Realart Pictures Inc.

Realart Pictures was a motion picture re-releasing organization started in 1948 by Jack Broder and Joseph Harris. It had no relation to the silent pictures Realart Pictures Corporation that handled Paramount releases. Realart also produced several of their own newly made films. [MacGillivray, Scott and Okuda Ted "Play it Again, Jack! Remembering Realart the Re-Releasing Company" Filmfax Magazine #39"]

History

When Universal Pictures became Universal-International in 1946, studio head William Goetz turned his back on many of the studio's popular genres in order to begin a prestigious operation that would feature many independent productions released under Universal-International's logo. Goetz sold the entire sound film library of Universal from 1930 until 1946 to Broder and Harris for cinema rerelease for a period of five years, but television rights were not included. [ [http://www.bmonster.com/profile39.html The Astounding B Monster | Profile ] ]

Realart reissued double features of Universal's old product with new and more exciting advertising featuring the Realart logo. Often films were given more lurid titles, for example, "The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" (1945) became "Guilty of Murder". Stars who had gained in stature were given more prominent billing, such as Robert Mitchum becoming second billed on the reissue of "Gung Ho! (1943 film)". The comedy team of Abbott & Costello had their first film "One Night in the Tropics" edited of most of the love story scenes of the original main billed leads. Realart also acquired "A Walk in the Sun" and retitled it "Salerno Beachhead".

With the success of Realart's reissues, Broder hired a new vice-president Herman Cohen and formed Jack Broder Productions to film newly made movies. These included films like "Kid Monk Baroni" with a young Leonard Nimoy as the title character and "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" featuring the title actor and a comedy team of Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo who imitated Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. "Bride of the Gorilla" and "Battles of Chief Pontiac" ventured into the horror and Western genres respectively.

When Realart's right to Universal's former product ran its course in 1954, and with the increasing popularity of television and the closure of many smaller and neighbourhood cinemas, Realart ended. Realart sold its own product to television with "Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla" making its television debut less than a year after its theatrical run. [MacGillivray, Scott and Okuda Ted "Play it Again, Jack! Remembering Realart the Re-Releasing Company" Filmfax Magazine #39"]

Realart released Roger Corman's first film "Five Guns West" in 1955 and "Wetbacks" in 1956.

Jack Broder's Realart Pictures returned in 1966 with a single science fiction/horror double feature of "Women of the Prehistoric Planet" and "The Navy Vs The Night Monsters".

References

External links

* Realart Pictures Inc at IMDB http://www.imdb.com/company/co0028788/
* Jack Broder Productions at IMDB http://www.imdb.com/company/co0127435/
* Interview with Herman Cohen http://www.hermancohen.com/interview-attack1.html