William H. Pine

Pine-Thomas Productions was a prolific B-picture unit of Paramount Pictures from 1940–1957, producing 81 films. Co-producers William H. Pine (February 15, 1896 – April 29, 1955) and William C. Thomas (August 11, 1903 – April 2, 1984) were known as the "Dollar Bills" because none of their economically made films ever lost money.

"We don't want to make million dollar pictures," they said. "We just want to make a million dollars."William Paine, Filmmaker New York Times 30 Apr 1955: 17.

History

William Pine and William Thomas

William Pine was a graduate of Columbia University who went to work as a publicist at Paramount in 1933 becoming head of publicity. He became an associate director for Cecil B. De Mille at the studio and worked on several films.

William Thomas was also a publicist who was working at Paramount producing "B" movies. Pine and Thomas struck up a partnership and swapped theories about how films could be produced for lower budgets.

First Three Films: Picture Corporation of America

Pine and Thomas talked with Richard Arlen, who had become famous with ''Wings'' (1927) but whose most recent films had been lower budgeted productions. Arlen, who owned several planes and ran an aviation school, suggested they make an aviation film; he offered himself and his aircraft for a movie. Pine and Thomas selected three titles, ''Power Dive'', ''Forced Landing'' and ''Flying Blind'', and wrote scripts around them. (The producers later called these "Westerns of the air".) They approached Paramount and said they had a star and three scripts and asked for a distribution deal. Paramount were looking for some low-budget action movies and agreed, enabling Pine and Thomas to gain loans from the bank to finance the films. The other key elements of the team were Maxwell Shane, a writer, and Doc Merman, a production manager.

'' Power Drive'' (1941), starring Arlen and Jean Parker was made in ten days at a cost of $86,000 under the auspices of "Picture Corporation of America". Thomas produced the first film while Pine worked more an associate - he worked for Cecil B. De Mille. It earned almost a million dollars. Pine and Thomas saved money by shooting on location.WILLIAM THOMAS, 80; PRODUCER OF LOW-BUDGET '40S ACTION FILMS Burr Van Atta. Philadelphia Inquirer 6 Apr 1984: E.2.

Their second film, ''Forced Landing'' (1941) was another aviation film with Arlen; Eva Gabor made her debut. Arlen and Parker were in their third film, '' Flying Blind'' (1941), which was directed by John McDonald who would helm many of the company's early films.

All three films cost under $90,000 and returned six times its negative cost. Paramount were so pleased with these results they offered to finance the duo's films from then on.

Pine-Thomas Productions: Chester Morris Joins Company

In June 1941, Pine and Thomas signed a six-picture deal with Paramount, three to star Richard Arlen and three to star Chester Morris. The Picture Corporation of America was dissolved and from this point on the company would be known as Pine-Thomas Productions.

Morris' first film for the company was ''No Hands on the Clock'' (1941), based on a novel by "Geoffrey Holmes" (Daniel Mainwaring). It was the first of three novels by Mainwaring which they optioned.

Pine-Thomas' early films focused on industry and aviation, areas not often dealt with in the movies. According to ''The New York Times'': "The plots were usually built around a hazardous occupation, like deep-sea diving parachute jumping or auto car racing - and someone was always killed doing that particular job in the first reel to get the idea across." The screenwriters on their films often had to participate in the activities they were writing about.

They kept costs down by careful scripting and budgeting, use of location filming for production value, and employing stars whose careers were in decline such as Arlen and Chester Morris - so they still had name recognition for the public but did not cost much to employ. They did not employ any permanent staff apart from themselves and one secretary, hiring people on a picture-by-picture basis.

The advent of World War Two saw Pine-Thomas go into military stories, although with action always at the forefront. Arlen's fourth film for the company ''Torpedo Boat'' (1942) was directed by John Rawlins, who became another key director for the company. The female lead, Jean Parker, frequently appeared in the early films.

Arlen was in ''Wildcat'' (1942) and Morris did ''I Live on Danger'' (1942) then both were teamed in '' Wrecking Crew'' (1942).

In March 1942, Pine-Thomas signed a contract to make six more films for Paramount. ''Variety'' said "the pair have shown showman's flair for turning out thrill-heavy action dramas. They have consistently led their production classification in BO returns." Arlen signed a deal with Pine Thomas to make four more films.

Pine-Thomas made four propaganda shorts including ''A Letter from Bataan'' (1942), which featured Arlen and a young Susan Hayward. William Pine directed these. Pine made his feature debut as director with ''Aerial Gunner'' (1942), which reteamed Arlen and Morris.

Morris then made ''High Explosive'' (1943) and ''Tornado'' (1943), and signed another three-picture contract.

Renewed Deal with Paramount

By December 1942, the company had made 11 films. They announced they had renewed their deal with Paramount and would make one "A" film a year. However, this did not happen for a number of years.

Their first film under the new deal was ''Alaska Highway