all over the place, and I can’t tell you how they do one single thing. All I know is film splicers have gone the way of the buggy whip. Tiffany Beseau-Clayton is the head rocket scientist, and there is Ben Hosterman, and his brother, Greg Hosterman, known as the “graphics guy.” They all belie the popular psychology belief that individuals are either “right brain” (creative) or “left brain” (logical). They are always open to suggestions…no egos at VCI.
Jason Blair, Bob and Genell’s son, works next door replicating special order DVD-R’s.
And then you walk into their warehouse. Wow…manna from heaven for film buffs; a warehouse filled with DVD’s awaiting shipment to customers like (hopefully) you. It’s the domain of Bill Blair’s daughter, Rebecca Garza-Ortiz (who wears many hats,) her husband Steve, and daughter, Olivia.
There are many reels of old film Bill once tried to sell me four decades ago. For years Bob’s been telling me that someday he’s going to ship it all to an archive, but the same cans and boxes have sat there for as long as I remember. Someday never seems to come.
Now pass through the swinging door and meet Penny Brokaw. She handles billings and is the voice of the person who takes your order. I think she has a ball and chain under her desk, too. As you’ve gathered by now, VCI is a pleasant place to work.
In the next office is Exec V.P., Don Blair. He has even more paper stacked on his desk than Bob. Don says he has a TV with Roku in every room in his house. I believe it. His favorite two topics are: sales are going to be off the charts next year (hopefully true) and VCI doesn’t get credit due for its quality restoration work (always true.)
Last is the conference room where Bob, Don and I, and often joined by our friend and collaborator, Steve Durbin, have spent many an hour talking about business, often digressing into tales about various colorful characters and crooks whom we’ve all dealt with throughout the years. We used to sit around grousing about our various physical maladies until Bob said we were complaining like a bunch of old men. If the shoe fits… (But, we did stop complaining.)
Many home video companies have come and gone over the years. Sure, I’ve had other companies ask to distribute my movies. Maybe I’d make more money, but would the graphics be right? Would I get paid? Why bother?
I’ve got an Oklahoma handshake.
UPDATE: VCI Entertainment and Kit Parker Films join forces in The Sprocket Vault.
—————-
Visit our website to order DVDs from the Kit Parker Films Collection –
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I hired a private investigator to find the heirs…
My passion is to seek out “orphan” movies, and adopt them into my film library. Sometimes it takes a few months, sometimes over 10 years. I never give up.
First, I need to determine why a movie has been lost in limbo for 50 years or more. It takes lots of digging through old contracts, copyright records, television syndication files, and so forth. Here’s the short version on how I unearthed the “Mr. District Attorney” and “Counterspy” movies.
By 1961, the rights to both series reverted to Phillips H. Lord, creator of the radio programs. However, he elected to do nothing with them, and died in 1975. My next job was to find out who inherited the movies.
As with comic strips (see previous blog: “Lost and Found – Gasoline Alley and Friends”,) radio programs were naturals for the movies, and studios actively acquired the best programs for transition into motion pictures. Not all the deals were the same, but generally they seldom varied much from this:
The Creator of the radio show licenses a studio the exclusive use of the title, and characters in a radio show. Usually option money is paid to the creator, and the studio has a year or so to exercise the option, otherwise all rights (and the money!) revert to the Creator.
If and when the option is exercised, the studio pays the Creator the licensee fee, and commences production on the first film. The distribution deals normally had a duration of 7 – 10 years. After that, the studio and creator may or may not renew the license. If not, the movie falls into limbo because it cannot be exploited without the agreement of both the studio (owner of the negative) and the radio producer (owner of the underlying rights.) Occasionally the creator was assigned all rights to the negative and walked away with full ownership of the film.
April 3, 1939, marked the start of a 13-year run of the popular crime drama, “Mr. District Attorney,” first on NBC, and later, ABC. It was the creation of Phillips H. Lord, a successful and respected producer during radio’s golden age. He created 16 dramatic radio series, including “Gangbusters,” authored six books, and 15 musical compositions.
In 1940 Lord licensed Republic Pictures rights to produce three feature films based on the characters appearing in the “Mr. District Attorney” radio program. The resulting films were “Mr. District Attorney” (1941), with Dennis O’Keefe, Florence Rice, and Peter Lorre, directed by William Morgan, “Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case” (1941), with James Ellison and Virginia Gilmore, directed by Bernard Vorhaus, and “Secrets of the Underground” (1942), with John Hubbard and Virginia Grey, directed by William Morgan. I have no details on the original deal other than all rights were to revert to Lord in 1948, and the productions could not be shorts, serials or television programs.
In 1945 Columbia Pictures approached Lord to produce two of their own MDA movies. The problem, of course, was that Republic still had 3 years left on its two picture deal, and Columbia didn’t want two other MDA movies in the marketplace, since Republic would inevitably sieze the opportunity to re-release their own MDA films in order to capitalize on any forthcoming Columbia productions. This prompted Lord to exercise a $750 option contained within the Republic/Lord contract, against $7,500 to buy outright the negatives to “Mr. District Attorney” and “Mr. District Attorney and the Carter Case.” “Secrets of the Underground” remained with Republic (now, Paramount), presumably because the main title wouldn’t conflict with the new Columbia productions, although at one time Republic later did re-title the movie “Mr. District Attorney Does His Bit.”
The 7-year Columbia deal was set to go upon payment of $30,000 (approx. $400,000 in 2014 dollars), which included rights to the 9 months of radio scripts aired prior to February 29, 1940, a quitclaim of rights to the Big Little Book, “Mr. District Attorney on the Job” (aka “Smashing the Taxi Cab Racket”) (1941), along with four Dell Comics, “The Funnies,” from 1941-42. A prerequisite minimum negative cost of $150,000 per picture assured Lord the movies would have at least respectable production values.
The result was “Mr. District Attorney” (1947) with Dennis O’Keefe, Adolph Menjou (!), and Marguerite Chapman, directed by Robert B. Sinclair. A second feature was never produced, and the reason why is open to conjecture. However, some sort of arrangement between Lord and Columbia was made to allow ZIV to produce a TV series based on MDA for the 1951-52 season, and again for 1954-55.
In 1949 Columbia again approached Lord, this time to acquire rights to produce one or two features based on another one of Lord’s hit radio crime dramas, “Counterspy,” which first aired in 1942 on the NBC Blue Network, and continued through 1957. The deal was $15,000 per feature, with an extended playoff of 15 years, resulting in “David Harding, Counterspy (1950), with Willard Parker, Audrey Long, and Howard St. John (as the title character), directed by Ray Nazarro, and “Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard” (1950) with Howard St. John (top billing this time), Ron Randell and Amanda Blake, directed by Seymour Friedman.
Steve Wachtel to the rescue…
I retained a frequent collaborator, prominent Los Angeles-based private investigator, Steve Wachtel. As a movie buff he enjoys my assignments of determining the who and where of heirs to film people.
In the case of Phillips H. Lord, the heirs turned out to be three sisters, one lived in New York City, and the other two only a dozen miles from me, one in Glendale AZ, and the other in Scottsdale. None had any idea they owned any movies.
I made a deal with them for all rights.
Next job: Find good film elements from which to digitize. The original nitrate negative of “Mr. District Attorney” (1941) had decomposed, and only the picture negative survived, and it was in poor condition. I found an excellent duplicate safety film negative at the British Film Institute in London, and borrowed it to make a digital master. “Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case” only survived only as a poor condition nitrate picture negative, as well, but couldn’t locate a sound track…and I searched around the world. Let’s consider it lost…for now.
Normally film elements aren’t an issue because most movies were released to TV, thus requiring multiple duplicate elements on safety film. But since the two Republic MDA’s had never been reissued theatrically, or sold to TV, there was no need to create duplicates. What is left of the original nitrate negatives are stored at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
The Columbia movies were another story…there were plenty of film elements still stored by the studio, and they were cooperative in giving me the material. I came up with advertising materials from Columbia, The Margaret Herrick Library (AMPAS), and good old eBay.
One of the pleasures of my business is producing extra features for the DVD’s.
One Lord sister graciously invited me to her house and showed me scrapbooks of her family, and father at work, then allowed me to copy them. She later consented to an interview by film historian, Richard M. Roberts, who is also an expert on golden age radio. And as always he knows the right questions to ask.
Phillips H. Lord Radio Programs:
Commandos
Counterspy (aka: “David Harding, Counterspy”)
The Cruise of the Seth Parker
Gang Busters (Original title: “G-Men”)
Mr. District Attorney
The Country Doctor (aka: The Old Country Doctor)
Phillip Morris Playhouse (Original title: “Johnny Presents”)
Police Woman
Sunday Evening at Seth Parker’s
Seth Parker’s Singing School
Sky Blazers
The Stebbins Boys
Treasury Agent
Uncle Abe and David
Under the Sidewalks of New York
We, the People
Books:
Seth Parker and His Jonesport Folks
Seth Parker Fireside Poems, Gems of the Air
Seth Parker’s Album
Seth Parker’s Hymnal
Seth Parker’s Scrap Book
Uncle Hosie the Yankee Salesman
Feature Films:
Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard *
David Harding, Counterspy *
Gang Busters (1945 serial)
Gang Busters (1955) (Compilation of “Gang Busters” TV episodes)
Guns Don’t Argue (Compilation of “Gang Busters” TV episodes)
Mr. District Attorney (1941) *
Mr. District Attorney (1947) *
Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case (Only picture negative survives)
Obeah (Lost film)
Secrets of the Underground
Way Back Home
Television Programs:
The Black Robe
Gang Busters
Mr. District Attorney
Musical Compositions:
Back in the Old Sunday School
(with May Singhi Breen and Peter De Rose.)
Has Anybody Found a Trouble?
Heavenly Jewels
If You’re Happy
Jesus Is My Neighbor
Sailing with My Father
That First Little Sweetheart of Mine
There’s Four in Our Family
We Are Gathering with the Lord Today
You Go to Your Church and I’ll Go to Mine
To order on DVDs, visit our site –
Keep up to date with our new Sprocket Vault releases by liking us on Facebook www.facebook.com/sprocketvault/
Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLHjjG-o5Ny5BDykgVBzdrQ .
(c) 2014 Kit Parker Holdings LLC
…producer-exhibitor Robert L. Lippert’s mantra and, appropriately, the title Mark Thomas McGee’s biography/filmography of the man and his films as published by BearManor Media. I’m a B-movie aficionado, and this book is a real page-turner.
“I’m not in this for personal glory, I’m giving the public and the exhibitors the films they want for purely commercial reasons.” – Robert L. Lippert
Robert L. Lippert, produced close to 250 feature films, including “The Steel Helmet” (1951), and “The Fly” (1958), and distributed scores more on behalf of other producers. He launched the careers of Samuel Fuller, James Clavell, and others; and owned a theatre circuit of well over 100 theatres. But, he flew under the radar to the degree that only hard-core movie buffs even know him. My company owns all rights to over 100 Lippert productions, and I tried to shed at least some light on Lippert and his films in my blogs and DVD special features, but Mark does the job right.
Mark McGee wasn’t given an easy task: Lippert shied away from giving interviews, and only two people who worked with Lippert are still living, actress Margia Dean, and production head/producer/director Maury Dexter. Mark really did a lot of digging and I believe has revealed almost everything about Lippert that isn’t lost to time.
Lippert’s biography is intertwined with Mark’s observations about the films as separated into four main chapters dealing with Lippert’s four production companies: Screen Guild Productions and Lippert Pictures (produced and distributed in-house), Regal Films, Inc., and Associated Producers (produced for release through Fox). I think this was the appropriate method because in real life it was truly hard to separate Lippert the man from his movies (and his theatre circuit.)
Lippert seldom had artistic pretentions. Many of his productions are at best less than notable — certainly by and large ignored by the critics. Mark lists every, and describes most, Lippert film. I really enjoyed the comments of exhibitors who actually played the films. This was back in the day when every small-town theatre manager stood in the lobby and said goodnight to patrons as they exited. Sometimes the managers hid, but most times the audiences for whom Lippert produced his films were more than satisfied. Less sophisticated audiences during the 1940s and early 1950s often preferred Lippert productions over those from the major studios. Don’t believe me? Read the book! I read every one of those critiques in one sitting. Better than a box of See’s Candies.
Lippert productions and co-productions available on DVD from VCI Entertainment:
www.vcient.com
Key: Theatrical distributors: LP = Lippert Pictures; SG = Screen Guild Productions; Hammer = Lippert/Hammer Films Co-production
APACHE CHIEF (1950) LP
ARSON, INC. (1950) LP
AS YOU WERE (1951) LP
BAD BLONDE (1953) UK: Flanagan Boy, Hammer, LP
BANDIT QUEEN, THE (1950) LP
BIG CHASE, THE (1954) LP
BLACK GLOVE, THE (1954) UK: Face the Music, Hammer, LP
BLACK PIRATES, THE (El pirata negro) (1954) US-Mexico, LP
BLACKOUT (1954) UK: Murder by Proxy, Hammer, LP
BORDER RANGERS (1950) LP
CASE OF THE BABY SITTER (1947) Featurette, SG
COLORADO RANGER – TV: Guns of Justice (1950) LP
COWBOY, THE (1954) LP
CROOKED RIVER – TV: The Last Bullet (1950) LP
DALTON GANG, THE (1949) LP
DANGER ZONE (1951) LP
DEADLY GAME, THE (1954) UK, Third Party Risk, Hammer, LP
DEPUTY MARSHAL (1949) LP
EVERYBODY’S DANCIN’ (1950) LP
FANGS OF THE WILD aka Follow the Hunter (1954) LP
FAST ON THE DRAW – TV: Sudden Death (1950) LP
FBI GIRL (1951) LP
FINGERPRINTS DON’T LIE (1951) LP
GAMBLER AND THE LADY (1952) UK, Hammer, LP
GLASS TOMB, THE (1955) UK: The Glass Cage, Hammer, LP
GREAT JESSE JAMES RAID, THE (1953) LP
GUNFIRE (1950) LP
HAT BOX MYSTERY, THE (1947) Featurette, SG
HEAT WAVE (1954) UK, House Across the Lake, Hammer, LP
HELLGATE (1952) LP-D
HIGHWAY 13 (1948) SG
HI-JACKED (1950) LP
HOLIDAY RHYTHM (1950) LP
HOLLYWOOD VARIETIES (1950) LP
HOSTILE COUNTRY – TV: Outlaw Fury (1950) LP
I SHOT BILLY THE KID (1950) LP
I’LL GET YOU (1953) UK: Escape Route, LP
JUNGLE GODDESS (1948) SG
JUNGLE, THE (1952) LP
KENTUCKY JUBILEE (1951) LP
KING DINOSAUR (1955) LP
LEAVE IT TO THE MARINES (1951) LP
LITTLE BIG HORN (1951) LP
LOAN SHARK (1952) LP
LONESOME TRAIL, THE (1955) LP
MAN BAIT (1952) UK: The Last Page, Hammer, LP
MAN FROM CAIRO, THE (1953) Italy-UK-USA, LP
MARSHAL OF HELDORADO – TV: Blazing Guns (1950) LP
MASK OF THE DRAGON (1951) LP
MASSACRE (1956) Fox
MOTOR PATROL (1950) LP
MR. WALKIE TALKIE (1952)
OPERATION HAYLIFT (1950) LP
OUTLAW COUNTRY (1949) SG
PAID TO KILL (1954) UK, Five Days, Hammer, LP-D
PIER 23 (1951) LP
QUEEN OF THE AMAZONS (1947) SG
RACE FOR LIFE (1954) UK: Mask of Dust, Hammer, LP
RADAR SECRET SERVICE (1950) LP
RENEGADE GIRL (1947) SG
RETURN OF JESSE JAMES, THE (1950) LP
RIMFIRE (1948) LP
RINGSIDE (1949) LP
ROARING CITY (1951) LP
SAVAGE DRUMS (1951) LP
SCOTLAND YARD INSPECTOR (1952) UK: Lady in the Fog, Hammer, LP
SHADOW MAN, THE (1953) UK: Street of Shadows, Hammer, LP
SILVER STAR (1955) LP
SINS OF JEZEBEL (1953) LP
SKY HIGH (1951) LP
SKY LINER (1949) LP
SQUARE DANCE JUBILEE (1949) LP
STOLEN FACE (1952) UK, Hammer, LP
STOP THAT CAB (1951) LP
THEY WERE SO YOUNG (1954) W. Germany-USA, LP
THREE DESPERATE MEN (1951) LP
THUNDER IN THE PINES (1948) SG
TRAIN TO TOMBSTONE (1950) LP
TREASURE OF MONTE CRISTO (1949) LP
UNHOLY FOUR, THE (1954) UK: The Stranger Came Home, Hammer, LP
VARIETIES ON PARADE (1951) LP
WEST OF THE BRAZOS (1950) LP
WESTERN PACIFIC AGENT (1950) LP
WILDFIRE (1945) SG
WINGS OF DANGER (1952) UK; Dead on Course, Hammer, LP
YES SIR, MR. BONES! (1951) LP
Lippert productions directed by Samuel Fuller arevailable on DVD from the Criterion Collection
BARON OF ARIZONA, THE (1950) LP
I SHOT JESSE JAMES (1949) LP
STEEL HELMET, THE (1951) LP
To order DVD’s, visit our site –
Keep up to date with our new Sprocket Vault releases by liking us on Facebook www.facebook.com/sprocketvault/
Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLHjjG-o5Ny5BDykgVBzdrQ .
kitparkerfilms 
