Producers Releasing Corporation
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|
| Industry | Film studio |
|---|---|
| Fate | Folded |
| Predecessor | Producers Distributing Corporation |
| Successor |
Eagle-Lion Films (1950) United Artists (1955) |
| Founded | 1939 |
| Defunct | 1946 |
| Headquarters | Poverty Row |
|
Key people
|
Sigmund Neufeld Sam Newfield |
| Owner | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Parent |
United Artists Corporation (MGM Holdings) |
Producers Releasing Corporation was one of the less prestigious film studios of Hollywood that made up what became known as Poverty Row, and lasted from 1939–47. PRC, as it was commonly known, made low-budget B-movies for the lower half of a double bill or the upper half of a neighborhood cinema showing second-run films. The company was substantial enough to not only produce but distribute its own product and some imports from the UK, and operated its own studio facility, first at 1440 N. Gower Street (on the lot that eventually became Columbia Pictures) from 1936–43, then the complex used by the defunct Grand National Films Inc. from 1943-46, located at 7324 Santa Monica Blvd. This address is now an apartment complex.
PRC produced 179 feature films and never spent over $100,000 on any of them. Most of its films actually cost considerably less than that.
The company evolved from the earlier Producers Distributing Corporation begun in 1939 by exhibitor Ben Judell, who had hired producer Sigmund Neufeld and his brother, director Sam Newfield, to make its films. After the collapse of PDC the brothers established PRC. Most of the movies made were within the genres of other studios of the 1940s, but at a much lower budget, and each generally took a week or less to shoot. They included westerns or action melodramas, plus a number of horror movies. In 1943 Robert R. Young, a railroad magnate who also owned the American Pathé film processing laboratory, acquired the studio.
PRC had very few star names on its payroll and mainly had to make do with either character actors (Neil Hamilton, Eddie Dean, Lyle Talbot, Gladys George, Wallace Ford, Ralph Morgan), stars who were idle (Lee Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew, Patsy Kelly, Benny Fields) or celebrities from other fields (burlesque queen Ann Corio, animal hunter Frank Buck and singer Frances Langford). However, the company acquired the services of Buster Crabbe following the expiration of his contract with Paramount Pictures. PRC gave former Miss America (of 1941) Rosemary LaPlanche the lead in two horror films, Strangler of the Swamp and Devil Bat's Daughter, and used comedian El Brendel in a pair of comedies.
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