Editing B movie (section)

====1940s====
By 1940, the average production cost of an American feature was $400,000, a negligible increase over ten years.<ref name =F42/> A number of small Hollywood companies had folded around the turn of the decade, including the ambitious [[Grand National Films Inc.|Grand National]], but a new firm, [[Producers Releasing Corporation]] (PRC), emerged as third in the Poverty Row hierarchy behind Republic and Monogram. The double feature, never universal, was still the prevailing exhibition model: in 1941, fifty percent of theaters were double-billing exclusively, and others employed the policy part-time.<ref>Schatz (1999), p. 73.</ref>

In the early 1940s, legal pressure forced the studios to replace seasonal block booking with packages generally limited to five pictures. Restrictions were also placed on the majors' ability to enforce blind bidding.<ref>Schatz (1999), pp. 19–21, 45, 72, 160–63.</ref> These were crucial factors in the progressive shift by most of the Big Five over to A-film production, making the smaller studios even more important as B movie suppliers. Genre pictures made at very low cost remained the backbone of Poverty Row, with even Republic's and Monogram's budgets rarely climbing over $200,000. Many smaller Poverty Row firms folded as the eight majors, with their proprietary distribution exchanges, now commanded about 95% of American and Canadian box office receipts.<ref>Schatz (1999), p. 16.</ref>

In 1946, independent producer [[David O. Selznick]] brought his bloated-budget spectacle ''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'' to market with heavy nationwide promotion and wide release. The distribution strategy was a major success, despite what was widely perceived as the movie's poor quality.<ref>Schatz (1993), p. 11.</ref> The ''Duel'' release anticipated practices that fueled the B movie industry in the late 1950s; when the top Hollywood studios made them standard two decades after that, the B movie was hard hit.<ref>See, e.g., Finler (2003), pp. 4, 6.</ref>

Considerations beside cost made the line between A and B movies ambiguous. Films shot on B-level budgets were occasionally marketed as A pictures or emerged as [[sleeper hit]]s: one of 1943's biggest films was ''[[Hitler's Children (1943 film)|Hitler's Children]]'', an RKO thriller made for a fraction over $200,000. It earned more than {{Nowrap|$3 million}} in rentals, industry language for a distributor's share of gross [[box office]] receipts.<ref>Jewell (1982), 181; Lasky (1989), 184–85.</ref> Particularly in the realm of [[film noir]], A pictures sometimes echoed visual styles generally associated with cheaper films. Programmers, with their flexible exhibition role, were ambiguous by definition. As late as 1948, the double feature remained a popular exhibition mode. It was standard policy at 25% of theaters and used part-time at an additional 36%.<ref>Schatz (1999), p. 78.</ref>

The leading Poverty Row firms began to broaden their scope; in 1947, Monogram established a subsidiary, [[Allied Artists Pictures Corporation|Allied Artists]], to develop and distribute relatively expensive films, mostly from independent producers. Around the same time, Republic launched a similar effort under the "Premiere" rubric.<ref>Schatz (1999), pp. 340–41.</ref> In 1947 as well, PRC was subsumed by [[Eagle-Lion Films|Eagle-Lion]], a British company seeking entry to the American market. Warners' former "Keeper of the Bs", Brian Foy, was installed as production chief.<ref>Schatz (1999), p. 295; Naremore (1998), p. 142.</ref>

[[File:RawDealPoster2.jpg|thumb|upright|Often marketed as pure sensationalism, many [[film noir|films noir]] also possessed great visual beauty. ''[[Raw Deal (1948 film)|Raw Deal]]'' (1948), writes scholar Robert Smith, is "resplendent with velvety blacks, mists, netting, and other expressive accessories of poetic noir decor and lighting".<ref>Robert Smith ("Mann in the Dark," ''Bright Lights'' 2, no. 1 [fall 1976]), quoted in Ottoson (1981), p. 145.</ref> Directed by [[Anthony Mann]] and [[cinematography|shot]] by [[John Alton]], it was released by Poverty Row's [[Eagle-Lion Films|Eagle-Lion]] firm.]]
In the 1940s, RKO stood out among the industry's Big Five for its focus on B pictures.<ref>Schatz (1999), p. 173, table 6.3.</ref> From a latter-day perspective, the most famous of the major studios' Golden Age B units is [[Val Lewton]]'s horror unit at RKO. Lewton produced such moody, mysterious films as ''[[Cat People (1942 film)|Cat People]]'' (1942), ''[[I Walked with a Zombie]]'' (1943), and ''[[The Body Snatcher (1945 film)|The Body Snatcher]]'' (1945), directed by [[Jacques Tourneur]], [[Robert Wise]], and others who became renowned only later in their careers or entirely in retrospect.<ref>Schatz (1999), p. 232; Finler (2003), pp. 219–20.</ref> The movie now widely described as the first classic film noir, ''[[Stranger on the Third Floor]]'' (1940), a 64-minute B, was produced at RKO, which released many additional melodramatic thrillers in a similarly stylish vein.<ref>Finler (2003), p. 216.</ref>

The other major studios also turned out a considerable number of movies now identified as noir during the 1940s. Though many of the best-known film noirs were A-level productions, most 1940s pictures in the mode were either of the ambiguous programmer type or destined straight for the bottom of the bill. In the decades since, these cheap entertainments, generally dismissed at the time, have become some of the most treasured products of Hollywood's Golden Age.<ref>See, e.g., Dave Kehr, "Critic's Choice: New DVD's," ''The New York Times'', August 22, 2006; Dave Kehr, "Critic's Choice: New DVD's," ''The New York Times'', June 7, 2005; Robert Sklar, "Film Noir Lite: When Actions Have No Consequences," ''The New York Times'', "Week in Review," June 2, 2002.</ref>

In one sample year, 1947, RKO produced along with several noir programmers and A pictures, two straight B noirs: ''[[Desperate (film)|Desperate]]'' and ''[[The Devil Thumbs a Ride]]''.<ref>Jewell (1982), pp. 218, 219.</ref> Ten B noirs that year came from Poverty Row's big three: Republic, Monogram, and PRC/Eagle-Lion, and one came from tiny Screen Guild. Three majors beside RKO contributed a total of five more. Along with these eighteen unambiguous B noirs, an additional dozen or so noir programmers came out of Hollywood.<ref>For a detailed consideration of classic B noir, see Lyons (2000).</ref>

Still, most of the majors' low-budget production remained the sort now largely ignored. RKO's representative output included the [[Lupe Vélez|Mexican Spitfire]] and [[Lum and Abner]] comedy series, thrillers featuring the [[Simon Templar|Saint]] and the [[The Falcon (literary character)|Falcon]], Westerns starring [[Tim Holt]], and [[Tarzan]] movies with [[Johnny Weissmuller]]. [[Jean Hersholt]] played [[Dr. Christian]] in six films between 1939 and 1941.<ref>Finler (2003), pp. 214–15.</ref> ''[[The Courageous Dr. Christian]]'' (1940) was a standard entry: "In the course of an hour or so of screen time, the saintly physician managed to cure an epidemic of spinal meningitis, demonstrate benevolence towards the disenfranchised, set an example for wayward youth, and calm the passions of an amorous old maid."<ref>Jewell (1982), p. 147.</ref>

Down in Poverty Row, low budgets led to less palliative fare. Republic aspired to major-league respectability while making many cheap and modestly budgeted Westerns, but there was not much from the bigger studios that compared with Monogram "[[exploitation film|exploitation pictures]]" like [[juvenile delinquency]] [[Investigative journalism|exposé]] ''Where Are Your Children?'' (1943) and the prison film ''[[Women in Bondage]]'' (1943).<ref>Schatz (1999), p. 175.</ref> In 1947, PRC's [[The Devil on Wheels (1947 film)|''The Devil on Wheels'']] brought together teenagers, [[hot rods]], and death. The little studio had its own house [[auteur]]: with his own crew and relatively free rein, director [[Edgar G. Ulmer]] was known as "the Capra of PRC".<ref>Naremore (1998), p. 144.</ref> Ulmer made films of every generic stripe: his ''[[Girls in Chains]]'' was released in May 1943, six months before ''Women in Bondage''; by the end of the year, Ulmer had also made the teen-themed musical ''Jive Junction'' as well as ''[[Isle of Forgotten Sins]]'', a South Seas adventure set around a brothel.<ref>See Mank (2001), p. 274.</ref>