Eagle-Lion Films was a British-American film production company owned by

J. Arthur Rank Joseph Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank (22 December 1888 – 29 March 1972) was a British industrialist who was head and founder of the Rank Organisation. Family business Rank was born on 22 or 23 December 1888 at Kingston upon Hull in England into ...

intended to distribute British productions in the United States. In 1947, it acquired

Robert R. Young Robert Ralph Young (February 14, 1897 – January 25, 1958) was an American financier and industrialist. He is best known for leading the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and the New York Central Railroad during and after World War II. He was a ...

's PRC Pictures, a small American production company, to produce low-budget features to accompany its British releases. The studio, which was located at 7324 Santa Monica Boulevard (one block away from the

Samuel Goldwyn Studios Samuel Goldwyn Studio was the name that Samuel Goldwyn used to refer to the lot located on the corner of Formosa Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, as well as the offices and stages that his company, Samuel Goldwyn ...

), became a producer of

B-movies A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

. Eagle-Lion was also a

film distribution company A film distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. The distribution company may be the same with, or different from, the production company. Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film. The distributor may set the r ...

under the name of Eagle-Lion Distributors Limited in the United Kingdom and Eagle-Lion Films Inc. in the United States. In 1954, the film lot was purchased by the

Ziv Company Frederic W. Ziv Company (also given as Frederick W. Ziv Company) produced syndicated radio and television programs in the United States. Horace Newcomb's ''Encyclopedia of Television'' described the company as "by 1948 ... the largest packager and ...

for production of its syndicated television programs. It has long since been demolished.

History

The company was founded in September 1946. From 1946 to 1949, Eagle-Lion was under the control of Arthur B. Krim who, in addition to releasing films by Rank and reissues of David O. Selznick, films produced his own

as support.

Bryan Foy Bryan Foy (December 8, 1896 – April 20, 1977) was an American film producer and director. He produced more than 200 films between 1924 and 1963. He also directed 41 films between 1923 and 1934. He headed the B picture unit at Warner Bros. ...

the former head of the

B-picture A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

unit at

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, was in charge of production. Some of the producers working at Eagle-Lion included

Aubrey Schenck Aubrey Schenck (August 26, 1908, New York City – April 14, 1999, Murrieta, California) was an American film producer from the 1940s through the 1970s. Biography The son of George Schenck, a Russian immigrant theatrical manager, and Mary Schen ...

Jack Schwarz Jack Irving Schwarz (December 19, 1896January 6, 1987) was an independent producer of low-budget feature films in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Jack Schwarz was born in Chicago, the son of Adolph Schwarz, a traveling clothing salesman, and Dora ...

and briefly,

Walter Wanger Walter Wanger (born Walter Feuchtwanger; July 11, 1894 – November 18, 1968) was an American film producer active from the 1910s, his career concluding with the turbulent production of '' Cleopatra,'' his last film, in 1963. He began at Para ...

and

George Pal George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after ...

. Directors included

Anthony Mann Anthony Mann (born Emil Anton Bundsmann; June 30, 1906 – April 29, 1967) was an American film director and stage actor. Mann initially started as a theatre actor appearing in numerous stage productions. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood where ...

. Cinematographer

John Alton John Alton (October 5, 1901 – June 2, 1996), born Johann Jacob Altmann, in Sopron, Kingdom of Hungary, was an American cinematographer of Hungarian-German origin. Alton photographed some of the most famous films noir of the classic period and won ...

also worked on its productions. The initial arrangement was that Rank and Eagle-Lion would each produce five films a year. Costs were initially kept to less than $500,000 per film. Their first year of films were financed with $8 million in loans from the

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

which Young personally guaranteed. The company recorded a loss of $2.2 million in 1947. Krim later attributed this to them paying too much money for stars who were scarcely good enough to prevent insufficient box-office returns. This encouraged Eagle-Lion to change its mode of production, using more independent producers as a source for new films.

resigned as head of production to become an independent producer for the company and Arthur Krim became studio chief. Eagle-Lion would help finance the films and offer facilities, although producers would find their own money too. Along with Foy, other independent producers who worked for Eagle-Lion included

Edward Small Edward Small (born Edward Schmalheiser, February 1, 1891, Brooklyn, New York – January 25, 1977, Los Angeles) was a film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movi ...

and

. They began making lower-budgeted films, enjoying particular success with film noir. Eagle-Lion had acquired the

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...

Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation was the smallest and least prestigious of the Hollywood film studios of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoest ...

(PRC) which had acquired the building from

Grand National Pictures Grand National Films, Inc (or Grand National Pictures, Grand National Productions and Grand National Film Distributing Co.) was an American Poverty Row motion picture production-distribution company in operation from 1936 to 1939. The company ha ...

which ceased operations in 1939. PRC was dissolved in August 1947 and its product was shifted to Eagle-Lion. By 1947–48, the studio had accomplished 14 productions. By the spring of 1949, ten were in release, five of which earned a substantial profit – ''

T-Men ''T-Men'' is a 1947 semidocumentary and police procedural style film noir about United States Treasury agents. The film was directed by Anthony Mann and shot by noted noir cameraman John Alton. The production features Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Meade ...

'', '' Raw Deal'', '' Canon City'', ''

He Walked By Night ''He Walked by Night'' is a 1948 American police procedural film noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and an uncredited Anthony Mann. The film, shot in semidocumentary tone, was loosely based on newspaper accounts of the real-life actions of Erwin ...

'' and ''

The Noose Hangs High ''The Noose Hangs High'' is a 1948 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. The film is a remake of the Universal Pictures film ''For Love or Money'' (1939). Plot Ted Higgins and Tommy Hinchcliffe work for the Speedy Service Window W ...

''. Two others broke even and two others showed losses. If the company had completely financed these films it would have made $1.2 million but as it was it made $200,000. However, because of its unsuccessful first year, the company still owed money and closed its studio in November 1948. Eagle-Lion released a series of British films, most of which were unsuccessful at the American box office. There were some exceptions, such as '' The Red Shoes'' which earned rentals of $5 million as well as being their only release which was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category ...

. The company suffered increasing financial difficulties throughout 1949. Krim resigned in May and the company ceased production at the end of the year. Eagle-Lion merged with

Film Classics Film Classics was an American film distributor active between 1943 and 1951.Slide p.72 Established by Irvin Shapiro, the company initially concentrated on re-releases of earlier hits by other studios, but began to handle new independent productions ...

in 1950 to become Eagle-Lion Classics. Assistant director Reggie Callow felt that the studio would have survived longer had they kept producing low-budget films rather than attempting to compete with the major studios by making higher-budgeted films. In 1951, Krim was offered the leadership of

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

. In April of that year, UA took over distribution of Eagle-Lion's current releases; Eagle-Lion terminated the releasing pact with Rank and ceased distributing movies. Their studios were sold.Balio p. 37 In 1954,

Frederick Ziv Frederick William Ziv (August 17, 1905 – October 13, 2001, Cincinnati, Ohio) was an American broadcasting producer and syndicator who was considered as the father of television first-run syndication and once operated the nation's largest indepen ...

bought the studio for his

Ziv Television Programs Ziv Television Programs, Inc. was an American production company that specialized in productions for first-run television syndication in the 1950s. History The company was founded by Frederick Ziv in 1948 and was a subsidiary of his successful ...

Filmography

Notes

{{Authority control 01 British film studios Defunct American film studios Defunct film and television production companies of the United States Film production companies of the United Kingdom Film production companies of the United States Film distributors of the United Kingdom Film distributors of the United States Entertainment companies based in California American companies established in 1946 British companies established in 1946 Entertainment companies established in 1946 Mass media companies established in 1946 Mass media companies disestablished in 1950 1946 establishments in England 1950 disestablishments in England 1946 establishments in California 1950 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Defunct companies based in London British companies disestablished in 1950