Who is making movies in the PRC or Monogram mould in ? Movies today are globally stratified in the extreme, yet hegemonic power hubs exist in all sectors of film production, from arthouse to studio to the Humbert Bals Fund. The Poverty Row philosophy can only exist outside of that. Hong eschews the international funding hubs that increasingly dominate the international festival scene and which transparently influence its make-up.
He makes enough of a profit on each pugnacious, miniscule digital movie to turn out another soon afterward , tunneling forward in whatever direction takes his fancy.
Since , he has released fourteen feature films. In another way , the modest ambitions of direct-to-video action movies shot in places like Bulgaria or at best cheaply in the United States, like those of, say, a Jesse V. Johnson , could be said to be cut from the Poverty Row cloth—a dubious honor.
These are movies upon which the spotlight of taste and critical admiration is dimmed to but a faintly sizzling ember; where work is produced quickly and inexpensively for working class audiences in the market for simple genre thrills; where directors can toil away productively and yet never be esteemed by a broad critical base.
Like PRC product, these films are not intended to last. Therefore, at their best, they are freed from that artistic burden, often for better as well as for worse.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content. To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us. All Rights Reserved. OSO version 0. University Press Scholarship Online. Sign in. Not registered? Sign up. Publications Pages Publications Pages. Recently viewed 0 Save Search. Republic stars Gene Autry — and Roy Rogers — were among the leading western stars of the day, and Autry ranked among Hollywood's top ten moneymakers for several years.
PRC's first release was the timely Beasts of Berlin , one of the first dramatic films to deal with Hitler's Germany. PRC profited even more when it later reissued the film to capitalize on the stardom of its male second lead, Alan Ladd — The company produced westerns, mysteries, horror films, and even some musicals and costume films.
Sam Newfield — directed so many films for PRC—more than fifty over the course of seven years—that he used several pseudonyms in addition to his own name.
Finally, there were those ragtag companies that existed on the fringes of the motion picture industry making Poverty Row quickies. Whether they were programmers, studio Bs, small company Bs, or Poverty Row quickies, the Bs provided a training ground for many. Leigh Brackett — and Carl Foreman — were among the screenwriters who wrote for formula pictures before going on to craft screenplays for The Big Sleep , High Noon , and other classics.
B movies also provided a haven for actors who no longer commanded the public's fancy. While most in the movie business may have aspired to work on A films, many specialized in Bs. Some directors, such as Robert Florey, Joseph H. Ulmer, and William Witney could be counted on to turn out minimally competent—and at times quite extraordinary—work on a budget. Producers like Sam Katzman made a career in Bs, starting by opening a short-lived outfit called Victory Pictures, and later churning out movies for Monogram and Columbia.
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