Astor Pictures
| Industry | Film distributor |
|---|---|
| Fate | Went out of business |
| Founded | 1930 |
| Defunct | 1963 |
| Headquarters | New York City |
Key people | Robert M. Savini (1886–1956) |
Astor Pictures was a motion picture distribution service in operation from 1930 to 1963, founded by Robert M. Savini (29 August 1886 - 29 April 1956). Astor, located at 130 West 46th Street in New York City, initially acquired the rights to other motion pictures for profitable re-release. A Billboard magazine article of 8 Jun 1946 stated Astor had 26 offices in the United States.
In 1947, the motion picture periodical Boxoffice reported that the number of reissued films for that year were four times that of the previous year.[1] Many smaller cinemas wished to show double features to attract audiences with a reissued film being the cheapest type of release.
Types of Astor releases
Astor Pictures--
- Acquired the film library of the defunct Grand National Pictures films after their liquidation for cinema re-release.[2]
- Acquired the re-release rights of many films originally released by United Artists and RKO Radio Pictures.
- Acquired the re-release rights of Educational Pictures short subjects such as the Baby Burlesks.
- In addition to showing many of Bing Crosby's short subjects made for Educational Pictures, put several of them together and released it as a feature called The Road to Hollywood to compete with Paramount Pictures's Road to series. Astor also packaged three 1930s RKO Pictures Betty Grable shorts as Hollywood Bound (1947).
- Re-released William S. Hart's Tumbleweeds (1925) in 1939 with music and sound effects and Hart speaking a famous prologue, in his only sound appearance on film- "Oh, the thrill of it all!"
- Distributed many race films but only produced one, Louis Jordan's Beware! (1946).[3]
- Obtained the rights to many of Sam Katzman's Monogram East Side Kids pictures for re-release at the same time Monogram Pictures was releasing Bowery Boys films
- Distributed Sunset Carson's post Republic Pictures Westerns.
- Distributed many of the early Hammer Films in the USA by an arrangement with Hammer's parent company Exclusive Films.
- Released many science fiction films of dubious quality such as Cat-Women of the Moon and its remake Missile to the Moon in the 1950s.[4]
Subsidiaries
- Started a subsidiary, Atlantic Television, to distribute films to television in the late 1940s.
- Operated a subsidiary, Comedy House, which released cut-down versions of Bing Crosby and other Educational Pictures comedy shorts for 16mm home movie use.
Art House releases
After Savini's death, Astor and Atlantic Television were acquired by George F. Foley, Jr. and Franklin Bruder, who released European films in the USA. It is probably here the Astor name is best remembered, for in three years they brought several cinematic classics to theaters in the early 1960s. Astor's biggest success was undoubtedly Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960), which was a huge box-office hit for the company, and allowed it to continue to release foreign films such as Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960), François Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player (1960), Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad (1961) and Orson Welles' The Trial (1962). However, despite its success with such important films, Astor went bankrupt in 1963.[5]
References
- ↑ p.72 Wilinsky, Barbara Sure Seaters-The Emergence of Art House University of Minnesota Press 2001
- ↑ Balio, Tino Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise 1930–1939 University of California Press 1996
- ↑ McGilligan, Patrick Oscar Micheaux The Great and Only: The Life of America's First Black Filmmaker Harper 2007
- ↑ http://www.bmonster.com/cult20.html
- ↑ Heffenan, Kevin Ghouls, Gimmicks and Gold: Horror Films and the American Movie Business 1953–1968 Duke University Press 2004