# Lippert Pictures > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lippert_Pictures > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lippert_Pictures.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lippert_Pictures > Source revision: 1305114284 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American film production and distribution company}} '''Lippert Pictures''' was an American film production and distribution company controlled by [Robert L. Lippert](/source/Robert_L._Lippert).Davis p.84 ==History== Robert L. Lippert (1909–1976) was a successful exhibitor, owning a chain of movie theaters in California and Oregon. He was frustrated that the Hollywood studios concentrated on making big, expensive pictures that commanded premium rental fees. He felt there was a market for smaller, cheaper feature films intended for neighborhood theaters in smaller situations. He called his new production company Action Pictures, and his first film, ''[Wildfire: The Story of a Horse](/source/Wildfire_(1945_film))'' (1945) was an outdoor adventure filmed in then-novel [Cinecolor](/source/Cinecolor). Reception was encouraging enough for the ambitious Lippert to expand his operations. In 1946 he joined forces with independent producer [Edward Finney](/source/Edward_Finney) to create [Screen Guild Productions](/source/Robert_L._Lippert). Lippert's timing was excellent. By 1946 most of the Hollywood studios had abandoned low-budget productions and were making fewer films, leaving scores of actors and technicians underemployed. Lippert came to their rescue, offering them jobs at comparatively low salaries. Thus many of Lippert's features boasted familiar, famous-name casts: [Veronica Lake](/source/Veronica_Lake), [Zachary Scott](/source/Zachary_Scott), [Buster Keaton](/source/Buster_Keaton), [George Reeves](/source/George_Reeves), [Ralph Byrd](/source/Ralph_Byrd), [Adele Jergens](/source/Adele_Jergens), [Jean Parker](/source/Jean_Parker), [Vincent Price](/source/Vincent_Price), [Stuart Erwin](/source/Stuart_Erwin), [Don "Red" Barry](/source/Don_%22Red%22_Barry), [Robert Alda](/source/Robert_Alda), [Wally Vernon](/source/Wally_Vernon), [Anne Gwynne](/source/Anne_Gwynne), [Jean Porter](/source/Jean_Porter), [Tom Neal](/source/Tom_Neal), [Russell Hayden](/source/Russell_Hayden), and other "star" names with marquee value. Lippert also called upon certain character actors to play incidental roles in his films: [Reed Hadley](/source/Reed_Hadley), [Margia Dean](/source/Margia_Dean), Mara Lynn, Jack Reitzen, [Michael Whalen](/source/Michael_Whalen_(actor)), and [Phil Arnold](/source/Phil_Arnold) among them. The most prolific was [Sid Melton](/source/Sid_Melton), almost always playing wisecracking cab drivers, sad-sack soldiers, or streetwise characters. Melton was even given a leading role, in the comedy feature ''[Stop That Cab](/source/Stop_That_Cab)'' (1951). In February 1949 Lippert reorganized Screen Guild and renamed it Lippert Pictures. The studio received surprisingly good notices for a series of dramatic features written by [Samuel Fuller](/source/Samuel_Fuller); the western ''[I Shot Jesse James](/source/I_Shot_Jesse_James)'', the historical tale ''[The Baron of Arizona](/source/The_Baron_of_Arizona)'', and the military drama ''[The Steel Helmet](/source/The_Steel_Helmet)''[https://www.weslpress.org/9780819568663/the-films-of-samuel-fuller/ The Films of Samuel Fuller – Wesleyan University Press][https://www.newwavefilm.com/international/american-new-wave-1.shtml American New Wave Cinema, A History (Part One)][https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/499-eclipse-series-5-the-first-films-of-samuel-fuller Eclipse Series 5: The First Films of Samuel Fuller|The Criterion Collection] won special praise. Producers [Boris Morros](/source/Boris_Morros) and [William LeBaron](/source/William_LeBaron) teamed to produce a new version of [Victor Herbert](/source/Victor_Herbert)'s ''Babes in Toyland'', planning to release it through Screen Guild. Along with the screen rights, they inherited the [1934 movie version](/source/Babes_in_Toyland_(1934_film)) starring [Laurel and Hardy](/source/Laurel_and_Hardy). The remake was never filmed, so Lippert took over the Laurel and Hardy version (retitling it ''March of the Wooden Soldiers'') and reissued it in 1950.[MacGillivray, Scott](/source/Scott_MacGillivray), ''Laurel and Hardy: From the Forties Forward'', iUniverse, 2009, p. 185. {{isbn|978-1-4401-7239-7}}. In the early 1950s, Lippert struck an American distribution deal for [Exclusive Films](/source/Exclusive_Films) of Britain. The success of this company, subsequently renamed Hammer Films, boosted Lippert's fortunes until the British outfit left him to begin signing deals with American [major studios](/source/major_studios). In 1956 Lippert signed a deal with [20th Century-Fox](/source/20th_Century-Fox) to produce films under the name [Regal Films](/source/Robert_L._Lippert), often [westerns](/source/western_(genre)) or [horror pictures](/source/horror_film), for Fox to distribute. ==See also== * [B-movie](/source/B-movie) * [List of American independent films](/source/List_of_American_independent_films) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Bibliography== * Davis, Blair. ''The Battle for the Bs: 1950s Hollywood and the Rebirth of Low-Budget Cinema''. Rutgers University Press, 2012. * [MacGillivray, Scott](/source/Scott_MacGillivray). ''Laurel and Hardy: From the Forties Forward''. iUniverse, 2009. * McGee, Mark Thomas. ''Talk's Cheap, Action's Expensive - the Films of Robert L. Lippert''. BearManor Media, 2014. Category:American film studios Category:Defunct American film studios Category:Film production companies of the United States Category:Lippert Pictures films --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lippert Pictures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lippert_Pictures) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lippert_Pictures?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.