United States Pictures
Encyclopedia
United States Pictures was the name of the motion picture production company belonging to Milton Sperling
who was Harry Warner
's (of the Warner Bros.
studio) son-in-law.
Sperling was a highly experienced screenwriter
and producer
with 20th Century Fox
and other studios who had just returned from his World War II
service in the U.S. Marine Corps Photographic Unit. Warner Bros. offered Sperling an independent production company that would use Warner Bros.
studio resources and financing to make motion pictures that would be released by the studio. In the post World War II era, the Hollywood major studios were finding the idea of purchasing completed motion pictures from independent film production companies more economical than producing the films themselves (although United Artists
had done this decades earlier, acting as a distributor for independent films since its establishment in 1919).
Beginning with Fritz Lang
's Cloak and Dagger (1946 film), followed by Raoul Walsh
's Pursued
, Sperling's United States Pictures made a total of 14 films. The last two, Samuel Fuller
's Merrill's Marauders (film)
(1962) and Ken Annakin
's Battle of the Bulge (film)
(1965) were filmed in the Philippines
and Spain
respectively. Sperling found that the Filipino and Spanish governments and film companies thought they were dealing with a branch of the United States Government due to the name of the company and provided superb cooperation.
The pre-1960 United States Pictures catalog is now owned by Republic
/Paramount Pictures
, with Lionsgate handling home video rights under license from Republic, and television syndication by Trifecta Entertainment & Media
. Warner Bros. retains the rights to the 1960s films by the company.
The United States Pictures marked with an (*) signifies Milton Sperling contributed to the screenplay.
Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling was an American film producer and screenwriter for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. where he had his own independent production unit United States Pictures.-Biography:...
who was Harry Warner
Harry Warner
Harry Morris Warner was an American studio executive, one of the founders of Warner Bros., and a major contributor to the development of the film industry. Along with his three brothers Warner played a crucial role in the film business and played a key role in establishing Warner Bros...
's (of the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
studio) son-in-law.
Sperling was a highly experienced screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
with 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
and other studios who had just returned from his World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
service in the U.S. Marine Corps Photographic Unit. Warner Bros. offered Sperling an independent production company that would use Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
studio resources and financing to make motion pictures that would be released by the studio. In the post World War II era, the Hollywood major studios were finding the idea of purchasing completed motion pictures from independent film production companies more economical than producing the films themselves (although United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
had done this decades earlier, acting as a distributor for independent films since its establishment in 1919).
Beginning with Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
's Cloak and Dagger (1946 film), followed by Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh...
's Pursued
Pursued
Pursued is a 1947 movie starring Robert Mitchum that combines western, film noir and psychological melodrama. The film was directed by Raoul Walsh and photographed in black-and-white by James Wong Howe.-Plot summary:...
, Sperling's United States Pictures made a total of 14 films. The last two, Samuel Fuller
Samuel Fuller
Samuel Michael Fuller was an American screenwriter, novelist, and film director known for low-budget genre movies with controversial themes.-Personal life:...
's Merrill's Marauders (film)
Merrill's Marauders (film)
Merrill's Marauders is a 1962 Cinemascope war film directed and co-written by Samuel Fuller based on the exploits of the jungle warfare unit of the same name in the Burma Campaign. The source is the non-fiction book The Marauders, written by Charlton Ogburn Jr., a communications officer who served...
(1962) and Ken Annakin
Ken Annakin
Kenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE was an English film director.- Biography :Annakin grew up in Beverley, Yorkshire where he attended the local school. He began his career in feature films following an early experience making documentaries. His first filmwork was in 1947 with the Rank Organisation...
's Battle of the Bulge (film)
Battle of the Bulge (film)
Battle of the Bulge is a widescreen war film produced in Spain that was released in 1965. It was directed by Ken Annakin. It starred Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews and Charles Bronson...
(1965) were filmed in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
respectively. Sperling found that the Filipino and Spanish governments and film companies thought they were dealing with a branch of the United States Government due to the name of the company and provided superb cooperation.
The pre-1960 United States Pictures catalog is now owned by Republic
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
/Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, with Lionsgate handling home video rights under license from Republic, and television syndication by Trifecta Entertainment & Media
Trifecta Entertainment & Media
Trifecta Entertainment & Media is an American entertainment company founded in 2006. The company's founders previously held jobs as executives at MGM Television. Trifecta is primarily a distribution company and also handles advertising sales in exchange for syndication deals with local television...
. Warner Bros. retains the rights to the 1960s films by the company.
The United States Pictures marked with an (*) signifies Milton Sperling contributed to the screenplay.
- Cloak and Dagger (1946 film) - directed by Fritz LangFritz LangFriedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
- PursuedPursuedPursued is a 1947 movie starring Robert Mitchum that combines western, film noir and psychological melodrama. The film was directed by Raoul Walsh and photographed in black-and-white by James Wong Howe.-Plot summary:...
(1947) - directed by Raoul WalshRaoul WalshRaoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh... - My Girl TisaMy Girl TisaMy Girl Tisa is a 1948 film directed by Elliott Nugent. It stars Lilli Palmer and Sam Wanamaker.-Cast:*Lilli Palmer as Tisa Kepes*Sam Wanamaker as Mark Denek*Akim Tamiroff as Mr. Grumbach*Alan Hale as Dugan*Hugo Haas as Tescu...
(1948) - directed by Elliott NugentElliott NugentElliott Nugent was an American actor, writer, and film director. He successfully made the transition from silent film to sound. He directed The Cat and the Canary , starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard... - South of St. Louis (1949) - directed by Ray EnrightRay EnrightRay Enright was an American film director. He directed 73 films between 1927 and 1953.He was born in Anderson, Indiana and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
- Three SecretsThree SecretsThree Secrets is a 1950 film directed by Robert Wise. It stars Eleanor Parker and Patricia Neal.-Cast:*Eleanor Parker as Susan Adele Connors Chase*Patricia Neal as Phyllis Horn*Ruth Roman as Ann Lawrence*Frank Lovejoy as Bob Duffy...
(1950) - directed by Robert WiseRobert WiseRobert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director... - The Enforcer (1951 film)The Enforcer (1951 film)The Enforcer is a black-and-white 1951 film noir starring Humphrey Bogart. Based on the Murder, Inc. trials, the film is largely a police procedural directed by Bretaigne Windust with uncredited help from Raoul Walsh, who shot most of the film's suspenseful moments, including the ending...
- directed by Bretaigne WindustBretaigne WindustBretaigne Windust was a French-born theatre, film, and television director.-Early life:He was born Ernest Bretaigne Windust in Paris, France, the son of English violin virtuoso Ernest Joseph Windust and singer Elizabeth Amory Day from New York City...
& Raoul WalshRaoul WalshRaoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh...
(uncredited) - Distant DrumsDistant DrumsDistant Drums is a 1951 film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Gary Cooper. It is set during the Second Seminole War in the 1840s, with Cooper playing an Army captain who destroys a fort held by the Seminole Indians then retreats into the Everglades while under chase.The actual location of the...
(1951) - directed by Raoul WalshRaoul WalshRaoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh... - Retreat, Hell!Retreat, Hell!Retreat, Hell! is a 1952 American film about the 1st Marine Division in the Korean War directed by Joseph H. Lewis.-Plot:The film is the story of the putting together of a Marine Battalion sent to Korea who are gathered from various sources...
(1952)- directed by Joseph H. LewisJoseph H. LewisJoseph H. Lewis was an American B-movie film director whose stylish flourishes came to be appreciated by auteur theory-espousing film critics in the years following his retirement in 1966...
* - Blowing WildBlowing WildBlowing Wild is a 1953 film starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, and Anthony Quinn in a love triangle set in a Latin American oilfield. Ruth Roman also stars and adds to the romantic entanglements....
(1953) - directed by Hugo FregoneseHugo FregoneseHugo Fregonese was an Argentine film director who worked both in Hollywood and in Argentina.... - The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (film)The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (film)The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell is a 1955 film directed by Otto Preminger. It stars Gary Cooper as Billy Mitchell, Charles Bickford, Ralph Bellamy, Rod Steiger and Elizabeth Montgomery in her film debut.-Plot:...
(1955) - directed by Otto PremingerOtto PremingerOtto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
* - The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960) - directed by Budd BoetticherBudd BoetticherOscar "Budd" Boetticher, Jr. was a film director during the classical period in Hollywood most famous for the series of low-budget Westerns he made in the late 1950s starring Randolph Scott.Known for their sparse style, dramatic rocky locations near Lone Pine, California, and recurring stories of...
- The Bramble BushThe Bramble BushThe Bramble Bush is a 1960 American drama film directed by Daniel Petrie and starring Richard Burton, Angie Dickinson and Jack Carson....
(1960) - directed by Daniel PetrieDaniel PetrieDaniel Mannix Petrie was a Canadian television and movie director.Petrie was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Mary Anne and William Mark Petrie, a soft-drink manufacturer. He moved to the United States in 1945...
* - Merrill's Marauders (film)Merrill's Marauders (film)Merrill's Marauders is a 1962 Cinemascope war film directed and co-written by Samuel Fuller based on the exploits of the jungle warfare unit of the same name in the Burma Campaign. The source is the non-fiction book The Marauders, written by Charlton Ogburn Jr., a communications officer who served...
(1962) - directed by Samuel FullerSamuel FullerSamuel Michael Fuller was an American screenwriter, novelist, and film director known for low-budget genre movies with controversial themes.-Personal life:...
* - Battle of the Bulge (film)Battle of the Bulge (film)Battle of the Bulge is a widescreen war film produced in Spain that was released in 1965. It was directed by Ken Annakin. It starred Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews and Charles Bronson...
(1965) - directed by Ken AnnakinKen AnnakinKenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE was an English film director.- Biography :Annakin grew up in Beverley, Yorkshire where he attended the local school. He began his career in feature films following an early experience making documentaries. His first filmwork was in 1947 with the Rank Organisation...
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