Film Chest, is a privately held media company that specializes in the archiving, restoring, licensing and distribution of films. It is headquartered in
Bridgeport
Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...
, Connecticut. Film Chest distributes consumer DVDs, and sells digital content via online outlets including Apple's
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
,
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
, and
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
. It also licenses its movies to TV networks, including
American Movie Classics
AMC is an American multinational basic cable television channel that is the flagship property of AMC Networks. The channel's programming primarily consists of theatrically released films, along with a limited amount of original programming. ...
and
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
, and for use as stock footage. According to the company's website, it services "high-quality content for use in broadcast television, film projects, video streaming, distribution, public television, cable or other professional needs."
History
The company was founded in 2000 by partners Phil Hopkins and Ralph Stevens, and has since amassed one of the largest privately owned film libraries, containing approximately 2,000 film and TV titles. The titles comprise rare science-fiction, horror and action-adventure films (such as ''
The Devil Bat
''The Devil Bat'' is a 1940 black-and-white American horror/howcatchem film produced by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) and directed by Jean Yarborough. The film stars Bela Lugosi along with Suzanne Kaaren, Guy Usher, Yolande Mallott and ...
''), cartoons, and Oscar-winning classics like Orson Welles’ ''
The Stranger'', for which Film Chest completed the first-ever HD restoration. A recent Film Chest coup was finding the 1958 TV series “
Decoy
A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''ende kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lu ...
,” starring cult actress
Beverly Garland
Beverly Lucy Garland (née Fessenden; October 17, 1926 – December 5, 2008) was an American actress. Her work in feature films primarily consisted of small parts in a few major productions or leads in low-budget action or science-fiction movie ...
, that few people had ever heard of because it was such a rarity. Despite its obscurity, the show was a landmark on two counts. It was the first series centered on a female cop and the first TV show to be shot on the streets of New York City.
In 2010, the company purchased a 45,000-foot warehouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where it plans to store and digitize film collections.
Varnon, Rob - Stamford Advocate (August 18, 2010) “Film Vault Comes to Park City”
/ref> The company recently added a public component to its work with a retail store
The Archive
which sells Film Chest videos and other carefully curated titles, as well as hundreds of vinyl record rarities and a screening room. The store also stocks posters, T-shirts and movie ephemera.
Select titles
* '' The Bat''
* ''The Brain That Wouldn't Die
''The Brain That Wouldn't Die'' (also known as ''The Head That Wouldn't Die'' or ''The Brain That Couldn't Die'') is a 1962 American science fiction horror film directed by Joseph Green and written by Green and Rex Carlton. The film was complete ...
''
* ''A Bucket of Blood
''A Bucket of Blood'' is a 1959 American comedy horror film directed by Roger Corman. It starred Dick Miller and was set in West Coast beatnik culture of the late 1950s. The film, produced on a $50,000 budget, was shot in five days and shares ...
''
* ''Carnival Magic
''Carnival Magic'' is a which entered service on 1 May 2011. The ship was named and christened in Venice by her godmother Lindsey Wilkerson, a former patient and current researcher at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.
''Carnival Magic'' ...
''
* ''Decoy''
* ''Dementia 13
''Dementia 13'', known in the United Kingdom as ''The Haunted and the Hunted'', is a 1963 independently made black-and-white horror-thriller film, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman. It was Coppola's feat ...
''
* ''His Girl Friday
''His Girl Friday'' is a 1940 American screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and featuring Ralph Bellamy and Gene Lockhart. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The plot centers on a newspaper edito ...
''
* ''Hollow Triumph
''Hollow Triumph'' (working title ''The Man Who Murdered Himself'', reissued in the United States as ''The Scar'') is a 1948 American film noir crime film directed by Steve Sekely starring Paul Henreid, Joan Bennett and Leslie Brooks. It was relea ...
''
* ''House on Haunted Hill
''House on Haunted Hill'' is a 1959 American horror film produced and directed by William Castle, written by Robb White and starring Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig and Elisha Cook Jr. Price plays an ec ...
''
* ''Kansas City Confidential
''Kansas City Confidential'' is a 1952 American film noir and crime film directed by Phil Karlson starring John Payne (actor), John Payne and Coleen Gray. The film was released in the United Kingdom as ''The Secret Four''. Karlson and Payne teamed ...
''
* ''Lancelot Link''
* ''The Last Time I Saw Paris
''The Last Time I Saw Paris'' is a 1954 American Technicolor romantic drama made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story " Babylon Revisited." It was directed by Richard Brooks, produced by Jack Cummings ...
''
* ''Metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
''
* ''Nosferatu
''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' (German: ''Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens'') is a 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who preys on the wife ...
''
* ''One Step Beyond One Step Beyond may refer to:
Music
* ''One Step Beyond'' (Dungeon album) or the title song, 2004
* ''One Step Beyond'' (Jackie McLean album), 1963
* '' One Step Beyond...'', an album by Madness, or the title song (see below), 1979
* ''One Step ...
''
* ''Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
– Murder At The Baskervilles''
* '' The Stranger''
* ''Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...
- Disorder In The Court''
* ''Till the Clouds Roll By
''Till The Clouds Roll By'' is a 1946 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A fictionalized biopic of composer Jerome Kern, portrayed by Robert Walker, Kern was originally involved with the production, but died before ...
''
References
External links
Film Chest official website
Entertainment companies of the United States
Film distributors of the United States
Conservation and restoration companies
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