Which is your favorite Golden Age movie studio

[Widebrim]

Yes, this is rather broad in scope, considering the time-frame and productivity, but here goes...

Unlike today, most studio productions had a certain look to them, and it was often (not always) easy to tell which studio made which film. Warners movies often had a "real" feel to them, especially their gangster and Noir films. MGM often featured "high gloss." Republic Pictures, particularly their serials, featured great miniature special effects. Monogram made fairly good westerns, put was also known for inanely-written and produced horror films. And, of course, many actors were identified with certain studios, at least at various times. If you're watching a 1930s movie with Bogart, Flynn, or Robinson, it's very probably a Warner Bros. film. A 1940s film featuring Tyrone Power or Rita Hayworth is likely from 20th Century Fox. 1930s with Boris Karloff? Good odds it's a Universal Picture. And so on...

So of the posted list, and I know this can be a tough one, which would you consider your favorite major producers of American Golden Age motion pictures? NOTE: I have confined the poll to major producers of films during the sound era. United Artists is not included because it was primarily a releaser of films. Forgive me if I left a studio out (we're allowed a maximum of ten choices on a poll). Thanks!

 

[Pompidou]

I cast my vote for Warner Brothers largely for Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood - my favorite of the era. That said, I believe the Bond films were released by United Artists. I didn't know UA was largely just a releaser of films and not a maker - I'll have to go see who actually did the work on them. The Bond films would usurp the #1 spot. Fox would be the next vote, but I can't think of a reason why.

 

[Widebrim]

I cast my vote for Warner Brothers largely for Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood - my favorite of the era. That said, I believe the Bond films were released by United Artists. I didn't know UA was largely just a releaser of films and not a maker - I'll have to go see who actually did the work on them. The Bond films would usurp the #1 spot. Fox would be the next vote, but I can't think of a reason why.

Errol is my boy, Pompidou, so I can relate! As to Fox being your next vote, you don't have to think of a reason why (if that makes sense[huh]).


-Widebrim

 

[The Wolf]

Whenever I see the Warner Bros. shield come up I get excited. Flynn and Bogart were two of my favorite of their players.
MGM had Powell and Loy and that's good enough for me.
Republic almost came in third because of the serials. Columbia also had great serials.
However, I think Universal should be my third pick. A lot of great flicks , many by Abbott & Costello.

sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[Widebrim]

Boy, Warners certainly has its supporters...and I have to confess, that's the one I voted for. Flynn, Bogart, Cagney, de Havilland, Davis, Sheridan, Raft, Blondell, Lupino, the Dead End Kids...gangster films, westerns, swashbucklers/comstumers, some Noir...all that and Looney Tunes to boot!:eusa_clap

 

[Fletch]

RKO, thanks to their comparatively weak "mogul" profile and shifting leadership, which allowed them to put out an unusually wide variety of classic hits - from King Kong to the Rogers-Astaire musicals to the early work of Katharine (Box Office Poison) Hepburn to Citizen Kane.

Runners-up: Warners in the pre-code topical era, and Paramount in the same era.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'll add another voice for RKO, with the 1930s version of Warners a close second. Warners is more in line with my own ideology, but RKO gets points for never really trying to be a mass market studio -- even their mainstream pictures were just a bit off-center. Any studio that had Wheeler and Woolsey as their top comedy attraction, and tried to build up Phil Harris as the next big sex symbol of 1933 is worth of support.

If I had to pick a third place studio, I'd go with Fox. Their stuff seems to be rarely seen today, compared to the other majors, but they put out some really fine musicals in the mid-thirties that ought to be better known than they are.

MGM never really did it for me -- their stuff was always good, always entertaining, always technically proficient -- but it was sort of like eating at McDonalds. You always know exactly what you're going to get, it tastes the same every time, and an hour later you forgot you ate it.

 

[Pompidou]

King Kong alone is reason enough to give RKO a nod - one of my favorite movies of the era - rivals Robin Hood for overall best of era, and is a no contest best black and white picture. Hmm...

 

[Widebrim]

RKO comes in second for me (and I have, since a boy, loved their logo, part of which can still be seen at their former studio on Sunset). It was a minor "major," but produced some great films (as mentioned), including some top-notch Noir. Echoing that said of MGM, it definitely produced/released some blockbusters (particularly musicals,) made a couple of actually good Noirs, and it had Tom and Jerry. Yet, I'll usually rather sit down and watch a PRC or Monogram cheapie; you never quite know what you'll get out of that 60 minutes. Third place would likely be Republic, just for its top-notch westerns and (until about 1949) great serials...Oh, and sorry I couldn't include the best serial producer of the late-'20s/early-'30s: Mascot. (The Vanishing Legion!)

 

[Widebrim]

I guess it'll be a while before we get some positive comments for Columbia and Monogram. The former did pick up steam around '46 (and was the home of The 3 Stooges, after all), although their serials weren't that good, and the latter did have some decent westerns...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Of course, Columbia did have Frank Capra, which makes up for an awful lot of schlock.

I'll also add a vote for Samuel Goldwyn Pictures, which released thru United Artists, but operated as its own independent studio from the twenties thru the forties. They were the home of Eddie Cantor in the early thirties, and the Cantor musicals of that era are among my all time favorite pictures. Busby Berkeley fans should search them out.

 

[Ed Bass]

I too chose Warner Bros....

but it's diificult not to mention Hal Roach Studios among these other luminaries.
Hal, of course, gave us Laurel & Hardy, Our Gang, Harold Lloyd and the lovely Thelma Todd among others (and then lived on to the ripe old age of 100!)

Best,
Toots

 

[Widebrim]

Yes, I wish that I could have included Hal Roach, but we're only allowed ten choices per poll. (I recall seeing Roach on the Academy Awards around 25 years ago; I was shocked that he was still alive.) Goldwyn and Selznick would have been included, too, if possible.

 

[Tomasso]

Mgm

[video=youtube;D2IFJYHCZH4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2IFJYHCZH4[/video]

 

[Widebrim]

^^No denying it. They had a ton of talent.

 

[Atomic Age]

Being a lover of Film Noir, my top 3 would be RKO, Warner, and Fox. All three studios, particularly Fox and RKO, regularly made film noir of the highest quality. And of course I LOVE the Fox CinemaScope films of the early 50s.

It is a little hard to compare Monogram with Republic, as it was the merger of Monogram, Mascot, Liberty, Majestic, Chesterfield, and Invincible which created Republic Pictures. Monogram, and the others, ceased to exist after 1935 with the creation of Republic. However Monogram's "B" Western unit continued to operate almost with out interruption after the merger. As did Mascot's serial unit.

Doug

 

[Atomic Age]

That said, I believe the Bond films were released by United Artists. I didn't know UA was largely just a releaser of films and not a maker - I'll have to go see who actually did the work on them. The Bond films would usurp the #1 spot.

The Bond films were and are produced by EON Productions, a company setup by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to produce the films. The films themselves are owned by a company called Danjaq setup by the producers as a holding company. UA put up the money and was a distributor only.

In many ways UA has operated like a modern movie studio since the mid 1940s, with less than half of their films being produced in house. The Bond films are one example, the Pink Panther another, being produced by the The Mirisch Corporation.

UA was a place where independent producers could to to get a film financed and released with out having to deal with the major studios. In fact it was United Artists that started the law suit which eventually let to the Paramount Decision, which lead to the break up of the studio system.

Doug

 

[Atomic Age]

^^No denying it. They had a ton of talent.

"More stars than there are in the heavens"

 

[Red Diabla]

Thalberg-era MGM was the best of MGM, in my opinion.

Nothing makes me happier than to see a Warners movie, though. Up until the 50's they were the most consistent. RKO isn't too far behind them.

RD

 

[Amy Jeanne]

The majour studio that captures my heart most would be Warner Bros. From what I've seen of Paramount, they would most likely win my heart also, but since they don't give a rat's behind about their old products I will never know.

I'm also a huge fan the "poverty row" studios, like Monogram. Those studios had a very "homey" feel to them. I love watching these low-budget flicks late at night, all snug in bed. And the dresses are more along the lines of my very own patterns (not unobtainable gowns!)